There is a lot of information to be learnt. It may seem a little overhwhelming to begin with, but don't worry, it is basically the same procedure again and again, so through a mixture of remembering the procedure through these pages, and being guided as you go, you will gradually master it all.
Here is a summary of the basic procedure.
Firstly, make sure that you have all the required software installed (Google Drive, Audacity), and you have a little idea what each one does.
The next step is to get your first few good quality recordings.
Find a quiet spot and do your first recordings. Make sure you have mp3 versions of the files. Open them up in Audacity and check:
- is the volume above 50% and not more than 100%?
- are the recordings in stereo, and on both channels?
- can you hear any annoying thumps from where the microphone was resting, or can you hear unwanted breath particularly on words with "p"?
If all is OK, you can put them in your folder on the Google Drive, in a directory with today's date (in the format "yyyy-mm-dd").
Next step is uploading the recording to Lingopolo, making sure the breakdown is filled in and matches the translation, and making sure that any relevant lesson checkboxes are checked. For this, you will need to create a new page, and put at minimum:
- the English text
- the French text (or other language if applicable)
- the mp3 file
- select "Words" or "Phrases" as appropriate
If it is a phrase (such as "The house is green."), you'll also need to add the breakdown. You can use the "Automatic breakdown" button to add any words already in Lingopolo. Any words which don't exist yet will also need to be recorded and uploaded.
When the word or phrase is finished, write something like "for review" in the comments.
Job done!