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Sound
Match is one of the 8 exercise groups included in the TaskMagic
package. Sound Match creates a wide range of exercises based on
matching sounds with text items. You can use sounds from anywhere
on your PC or network. You can also record your own sound files
using Windows Sound Recorder or other sound recording software. |
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Edit
Screen in TaskMagicCreate |
Front
Page in TaskMagicPlay |
Flashcards |
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edit screen in TaskMagic Create allows the teacher to
input up to 16 matching sounds and text items. The number
of exercises created depends on the number of matching
items. If all 16 items are input, 18 games and exercises
are automatically generated by the TaskMagic software.
Scroll down or click here
for more information about using Sound Match files,
or click on any of the game screens below to find out
more: |
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Drag
& Match |
3
in a row |
Against
the Clock |
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Pelmanism
1 Player |
Pelmanism
2 Players |
True
or False? |
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Multi-Match |
Tower
Block |
Pool |
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Football |
Doors |
Type |
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Jumbled
Words |
Hangman |
Maze
II |
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Invaders
II |
Snake |
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Making
Use of Sound Match Files |
The
order in which exercise types are displayed on the Sound Match front
page does not represent a particular sequence. It was never intended
that students should attempt all of the exercises for a particular
file in a particular sequence. In fact, nor was it intended that
students should attempt to complete all of the available exercise
types for a particular file. |
Users
of TaskMagic (teachers & students) should select the most appropriate
exercise types available depending on: the context; whether they
are using a whiteboard or individual PCs in a computer room (or
at home); the level of text input; the type of information being
presented; the point they are at in the learning sequence; whether
it’s for a starter, a plenary, a presentation or the main
element of a lesson; the time available etc. |
When
working with an interactive whiteboard, the teacher has total control
over the exercises and activities selected. When working in an IT
room, however, it is important for teachers to maintain control
over the exercises and activities that the students attempt. It
was never intended that students should be told to open a particular
file and then attempt the available games in any order they like.
Teachers should make it clear to students which activities they
are to attempt and in which order, or alternatively they should
make it clear which activities they don't want them to attempt.
For example, many teachers tell their class to start with Multi-Match
and not to move on to the next exercise until they have a 100% score.
The activities you choose will depend on your own professional appreciation
of the value of each activity bearing in mind all of the factors
mentioned above (time, context, stage etc.). A useful strategy is
to reserve many of the more game-based activities until the end
of the session, then allow students 5 or 10 minutes to choose freely
from the activities available. It is also possible to limit the
exercises available by making direct hyperlinks to individual game
files - these can be created in TaskMagicCreate. |
This
section looks at all of the exercise types available in Sound Match
and attempts to put them into some sort of order of difficulty.
This is very difficult to do, however, as various elements need
to be weighed up in deciding just how difficult a particular exercise
is:
- the level of support (e.g. number of options in match activities)
- the type of activity (eg. matching, reordering, text input)
- time pressures
- penalties for incorrect answers
- whether items are displayed in a particular order or randomly
- whether the L2 sound is being matched with L1 text or L2 text
The following list is just a suggestion / a guideline / a starting
point. Some of the activities, such as Flashcards and Jumbled Words,
are appropriate for different stages of the learning process. |
NB.
The number of games made available in Sound Match depends on whether
or not a check box is clicked by the teacher when creating the exercise.
Type, Jumbled Words, Hangman, Maze II, Invaders II and Snake are
only made available when the check box is clicked, as these games
are only really appropriate when the text is L2 (ie. the target
language). |
When
the sound is to be matched with L1 text (ie. the student's first
language), Sound Match tests the student's ability to recognise
the word and understand its meaning. Because the text is in L1 (ie.
not the target language), you are advised not to
make available exercises requiring the spelling of the text item
by leaving the check box unselected. |
When
the sound is to be matched with L2 text (ie. the target language),
Sound Match tests the student's ability to recognise the sound and
associate it with the written form of the word or phrase. Because
the text is in L2 (the target language), you are advised to make
the spelling games available by clicking the check box when you
create the exercise. This way students are being tested on the recognition
and spelling of the words or phrases. |
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This is probably the easiest of the exercises.
- 1 in 3 multiple choice activity.
- If a student answers incorrectly, they can keep trying until
they get the correct answer.
- There is no time pressure.
