Audio Story

Here is my example of an audio story. You can click the link below, and read along with the text printed below.

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Picking Up Sticks (July 2012)

By: Eric Shellhase

A script for an audio story.

I recently moved to Garrison, NY.

I lived in Brooklyn for three years.  I came to New York City to leave Philadelphia.  Great city but I needed something new.  I came to New York with no particular plan, no connections, and no job.  But I made it work, with the support of my girlfriend, who came to New York to start grad school.  

I handed out fliers no one wanted and learned Manhattan.

I took a temp job taking photos for a company I can’t mention, famous for its online maps.  Taking photos, I learned Brooklyn.

I got a teaching job, and returned to ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), and I learned Queens.  I could get anywhere I wanted on the train, I could walk in any direction from my apartment, and get just about anything I needed.  And I found the school to begin my professional career as an English teacher.

So, I could make it work for a summer in Garrison, New York.  It’s a beautiful place.  Quiet.  Surrounded by woods.  And every night I discover at least one new species of insect frantically beating against my window.

If I forget to check the mail during the daylight, I won’t make it to the main road without a flashlight.

I did find work.  Yard work jobs I can’t get to without my girlfriend’s car.

I do a lot of digging...

shoveling...

weeding...

moving sticks and rocks...

and sweating.  

Hard, physical work.  Getting muddy.  Getting sunburnt and bee stings.  Getting poison ivy twice.  I could spot poison ivy now in any line-up.

Mind-numbing labor.  On one property, I am cleaning up the woods.  Picking up sticks.  In the woods.  For eight hours.  I’m lucky to have found some work, so what right do I have to complain?  But it doesn’t make it any less boring.  

Last Friday, I was cleaning the cellar of a shed.  Raking terracotta pots, and shoveling the rotted bags of dry cement, getting acquainted with a family of cave crickets.  Hunched over in the kind of crawl space one might expect an abduction case to end.

So bored, and so grossed out.  But I was making such interesting sound, rich with texture, and accidental melody.  So I began recording sound with my iPhone.

I carted wheel-barrows brimming with rubbish, across a truly stunning landscape.  So I began recording video.

While picking up sticks, I unearthed whole colonies of ants, making homes from logs and roofing tiles and an ingenious fortress in a dirt filled bottle.  So I started taking pictures.

This iPhone is a little old, a hand-me-down, and I am grateful.  But the camera sucks or my skills are severely wanting.

This photo on my screen does not convey the magnitude of the stick pile I have assembled.  

This video bouncing and cloudy does not capture any sense of adventure.

But the sound is pretty good.  Even with a microphone caked in dirt.

And for the first time since i started this yard work, which occupies so many mindless hours, I was excited.  I was finding stories.  I just don’t know how to tell all of them yet.

And picking up sticks and rocks was a performance I had to try to capture.

Language Learning Journal

When do you write outside the classroom?  Writing is an essential part of learning a language.  Writing is difficult, but writing gets easier when you write regularly (almost every day).

What is journal writing? Have a conversation with yourself on paper (or on the computer, or on your phone). Ask yourself questions.  Write the question and try to answer it.  The goal is to think as you write.  Write your thoughts, questions, confusions, frustrations, and accomplishments.  The goal is not to write something perfect.  This will be different from something you write to your boss or your school teacher. Your writing does not have to be error free to transform your experiences into lines of words.

Why keep a language journal? (The verb keep here means to maintain, keep a record, keep a log)

Here is a quote from an ESL student on keeping a journal: ”At the beginning, I was very skeptical and worried, finding hundred reasons it would be difficult. … By opening the journal and starting to write on a topic before prior thinking on what to write, I realized I would come up with some really good thoughts and observations of issues. So it helped us not in just improving our performance in written English, but also in training us to think, to reflect on issues, to think of the problems and try to find solutions. … (Arita, Kosovo)


Here are some questions you can use for your entries.

1. What did I learn today?
2. What am I confused about?
3. What is difficult for me?
4. How can I get help?
5. How do I feel?
6. How did I study? Was this helpful?
7. What did I read, listen to, or watch?
8. What do I want to ask in class?

Directions:
1. Buy a notebook you can carry everywhere.  It should fit into your pocket or purse.  (If you have a smart-phone, you can use this too.)  Write on the subway.  Write when you’re waiting on line.

2. You can write your journal in English and your first language.  I am trying to learn Russian now.  However, I only know some basic vocabulary and phrases, and I can’t write my thoughts in Russian.  I am a beginner.  Try to use as much English as you can.  

3. Audience: You are writing to yourself.  I will also ask you to share selections from your entries with the class.

4. Date every entry.  If you write more than once a day, write the time also.

5. If you are using a notebook, leave a page blank after every entry.  From time to time, we will go back and reflect on previous entries.

You can follow my Language Learning Journal here at Eric Learning Russian.

Necessary Reading Skills for a Meaningful Experience with a Novel

First we need to understand this title.
---What is a novel?  

---What are some famous novels?  What novels have you read in English for your first language?


---How can you have an experience with a book? Let’s think of an example.  Do you know a really good story-teller among your family or friends?  This person can probably make you laugh and cry at the same time. Speak with the person next to you, and Write about this person here.


---What makes a really good story teller?  What happens to you when you hear a really good story?


1.) Making Predictions

2.) Visualizing (making mental pictures)

a.) Setting

b.) Characters

i.) appearance

ii.) plot

3.) Fluency (Reading quickly, accurately, and with expression)

4.) Comprehension

a.) Plot

i.) Sequence

ii.) Cause & Effect

iii.) Background

iv.) Conflict

b.) Setting

i.) Setting (Visualization)

ii.) Culture

c.) Characters

i.) Beliefs

ii.) History (Background)

iii.) Motivations

iv.) Conflict

v.) Relationships (to other Characters)

5.) Making Connections
a.) Relating Book to Personal Experience
b.) Relating Book to Events in the World
c.) Relating Book to Other Stories

Welcome to Level 5 Advanced ESOL class!

You will receive a more thorough syllabus detailing the specific skills, topics, grammar, etc., that we will be covering until December.  This is a quick summary of my goals and plans for this class.

• We will read a novel in English.

• We will use technology to make movies and audio files to teach other students.  We have laptops and a wifi hotspot to access the Internet in class.

• We will use a classroom blog to share information.  Everyone will have a Google account.  We will set this up in class.  And we will communicate through email.

• We will learn about American History, and you will teach the class about NYC and the country you come from.

• We will make art, and practice especially with photography.  You may use your own cameras, and we have 12 flip cameras to share with the class to take pictures, and record video.

• We will discuss current events and news in NYC, the US, and the world.  And you will share your research with the class.

• We will study English grammar.

• We will spend time, every class, working on Listening, Speaking & Pronunciation, Reading, and writing.

• We will take field trips to museums, and other places.  

You will need:

Materials- Two notebooks: One notebook for class work, notes, homework, etc.  You will also keep a English Learning Journal.  My primary teaching goal is to improve your independence as a learner, and help you develop skills that can be applied to any learning.  You will observe and record your own learning habits like a scientist.  The goal here is to decided what is best for you.
Two folders or binders: One binder for handouts.  One binder for your writing.  We are going to keep a portfolio of your work.  The goal here is to observe improvement and patterns of difficulty.  Again, we are trying for something like a scientific observation.  

Patience- Why is it important for a student to be patient with herself or himself?

Self-Advocacy- I can’t help you if I don’t know you need help.  If you don’t understand, you need to tell me, or another classmate.  Let’s practice: What does it mean?