Description
The web page and the respective application represent a tour guide in both audio and text format, containing information on seven sightseeing spots from the city of Iași: the Palace of Culture, Dosoftei House, Trei Ierarhi Monastery, Our Lady Queen of Iași Cathedral, Roznovanu Palace, Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Theatre. Each recording lasts around 1-2 minutes and contains information on the history of the respective landmark, its architectural features (arcade, incinta, portic, vitraliu, baptisteriu, mozaic, catapeteasma etc.), along with other culture and tourism related terms which need be addressed and explained in a pre-reading/pre-listening activities. The syntactic structure is comparatively complex and needs further support for students to comprehend.
Case study
Resursa „Iași – walking tour/La pas prin Iași” este unul din multele ghiduri turistice digitale ce pot fi găsite pe platforma https://izi.travel/ro/, dar și pe aplicația-analog pentru smartphone. Acest site ne oferă posibilitatea de a asculta tururi audio în mai multe limbi, inclusiv în română, despre diferite orașe, muzee, expoziții și destinații turistice populare. Excursiile audio sunt acompaniate de transcrierile textelor, ca atare putem alege modul de percepere al informației (audiere + lectură / audiere / lectură). Această pagină web este un bun ajutor pentru cursanții care vin să-și facă studiile la Iași sau plănuiesc să viziteze acest oraș. Sursa poate fi folosită de către studenții cu nivelul B2, deoarece textul turului conține termeni din domeniile arhitecturii, religiei și istoriei. Anna Kubasova, Universitatea de Stat din Sankt Petersburg / St. Petersburg State University / Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет
Guidelines
1. Teacher announces the topic – A walking tour of Iași.
2. Warm-up activity. Teacher asks the following questions: Where is the city of Iași? Is it a histrorical city? What do you know about its history? What historical places do you know in Iași?
3. Teacher shows students pictures with the Palace of Culture, Dosoftei House, Trei Ierarhi Monastery, Our Lady Queen of Iași Cathedral, Roznovanu Palace, Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Theatre. Teacher asks the following questions: When do you think these buldings were built? What do you think was located there in the past? What do you think is located there now?
4. Teacher divides the group into 7 teams. Each team has to listen to one of the 7 recordings and to write down the main data on the respective building. Teacher checks the correctness of the information written down by students.
5. Teacher asks students to prepare a 5-8 minute presentation about the respective building, based on the collected data and possibly using other sources of information or their own pic if the lecture takes place in Iasi..
6. If students are in Iași, teacher organises a real tour, with students assuming the role of a tour guide. If students are in another city, the presentations take place in a room with a multimedia projector.
7. As an extension activity, teacher can ask students to prepare a short virtual tour for his/her own city or any other city from her country, with a map, photos and a recording.
Achieved results:
- the use of specialised vocabulary from the target field
- the development of the skill of listening to a specialised text and extracting the relevant information
- the accumulation of knowledge in the field of Tourism
- the developmtn of the skills for the future profession (creating a tour guide)
Risks that have to be taken into consideration:
- students might face difficulties in understanding some terms from the recording because of the fact that the recordings are not accompanied by their written versions; teacher should provide the necessary assistance for the correct interpretation of the information.
Comprehensive approach
Capacity to match the needs of lecturers and students
Added value
The provided tangible improvements
Motivation enhancement
The capacity to motivate students to improve their language skills
Innovation
Effectiveness in introducing innovative, creative and previously unknown approaches to LSP learning
Transferability
Measurement of the transferable potential and possibility to be a source of further capitalisation/application for other language projects in different countries
Skills assessment and validation
Availability of appropriate tools for lecturers to monitor students’ progress and for students to assess own progress and to reflect on learning
Adaptability
Flexibility of the contents and possibilities for the LSP lecturers to adapt the contents to their and to students’ need
Usability
Assess the technical usability from the point of view of the lecturer and the student
Accessibility
Assess the accessibility from the point of view of the lecturer and the student
Comments:
The web page and the respective application represent a tour guide in both audio and text format, containing information on seven sightseeing spots from the city of Iași: the Palace of Culture, Dosoftei House, Trei Ierarhi Monastery, Our Lady Queen of Iași Cathedral, Roznovanu Palace, Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Theatre. Each recording lasts around 1-2 minutes and contains information on the history of the respective landmark, its architectural features (arcade, incinta, portic, vitraliu, baptisteriu, mozaic, catapeteasma etc.), along with other culture and tourism related terms which need be addressed and explained in a pre-reading/pre-listening activities. The syntactic structure is comparatively complex and needs further support for students to comprehend.
The set of landmarks is organized in a logical succession, as a route along the pedestrian street in the centre of Iași. We believe that this material is a valuable source for teaching specialized vocabulary in the field of Tourism, level B1-B2, as it contains a series of terms which describe the architectural and historical features of a building, also providing an example of good practice of the tourism advertising of a city. The complex vocabulary and syntactic structures may need support from the lecturer for better comprehension. The connection between the text, the audio material and the visuals are likely to increase se student’s motivation. In terms of usability, it is really easy to use as one just needs to click on each landmark and the associated audio material. The resource is versatile, texts/audios can be used independently or as a whole. This resource is easily reachable online, for both students and lecturers and user friendly. The content is really engaging and may enhance the students’ motivation.
Website of the Teaching Source:
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