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OUTLINE FOR TASK BASED OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Soloist includes the ability to execute comparative recording activities automatically You are able to select options that make it possible for Soloist to automatically play segments of the audio program repeat each segment record student responses after each segment and replay each student response When any media file is opened all supported formats Soloist automatically looks for a file in the same folder with the same name but an extension of acr for Automatic Comparative Recording If the file exists it is opened and the Automatic Comparative Recording exercise is executed according to the contents of the acr file For complete information on the ACR Editor please refer to the Soloist Digital PC Comparative Recorder Features and Specifications document and the Soloist Help screens If the built in ACR Editor Automatic Comparative Recording Editor is enabled via the Other tab in the System Configuration dialog Soloist s Tools menu will include a selection for Auto Comparative Recording Editor that opens the editor Part One Overview Click on the Sony logo on Soloist to view the menu click on Tools and select the ACR Editor The Editor will appear as below and you will be able to select the parameters you want for the ACR file you are going to create ACR Editor Exercise Parameters Tab 51 Automatic Comparative Recording E ditor l Ci ce fa Automatic Comparative
2. 45 46 THE FOLLOWING ARE INSTRUCTOR AUTHORING ACTIVITIES FOR SOLOIST Activity No 7 Instructor Authoring Activity 47 Activity No 8 Text Player 50 Activity No 9 ACR Automatic Comparative Recording Files 51 TASK BASED OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR SONY SANS VIRTUOSO MAJOR AND SOLOIST SOFTWARE SECTION I BASIC OPERATIONS The following is a user manual for some of the most basic operations of the Sony Sans Virtuoso Major Soloist Learning Systems We have attempted to organize these operations into a task based sequence and edit them to reflect the basic operations of most systems The information that follows 1s based on the Virtuoso Major and Soloist Help Menus Screens and does not represent the complete description of all the functions and capabilities of all systems The final authority for operations should come from Help files that are part of the operational software For advanced operations please see Section II 1 TURNING THE SYSTEM ON To start the Instructor Control Software Virtuoso Major click on the Icon with the hand holding the baton of your Desk Top To turn on the Student Digital PC Comparative Recorder Soloist click on the Icon with the loud speaker on your Desk Top Enter User ID if prompted to do so 2 CREATING A FILING SYSTEM Digitized program material will be stored on a server as determined by your institution There should be at least two types of folders that you will use on a regular basis
3. www educationindex com language FLTEACH WWW Resources for Foreign Language is an annotated listing with links to standards and frameworks from many US states and Canada State Departments of Education and Links to www cortland edu flteach flteach res html Topic Areas Foreign Language Education to help the US education system recognize and is your resource on foreign language learning in grades K University this site links foreign language www cal org topics forlang html Internet Activities for Foreign Language Classes CLTA Workshops of the California Foreign Language Project and the and His Work AP Language Jairo Jimenez La Perla Teacher URL s 480 links to teacher resource http members aol com maestro12 web wadir html Foreign Language Lesson Plans and Resources for Teachers and is committed to improving foreign language education in US primary and and projects and provides links to useful foreign language Web www csun edu hcedu013 eslsp html FLTEACHERS Web Pages TECHNOLOGY Devin P Browne Technology in Foreign Language Education Tom Duggan Links to FLTEACHERS PowerPoint Presentations Spanish Joyce Dustin www geocities com Paris LeftB ank 9806 flteacherspgs html Foreign Language Links on the World Wide Web General Links for Foreign Language Teachers Language Learning Center at Michigan State University Center for Language Education and Re
4. Foreign Language Links www unc edu cit guides irg 28 html French comics www coolfrenchcomics com French magazines http etext lib virginia edu fr oth html FR3 Espana Cultural visits www madrilejos net Madrid Zoo www madridzoo com Movie Works www movieworks com Monet s Home and Garden http giverny org gardens index htm Mayan Culture http dir yahoo com select society and culture culture groups and the Mayan National Geographic www nationalgeographic com Myths http tcfreenet org org mythos mythos www MLINKS HTML Spanish comics http pw1 netcom com aedgpi thumbnails htm 27 For Teachers Ideas for office 2000 www microsoft com education Lesson Plans www eduniverse com Free Stuff for Educators www edufree com Freestuff asp More freebies www freestuffshop com Grade books on line www thinkwave com 38 SECTION III LEARNING LAB ACTIVITIES They following activities are provided to help you get a start in using the Learning Lab They need to be tailored and adjusted to your specific lesson plan and objectives In addition your textbook has many pair and group activities that can be easily used with the lab 39 Soloist Virtuoso Activity Comprehension Contest Begin this activity by showing a short 5 10 minutes video segment or by having students listen to an audio recording that targets recently introduced vocabulary grammatical structures and or cultural information Depending on the length o
5. attempt to remove delete all silent pauses between your vocalizations Before the file 1s saved you will have the option to hear the effect this has on your recording Save Recording Remove Silence Removing silence may have unexpected results depending on volume levels Would you like to hear ta the recording with silence removed before saving Note You can use the File Save As menu to save your recording at almost any time This option is primarily meant to allow you to save an existing file as another format as described above For example you could open a two track PCM WAV format file and save it as a monaural MP3 format file 22 EXITING SOLOIST DIGITAL PC COMPARATIVE RECORDER To exit your Soloist software you can click on Close in the Control Menu which is accessed by clicking the icon in the upper left hand corner click on the Close button in the upper right hand corner X or press ALT F4 If you are connected to the teacher console and attended only the teacher can initiate shutting down your Soloist software If you attempt to exit you will see the following dialog 30 Sony Soloist If the teacher turns off your unit or shuts down the teacher console software you will see a dialog like the following you are only asked to save your recordings if you have made any Sony Soloist H Lm ow If you are not connected to the teacher console and have made any recording
6. Applies to selected Group or selected student Disables or locks the student keyboard and mouse 19 SOLOIST SONY DIGITAL PC COMPARITIVE RECORDER Pel E3 SONY HALK Sony Soloist oH 2 Lo ILS fes gt fe m Ji Remum The following is a user manual for the basic operations of the Sony Student Recorder It is based on the Soloist Help Files and the final authority for operations should come from these screens that are part of the operational software The Help Files also describe additional functional operations and capabilities For advanced operations please see Section II 17 ATTENDING CALLING THE TEACHER ATTEND Click on this button once to attend your Soloist Digital PC Comparative Recorder to the teacher console The teacher will see that you are now attending and you can participate in class activities The teacher may choose to attend your software for you Depending on the system configuration you may be automatically attended when you enter your User ID Once you ve attended by any of these means this button will change to CALL CALL Click the CALL BUTTON to notify the teacher that you would like assistance The lamp on the button will turn red This button is not visible if the teacher has turned the Call Teacher function off The teacher can respond to your call or cancel your call which will cause the lamp to stop blinking You can cancel the call by clicking on the
7. and their corresponding scores You can either use the scroll bar or the Find button to highlight a single student for detailed information Pressing the Find button opens the following dialog permitting the entry of any portion of a student name to be located The search is not case sensitive The Detailed Information grid on the right in the STUDENT RESULTS portion of the dialog contains three columns which displays the question number the correct response as set by prior to starting the question and the selected student s response to each question If a student has not responded to a question a question mark 1s displayed If the student 1s absent deck turned off during any question Absent 1s displayed In both cases the no response is considered incorrect in the computation of the student s score 16 17 2 Class Summary The CLASS SUMMARY portion of the dialog displays one grid that has four columns The question number correct response response ratio and correct ratio percentage of non absent students who responded correctly is indicated for each question administered In addition the Class Average is displayed which is the average of the Correct Ratio numbers 3 Archive Results The Archive Results frame includes check boxes enabling you to select which information to archive When at least one of these options is selected the Print and Save to File buttons are enabled If you click on Print the selected
8. button again 18 OPENING FILES 20 Click the Open File button to open a previously recorded digital sound file zip compressed sound file video file a MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface music file an HTML Hyper Text Markup Language file or a text file If the teacher turns on Lid Lock this button will be hidden Soloist supports PCM formatted WAV sound files for playback and recording as well as MPEG Layer 3 sound files for playback only or converting into a WAV file for comparative recording Soloist can also open zip compressed WAV files and unzip the file for playback and recording Soloist can open and play MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface music files AVI and MPEG digital video files and text file You can record your voice while listening to MIDI files watching video files or reading text files your recordings are made to a WAV format file that is synchronized with the MIDI video or text file If you ve made any recordings before you click the Open File button you will be asked if you want to permanently save your recordings Look in a Media Files 4 amp ft EJ Folder Select MIDI Files 1 more mpz FRENCH LIMIC Exl Sound Files 5 Chinese Unicode txt 4 German wav a E dig mov E German Dialog 1 F Lessons Folder 4 A Moment 2 mp3 ENGLISH Ext d German Dialog Mo f Recordings Folder Added Bookmark Ext O F44128s mp3 3 G
