RealEnglish.com is known in the community for its collection of EFL/ESL Videos, but the new Lessons based on the videos are rich resources for students & teachers, and deserve a short pedagogical analysis.



mrsdurff: yes teresa worry not

teresadeca (Portugal):   

Oronoque Westland: across the river

plnaugle: Hello everyone.

teresadeca (Portugal): i'll try to be there, oronoque, though a bit late for me

mrsdurff: where Jeff is there is such great archiving

Nina Liakos: deafening silence

mrsdurff:   

teresadeca (Portugal): oronoque, if i can't find the place, i'll IM you, ok?

teresadeca (Portugal): to tp me

Rita Zeinstejer:   

Nina Liakos: Miguel and Adolfo, how well do you understand?

Miguel Mendoza: quite a lot

mrsdurff: 20 listeners on simulcast too

Moira Hunter: who is the moderator here?

mrsdurff: you are quite famous

Moderator (Session Leader 1): I did it as moderator

Moira Hunter:   

Nina Liakos: I love Real English!

hanaa khamis: i havent visited the site in 3-4 yrs

mrsdurff: i know Fake English

Nina Liakos: LOL

plnaugle: mrsdurff You're so funny.

mrsdurff: 42 listeners! wow mike!!

JenW: why can't you add in a newsletter widget???  or do you not wish to??

susan burg: just got here

susan burg: hello to all

Nina Liakos: Hi Susan

susan burg: Nina!

Nina Liakos: yeah, it's me, still here   

Nina Liakos: We can find slow, artificial speech easily

Nina Liakos: but it is difficult to find easy ENglish that is NOT slow and artificial

susan burg: how long has the session been going on?

Nina Liakos: about 5 minutes Susan

mrsdurff: 10 mins

susan burg: good!

mrsdurff: oh 5

Moderator (Session Leader 2): you can use this to pass (google friend connect) on your newsletter

mrsdurff: new math confuses me

Nina Liakos:   

Nina Liakos: Who does your interviews in other countries?

Moderator (Session Leader 2): http://www.real-english.com/reo/29/unit29.html

Nina Liakos: All you can do is recommend. After that it's out of your hands (like parenting, actually)

Nina Liakos: web tour, Mike

Nina Liakos: at the top

Nina Liakos: globe

Moira Hunter: globe

Moira Hunter: blue globe icon

Rita Zeinstejer: the blue globr

Nina Liakos: icon at the top

Moderator (Session Leader 1): I did it

Nina Liakos: I se it

Moderator (Session Leader 1): it's there

Moderator (Session Leader 2): we see the webpage now

Moderator (Session Leader 1): you can move it around

Moderator (Session Leader 1): we can see it

Moderator (Session Leader 2): it is

Marlene G. Forney: I see it

Miguel Mendoza: it has loaded here

Moderator (Session Leader 1): can I speak?

Rita Zeinstejer: we see it, Mike

Marlene G. Forney: It needs a plug in

Moderator (Session Leader 1): vance

adolfo arrieta: I see it

Nina Liakos: click on the mic

Nina Liakos: ok

Buthaina AlOthman: Hi All..

susan burg: lesson 29 exercise

susan burg: hi Buth!

Dennis Oliver: Salaam, Buthaina!

Buthaina AlOthman: Salam Dennis   

Dennis Oliver:   

anitha devi: Hi Dennis

derrallg: Hi Dennis

Dennis Oliver: Hi again, Anitha.

teresadeca (Portugal): hi buth!

Dennis Oliver: Hey, Derrall.

Rita Zeinstejer: tough to understand you, Vance

teresadeca (Portugal): long time no see

Buthaina AlOthman: Hi Tere

anitha devi: Hi Buth and Teresa

Marlene G. Forney: I was moving the webtour window on my monitor

teresadeca (Portugal): hi anitha

Moira Hunter: the squirels are getting him   

Buthaina AlOthman: enjoying your retirement time @Tere

Marlene G. Forney: Does that impact what the group sees?