- Items appear in their original sequence.
Can be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to give answers
- invite/select students to come to the board
- students write answer on mini-whiteboards or in books before
checking answer and moving to next question |
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1 in 4 multiple choice activity, where the aim is to answer
15 questions in a row and build a 15 storey tower block.
- No time pressure.
- 1 incorrect answer results in the Tower crumbling and the
student has to begin again.
- There is support in the form of four ‘play safes’,
where clicking on an incorrect answer incurs no penalty.
- This exercise requires a minimum of 15 inputs.
- Items appear in random order.
Can be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to give answers
- invite/select students to come to the board
- students write answer on mini-whiteboards or in books before
checking answer and moving to next question
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play the game as if it were "Who wants to be a millionaire?",
with the teacher offering a "50/50", students showing
hands or using mini-whiteboards for "ask the audience",
or choosing a class mate for "phone a friend"
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1 in 6 multiple choice.
- No time pressure to answer the questions, but a time limit
to pot the ball.
- 1 incorrect answer incurs a 15 second time penalty. A second
incorrect answer results in the loss of that ball (ie. the student
doesn’t get to play) and the student is shown the correct
answer.
- The ball has to be potted in the pocket over which the correct
answer was located. Potting the ball in the wrong pocket or
potting the white incurs a 100 point penalty.
- Items appear in random order.
Can be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard,
although it may be a bit time consuming in a whole-class environment.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to give answers
- invite/select students to come to the board |
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1 in 12 multiple choice.
- A football game for 2 players or teams.
- There is a time pressure to answer the questions, as failing
to answer in the time provided results in play passing to the
other team. The speed for answering questions can be changed
using the difficulty setting before starting the game.
- Players can opt for a timed game or a ‘first to…’
game.
- During play, the ball doesn’t always go to the intended
player when you pass or shoot. Shorter passes or shots have
a higher chance of being successful, so students are encouraged
to make short passes and therefore answer more questions.
- This exercise requires a minimum of 12 inputs.
- Items appear in random order. Can
be used on individual PCs, with students working in pairs,
or on an interactive whiteboard, where the class is split
into 2 teams.
IWB options:
- for each pass or shot, invite an answer from a member of
the relevant team. The teacher clicks the text as suggested
by the student. If they are wrong, they lose the ball to the
other team. Quickly invite an answer from a member of this
team. etc
- for each pass or shot, invite/select a student from each
team to come to the board. The student with control of the
ball has the first go at the question. etc.
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All of the items are on display, so the level of difficulty
depends on the total number of matching items. If all 16 matching
items are included, you have a 1 in 16 multiple choice activity.
- No time pressure.
- No penalty for incorrect answers, as incorrect answers are
removed when ‘Check’ is clicked, leaving only the
correct ones in place. Can
be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to give answers
- invite/select students to come to the board
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students write answers on mini-whiteboards or in exercise
books. Once they have finished the written exercise the teacher
can go through the answers in class, either by inviting answers
or calling students up to the board
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For 2 players or teams - like Os and Xs, but the game continues
until the grid is finished.
- All of the items are on display.
- No time pressure.
- An incorrect answer means that player doesn’t put his
O or X in the grid.
- This exercise requires all 16 inputs. Can
be used on individual PCs, with students working in pairs,
or on an interactive whiteboard, where the class is split
into 2 teams.
IWB options:
- invite/select students from each team to give answers
- invite/select students from each team to come to the board
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All of the items are on display (up to 16).
- Time pressure - the aim is to make all of the matches before
the time runs out. The time available depends on the number
of matching items and the length of the sound files.
- No penalty for an incorrect answer. Can
be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard. When
used in an IT room, it is a good idea for you to keep a record
on the board of the fastest times for a particular file, to
introduce an element of competition.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to give answers
- invite/select students to come to the board - this will
involve a lot of moving around the room quickly in order to
get the matches before the time runs out
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Memory game - finding the matching pairs.
- No time pressure.
- Keeps a record of the number of attempts, so the aim is to
find all of the matches in the lowest number of attempts.
Can
be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard. When
used in an IT room, it is a good idea for you to keep a record
on the board of the students who manage to find all the pairs
without any incorrect guesses, to introduce an element of
competition.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to give answers
- invite/select students to come to the board
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Memory game for 2 players or teams.
- No time pressure.