9. from the designated list the list can be displayed by clicking the List button in the Speech Settings dialog The list can remain open once the Speech Settings dialog is closed COMPOSER CLIP SEQUENCE EDITOR Your Soloist software can open play and perform comparative recording with Composer cmp files Composer files are small text files containing a list of filenames of existing program files to be played by Soloist in sequence The start and end position of each file 1s pre selected a clip The original files must exist in the specified folder when the Composer file is opened with Soloist if any file in the list is not present Soloist will skip over the file not including it in the sequence Any combination of all supported sound video MIDI and Text Player format files can be included in a Composer file and the same file can be used multiple times in a composer list For example to display different portions of a video file at different times in the sequence When a Composer file is opened in Soloist the first file in the clip sequence is loaded The time display is set to 00 00 0 regardless of where the actual start of the clip is relative to the beginning of the file and the clip can be played until the end point selected Soloist s random access slider can access any point within the clip If the you play fast forward or record to the end of the clip the next file 1s automatically opened by Soloist with t
10. information is sent to the default Windows printer If you click on Save to File a dialog 1s displayed enabling entry of a filename The selected data 1s then written to the file as comma separated values also known as a CSV file This data file can be read by most standard spreadsheet and database applications such as Microsoft Excel for further analysis PC CONTROL The PC Control functions provide the teacher with some control of the student s PCs The caption in the frame indicates which Group or individual student the functions will apply to PC CONTROL GROUP 1 I FILE TO Lack DISABLE DESKTOP eYBOIMICE WINDOWS A INTERNET Applies to selected Group disabled if student is selected Click in the Internet button and the Sony Web Browser will be displayed 17 Sony Web Browser Google images Groups Directory Advanced i Navigate to the Web page that you want the students to see then click the Send Page button to have the Web page open up in the student Web Browsers Click Close Page to immediately close the Web Browser for the students in the currently selected Group Clicking the Settings button will open the following dialog student Web Browser Settings Cancel If Show Navigation buttons URL Address text box in student Browsers is not checked the navigation toolbar and URL text entry box will not be shown This prohibits the students from explor
11. is used to adjust your playback microphone level it does not affect the level of your voice being recorded rather it allows you to adjust the volume of your microphone so you can hear yourself talking when you are not recording The slider labeled WAVE is used to adjust the volume of the multimedia file while it is playing 24 The slider labeled MIDI is only enabled if you have MIDI music file open It is used to adjust the volume of the sound card s MIDI synthesizer Track Select The button under the WAVE slider should be visible whenever a PCM WAV format file is open This button can be used to select which track s are heard when playing back a file Left program track Right student track or L R both tracks The track s selected will be heard during Play Repeat Play phrase A B Repeat Cue and VariSpeed playback Record Controls The right portion of the Volume Controls window is for adjustment of recording levels You may see a slider labeled MASTER which adjusts the overall volume of sounds when you are recording If your PC is not connected to the Sony system you probably see a slider labeled MIC otherwise it will be labeled LINE IN This slider adjusts the level of sound being recorded including your voice and any sound coming from the teacher console Even if all of the playback sliders are all the way down you will not be able to hear sounds coming from your PC s sound card your s
12. student pairs at random Fixed side by side means that attending students starting in the first row left end will be connected to the first attending student to their right on Virtuoso CONFERENCE GROUPS By clicking on the CONFERENCE button students are interconnected for conversation To select the conference settings click on the SETTINGS tab and select CONFERENCE MODELING STUDENTS To model a student click on the MODEL BUTTON and then click on the student to be heard by the group ADVANCED OPERATIONS OVERVIEW VIRTUOSO In addition to the basic operations outlined in Section I the Sony Virtuoso Soloist Learning Lab has many advanced operations functions and capabilities Below are listed a few of the most popular functions We encourage you to explore the detailed Help Screens that are included in the Virtuoso Instructor Control Software and the Soloist Student Recorder for the detailed instructions of how to use these functions A PATTERNS The Software allows you to create Pattern files Pattern files contain data about the status and settings of the system Once a pattern 1s selected the data 1s used to set the multimedia learning appropriately The teacher can set up a Pattern file to automatically program the system to their favorite mode of operation thereby saving the time of configuring the class each time you use the system B ANALYZER The Analyzer can be used to administer multiple choice testing of
13. the file it will automatically be deleted from the temporary folder you will be given an opportunity to permanently save the file to another folder Creating back up copy of German Dialog vias 5 364 826 bytes TUTTI TTT If the file you open is monaural 1 channel you may see the following dialog depending on how your software is configured If you click Just Open your Record button will be disabled Open Monaural Sound File Geman Practice way i 1 channel monaural Convert to 2 channel Program file else recording is nat possible Just Open If you open a file on your hard drive that is marked as Read Only and your system administrator has not configured your software to automatically create backup copies you will see the following dialog You have the choice to open it allowing you to overwrite the file Open Monaural Sound File German Practice way i 1 channel monaural Convert to 2 channel Program file else recording tt nat possible Just Open If you attempt to open a non support file for example a file that is not a PCM format WAV sound file you ll see the following dialog 22 Geman Dialog wav is of a non supparted File format Try opening another file If a text file exists in the same folder as the sound or video file that you open with the same filename but with an extension of either txt ASCII text format or rtf rich text format that te
14. the students both manually and automatically The Response Analyzer is a window that is opened by selecting Analyzer from the Tools Menu or by clicking the Analyzer button in the upper right While the Response Analyzer on the button lamp will be red 13 The Response Analyzer window can be moved to any location on the PC screen and 1s normally placed on top of all other open windows If for some reason the Analyzer window is placed behind another window out of view pressing on the Analyzer button again will place it back on top The Response Analyzer is designed as a window as opposed to a dialog so that you are able to operate other permissible functions of the system while the Analyzer is on such as monitoring students The following lists the major displays and buttons in the Response Analyzer window 1 Elapsed Time Display The Elapsed Time display shows the elapsed time minutes and seconds after each question is started 2 Question Number Display The question number is incremented each time data is set for a new question and the question is started If the analyzer is closed and reopened while running the Virtuoso Software the question number starts from where you left off 3 Number of Responses Display The number of students who have responded to the question is shown This display is updated once per second 4 Response Ratio Display The ratio of the number of students who have responded to the t
15. 1 Audio Programs Folders are for storing your Instructor prepared audio programs This Folder can contain as many sub folders as desired such as folders for a variety of subjects and or teachers each of which may contain more subfolders and or the appropriate sound files 2 Student Recordings Folders As students record digital audio files data is temporarily written to each local PC s hard drive Once the students close their files open other files or exit the program they are given the opportunity to permanently save their recordings as files The Student Recordings Folder can also contain various sub folders just as the Audio Programs folders can When students files are saved for evaluation purposes you may want to move the files from the Student Recordings Folder to another site folder to prevent any tampering or loss of files 3 DIGITIZING CASSETTES AND STORING THEM ON THE SERVER Virtuoso can digitize your audiocassette materials at normal real time or high two times normal speed if equipped with a Sony ER 8020 Program Recorder To do so click on the SOURCE CONTROL button amp 5DURCE CONTROL The Source Control Panel will open i ER 8020 CASSETTE TAPE DEL i CK CONTROL Sie a os mnl ser ES E EN aa I ue ooo When the COPY BUTTON is clicked the MASTER TAPE CASSETTE will begin playing the tape and the software will record a digital audio file When the tape 1s stopped by clicki
16. BUTTON to add all bookmarks set in the file being edited in Soloist s main window to the segment list each bookmark will become the end of a segment Click the Delete All Segments X AI BUTTON to delete all segments from the segment list Part Two Creating an ACR File e First using Soloist select and open the file such as a wav file you wish to edit Then open the ACR Editor Start with a short simple audio file and experiment with the various ways to segment it e Set the desired parameters for the activity 55 Automatic Comparative Recording Editor German Dialog Mono acr 1 Gar 9 Automatic Comparative Recording ACR Mode Repeat Play Program Record Voice i Hone ACH Exercise Parameters Segment Editor 2 C t5 t PROGRAMEND RECORD LENGTH DD O2 1 Program Length gt O0 03 9 Program Length 1 5 Dr 85 4 Program Length Record Length 00 17 5 5 seconds NO 16 5 Program Length x 2 00 26 58 seconds DO 29 2 120 seconds Program Length x 2 Automatic 5 egmentation 7 s ee BOOK i xm Manual Segmentation Click on the Segment Editor tab Using Soloist begin playing the file to be edited 2 n the Current Segment window click on the Add Current Time BUTTON 00 00 0 at the end of each segment sentence phrase word as the file is playing 3 The end point for each segment will be listed under Program End 4 S
17. For non Wav format files Soloist will play a predetermined number of seconds 26 The icon in the Repeat Play Phrase button will change while it is playing a phrase The adjustment of sensitivity used to detect silence for Wav format files or seconds to play for non Wav format files is the same as that is used to for the Repeat Phrase function Rewind E Click this button to have Soloist rewind the current file You will see the Position Scrollbar begin to move backwards slowly at first then at a faster pace Clicking almost any other button will stop the rewind Pressing the lt key on your PC keyboard will also rewind the file If you double click this button Soloist will immediately rewind to the beginning of the file Play Stop The button is used to both start and playback the currently opened file When the arrow is visible on this button clicking it will start playback from the current position When the square is visible in this button clicking it will stop playback Pressing the space bar on your PC keyboard will also toggle playback and stop Your Soloist software may be configured to automatically stop playback when you start playing a tape in the optional Sony ER 8020 cassette tape deck If you are currently at the very end of the file and you click this button the file will be automatically rewound to the beginning and playback will start Play Sound PLAT SOUND YIDEO HECORDIANG When you o
