MailVU- Speak up and Show yourself in English

http://www.mailvu.com/ 

What is it about?                                                                    

Click, record, and sent. With the three simple steps, a webcam, and a microphone, you can record your own video and share it with your friends through e-mail. It's not specifically designed for language learning. You can use it to record your greeting to say hello to your friends far away. However, it is indeed a good tool that can be used in language learning and teaching. 

Why is it good to language learning?                                     

Language learners can use mailVU to practice English speaking skills. The feature that it's easy to sent the video file through e-mail creates more interaction between teachers and students after school. Students can also practice what they want to record again and again until they are satisfied with it. It's also an excellent tool for distance learning.

How can it be used?                                                               

For teachers:

1. We can use mailVU to record short weekly lesson to our students, just like a video podcast. Students can both learn language knowledge and practice listening skills.
2. We can use it to give comments to students' work or presentation if there is no time in class.
3. We can answer students' question through mailVU in distance learning or virtual classrooms. 

For students:

1. Different kinds of speaking activities can be designed for students to complete through mailVU, like show and tell, story telling, or introducing a friend or a family member. Students can show the things they want to talk about, the picture book, or the person in front of the webcam. Students can complete the task at their own pace and feel more confident to speak English since they can always do it again. It raises students' confidence and also learning autonomy.
2. Students can also be asked to do an interview with their classmates or practice broadcasting a piece of news, record it, and sent it to the teacher.
3. With movable webcam, students can even record a short play as a team and share their work with friends.
4. Singing English songs is usually used in class to motivate students to learn and also help their pronunciation. Teachers might ask students to sing a complete English song as a task. MailVU can help shy students to sing aloud without worrying that they need to sing in front of the peers.
5. Teachers can also ask students to keep a reading diary through talking and recording the summary and their feedback. 
6. Students can even take turns recording their own weekly video podcast for other classmates to listen.

More Information                                                                   

• Russell mentioned mailVU when he was interviewed at IATEL about the Connected Classroom.  http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2012/sessions/2012-03-21/interview-russel-stannard