- Players / teams take alternate turns irrespective of whether
or not they find a pair.
- The winning player / team is the one with the most correct
matches. Can
be used on individual PCs, with students working in pairs,
or on an interactive whiteboard, where the class is split
into 2 teams.
IWB options:
- invite/select students from each team to give answers
- invite/select students from each team to come to the board
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Hangman game - guessing the word or phrase based only on its
shape.
- No time pressure.
- Overall score based on the number of correct guesses.
- A record of how many men have been saved and how many hanged
is kept at the top of the screen.
- Items appear in random order.
This
exercise is not recommended where the text is in L1, and so
this exercise is only available if the check box is selected
when creating the exercise in TaskMagic Create.
Can
be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard. When
used in an IT room, it is a good idea for you to keep a record
on the board of the the highest scores for a particular file,
to introduce an element of competition.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to give answers
- invite/select students to come to the board
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you can ask students to play their own Hangman game in the
back of their exercise books or on mini-whiteboards, using
appropriate vocabulary from the current exercise (eg. by displaying
the Drag & Match screen)
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A bit like a game of ‘Snap’ - you click when you
recognize a correct match.
- Time pressure - you have three seconds to recognise a correct
match. If you don’t click in this time, the game moves
on to another pair.
- A record of correct and incorrect clicks is kept, and these
are combined to give a total score.
- Items appear in random order. Can
be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard.
IWB options:
- invite choral “sí” / “oui”
/ “vrai” etc from class, each time the items change,
if there is a correct match (a bit like “repeat if it’s
true”)
- invite/select students to come to the board in turns until
they have found a True match
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The target word or phrase is blanked out, but the shape of
the word or phrase is shown. (If the word or phrase is longer
than 10 letters, then a group of 10 letters is blanked out.)
- The missing letters are displayed underneath the game box
in random order, and students have to click them in the correct
order.
- Time pressure - the student must click all of the letters
before the blocks fall to the bottom.
- 5 incorrect letter attempts results in all the blocks falling.
- Items appear in random order.
This
exercise is not recommended where the text is in L1, and so
this exercise is only available if the check box is selected
when creating the exercise in TaskMagic Create.
Can
be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard. When
used in an IT room, it is a good idea for you to keep a record
on the board of the the highest scores for a particular file,
to introduce an element of competition.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to give answers
- invite/select students to come to the board - best to have
the next student ready to ensure a swift changeover
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The target word or phrase is blanked out, but the shape of
the word or phrase is shown.
- The missing letters are to be found in the grid in snake
form. The grid is made up mainly of letters which appear in
the answer, which helps the student to think of the answer,
but not in the same way as with Invaders II.
- The aim is to click and drag through the missing letters
in the correct order.
- Time pressure - 40 seconds are available. After 10 seconds
the first letter is displayed. After 20 seconds the shape
of the word snake is shown. After 40 seconds the answer is
given. The score depends on how quickly the correct answer
is found.
- No penalty for incorrect answers.
- Items appear in random order.
This
exercise is not recommended where the text is in L1, and so
this exercise is only available if the check box is selected
when creating the exercise in TaskMagic Create.
Can
be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard. When
used in an IT room, it is a good idea for you to keep a record
on the board of the the highest scores for a particular file,
to introduce an element of competition.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to come to the board - best to have
the next student ready to ensure a swift changeover
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The target word or phrase is blanked out, but the shape of
the word or phrase is shown. (If the word or phrase is longer
than 10 letters, then a group of 10 letters is blanked out.)
- The missing letters are to be found in the game grid. The
grid is made up mainly of letters which appear in the answer,
which helps the student to think of the answer.
- Time pressure - running out of time results in the loss
of one of the three lives, as does being caught by the monster(s).
- An incorrect letter click results in the player getting
stuck for 2 seconds, increasing the risk of their being caught.
- Items appear in random order.
- Requires the use of the keyboard.
Suitable for use on individual PCs, not interctive whiteboard.
This
exercise is not recommended where the text is in L1, and so
this exercise is only available if the check box is selected
when creating the exercise in TaskMagic Create.
Because of the time pressure students will find this a difficult
exercise to complete. It is a good idea for you to keep a
record on the board of the highest score for a particular
file, to introduce an element of competition. |
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The exercise starts at the first available item and students
can attempt the questions in sequence or they can navigate
using the number grid.