18. ING TO THE CLASS THROUGH THE HEADSET ALL CALL GROUP CALL You can talk with all students simultaneously to students assigned to a particular GROUP or to individual students 1 Talking to all students in the class To speak to the entire class through the headsets click ALL CALL bottom right hand corner of Virtuoso and then speak through the headset microphone the ALL CALL BUTTON will blink When finished speaking click ALL CALL again 2 Talking to students within one GROUP To speak to students within a single GROUP click on the corresponding GROUP CALL BUTTON bottom right hand corner of Virtuoso and speak through the headset microphone Note the GROUP CALL BUTTONS 1 4 are only visible when students are assigned to these groups 3 Talking with an individual student Click on a STUDENT MONITOR BUTTON and then on INTERCOM 7 ASSIGNING STUDENTS TO GROUPS The system allows you to quickly assign attending student stations to any one of up to four GROUPS and to LIBRARY MODE for independent study GROUP CONTROL NEXT RANDO nd pem Assign Students to the Various GROUPS To cause attending students to be assigned to a new program group click on the ASSIGN button select the GROUP button and click on the student icon Clicking on ASSIGN either turns on the function or turns it off when you are finished assigning the students to the various groups Assign All Students to the Same GROUP Shortcut To cause all attend
19. Recording ACH Mode Repeat Play Program Record Voice None Prompt user that this is an ACA exercise after opening file Give user choice to open as a normal file Display ACH Mode in Title Bar and remaining Play ARecord time in Time Counter Flash Title Bar while recording Enable Stop Open File and Close File buttons allowing user to stop exercise before completed Enable Repeat Phrase button allowing user repeat current segment Record for 5 B seconds before starting exercise allowing user ta record self intraductian IF the Program is a videa file play the video image during recording ds SI SI I 41 J Force saving of recording when ACR exercise is finished Automatically name file and save in the following folder else user specifies DA Media FilesHiecardings s Browse v When the recording is saved save the student track only CACR Automatic Comparative Recording Files con 1 Toolbar e Click the New Clear toolbar BUTTON to clear all of the current ACR settings returning all to factory defaults e Click the Open File BUTTON to open an existing acr file for editing e Click the Save File toolbar BUTTON to save the current ACR exercise settings to an acr file 2 Mode The ACR Mode defines what occurs for each segment in the exercise The mode applies to all segments The current ACR modes available are Play Program T
20. SER and ESTAR Some of the sentences questions should contain correct usage of the verbs and others incorrect usage Students press on their recorders if the usage is correct and press 2 if incorrect Using the FEEDBACK feature you can let the students know immediately whether or not they have the correct answers The test results may be recorded to each student s DATA FILE in the CLASS ROSTER when you EXIT the ANALYZER 5 Read a short paragraph or use a recording that contains the various uses of SER and ESTAR Students may want to take notes Using the ANALYZER feature ask multiple choice questions about the reading Students press 1 2 3 etc depending on the number of choices you give them on their recorders to select the answer that they believe is correct Using the FEEDBACK feature you can let the students know immediately whether or not they have the correct answers The test results may be 42 recorded to each student s DATA FILE in the CLASS ROSTER when you EXIT the ANALYZER 6 Written reinforcement could include an assignment for the students to describe 5 friends and or family members at least 3 sentences per person Students should provide information similar to that in 2 and 3 This activity could be expanded to include all uses of SER and ESTAR 43 Soloist Symphony Activity Daily Activities This activity targets and reinforces vocabulary for daily activities Other topic areas following the same format coul
21. Sony SENIA Virtuoso Major Language Learning System Basic Operations Manual Sony Virtuoso Major Spanish 3 Mr Bobson Attend Times 7 File Edit Settings View Tools Help Sony USER 3 SOURCE OPTIONS ANALYZER CONTROL o CALL SEND EE ATTEND CEAR A UERNS AUDIO JET GROUP CONTROL le e E GROUP 1 croup s croup a ics PC CONTROL GROUP 1 FILETO Lock DISABLE DESKTOP kvEp MICE WINDOWS SCREEN CONTROL E o SEND BLANK MONITOR MODEL SCREEN SCREENS Stella lebe r4 M cs U KETEDI MOUSE SOLOIST REMOTE CONTROL COLLECT ET renis nsconones paced LZ cud em ET LIST BOOKMARK START POSITION 00 00 0 quem L CONTROL VIDEU VOICE COMMUNICATIONS REMOTE STUDENT INFORMATION MONITOR ALL CALL PAIR e DATE STAMP INTERCOM CONF SECTION I TABLE OF CONTENTS BASIC OPERATIONS VIRTUOSO MINOR SYMPHONY INSTRUCTOR CONTOL PC l 2 10 11 12 lier 14 15 16 17 Turning the system on Creating a Filing System Digitizing Cassettes and storing them in the server Taking Attendance Turning Student Positions on Monitoring Students Talking to the Class Through the Headset ALL CALL Group Call Assigning Students to a PROGRAM GROUP Recording Teacher s Voice MIC MIX Playing Audio Programs to Students Student Remote Control Mic Cut Lid Lock Individual Control Indicat
22. a window that displays a list of students and the files that they have open PC SCREEN CONTROL SCREEN CONTROL SEND BLANK MONITOR MODEL SCREEN SCREENS KE TBDH MOUSE The Screen Control functions provide the teacher with some control of the student s PCs screens keyboards and mouse pointers Some of the functions apply to the selected group while others apply to the selected student Note Depending on how your Virtuoso Major system is configured the Model Screen and Send Screen functions may be labeled as Model Snapshot and Send Snapshot respectively If so the system will capture a snapshot of 11 13 student or teacher PC screen and send them to the selected destinations they are not real time The MONITOR button is only enabled if you are monitoring a student If you click on MONITOR a window will be opened that contains the view of the selected student s screen That window can be repositioned and resized to your preferences If configured this window will remain opened when you choose another student so that you can view more than one student computer at a time The KEYBD MOUSE button will allow you to share the keyboard and mouse with the student when you mouse dwells on the student monitor window The MODEL button will send the currently monitored student s PC screen to all other students in the same selected group The Modeled student will see a title bar across the top of h
23. ct Lessons Folder Recordings Folder File Properties tf Stereo 2 Track Monaural 1 Track Program Drill tracks F Brill track only 82 German Dialog wav So German Practice wav File name Seat 4 recording 01 Remove Silence Silence Threshold Save as type aan Sound Files wav Cancel 4 Depending on how your software is configured you may not see the Folder Select and or the File Properties frame along the right of this dialog If you are not connected to the Symphony System you will have to enter a filename If you are connected a default filename of the following format will appear of course you can change this to any valid file name Identifier recording XX wav dentifier If you entered a User ID on start up that ID 1s used as the identifier If not the seat number of your Soloist position as set by your administrator is used recording The word recording 1s literally used if you created a new recording If you opened an existing program file and performed comparative recording the name of the original program file is used XX a two digit number 01 99 The first number not matching an existing file in the selected folder 1s automatically selected Examples are smithg German Lesson 3 1 01 wav Seat B2 recording 54 wav If you want to save your recording as an MPEG Layer 3 MP3 format sound file select MPEG Layer 3 Sound File
24. d be substituted To target tenses other than the present have students describe their daily activities during the past week or what they plan to do next week You may want to have students prepare questions in advance and permit them to use notes not write out all their questions and read them You may want to give them specific guidelines as to the number of questions they should be prepared to ask answer and the vocabulary they should incorporate PAIR students or permit them to pair themselves if your system has this feature and have them discuss their activities Use the MONITOR or SCANNING MONITOR feature to evaluate their conversations and the INTERCOM feature to assist as necessary Select students pairs to MODEL for the rest of the class Questions could include the following What time do you generally wake up Do you get up right away Do you eat breakfast before or after you get dressed Do you bathe shave in the morning or in the evening Can you get dressed in ten minutes What time do you leave home in the morning Where do you usually go What time do you arrive at school university work What classes are you taking What days are your classes What class do you like the most The least What time are your classes Are they easy Difficult Do you study alot Where do you study Do you have a lot of homework Do you have to write many reports When do you plan to graduate What will you do when you graduate Where do you eat lu
25. e close it using only the audio file Example Two Use a combination of audio text clip art graphics photo or video clip In the following example the student opens the video file car avi and the supporting text file car txt opens simultaneously with directions for a writing assignment that corresponds to the video Incorporating Multiple Files con 48 Students have control of the video clip as they would an audio file through Soloist we onp Text Editor Cartxt File Edit Format After viewing the video write a summary Describe what took place in the car and identity each of the passengers and their relationship to each other 49 Soloist Virtuoso Activities lext Player Soloist incorporates a Text Player which can open display and play the text in ASCII text format txt Text files can literally be played and synchronized voice recording is also possible PART ONE The primary purpose of the Text Player is to use text files as the program material allowing the user to record his her voice while reading the scrolling text Using for example Microsoft Word WordPad or Notepad create a text file you want the students to practice and or record It could be a poem song lyrics or a reading passage from a textbook On the first line you can enter information to determine the speed of the scrolling text 60 450 whether to display the text by word or by sentence and the l
26. e segment is the answer or correct pronunciation of the previous segment for which they were able to record Click the gt All BUTTON to apply the currently selected Record Length to all segments 4 Automatic Segmentation Frame Click the Start Stop gt BUTTON to start automatic segmentation of the program file Playback will begin from the current position and segments will automatically be added whenever silence is detected marking the end of a segment Additional segments can be added by clicking the Add Current Time BUTTON in the Current Segment frame and Record Lengths can be changed while automatic segmentation is in progress Click the Sensitivity BUTTON to adjust the sensitivity while performing automatic segmentation ACR Silence Sensitivity The software will set the end of each segment according to pauses dead air time in the recording If the file being segmented is being chopped up into fragments or not correctly sensing the correct place to end the segment you may need to adjust the sensitivity less or more accordingly Itis always possible that a recording might not contain adequate pauses with dead air time to cue end of the segments For this reason automatic segmentation will mostly likely work best with commercially prepared recordings such as the audio materials from a publisher 5 Other Click the Add All Bookmarks BOOKMARKS
