You can download a free evaluation copy of the e-book “Working in Harvesting Teams” from http://mieab.se/en/tfs-2016/. For copyright purposes, the pictures in the e-book have been partly masked by a "watermark". To order a fully functional hardcopy of the book with the watermark removed, please visit http://mieab.se/en/order/.
Can Do
After completing this lesson, learners will:
Be safe when "climbing around" a machine using the "three point method"
Know how to save lives when an accident happens in the working location
Know the minimum safety requirements when working alone in the forest
Have a good knowledge of the common safety rules when operating forest machines
Warm Up
Do you feel comfortable with your knowledge of work safety?
What else would you like to learn about safety in the forest?
Can you mention some safety rules when you are working in the forest?
What are the minimum safety requirements/rules when somebody approaches a forest machine?
Learning Tasks
Read pages 1:1 - 1:13 of the book "Working in Harvesting Teams", Part 1, and
Prepare a list with the unknown and/or interesting terms, look them up in a dictionary, and discuss them in class
Write a short summary and read it loud before the class audience
Develop your own mnemonics for the hard-to-remember terms, and
Have fun by organizing a brainstorming session/mnemonics party in class to improve and share them
Listening Practice
If you need to practice on your own when no human help is around and you don't mind the robotic voice(s) of a computer, here is what you can do:
On PCs
Use any of the free "text-to-speech" extensions for your web browser. For the Chrome web browser, for example, some of the most popular text-to-speech extensions include Select and speak, Text to speech, Read Aloud: a Text to Speech Voice Reader, Speak and text, etc.
To download and install, for example, the Select and speak extension on your Chrome bookmarks bar:
Search for Select and speak, download it and install the extension on your Chrome browser. You may wish to download and install more than one extensions and select the one to your liking.
To listen to some text on a webpage converted to speech:
If you want to listen to text directly from a webpage, the only available option is the Select and Speak - Text to Speech extension for the Chrome browser, with US English only. To use it:
Select the text you are interested in on the respective Forest Workers Online Training Tool (FWOTT) webpage, and
Click on the Select and Speak - Text to Speech icon on your Google extensions bar to listen to the text.
If you want to listen to the text in UK English:
Select and copy (Ctrl+C) the text you are interested in on the FWOTT webpage
Click on the Text To Speech icon on your Chrome extensions bar
In the opening tab, Paste (Ctrl+V) the selected text in the Copy & Paste Text To Synthesize (or enter URL) box
In the Click to Choose a Voice dropdown menu, select the appropriate voice (e.g. Google UK English Male)
Make other necessary adjustments, such as Rate and Pitch, and
In the section Read Out Loud, make any necessary changes; for example, uncheck the button Use default voice to select a voice suitable to your taste, or uncheck the button Use default speech attributes to select the Pitch and/or the Words Per Minute attribute to increase or decrease the reading speed
Click OK to save your selection
Go back to the .pdf document in Acrobat Reader, click View > Read Out Loud > Activate Read Out Loud
Click again on View > Read Out Loud > Read This Page Only or Read to End of Document
On Macs
The text-to-speech facility is installed by default on your Mac computer. To customize it, press System Preferences > Accessibility > Speech and make your selections including System Voice, Speaking Rate, etc.
To listen to text on webpages:
Open the FWOTT page containing the text you are interested in
Select the text that you want to listen to
Right click on the page (Control+Enter), press Speech > Start speaking
To listen to .pdf files:
Open the .pdf file in macOS Preview
Click Edit > Speech > Start Speaking
On smartphones
To select a UK English voice:
Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech > Voices > English > ENGLISH (UK) > Daniel (or download any of the voices available in iCloud)
Go back to Settings > General > Language & Region > iPhone Language and select the English of your liking (e.g. English U.K.)
Click on Done to save your choice
To have each word highlighted on screen while it is pronounced:
Go to Settings > General > Accessibility and select Speech
Turn on Speak Selection and Speak Screen
Turn on Highlight Content
Select Words or Sentences or Words and Sentences
In the HIGHLIGHT COLORS section, select your choice of Word Color highlight
Return to the Speech screen, and adjust the SPEAKING RATE to your liking
Click on the Pronunciations link at the bottom of the Speech page, and then click on '+'
On the Replacement screen, you may optionally type in a sentence you want to listen to and press Play for testing
Make adjustments to the Languages and Voices sections according to your taste
Close Settings
To listen to text on a webpage:
Open your browser
Go to the FWOTT webpage you are interested in
Select the text you want to listen to
Press Speak on the emerging menu, and
Listen to each pronounced word while it is highlighted on screen
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Text-to-speech
Select Google Text-to-speech Engine
Adjust the Speech rate and Pitch rate to your liking
Verify by clicking on the Listen to an example link
Open your browser, go to the FWOTT webpage of your interest, select the text of your interest, and listen to each pronounced word as it is highlighted