- The shape of the target word or phrase is shown, but no
other support is given.
- A score is kept, which is the percentage of correct letter
attempts.
- No time pressure.
- An incorrect letter causes the text to go red and stops
the typing. Incorrect letters are shown in the letter grid
on the screen. The student cannot proceed until they find
the correct letter.
This
exercise is not recommended where the text is in L1, and so
this exercise is only available if the check box is selected
when creating the exercise in TaskMagic Create.
Can
be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard. When
used in an IT room, it is a good idea for you to keep a record
on the board of the the highest scores for a particular file,
to introduce an element of competition.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to come to the board
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students can write answers to each question on mini-whiteboards;
students can then be invited to the board to check their answer
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The student answers questions in order to open doors, in order
to collect the 6 items required to move on to the next level.
A plan of all of the rooms is shown at the top of the screen.
The higher the level, the fewer the doors available, so it
becomes more of a maze.
- If the exercise file has been saved with spelling activities
available (by selecting the check box in TaskMagic Create),
Doors uses a variety of question forms / linguistic demands,
depending on the level:
Level one is a 1 in 10 multi choice.
Level two takes letters from the word or phrase, which must
then be clicked in the correct order (eg. as with Invaders
II)
Level three shows the shape of the word or phrase but requires
the student to type in the missing information.
Higher levels combine elements of all of the above.
- If the exercise file has been saved without spelling activities
available (by leaving the check box in TaskMagic Create unchecked),
Doors operates as a 1 in 10 multi-choice at all levels.
- Time pressure - you are being chased around the maze of
rooms by a death figure. At first he moves very slowly, but
he gets progressively quicker.
- Penalty for incorrect attempt: the door doesn’t open.
Can
be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard. When
used in an IT room, it is a good idea for you to keep a record
on the board of the the highest scores for a particular file,
to introduce an element of competition.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to give answers
- invite/select students to come to the board
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This
exercise is not recommended where the text is in L1, and so
this exercise is only available if the check box is selected
when creating the exercise in TaskMagic Create.
Jumbled words is excellent for practising sentence structure,
and will only be available if there are two or more words in
each text item. Can
be used on individual PCs or on interactive whiteboard.
IWB options:
- invite/select students to give answers
- invite/select students to come to the board
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students can write answers to specific questions (as suggested
by the teacher) on mini-whiteboards (with or without the sound
as a prompt); students can then be invited to the board to
check their answer
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students can write answers to all questions as a written activity
in their exercise books (without using the sound), before
going through the exercise to check answers using the IWB
/ sound files.
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Flashcards simply runs through the matching items, showing
them either in the original sequence or in random order.
- It can be used to present new language to the class using
a whiteboard or projector, or for individual work at a PC.
- When used on a PC, it allows the student to test themselves
(by saying or thinking what the correct match will be) to
see if they know the answers.
- First look at the information in sequence, then again in
random order. You can do the same thing with an interactive
whiteboard.
- No penalty for getting it wrong, as there is no input to
be assessed.
- When working alone with a PC, the student can click the
"correct answer" button if they knew the correct
answer, or click the "wrong answer" button if they
didn't know it or were unsure. Wrong answers are then repeated
later
The student can choose to hear the sound before seeing the
text or vice versa. By default, if the text is in L1 (ie.
if the spelling activities are not available), the sound is
played before the text, so that the student can listen to
the sound and say the meaning. If the text is in L2 (ie. if
the spelling activities have been made available), the text
appears first, so that the student can read the text and attempt
to pronounce it correctly before listening to the sound.
If used to test understanding (ie. when sound is matched to
L1) this is possibly the most difficult exercise in terms
of its linguistic demands, as no support is provided at all,
although there is no requirement to spell the words, and no
evidence of a 100% score is shown. It could be seen as the
end objective of your TaskMagic session. If used to test pronunciation,
however, it could be used much earlier on in the process.
IWB
options:
- present the language in sequence
- at the end of a session (as a plenary) or to revise previously
taught language as a lesson starter: run through the information
in random order and invite/select students to provide an answer
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to check pronunciation during the learning process: show the
text and invite students to pronounce correctly before listening
to the sound
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students could write the answer for each question in exercise
books or on mini-whiteboards, before checking the answer and
moving on to the next question
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