27. e students are prompted that the teacher has collected their recordings The files are automatically named as follows Identifier recording X X wav Identifier If the student entered a User ID on Soloist start up that ID is used as the identifier If not the seat number of the corresponding Soloist position as 10 12 entered in the System Configuration dialog in each copy of Soloist at the time of installation 1s used recording the word recording is literally used if the student has created a new recording If the student opened an existing program file and performed comparative recording the name of the original program file is used XX a two digit number 01 99 The first number not matching an existing file in the specified folder is automatically selected Examples are Smith German Lesson 3 1 01 wav Seat B2 recording 54 wav You can select whether or not the recordings are encoded into MPEG Layer 3 sound file format compressed to save disk space before collecting under RECORDERS tab of the USER OPTIONS menu SET BOOKMARK Sets the first available non used BOOKMARK on the Soloist recorder s If all BOOKMARKS are already set the last one will be overwritten CLEAR BOOKMARKS Clears all BOOKMARKS on the Soloist recorder s START POSITION Using the scroll bar the relative position within the currently opened sound file in the Soloist recorder s can be set SHOW FILE LIST Opens
28. e user cannot cancel this save operation The forced saving of a file can occur automatically with no user interaction If a path is specified the file will automatically be named and saved when the exercise is completed When if an ACR exercise recording is saved it can be set to save the student track only ACR Editor Segment Editor Tab 53 Automatic Comparative Recording Editor German Dialog Hono acr alela Automatic Comparative Recording ACR Hode Repeat Play Program Record Voice Nore ACH Exercise Parameters 9 rent Segment 00 11 5 ta 00 16 5 Length 00 05 0 gt jJ x lamers Record Length Program Length x 2 e All Automatic Segmentation Aa 5 asks 1 ment Editor 3 DO re 1 Program Length DO 03 3 Program Length 1 5 00 05 4 Program Length 00 117 5 5 seconds Program Length 2 O0 26 8 O seconds Dr 29 2 120 seconds The ACR Segment Editor is used to segment the program material and set the corresponding recording lengths 1 Segment List The right side of the tab shows the Segment List for the ACR exercise both the Program End time and the corresponding Record Length A segment always begins where the previous segment ends the first segment begins at time 00 00 0 Clicking on any line in the Segment List selects the segment as the Current Segment Double clicking will cause the segment to be played from start to fini
29. elect the Record Length you wish to allow for the students to record their responses For example Program Length X 2 would allow twice the amount of time as the length of the original segment If the segment were 15 seconds the students would have 30 seconds to respond To set the Program Length individually for each segment click on highlight the segment under Program End and then select the Record Length 5 To select the same Record Length for all segments click on the All BUTTON Automatic Segmentation As with the Manual Segmentation process open the file to be segmented using Soloist 6 Click on the Play Stop BUTTON in the Automatic Segmentation window to start the segmentation of the selected file 7 Stop the process and adjust the sensitivity if it is not segmenting properly As with Manual Segmentation determine and set the Program Length 4 Bookmark Segmentation 8 If you already have bookmarks set in the file you are editing you may click on the Bookmarks BUTTON The end point of each segment will be set according to the location of each bookmark in the file Save 9 Save your ACR File before exiting the ACR Editor 56 NOTES 57 58 59 BRATTON corporation ESTABLISHED DEALER SINCE 1907
30. elected responses are displayed within the student station indicators in the Virtuoso Software main window in place of the Student Unit Status indicators if being viewed If a student has not responded to a question a question mark is displayed and the no response 1s considered incorrect in the computation of the student s score Question Files You can automatically open Question Files for your students When administering a Response Analyzer test with Soloist Digital PC Comparative Recorders you can have the system automatically open Question files for any or all questions in the test A Question file can be any of the following File Type File Name WAV sound file QuestionX wav MP3 sound file QuesitonX mp3 ASCII text file QuestionX txt Rich Text File QuestionX rtf The X in the Question file name is either the question number of the test or all For example sound file Question3 wav would be opened and played for the students during the administration of the third question in the test and the text file QuestionAll txt would be opened and displayed for the students during the entire test Both sound files and text files can be prepared for the same question 15 You can select the file path to the Question files for a Response Analyzer test in the Analyzer tab of the User Options dialog When you are finished administering a test clicking on the Exit button turns off the Response Analy
31. elp continuing education professional re English for Foreign Born Professionals and of French language and culture a very useful links section to www champs elysees com html links language php3 Language Related Sites Center for Language Education And Research CLEAR Language Learning net Language Links University of Wisconsin Netscape Foreign Language Dictionaries www lmp ucla edu wwwesites htm FLE 5876 Electronic Media in Foreign Language Education must have a user account to use this UVIC s Language teaching clipart library is a great resource Address http www dubravac fau edu 5876 links htm www dubravac fau edu 5876 links htm Internet based Language Learning of academic resources links bibliographies for using ICT at UK Higher Education ReLaTe Remote Language Teaching using Web based foreign language exercises Description A list of language learning projects which incorporate the internet www hull ac uk cti langsite internet htm ADDITIONAL LINKS TO EXPLORE For Students and Teachers Newspapers www onlinenewspapers com A variety of information www languagebox com French resources www minitel fr Mayan Civilization http zapotec agron iastate edu maya html Incan Civilization www zinezone com zines news history inca index html Maps of France www maison de la france regions ukcartefrance html Asterix in German www cologneweb com asterix index htm
32. enever a Wav format file is open and Soloist is the active window TEXT TO SPEECH TTS If configured to do so your Soloist software supports Text To Speech where the computer literally speaks text in two ways SPEAK Soloist will have the computer speak the text in the text editor window using the selected voice at the selected speed Speaking will start at the current cursor location and continue to the end unless the user clicks SPEAK to stop or selects a different voice If a selection is highlighted only those words will be spoken With SAPI 5 1 voices each word is highlighted as it is spoken With SAPI 4 0a voices Soloist can optionally be configured to display a moving mouth as the words are spoken SPEAK TO FILE The text in the text editor window from the current cursor position to the end of the text will be spoken directly to a monaural 16 bit 22 050Hz file which can be saved as WAV or MP3 Soloist can then use the file as an audio program file TTS is made possible by Microsoft SAPI Speech Application Programming Interface and both Versions 4 0a and 5 1 are supported 33 SPEECH RECOGNITION If your Soloist 1s configured to support Speech Recognition it can be used for commands and control of Soloist You can adjust settings for Speech Recognition via the Speech Settings dialog Once Speech Recognition is enabled Soloist will listen to you to say Soloist followed by one of the phrases
33. ength of pause 0 10 between sentences Press Enter and begin writing After you have finished writing the file save it as a txt file You might want to experiment with different scrolling speeds and choose one that would be appropriate for the level of your students The following is a short example of a text file to be used with the Soloist Text Player 170 indicates 170 words per minute displayed one word at a time with a moderate pause 5 between sentences 170 word 5 The United States of America is bordered by Canada Mexico the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean Including Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands there are 50 states The above sample was saved as USA1 txt When students open this file using Soloist the Text Player will open and will begin to scroll the text when the students click on the play BUTTON or red record BUTTON The following shows the scrolling of the file in progress q Sony Soloist New Recordi t SONY SAT txt 170 Words Minute Text Player con When students are finished recording and reviewing their work they can save the audio file if they have been instructed to do so 50 PART TWO While the primary purpose of the Text Player is demonstrated above it is also possible to synchronize text with sound video and MIDI program files Whenever Soloist opens a sound video or MIDI file it searches for a file in the same folder with the same name b
34. entries to target specific grammatical areas or vocabulary or to target previous material in order to encourage the students to review Allow students to work independently for 10 15 minutes to record their entries on a regular basis Intermediate level students should be as spontaneous as possible In other words they should not memorize what they want to say or write it out and then read it You may not want to give them the subject of the next entry in advance but rather give it to them right before they begin Beginning level students may need some time to prepare in advance or specific guidelines such as In 3 5 sentences tell about your immediate family This activity can be a lot of fun for students Encourage them to be creative You may want to spot check their recordings but I would recommend that they not be graded The goal is to have them speaking as spontaneously as possible and to assist them in gaining confidence in their speaking skills Web sites can provide an excellent resource for subject matter Students could take a virtual tour of a city or museum listen to a recording or music or read a newspaper magazine article and report on their observations and reactions At the end of the semester these recordings will provide tangible feedback to the students concerning their speaking abilities They will be able to observe that they have made real progress Using Soloist students click on the red RECORD BUTTON c
35. erate B LAUNCH FILE Applies to selected Group or selected student Launching a file for the students is the same as if the students had doubled click on the file in Windows Explorer themselves Any file can be selected by the teacher for launching on the student PC s If the file is associated with an application on the student s PCs that application will automatically be launched and the selected file will be opened If the selected file is an executable file the program will automatically start If you attempt to launch another file for the students you will be prompted if you would like to have Soloist attempt to close the previously launched file first C COPY FILE TO DESKTOP Applies to selected Group or selected student Any file can be selected by the teacher to be copied directly to the student s PC desktop The student can then open the file whenever desired if Windows is enabled see below D DISABLE WINDOWS Applies to selected Group disabled if a student is selected Disabling Windows helps to keep students on task effectively preventing them from running any additional applications that may be running On the students PC the Windows taskbar is disabled the Ctrl Esc Ctrl Tab and Alt Tab and other PC keyboard commands are disabled Ctrl Alt Del except on Windows NT 2000 is disabled and the items on the Windows Desktop are hidden E LOCK KYBD MICE
