Photostory

I have chosen Photostory because it is a resource available for me and for the pupils in my class. Photostory is a program where you can make stories with pictures and add text and sound. You can put a different amount of pictures in series. To each picture you can write text and record sound so you can tell a story. In Photostory it is easy to put in new pictures, change order and to remove pictures and sounds. It is also easy to use your own voice and record sound to each picture. You can record sound to one picture at a time and you can record as many times you need. To make it work you need the program on your computer, if you want to record sound it helps to have a headset and if you want to take and use own photos you need a digital camera or an Ipad. With Photostory the pupils can develop different skills because it can be used for listening, reading, writing and speaking. Teachers can use Photostory for making stories in English the pupils can see and listen to. The pupils get opportunity to listen to English and at the same time see pictures as a help to understand the story. The teacher can make stories with topics and words suitable for the pupils in the class. Of course it takes some time to make your own story but you get a story wich is adjusted to the pupil in the class. A Photostory is one way to document the pupils work and also a help when assessing the pupils.   The pupils can use Photostory to make their own stories or presentations. They can use photos they have taken themselves in the surroundings and make a story out of them. They can paint own pictures, scan or take photos of them and use them in the Photostory. Photostory can be used to make stories, descriptions and presentations and it can include all the skills; listening, reading, writing and speaking but it is not necessary. If a pupil has difficulties reading English when recording it is easy to record a small part at a time and the others can help reading it first and then the pupil can repeat it. They can practice and prepare things they will say and they can record it several times until they get the result they are satisfied with. The pupils can see and listen to all stories the groups in the class have done. If the class has a blog the stories can be published there or if the school has a newspaper on the webb. The pupils can feel that the work they do will be read by someone else and perhaps it can get them to make a little extra work. When using Photostory in a class it may be necessary to teach them how to use Photostory before they get a task to make a story in English. Otherwise I think the teacher has to spend a lot of time only to explain how the program works and the English learning is not in focus.