Archive
The Films on Demand subscription of Atkins library
- Benefits:
- provides access to over ten thousand streaming videos.

- including world languages:

- Remaining Problems:
- 741 titles for World languages is not a lot (additional materials may be applicable to language learning, but I do not see the most commonly requested foreign language films used in the department which we are currently trying to rescue across the demise of VHS). Any particular silo of information is not comprehensive (given the power of the network effect, YouTube wins hands-down most if the times),
- any content is difficult to integrate into a language skill curriculum,
- any added interface restrictions may make it more difficult, not more stable,
- not unlike YouTube, files you may have used, even linked, can get removed.
- the website seems to be available only on campus – even if you are logged into your campus account (university VPN will likely help, and not, given that it has video throughput issues).
Subtitling language learning exercises with Sanako Study 1200 Student
I love to work with target language subtitles in the media-rich environment of the Language Resource Center: Target language subtitles provide readily available transcripts of non-ephemeral, often authentic target language to base language learning exercises on.
More and more target language subtitles are included in newer editions of movies. In addition, projects that crowd-source subtitles for other video materials, have sprung up on the web also, e.g. http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/ . So if you just want the transcripts to build language learning exercises from, you have a variety of choices.
If however you think “Der Weg ist das Ziel” and the listening comprehension and writing activities in creating subtitles are valuable language learning exercises in themselves, the Sanako Student player comes with a subtitling mode:
In the following screencast I subtitle one of my own training screencasts (explaining how to access timestretched animated GIFs for practicing Chinese stroke order in the LRC environment) in a 3-step process: type along as fast as you can while listening to a first run of the screencast; listen to the screencast again and correct errors; finally, to adjust the timing of the subtitles (which the Sanako makes especially easy), listen to the screencast for a third time (talk about “massed presentation”).