36. erman Dialog mp Recordings Folder B Added Bookmarks text French Unicode txt RR German Dialog rtf EE Pre Listen File name Files of tupe A Supported Files Cancel Depending on how your Soloist software is configured you may not see the Folder Select and or the Pre Listen frames on the right side of this dialog The Folder Select buttons will let you quickly go to pre configured folders Your Soloist software cannot play or record files that are on a non local hard disk drive such as network floppy and CD ROM drives This is primarily for two reasons one is access speed since Soloist plays and records digital audio data in real time and any delays is accessing such drives could cause drop outs and the other is because multiple students may want to work with the same sound file at the same time Obviously only one student could actually record data to a single file at a single time Because of this Soloist will automatically copy any file selected for opening that 1s on a non local hard drive to a temporary folder that your system administrator specified Your system administrator may have also configured your software to automatically create a backup copy of any file that 1s opened from your hard drive s The copying is automatic and you will see a dialog like the following while copying 1s in progress You can cancel 2 the copy at any time When you are finished with
37. f the segment you may wish to have the students take notes e Using a list you have prepared in advance ask students questions concerning the subject matter of the video or audio recording e The students press the CALL BUTTONS on their recorders when they think they have the correct answer Virtuoso will log the responses according to who pressed his her CALL BUTTON first second etc e When you press the INTERCOM BUTTON the student who logged in first will be indicated on the Virtuoso e Repeat the question and have the student give his her answer If the answer is correct press CALL CLEAR on the Virtuoso and proceed with the next question If students are using headsets simply MODEL each student as he gives his answer The noise level in the room will be greatly reduced if the students are using the headsets e Use the Console TIMER CLOCK and limit the time that they have to respond e If the answer is incorrect press INTERCOM and the student responding second will be indicated on the Virtuoso Continue as with the first student Repeat the process until each question has been answered correctly 40 Soloist Symphony Activity Audio Journals Have Students use Soloist or bring a blank tape for use in the recorder for their Audio Journals They can add to their entries as often as you determine that they need to do so The subject of each entry can be left up to the students or you may wish to direct the subject of some all
38. flashing in the counter You can double click on the counter to display an alternative font for the numbers Position Scrollbar ii b The Position Scrollbar is used to randomly access any position within the currently opened or newly recorded file Simple click and drag the pointer to move to any position During A B Repeat mode you will see a blue area in the scroll bar indicating the area being repeated A B Repeat The A B Repeat button allows you to have Soloist repeat any portion of the file indefinitely Clicking the button once will mark the A time if the file is not playing it will automatically start The light in the button will blink and the blue bar in the Position Scrollbar will appear until you click the button a second time marking the B time The selected area will then repeat until you click any button Repeat Play Phrase Clicking on the Repeat Play Phrase button causes Soloist to scan backwards in the current file either a selectable number of seconds or if you have a WAV file open until it finds a period of silence and then begins playing again If this does not work as you expect try adjusting the Repeat Phrase Sensitivity by clicking on the Sony logo and selecting this option under Settings Click the right mouse button on the Repeat Play Phrase BUTTON to begin playing the phrase For WAV format files Soloist will play until the next silent pause is detected
39. he time display reset to 00 00 0 Soloist can fast forward or rewind through all the clips in the sequences Double clicking fast forward jumps to the last clip and double clicking rewind jumps to the beginning of the first clip Clicking play or record will play or record each clip in sequence stopping at the end of the last clip When each clip is opened Soloist will automatically open any file with the same name and in the same folder as the clip but an extension of bmk bmc txt txp rtf html jpg jpeg gif bmp wmf or ico Bookmark files Bookmark Comment Files Text files Text Player Files Rich Text Files HTML files and image files If a Bookmark file exists only those bookmarks that are within the clip are displayed and the same for Bookmark Comment files only those within the clip will be heard The Bookmark tool tip indicates the Bookmark position relative to the start of the clip not the actual position from the beginning of the file 34 SECTION II FOREIGN LANGUAGE LINKS The following links are provided to give you a start on the vast resources that are available through the World Wide Web One of the criteria for listing these sites 1s that they lead to other links that can be used in with your foreign language students Language Resources contains a number of sample lesson plans for Spanish mainly French and German all involving the Web There are also foreign language and education links
40. heir partners Partners must determine the destination by the directions they are given When they finish the partners switch roles and repeat the activity MONITOR and assist the students as needed Check for correct directions and command forms Follow up Give students a copy of a map or project a map on a screen that can be seen by all students It 1s easier for the students 1f they have a map and can trace the various routes Use the ANALYZER and give directions that the students must follow in order to arrive at the correct undisclosed destination Set the correct answer on the ANALYZER give students a choice of locations START QUESTION on the ANALYZER and have them select the number of the correct location For a timed activity use the AUTO CLOSE feature Repeat the process as many times as desired A number of different maps could be used Using the FEEDBACK feature you can let the students know immediately whether or not they have the correct answers The test results may be recorded to each student s DATA FILE in the CLASS ROSTER when you EXIT the ANALYZER 45 Soloist Virtuoso Activity Video Segments Begin with a short video segment 2 to 5 min without sound The segment can be something very simple such as people greeting each other or something more involved such as a news report on an accident Have PAIRs discuss what they see using the target language and also have them create any appropriate deta
41. ialog g German Dialog File name Files of type A Supported Files Cancel The teacher must select a sound video MIDI HTML or text file that 1s also accessible from the student PCs Sound files are automatically copied to the student PC s The file is then opened within the Soloist recorder s Also all associated files will open For example Ifa BOOKMARK FILE with the same name as the sound file but an extension of bmk exists in the same folder the Soloist recorders will open it and the corresponding bookmarks will be set If a TEXT FILE with the same name as the sound file but an extension of txt or rtf exists in the same folder the Soloist recorders will open it and the corresponding file will be displayed in the SONY TEXT EDITOR If a HYPER TEXT MARKUP FILE HTML with the same name as the sound file but an extension of htm or html exists in the same folder the Soloist recorders will open it and the corresponding file will be displayed in the SONY WEB BROWSER CLOSE FILE Closes any currently opened sound file in the Soloist recorders You may choose to immediately close the files without giving students an opportunity to save any recordings that may have been made COLLECT RECORDINGS The teacher must select a folder that is also accessible from the student PCs If the students have made any recordings the files will be automatically closed and copied to the teacher specified folder Th
42. ils Transparencies slides or photographs could be used instead of a video segment Note I allow students to be as creative as they want as long as they don t contradict facts observed on the video segment For example they shouldn t describe someone as happy if on the video the person is clearly upset However they may invent explanations for what they observe or make up appropriate details Language videos available from the various publishers are a good source of material This activity may be used to target the past and or present tenses Guideline questions for discussion Who is involved Number of people ages physical characteristics Where is the action taking place Physical description of the place and or a name of the place What action is taking place Students then may add fictitious details to the facts such as names or ages of the people why they are there their relationship to each other their occupations etc Use the MONITOR or SCANNING MONITOR feature to evaluate the students conversations and the INTERCOM feature to assist as necessary When the students are finished or the given time limit 1s reached you may want to MODEL various pairs and have them share their versions of the silent video with the class 46 Soloist Virtuoso Activities Instructor Authoring Activities Note When making a recording with Soloist stand alone not with Virtuoso to be used as the master track for student activity
43. ing student stations to be assigned to the same group you can click on ASSIGN then the GROUP NUMBER then ALL and then ASSIGN Clicking on ASSIGN either turns on the function or turns it off when you are finished assigning the students to the various audio sources 8 RECORDING THE TEACHER S VOICE MIC MIX To record the teacher s voice at least one student must be Attending and be assigned to a group Click the SEND AUDIO button and a window will open Send Audio gt Stereo Mix Audio To VOLUME Click the GROUP button that corresponds to the attending student I and the MIC MIX button lb TH Now click on the SOURCE CONTROL button and an additional window will open Next click on the record button ay The teacher s voice will now be recorded When finished click on the stop button and f set Goto oo0 000 9 10 11 then the close file button PLAYING AUDIO TO STUDENTS 1 To play either a cassette or audio CD to the students Click on the SEND AUDIO button When the window opens select the proper GROUP For cassette insert the tape into the cassette recorder and press play For CD insert the CD into the CD ROM drive or the instructor s computer and when Windows Media Player loads select the desired track and click on the Play button 2 To play a file to the students Click on the SEND AUDIO button When the window opens select the pr
