Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

\UDIO by Max U. Bildersee Jew Language Materials Subde! Desirable!! Successful!!! 'hese are the three adjectives we hoose to underscore the changing laterials which are coming forward 1 the school language instruction ield. Subtle! This is the measure of hange. It is deftly and subtly tiend ig more and more to the needs of lassrooms, not of individuals so much s groups, not of particular machines nd highly controlled establishments, ut in the direction of intelligent ap lication in the chissroom. Materials re being offered which are funda lentally intended for group presen ition, face-to-face classroom use, jmmunications oriented and devel ped with the student in mind. Desirable!! This development has ng been awaited by educators who, terested in teaching and learning, ive eschewed the multiplicity of clinicians' dehghts to emphasize the gnity of the individual child in the assroom. Successful!!! This is the prediction. 'e predict immediate acceptance of e superior language instructional aterials, based on sound teaching chniques, materials and objectives liich are offered by such eminent iwcomers as Teaching Audials And suals (250 West 57 Street, New ok 19, N. Y.) and such older friends Educational Audio Video (57 heeler Avenue, Pleasantville, Y.), Spoken Arts (95 Valley Road, ;w Rochelle, N. Y.) and Folkways icords (117 West 46th Street, New rk 36, N. Y.) Teaching Audials and Visuals has S far placed emphasis on secondary lool French instruction. A limited la? Not really, because the emphasis language instruction is still on this el. They have produced six mutual ndependent combination recording/ istrip sets. The titles indicate the adth of the programs and take the dent listener— viewer to Paris, the |ach, Brittany, to a variety of worth le experiences, all typically French, yet all student learning oriented. h recording/filmstrip (they come |a set and you can indicate tape or at your pleasure) involves an illustrated experience such as a meandering trip through Paris at the height of the delightful summer season with pauses to observe the City and the living attitudes of Parisians. This is a factor in language appreciation— the appreciation of the people who speak the language. There is, first, an oral comprehension and dictation exercise for the student which is correlated with the filmstrip. The data is then presented rapidly, in typical conversational manner, as the student becomes attuned to the language. The recording includes questions for the student to answer (and there is time for the student to answer), and finally an exercise in dictation. The recording/filmstrip is not wholly self-sufficient and the function of the classroom teacher is in no sense subverted. This is in every sense u teaching and learning tool requiring continual mutual participation by the principals in the learning situation. The imaginative teacher will use the recording to foment discussion (in French, of course!) and she will use the filmstrip to invite students to prepare and to deliver their own foreign language commentaries on what is shown. Because the intent of the producers is definitely to implement instruction rather than to instruct, these materials are subtle, desirable and deserving of acceptance and consequent success. Whereas new ventures in education —and especially audiovisual education —tend to limited budgets and limited programs it is to the credit of Teaching Audials And Visuals that the first year's production will not be the last. We hear— and our sources are reliable —that the door to Spanish will be similarly opened soon, that elementary school materials are somewhere between the glimmer of an idea stage and the 'available for purchase' level. And we understand that they are much closer to the finished level, than the idea stage. Then, too, this company has additional recording projects in mind — and perhaps even some printed materials! A word to the wise budget-maker is sufficient: make room for what is coming! Audio Magazine Educational Audio Video has announced an ambitious new project in two languages, French and Spanish, and who is to gainsay that they will expand their services in depth as well as breadth— in the former to cover more than just secondary grades, and the latter to cover more than just two languages. The Audio Lingual Digest will be available as a series of records next school year in both French and Spanish. Samples have been produced and should be ordered and heard by all audiovisualists because this idea represents an advance which may well pervade other areas of instruction— Enghsh and the humanities. The Audio Lingual Digest is essentially a regularly issued audio magazine directed to instructional needs. There are two parts to each issue: the teacher or class recording and the student or individual homeworkstudy recording. The Volume I, Num /Icaiio CARDALOG® Record Reviews on Cards Box 1771— Albany 1, New York n Please enter_ .1 year subscription{s) to Audio D CARDALOG, including the FREE Audio CARDALOG Directory of Record Producers. 400 cards10 issues-$25.00 Please send us full information about Audio CARDALOG. Name Organization or School Address City and State — free offer expires September 15, 1961. Price for Directory $5.00 theredfter to subtcrlberi. li/CATioNAL Screen and Audiovisual Guidb — Mat, 1961 243