Moira Hunter: squirrels

Moderator (Session Leader): http://www.real-english.com/reo/29/29-1.htm

Rita Zeinstejer: lol Moi

Buthaina AlOthman: no sound here in Kuwait..am I the only one?

doug symington: audio good here

Moderator (Session Leader 1): I could also say you might want to do without video if you are getting bandwidth lags

anitha devi: I seem to be having problem in getting connected got a bit late joining in Dennis

Buthaina AlOthman: ok, sound is good now

Miguel Mendoza: yes

susan burg: audio is okay here

Dennis Oliver: I was also late for this presentation, Anitha.

Moderator (Session Leader 1): yes

anitha devi: yes but now everything is fine dennis

Moderator (Session Leader): http://www.real-english.com/reo/29/29-1.htm

Buthaina AlOthman: listening to the audio file now

Moderator (Session Leader): good

JeffLebow: listened to both.  Look forward to hearing about the software behind the record function.

michaelc: done

susan burg: loaded

Nina Liakos: done

Moderator (Session Leader): Please raise your hand after watching video and listening to audio

Marlene G. Forney: wow

Oronoque Westland: sorry. I need to go

Marlene G. Forney: this is sophisticated software

Marlene G. Forney: Are you there Mike?

Moderator (Session Leader): bye Oronoque

Moderator (Session Leader): yes

Nina Liakos: wb Mike

mrsdurff: video now

Marlene G. Forney: Nice neon

Buthaina AlOthman: the audio worked fine but the video's sound was too low

Marlene G. Forney: Who developed the software you use?

Dennis Oliver: It took a while to be able to watch and listen to the video.

Marlene G. Forney: Did you buy it, customize, write?

JeffLebow: mic's not on

susan burg:   

Moderator (Session Leader): http://www.real-english.com/reo/29/29-1.htm

Nina Liakos: talking to the walls Mike?

Moderator (Session Leader 1): oh I don't know, I like to hang out with friends online ...

susan burg: me too

Marlene G. Forney: Now I see it's from Open Source Nano-Gong

Moderator (Session Leader 1): particiapte in conferences

Moderator (Session Leader 1): socially network, things like that   

Marlene G. Forney: Good one

Buthaina AlOthman: cool, I got one error for not using capitalization   

Moderator (Session Leader 1): I can take them off

Moderator (Session Leader 1): jeff has a hand up, any reason?

anitha devi: I did try these exercises earlier when I was trying to find resources for listening comprehension exrecises. VERY USEFUL and INTERSTING

anitha devi:   

anitha devi: INTERESTING

Dennis Oliver: Authentic material is very useful and interesting . . . and also very different from what we see in textbooks.

Moderator (Session Leader 1): a lot of work

Dennis Oliver: Even in 30 seconds, for example, he uses an extraordinary variety of simple and complex structures and vocabulary.

Dennis Oliver: (he = Joe)

Nina Liakos: I got it wrong because I wrote "What does he like to do for fun?" instead of "What do you...?"

anitha devi: hard work and I also came to know that somebodyelse tried to own it -plagiarism

Nina Liakos: "just-in-time" learning

Moderator (Session Leader): http://www.real-english.com/reo/29/29-2b.htm

Marlene G. Forney: But you the Instructor have had time to craft activities and specifics of the exercises

anitha devi: So I came to know this  useful resource which is authentic and Mike Marzio's hard work

Moderator (Session Leader 2): can they download their own recording?