44. ing the Internet on their own of course if the Web page that is displayed has links in it they could follow those links When this is unchecked you have the option to Show Back Forward Stop and Refresh buttons in the student Web Browsers This allows the students to navigate following links and return to previously visited pages without the ability to directly enter a URL If you click the Show Internet Browser button on student Soloist screen their Soloist Digital PC Comparative Recorder software will include a new button that they can click at any time to open the Web Browser and explore the Internet The button shown has a globe and magnifying glass icon If the students are using SoloSwitch software they will see the same button appear in a very small window in the upper left of their screens 18 Lastly you can set Soloist to Attempt to prevent Pop Up windows with Internet Explorer in the Title Bar Soloist will constantly check for any windows that may be open with Internet Explorer in the title bar and if found the window will automatically be closed This can be used to minimize pop up advertisements and to prevent students from opening links in a new window by right clicking on a link which would allow them to surf the web Note An open connection to the Internet on each student PC 1s required in order for the features provided by the Internet function to op
45. is or her screen indicating that their screen 1s being modeled You can set a User Option to have the other students see a title bar indicating that they are view another student s screen The KEYBD MOUSE button will allow you to share keyboard and mouse with the Modeled student The SEND SCREEN button will send your screen to the students in the selected GROUP The BLANK SCREENS button will cause the PC screens of the students in the selected PROGRAM GROUP to go blank A title bar will appear across the top of their screens informing them that you have blanked their screens PAIRING STUDENTS Pair Settings Who In Pairs r How To Fair By clicking on the PAIR button students are Allexcept Libray Fandom interconnected for conversation To control SEN Sl 2s pair settings click on the SETTINGS tab and a select PAIRS Group 4 PC Screen Control r Text Chat fhiteboard 4 Pai E ha e I END nard and Mouse i a r1 Enable Whiteboard Window Size far pairs Fi f Ci l Cancel r Screens Enable Text Chat me Kaeubaa far pairs WHO IN PAIRS You can select which students are included in pairs All Except Library means all students except those assigned to LIBRARY MODE will be can be included in pairs Group 1 Group 4 means an individual group 12 14 15 16 HOW TO PAIR Random means that the Software will select
46. k button when the light is green will cause Soloist to immediately 32 set the sound file position to that bookmark position perform the selected action The bookmarks can be set in any order you choose If your PC is connected to the Sony Symphony or Virtuoso System and the teacher sets a bookmark the bookmark light will turn orange instead of green and the ToolTip will indicate teacher set You can name your bookmarks by simply right clicking on the bookmark number and entering any name you like The name will appear in the bookmark s ToolTip when you hold your mouse cursor over the buttons Any and all of the up to 10 bookmarks can have a verbal bookmark comment associated with it When the bookmark is clicked the comment is played first then the opened media file plays from the bookmark position This allows the instructor to pre record comments instructions translations or any other information related to the material at the selected position in the opened media file Bookmark lamps are blue for which there is a bookmark comment VARIABLE SPEED PLAYBACK VARISPEED VariSpeed allows you to hear a Wav file either slower or faster than the original recorded speed VariSpeed is adjustable from as slow as minus 50 half speed to as fast as plus 100 two times speed in 1 increments using a slider in the VariSpeed window shown below The window can be opened via the Tools menu or by pressing Ctrl V on the PC keyboard wh
47. lick on the center STOP BUTTON when finished and save to a folder you have designated You may want to use the MONITOR or SCANNING MONITOR feature while they are making their recordings 4 Soloist Virtuoso Activities C mo est C mo es These activities are designed to provide reinforcement of grammatical structures such as of the forms and uses of SER and ESTAR Similar activities can be employed any time students need to be able to choose between similar structures and use them appropriately based on given situations 1 Begin with a short video segment or photos pictures 5 10 minutes that include a number of people from different places Students may want to take notes 2 PAIR students and provide them with specific guidelines for discussing the video For Example e Who the people are Where they are from Describe their physical appearance Describe their emotional state Happy sad nervous angry etc What the people are doing Where the people are during the video segment 3 Have students in each pair take turns asking questions about the other s best friend Specific question guidelines may be provided For example Who the best friend is What he she is like When his her birthday is How the friend 1s doing today Where he she 1s at the moment What he she is doing at the moment 4 Using the ANALYZER feature read sentences questions or use recorded sentences questions employing the various uses of
48. nch At home in the cafeteria in a restaurant What time do you leave school university work Where do you go What time do you arrive home in the afternoon evening What time do you eat dinner What do you do after dinner What time do you go to bed Other suggestions Using the MASTER CONSOLE make a recording of questions in advance Using the AUTOMATIC COMPARATIVE RECORDING EDITOR FOR SOLOIST set a PLAY PROGRAM TWICE RECORD VOICE or other appropriate option EDIT feature for Cassette tapes SENTENCE SENTENCE PAUSE pattern Transfer the master recording in to the student recorders have students respond to the questions and record both the questions and responses on the student units You can then use the resulting student recordings for evaluation and or to provide students with feedback on their listening comprehension and oral skills Another version of this type of activity that students seem to enjoy is role playing Have students pick an identity to assume and then talk about daily activities of those people using the first person Students might choose to be teachers waiters lawyers doctors construction workers and so forth 44 Soloist Virtuoso Activity Maps and Directions Use city maps from an appropriate country that you already have or access maps from a country s tourist bureau homepage for city maps PAIR students Give students a starting point and let them give directions to a destination unknown to t
49. ng COPY again a SAVE dialog 1s displayed allowing permanent saving of the digital audio file as either WAV format or MP3 MPEG Layer 3 audio By default the file should be saved in the designated Audio Programs folder located on the Server 4 ATTENDANCE Turning Student positions on When the student units are off student is considered absent the corresponding STUDENT MONITOR BUTTONS are gray When on the MONITOR BUTTONS become the color of the GROUP to which students are assigned Each student can click the ATTEND BUTTON on his or her Soloist recorder Once students turn on their units they cannot turn them off but the teacher can There are two ways to turn off student units designating the student as absent 1 To turn off individual student units one by one click the ATTEND BUTTON on Virtuoso the button will blink and then click on the MONITOR BUTTON corresponding to the absent student s seat position that MONITOR BUTTON will become gray When finished click the ATTEND BUTTON again the button stops blinking If a student subsequently presses his her ATTEND BUTTON he she will be assigned to the same GROUP to which that unit was assigned to prior to being designated absent 2 To turn off all student units simultaneously select TURN OFF STUDENT UNITS All Absent from the Tools Menu or hold the SHIFT KEY while clicking ATTEND MONITOR BUTTONS The STUDENT MONITOR BUTTONS correspond to each student p
50. nts that they should be recording their responses The Stop Open File and Close File can be enabled while the ACR file is open allowing students to stop the exercise close the exercise or open another file If these are disabled students must complete the exercise once it is started The Repeat Phrase BUTTON can be enabled during the exercise If students click the Repeat Phrase BUTTON the current ACR segment will be repeated from the beginning giving students the opportunity to hear the program again and re record their voices Students can be given the ability to record for 0 5 10 or 15 seconds before the ACR exercise starts This provides an opportunity to record a self introduction and or other comments If the ACR program file is a digital video file the video image can be played while students are recording their responses Typically a segment of video is played and students are given the opportunity to record a response It may be useful to play the video image a second time while recording However if the record time for the segment is shorter or longer than the play program time refer to ACR Segment Editor below the video image will be shown during the entire recording time which may not be desirable The user can be forced to save the recording when the ACR exercise is finished If the next item Automatically name file and save is not checked the user must select a path and file name th
51. oper GROUP Next open the SOURCE CONTROL panel select the desired file and click the PLA Y button STUDENT REMOTE CONTROL A MIC CUT This BUTTON turns off the microphones on the students headsets for the selected GROUP You can use this button to record a program without recording students responses B FILE LOCK This button locks the FILE buttons TEXT EDITOR button and HELP button of the students recorders in the selected GROUP You can use this button to prevent students from deleting their recording C REWIND STOP PLAY FAST FORWARD RECORD TRANSPORT CONTROLS These buttons are used to control student recorder transports They control the recorders of all students who are assigned to the currently selected GROUP The RECORD BUTTON is only operable for students within the selected GROUP You can select whether the RECORD BUTTON starts full two track recording or drill recording play the program track while recording the student track This 1s selected in the USER OPTIONS menu To start recording you must click on RECORD button TRANSFERRING MASTER DIGITAL PROGRAMS TO STUDENT RECORDERS Click on the OPEN FILE button TIMERE The following window will open Open Media file for Group 1 EES amp Al ek New Folder d German Practice Me German 1 xl The Music OF Germany Son German 1 Look in C German Open Mode r ipen Sour ideo le GITE EIE EC omy Al German Dialog EF German D
52. or Transport Controls Transferring Master Digital Programs to Student Recorders Open File close File Collect Recordings Set Bookmarks Clear Bookmarks Start Position Disable windows Enable Windows show file List PC Screen Control Pairing Students Conference Groups Modeling Students Advanced Operations Overview Virtuoso A Patterns B Response Analyzer PC Control A Internet B Launch File C Copy File To Desktop D Disable Windows 10 11 12 13 13 13 14 17 19 19 19 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 E Lock KYBD MICE SOLOIST DIGITAL PC COMPARATIVE RECORDER Attending Calling the Teacher Opening Files Volume Controls File Playback and Recording Controls Closing Saving File Exiting Soloist Digital PC Comparative Recorder Advanced Operations Overview Soloist Sony Text Player Automatic Comparative Recording Bookmarks Variable Speed Playback Text to Speech TTS Speech Recognition Composer Clip Sequence Editor ommoos SECTION II FOREIGN LANGUAGE LINKS Page 35 SECTION III LEARNING LAB ACTIVITIES Page 39 20 20 2 24 223 28 THE FOLLOWING ARE BASIC SAMPLE ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS Activity No 1 Comprehension Contest Activity No 2 Audio Journals Activity No 3 C mo est C mo es Activity No 4 Daily Activities Activity No 5 Maps and Directions Activity No 6 Video Segments 40 4 42 44
