Audacity is a free application that allows you to listen to, edit and record sound files. It is extremely useful if you are teaching a foreign language as it lets you create your own recordings or edit existing ones.

Create material from scratch:

- You can use Audacity to create your own testing/practice material. You can record dialogues or monologues.
- If you took the Hot Potatoes workshop, you will be able to create interactive audio-based Hot Potatoes activities.
- You can develop audio-based glossaries and pronunciation modules.

Ask other speakers to do the recordings for you, so that your students don’t get used to hearing your voice only!

Edit and adapt authentic sources

- You can isolate segments of a sound file that you need: parts of an interview, of a song, etc.
- You can slow down the pace of authentic recordings that are too fast for your students’ ears or to focus on certain aspects of pronunciation patterns.
- You can download and edit podcasts.

Note that Audacity cannot open CD tracks. To open a cd track, you must first convert it to an MP3 using iTunes or another converter.

Audacity is installed on all ALTEC computers and ALTEC's attendants are all trained to show students how to use Audacity. Just send your students to Hellems 159.