Nina Liakos: nice feature

Nina Liakos: What I don't understand is how you have time to do all of this in such exacting detail

Moderator (Session Leader): http://www.real-english.com/reo/29/29-3.htm

Nina Liakos: --> at the top

michaelc: it's fine

michaelc: mike

Nina Liakos: Yes, it's fine

Dennis Oliver: Yes, fine.

doug symington: working well

Moderator (Session Leader 1): like,.. like?

anitha devi: When you create these materials you spend a lot of time with the content getting the feeddack and putting it on the  HP / websites? How do you evaluate these materials for the appropriacy of learner level?

mrsdurff: Ike does Like

michaelc:   

Nina Liakos: Yeah, sometimes real English gets messy

Nina Liakos: ESL is so neat and orderly

Dennis Oliver: It seems to me that he uses "like" to mean "for example."

mrsdurff: mine too nina

Nina Liakos: The only trouble is native speakers don't speak ESL

mrsdurff: true

michaelc: love it!

mrsdurff: step mother was German - oi veh

Rita Zeinstejer: but they speak the English stds will need to understand when they travel   

Nina Liakos: alt. spelling (Yiddish) oy vay

mrsdurff: our sentence structures were all over the place

Nina Liakos: agree, Rita

mrsdurff: in Germany it is oi veh

Nina Liakos: I believe that ESL is a construct

Nina Liakos: It doesn't actually exist outside of the classroom

mrsdurff: i've seen that spelling in America

Rita Zeinstejer: yrah, Nina

Dennis Oliver: "Special English"

Nina Liakos: except maybe in the mouths of ESL teachers

mrsdurff:   

Rita Zeinstejer: and Oxbridge people

mrsdurff: oh we should talk about him behind his back

Nina Liakos: Who are they?

Rita Zeinstejer: Oxford + Cambridge

Nina Liakos: aha

Rita Zeinstejer:   

Nina Liakos: I was thinking of the American version, actually   

Rita Zeinstejer: similar difference

Rita Zeinstejer: Eng and USA formal lang different from lang spoken on streets

Dennis Oliver: Exactly, Rita.

Dennis Oliver: Joe's use of a glottal stop for "t" is difficult for many students to hear.

susan burg: wow I have you in color now MIKE!

susan burg: tuned u in

Moderator (Session Leader 1): a glo'al stop

Dennis Oliver: And native speakers of English don't realize that the glottal "t."

Dennis Oliver: that the "glottal" is different from the "t" in, for example, "television."

Rita Zeinstejer: it's a special issue in out Teaching Training college, pronunciation: glottal stop

Rita Zeinstejer: our

teresadeca (Portugal): need to go now, mike. ty!    

teresadeca (Portugal): bye everyone!

JeffLebow: would love to hear about site's community aspects and/or business model (or lack thereof)   

susan burg: yes, in Italy they discuss is

Rita Zeinstejer: bye, Tere!

Moderator (Session Leader): http://www.real-english.com/reo/38/38-15.htm

susan burg: Italian "T" is so different fom an Eng. ome

anitha devi: Yeah Dennis yesterday in my class we working on trying to get it right example published and not publisht as most Indian ESL students pronounce the ed endings they use the glottat stop at the wrong place.

anitha devi: we were working

susan burg: I have used this one Mike

michaelc: hilarious!

Dennis Oliver: I don't understand, Anitha. The "ed" in "published" isn't normally glottalized.

Rita Zeinstejer: need to leave, thank you, Mike! very interesting!

Dennis Oliver: At least not in North American English.

Moira Hunter: Grenoble, non?

susan burg: maybe have seen it anyway

michaelc: I have to go too Mike - a fantastic session  Mike.

anitha devi: but ESL Indian students make a mistake by pronouncing it that way

anitha devi: Dennis

Dennis Oliver: As a glottal t?

anitha devi: yes

Dennis Oliver: Ah, I see.

anitha devi: so we were working on how to correct it

Dennis Oliver: Of course!

Marlene G. Forney: English Star player

Dennis Oliver: The pronunciation of /t/ is truly problematic. It normally has about five variations.

anitha devi: Remedial learning Dennis

JeffLebow: http://www.englishstar.com/en/

Dennis Oliver: aspirated, unaspirated, flapped, glottalized, non-released

Moira Hunter: ExpoLangues?