53. original program material that is on the left track while your voice is being recorded on the right track this is called Comparative Recording If there is no file open when you press Record you ll start recording your voice to a new file on both tracks the title bar will indicate New Recording If you open a video or MIDI file clicking Record will cause your voice to be recorded to a new WAV file that is synchronized with the video MIDI file Note This button is disabled if you open a sound file that is monaural a single track prohibiting you from recording over the original material 21 CLOSING SAVING FILES Whenever you start recording with your Soloist Digital PC Comparative Recorder software digital audio data is constantly being written to a temporary file it is always being saved much like a cassette tape Unless you permanently save your recording the temporary file will be automatically deleted Close File Click the Close File button shown above to close the PC digital audio sound file Gf no file is open this button will be disabled If the teacher turns on Lid Lock this button will be hidden If you ve done any recording before you click the Close File button you will be asked if you want to permanently save your recordings 28 Close File Permanent save recording before closing Click yes and you will see the following dialog Save Sound File As 2 xl Folder Sele
54. osition Virtuoso automatically displays the STUDENT MONITOR BUTTONS for the number of student units licensed as part of the system By clicking on these buttons 1n conjunction with the MONITOR button in the voice communications section of Virtuoso you are able to unobtrusively monitor listen to individual students The buttons are also used to turn off student units to assign the students to GROUPS to designate a student pair or group as a model for the class Virtuoso displays the STUDENT MONITOR BUTTONS in gray until the corresponding student unit is turned on When a student is assigned to a GROUP or to LIBRARY MODE the color of the button changes yellow blue red green or violet to correspond to the assigned GROUP When the corresponding student unit is being monitored the border around the button 1s highlighted 1n the color selected in the USER OPTIONS dialog In addition depending on the configuration of your system and options selected under VIEW the students names logins seat numbers and the status of their units may also be displayed on the MONITOR BUTTONS First Line Student Display Name or Login Second Line Either the MONITOR MARK x or the MODEL MARK M and Student Call Indicator CALL can be displayed in the second line Also the PAIR or CONFERENCE number can be displayed Third Line Seat Number and or STUDENT UNIT STATUS or responses to ANALYZER questions can be displayed in the third line TALK
55. otal number of non absent students 1s calculated and shown This display is updated once per second 5 Answer Buttons 1 5 A E or T F The Answer buttons blink red when Data Set is first selected Once the lt correct answer button is selected the corresponding button turns green 6 Answer Response Ratio Graph The Response Analyzer includes a bar graph display with five columns Each column corresponds to the five possible answers After a question is started the percentage of students selecting each response is shown in the bar graph This display is updated once per second 7 Auto Close Display The current User Options settings for the Analyzer Auto Close function are displayed 14 8 Instructions Display The Instructions display provides step by step instructions for operating the Sony Response Analyzer 9 Settings Button The Settings button automatically opens the User Options dialog to the Analyzer tab enabling you to quickly change the optional analyzer settings 10 Results Button The Results button opens the Results dialog enabling further analysis and or archiving of the student responses refer to Analyzer Results below 11 Automatic Testing EXECUTE and STOP buttons Using these buttons you can have the Analyzer automatically administer a test that you prepare in advance Refer to Automatic Analyzer Testing Response Analyzer Operation While students are responding to questions the s
56. ound card can still record audio if the appropriate slider on the Record side is turned up Note that with some sound cards adjusting a slider on the playback side also adjusts the corresponding slider on the recording side 20 FILE PLAYBACK AND RECORDING CONTROLS The File Playback and Recording Controls includes the controls you need to playback and record supported files BT TT TES MSGreeting_ avi SONY PLAY SOUND VIDEO RECORDING LL IL J e oJ 6 lt lt gt m E Counter 03 46 7 The counter displays your current position within the open file or new recording The format is in minutes seconds and tenths of a second If you have a file open and hold the mouse button down on the counter the counter will display the total length of the open file 25 If you right click on the counter a pop up counter will appear where you can enter an exact time to have Soloist position the file Also along the bottom of the counter you may see a bar graph meter showing the relative level of the audio material this is dependant on the capabilities of your sound card When recording try to keep the green portion of the meter as high as possible without having the red portion light up If your PC is connected to the Sony Symphony Multimedia Learning System when the teacher selects you as a Model when other students can listen to your voice you will see the word MODEL
57. pen a video file this Play Sound button will appear along the top of the Position Scrollbar By clicking this button you can choose to listen to either the sound of the video file or the sound of your recording if you ve made any With some PCs it is possible to play the sound of both at the same time your Soloist software will automatically detect if your PC can do this Note that this button only affects what you ll hear when you play the files When you record with a video MIDI file open you will hear both the video MIDI sound and your voice Fast Forward Cue 21 Click this button to have Soloist fast forward the current file You will see the Position Scrollbar begin to move forward slowly at first then at a faster pace Clicking almost any other button will stop the fast forward Pressing the gt key on your PC keyboard will also fast forward the file If you double click this button Soloist will immediately advance to the end of the file Hold the mouse button down on the Fast Forward button to Cue play fast the Wav file does not apply to any other format and it will play at two times normal speed allowing you to quickly locate points in the file If the file was playing before Cue was started playback will resume when it is released The track s selected for playback will be heard during cueing Record Click this button to begin comparative recording If a sound file 1s open you ll hear the
58. rd Commands to see Format Information about the open file Note You may also open files that have been created for Automatic Comparative Recording 23 19 VOLUME CONTROLS Depending on how your Soloist Digital PC Comparative Recorder software is configured you may see the Volume Controls BUTTON immediately to the right of the Record BUTTON These controls adjust your PC s sound card input and output levels for the signals that Soloist uses They are the same controls that you can adjust with the Windows Volume Control program When you click the Volume Button the Soloist Volume Controls window above will appear This window can be moved to any location on the screen and unless your Windows Taskbar is disabled you can also minimize it NOTE Use extreme caution when adjusting these controls as it 1s possible to generate very loud sound in your headset or to cause very loud feedback Since the capabilities of every sound card are different you may or may not see all the slider controls as illustrated above Drag a slider up to increase the volume and down to decrease the volume Playback Controls The left portion of the Volume Controls window is for adjustment of playback levels The Playback Slider Control labeled MASTER is used to adjust the overall volume of playback sounds If your PC is not connected to the Sony Symphony Multimedia Learning System you probably see a slider labeled MIC This slider
59. s in the File Type drop down list or simply give your file an extension of mp3 While the file is being converted from PCM format to MPEG Layer 3 format you will see a progress indicator The conversion time will be dependent 29 on the length of your recording the speed of your computer s microprocessor and the Bit rate selected in your configuration settings If you want to save your recording as a ZIP compressed file select ZIP Compressed Files in the File Type drop down list or simply give your file an extension of zip While the file 1s being compressed you will see a progress indicator The conversion time will be dependent on the length of your recording and the speed of your computer s microprocessor If the Folder Select frame 1s shown you can click these buttons to quickly return to the default folders for open lessons or saving recordings If the File Properties frame is shown you can choose to save your recording as either a stereo default or a monaural file A monaural file 1s a single track which requires half the storage space of an equivalent stereo file If you choose the monaural option you can then choose to save either a mix of both the Program track and your Drill track or just your Drill track recording If you choose the latter you will then have the option to Remove Silence from your recording before saving This feature will scan through your entire recording and
60. s you ll see the following dialog box that gives you the opportunity to save your changes before exiting Sony Soloist LE s If you haven t made any recordings your Soloist Digital PC Recorder software will immediately shut down 3l 23 ADVINCED OPERATIONS SOLOIST In addition to the basic operations outlined in Section I the Sony Virtuoso Soloist Learning Lab has many advanced operations functions and capabilities Below are listed a few of the most popular functions We encourage you to explore the detailed Help Screens that are included in the Virtuoso Instructor Control Software and the Soloist Student Recorder for the detailed instructions of how to use these functions SONY TEXT PLAYER See activity on page 50 Soloist can open display and play the text in ASCII text format txt and Rich Text Format rtf files in its built in Text Player window Using Soloist s transport buttons text files can literally be played and synchronized voice recording is possible While the primary purpose of the Text Player 1s to use text files as the program material allowing you to record your voice while reading it can also be used to synchronize text with sound video and MIDI program files The Text Player should not be confused with Soloist s built in Text Editor which enables displaying and editing of text files by opening them via the File Open menu in the Text Editor or when a t
