Using Podcasting in the class

    When I first heard about podcasting, I wondered why it’s so popular since there’re so many audio files on the internet. After browsing some information about it, I found it is unique because people can not only find a huge variety of new and interesting content but also can listen to what you want, when you want, and how you want. In addition, the audio files can be automatically downloaded to your computer and synced to your MP3 play. You also can create your own “radio”-style show and broadcast it to the world. It is really interesting.

    I chose one episode of podcasting English Café 498  in ESL Pod  as my teaching material. This audio material contains three part: introducing a famous movie, sharing a popular website, and answer some questions. When listening to the introduction of the movie Mary Poppins, we can not only hear the content of the movie. We can also know about the background of the movie. For example, women had no right to vote until 1920. Moreover, some words are spelled slowly and explained in detail such as nanny, nursery and so on. When listening to the question what the meaning of “oblivion” and “overwhelm” are, we can hear that the words were repeated twice and explained by a lot of examples.

    This is an interesting listening material that are suitable for students whose listening ability is “L.3.4.c Listen and respond appropriately to presentations and performances of peer or published works such as original essays or narratives, interpretations of poetry, or individual or group performances of scripts” according to Michigan EnglishLanguage Proficiency Standards. 

    I don’t think I will use all of them since it is so long that students cannot finish the listening and understand the content of the audio in the class. I can choose part of them such as the movie as my teaching material to teach my students how to get the main idea, how to get details and how to take notes when listening. In the class, I can ask my students to listen to the material and take notes. Then, I can talk with them about the movie to assess whether they get the plot of the movie, that is, the main idea of the listening. In addition, I can check them the words that are mentioned in the listening to see whether they can get the detail of the listening. I can ask them to explain the meaning of the words or ask them to make sentences using these words. Finally, to know whether they can take notes when listening, I can ask them to hand in their notes and score them.

     As a matter of fact, I think podcasting is very useful for students to improve their listening after class. They can choose what they like and listen in their spare time.