Dennis Oliver: But native speakers of English hear all of these as only one sound.

anitha devi: Post graduate Mtech students need to work on these areas at my university

Moira Hunter: trademark problems are a real pain and very expensive

mrsdurff: did i miss anything?

anitha devi: very true Dennis but most of the Indian languages are syllable timed so there are sounds like this which haswe need to focus on

mrsdurff: working the rooms

anitha devi: which we need to

Dennis Oliver: Totally understood, Anitha.

anitha devi: my pleasure Dennis and happy sharing information

Dennis Oliver: Your materials are wonderful, Mike,

susan burg: you could be flattered that others are using your work....even if you are not benfitting

Dennis Oliver: And there's not a lot available that works with "everyday pronunciation" (or whatever one chooses to call it).

susan burg:   

Moira Hunter: @Susan - flattery often means loss in revenue for a company   

Dennis Oliver: Kudos, Mike!

susan burg: tring to be positive

Moira Hunter: Thank you Mike

susan burg: thnks

Miguel Mendoza: Great Mike!!!!!

doug symington: thank you, great presentation

susan burg: very bravo

adolfo arrieta: thank you Mike

anitha devi: At the end of the session can my question be answered: " When you create these materials you spend a lot of time with the content getting the feeddack and putting it on the  HP / websites? How do you evaluate these materials for the appropriacy of learner level?"

derrallg: thank you Mike

Nina Liakos: Very interesting Mike

doug symington: love the way you've incorporated media into lessons

anitha devi: thank you Mike hardwork

Nina Liakos: Thank you for Real English

Nina Liakos: It's a terrific site

Marlene G. Forney: I agree this is very complete

Moderator (Session Leader): Moira - please

Moira Hunter: squirrels got to you again Vance   

Marlene G. Forney: Where's the money?

JeffLebow: Have you published info about your Hot Potatoes hacks or other site building methods?

mrsdurff: $ ?

Marlene G. Forney: It seems all free or did we just access a sample lesson

Buthaina AlOthman: thanks, mike for the useful info. about your video lessons..

Moira Hunter: It's just to show you the list of questions - they just take the mic in the order

Marlene G. Forney: That sounds great

Moderator (Session Leader 2): pro bono

JeffLebow: earned lots of good educational karma

Marlene G. Forney: but I think as complete as your site appears

Moira Hunter: you're rich   

Moderator (Session Leader 2): lol

anitha devi: great

mrsdurff: Minhaaj ur Rehman aat http://www.learningtimes.net/wiaocevent1.html in 3 mins

Marlene G. Forney: it's likely you'll end up selling something to someone

Marlene G. Forney: I'll hope

mrsdurff: please clear/leave this room at 12:00pm

Dennis Oliver: It's interesting to me that a number of the ELT "superstars" offer as much as they can for free.

Marlene G. Forney: I second the comments of hard work

Marlene G. Forney: Assessment

Dennis Oliver: Some sell some services but provide others for free. Others offer everything for free.

Marlene G. Forney: Again, since you can offer it free for now I am grateful you're sharing your experience!

Dennis Oliver: (reference was to ONLINE ELT "superstars")

Moderator (Session Leader 1): go ahead and talk, we're waiting for Minhaaj to arrive at the next session

Dennis Oliver: I once worked for a well-known ESL/EFL textbook author who was in the same league as Alexander and O'Neill. The fellow I worked with said that proficiency levels are actually aritificial.

Dennis Oliver: artificial

Marlene G. Forney: Just applauding!

Marlene G. Forney: Bonsoir chez vous!

Sue L.: Thank you... very informative and good luck to you!

anitha devi: Proficiency levels do exist in ESL and EFL communities? Am I right dennis

mrsdurff: please go to next session now

Marlene G. Forney: Ici c'est le matin.

susan burg: nice to see you Mike

Dennis Oliver: Very fine job, Mike! Kudos!

Moira Hunter: Thanks Mike - great !

Moderator (Session Leader): Nice to see you all.  Thanks for coming.

doug symington: thx all

anitha devi: Great work and useful  resource for us as teachers.