61. search at MSU http polyglot cal msu edu clear internet internetlinks html The Hall of Literature and Language Spain Russia Eastern Europe Austria and foreign press media links NCBE Language and 35 Education Links National Center for Bilingual Education teacher and www tenet edu academia lang html Dave s ESL Cafe IS truth Boake Carter Contact us ESL Cafe News Description Extensive ESL site including many useful links to jobs resources message boards and chat rooms WW eslcafe com Foreign Languages Department Learning Web Sites culture and language education maps travel and the Spanish language and Hispanic hot Excellent Spanish links and more Sciences Gateway Foreign Languages hot Description Part of David Levin s Learning Web Sites a guide intended primarily for high school educators who www ecnet net users edlevin flanguages html Education Planet Linguistics and Language Arts Page Multicultural Education Project Web Site Information and links TESOL Linguistics Foreign Language Education English for Specific Purposes English As A www educationplanet com search Linguistics and Language Arts The Official Web Site for the Test of English as a Foreign where English is the language of instruction Educational Testing drawn from the higher education community The TOEFL test Quick Links Description Official site of the Tes
62. sh and will apply the currently selected Record Length 2 Current Segment Frame The Current Segment frame indicates the start and end time of the current segment as well as its length Click the Play Stop gt BUTTON to listen to stop the current segment Once the end of the segment is reached playback will automatically stop and the next segment will be selected This allows quick aural review or the beginning and end of each segment Click the Delete X BUTTON to remove the current segment Click the Add Current Time 00 27 5 BUTTON to mark the end of a segment and add the current time to the Segment List The time shown in the BUTTON is the same as the time shown in Soloist s main window time counter The currently selected Record Length will be automatically assigned to the segment 3 Record Length The Record Length time for each segment can be set by choosing from the dropdown list A record length of Program Length means the record time will be the same as the length of the that segment Program Length x1 5 means the record time will be one and a half times as long as that segment and Program Length x2 means it will be two times as long 54 In addition you can choose from the available fixed number of seconds or directly enter any number of seconds from 0 to 120 A record length of zero means students will hear the program but not be able to record this may be useful if th
63. t of English as a Foreign Language TOEFL Includes online tutorials practice www toefl org Language Education Technology etc Amherst College Great Links by Five College for second and foreign language educators Association of Language Lab Directors for Higher Education FIPSE Fund www umass edu langctr langlearn html MEL Language for over 150 languages and links to 30 free translating sites to Language See Also Foreign Language Education Resources See Also English mel lib mi us humanities HUM language html Spanish Foreign Language Links including course information Education WWW Servers in Network Information Center Links to information on to the MCPS Foreign Language home page www mcps k12 md us curriculum lang LinksSpan html Region 8 Education Service Center Foreign Language Links WWW Foreign Language Resources J Links Meta Index Categories Links to sites of interest including art business education news recreation science www r8esc k12 in us Instruction TeacherLinks ForeignLang htm The Human Languages Page is now iLoveLanguages Your Guide Foreign Language Education Program University of Central Florida Informational areas of 36 interest research and links to other sites www ilovelanguages com index php category Schools 7CUniversities CHAMPS ELYSEES INC Links Page audio magazines for foreign homework h
64. the recording should be save as a MONAURAL recording 2 xi Save Sound File As Save in X Sony Soloist e rt FE File Properties Stereo 2 Track Monaural 1 Track Program Drill tracks Drill track only Remove Silence Silence Threshold d F File name Lesson 1 Save as Ippe wav Sound Files wav Cancel 47 Incorporating Multiple Files Whenever Soloist opens a sound video or MIDI file it searches for files in the same folder with the same name but a different file extension This allows you to create a variety of multimedia activities such as an audio file supported by text and or a photo or video supported by text Example One Create an audio file and then support it with a vocabulary list or grammatical explanation The following shows a text file la tienda txt that was created to support the audio file la tienda wav When the students open the wave file to practice their vocabulary the text file opens simultaneously i Sony Text Editor laropasth a P n D B x File Edit Format LA ROPA Repita por favor La blusa La bufanda Los calcetines a camisa Sony Soloist la ropa way E La camiseta a La cartera SONY La corbata La chaqueta La falda Las medias fo CSCSSC SC a MI RE NE El vestido EA ben Los zapatos Students are able to practice using the vocabulary list or they are abl
65. ut an extension of txp for ASCII text player files If such a file exists it will be opened in the Text Player For example using Soloist open the text file created in Part One USAI txt While the text is scrolling record your voice along with it Save the recording as USA1 wav in the same folder as the USA I txt Using windows explorer go to the file USAT txt right click on the file and click on the rename option Rename the file USAT txp If you are asked if you are sure you want to change the file extension click on yes Now the students are able to open the USA1 wav file using Soloist the USA1 txp will not be visible as a choice and the Text Player will also open with the appropriate text Students can listen and follow the text If the file has been created to allow for the students to respond they can do so by clicking on the red record BUTTON You may want to create a dialog text file record the part for one of the people involved in the dialog and have your students record the part for the second person using the scrolling script Settings for the Sony Text Player are located in Sony Soloist System Configuration Click on the Edit Other tab For more details and information please see Sony Text Player by clicking on Sony Soloist Help in the upper right hand corner of the Soloist Recorder Soloist Virtuoso Activities ACR Automatic Comparative Recording Files
66. wice No Record Play Program Record Voice Play Program Twice Record Voice Play Program Record Voice Play Voice Play Program Twice Record Voice Play Voice Play Program Record Voice Play Program Play Voice 3 Repeat Repeat can be None 1 2 or 3 indicating the number of times to repeat the mode pattern for each segment This applies to all segments of the exercise 4 ACR Exercise Parameters e When an ACR file is opened students can be prompted that it is an ACR e exercise informing them of the ACR mode of the exercise D Sony Soloist Auto Compara Pa l In addition they can be given a unomnis choice to open the file as an ACR This Is an Auto Comparative Recording EMETCISE exercise or to open it as a normal ou will hear the Program two times and then be able to record your voice program file Not shown here The ACR mode can be shown in Soloist s Title bar the blue bar at the top of the main window indicating the mode such as Play Record and Review If this item is checked the Time Counter in Soloist s main window will count down the remaining time for the Play or Record segment letting the user know how much time remains In addition the color of the Time Counter will be green during playback red during recording and yellow during review Soloist s Title Bar can be set to flash while recording giving an additional indication to the stude
67. xt or rtf text file exists with the same name as an opened sound video or MIDI file AUTOMATIC COMPARATIVE RECORDING ACR See activity on page 53 Soloist includes the ability to execute comparative recording exercises automatically a mode called Automatic Comparative Recording When any media file is opened all supported formats Soloist automatically determines if it includes an Automatic Comparative Recording exercise ACR exercises automatically play segments of the program material can automatically record your responses can re play the program segment can re play your recording and can repeat the process or continue to the next segment The length of time to record a response for a segment may be the same amount of time as the segment some multiple of the length of the segment or some fixed time When an ACR exercise is opened you may be prompted that it is an ACR exercise informing you of the ACR mode of the exercise In addition you may be given a choice to open the file as an ACR exercise or to open it as a normal program file BOOKMARKS Normally the word BOOKMARKS appears above these buttons except 1f your PC 1s connected to the Sony Symphony or Virtuoso Multimedia Learning System and the teacher starts a Response Analyzer Test Whenever a sound file is open clicking on any one of these buttons when its light is off will set it as a bookmark and its light will turn green Clicking on a bookmar
68. xt file will automatically be opened and displayed in the Sony Text Editor If a txp or rtp text file exists scrolling text file that text file will automatically be opened and displayed in the Text Player You can also open files with an extension of txp or rtp directly into the Text Player using Open File button in Soloist s main screen T car Ixt KB Test Document 3 4 02 3 03 PM ru la rapa rtf JKB Rich Test Format 10 3 01 4 74 PM 4 la ropa waw 3 UKB Wave Sound 3 6 00 8 40 PM ru la ropa rtf 3KB Rich Test Format 10 3 01 1 32 PM E la tienda bmk 1KE BME File v02 5 54 PM la tienda txt TRE Text Document 10 9 07 1 05 PM H la tienda waw l BKB Wave Sound 3 5 02 6 54 PM questions bmk TRE BME File 10 21 01 5 56 PM questions way 3 138KB Wave Sound 3 6 00 8 53 PM E TP Destinas txp KB TAP File 3 3702 4 47 PM TP Destinos wav 1 095KE Wave Sound 10 3 01 4 46 PM n USAT tep KB T amp P File 3 4 02 5 53 PM d USAT wav 1 137KE Wave Sound 3 3 02 3 31 PM If a Hyper Text Markup Language HTML file exists in the same folder as the sound or video file that you open with the same filename but with an extension of either htm or html that text file will automatically be opened and displayed in the Sony Web Browser HTML Viewer You can also directly open HTML files into the built in HTML Viewer using Soloist s Open File dialog Once a file is opened you can press one of the PC Keyboa
69. zer If a Roster file is opened prior to starting the Response Analyzer you are prompted to add the individual scores percentage of correct responses to the Roster file with the following dialog If you select Yes the following dialog 1s displayed permitting the entry of a Test Weight factor for the test The test weight factor is selectable from 0 to 10 counting the test and individual scores the selected number of times in the student average If you select a test weight of zero the test score will be added to the roster but NOT included in the computed average score for the students Each student s score along with the test weight factor 1s then added to the currently opened roster file note that the roster file is not automatically saved If you start the Analyzer again during the same session the following dialog will appear Analyzer Results Since the Virtuoso Software stores only student s scores percentage of correct responses in a roster file the Analyzer Results dialog 1s used to provide more comprehensive detailed analysis of the student responses In addition you can print and or save the detailed results The Analyzer Results dialog can be opened after each question 1s administered allowing analysis to be performed as the test is in progress 1 Student Results The STUDENT RESULTS portion of the dialog displays two grids On the left 1s the Student Scores grid that has two columns and displays all students

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