Monday, November 28, 2011

Podcasts in the L2 Classroom

I'm actually familiar with podcasts, which is amazing to me because I feel like there is so much out there technologically that I had no idea even existed! Podcasts would be a great tool to implement into the classroom because the students could take the possibility of learning with them wherever they go. I am a firm believer that learning takes place both inside and outside of the classroom, and how great is it to have something like podcasts that make this idea possible? The best part is that the students could even be the ones who create the podcasts, so the learning can become more implicit and student centered, which is important in any classroom. I also think using a tool that is compatible with the technological devices that our youth are using today will motivate them even more to learn both inside and outisde of classroom.

 I found this great podcast that could be implemeneted into an ESL classroom because it focuses on the types of things that English language learners struggle with. This particular podcast focuses on being impolite in conversation, which is something any person encountering American culture, or any other culture for that matter, can struggle with. I love this podcast because there is not only spoken dialogue going on here, but there is also written dialogue that goes along with it which makes it easier to follow along with. Another thing that I really like is that the phrases in English that might be difficult for an English language learner to comprehend are highlighted. Also, these podcasts are available on iTunes! One thing I would change about this is the way the dialogue is spoken. It sounds too robotic and unnatural, I think they should focus on a flowing dialouge to help these ELLs better understand conversational English and how it actually occurs in context. 

2 comments:

sridhar said...

You have an interesting blog. we both share common interest. Passion

towards learning english. My blog gives English language tips using

simple acronyms. I am sure it will help you too. Recently I coined S MA

CAPS (Pronounced See My Caps), an acronym/a Mnemonic to recall types of

count nouns. It stands for Society, Measurement, Animals, Containers,

Abstract, Person, Shape.

Maryanne said...

I especially like your idea of having students create podcasts. This can be a teaching or assessment activity with many related activities.

I think that a dialog that is spoken at a slow pace may be very helpful for beginners, but I agree with you that as students progress they need to hear more natural speech.