Job Discussion Forums

[jpvanderwerf2001]

Don't flame me too much, I'm tender!

Be so kind as to walk me through this:

What is a podcast?
How does one use one in their classroom?
How do you use them in your classroom?

I apologize for my ignorance, now please enlighten! Your insight is appreciated.

[mdk]

It's OK my friend. I swore off dismembering forum paticipants yesterday.

You savvy MP3 players, right? And you know that you can download, "Louie, Louie" and listen to it on an MP3 player, right?

So why couldn't you download "car talk" or the "naked scientist" and listen to those radio programs just as easily? In fact you can do that. I loaded the itunes onto my laptop and then I googled up their web site and and followed the instructions. Now I can sit on the metro (not really because it is too loud) and listen to my radio programme. What's more, I can play it again at infinitum.

So some guys said to themselves, "Why can't we podcast ESL lessons" After all, there have been language lessons on the VOA and BBC since they invented dirt. Now the student can listen in and replay the lesson at their own convenience. We can save a written "listening guide" for each lesson and the student can download that and print it out to follow along while they practice speaking.

What's more, since we can do several takes, we can choose the best take just like a recorded program. If the teacher is a bit under the weather (or as is sometimes the case - had a little too much medicine last night - wink, wink, nudge, nudge) then we can wait until they are feeling better.

I have another thread going with a URL to an ESL podcast somewhere around here. You might like to have a look at that one. You may listen in to a sample lesson and download a learning guide.

The last time I looked someone else had listed several URL's which lead to conferences on the subject if that is more your cup of tea.

P.S. Google up one of my favorite podcasts - Decoder Ring Theater and hear the adventures of Canada's one and only crime fighter ...The Red Panda!

[Sherri]

Hi jpvanderwerf2001
About 3 months ago I thought ipods were jumped up versions of walkmans, good for listening to music and that was about all. Since then I have learned that you can get ipods with 80MG of memory with a small video screen. You can download from your computer, say the entire season of the Sopranos and watch it whenever and where ever you want. In fact, now you can download almost anything from most media sites.

So while the whole idea is not new--videos, tapes etc, downloading a podcast opens more possibilities because of the sheer ease and accessiblity of the material.

I personally would not be inclined to use podcasts in my classroom (though never say never), since if I want my class to watch a video or listen to something I prefer to play it myself to the whole class using conventional methods. Otherwise everyone in the room would need an ipod (or something similar) or you would need to be in a computer lab--an option I don't have.

But I think podcasts are great for self study, homework and other independent learning assignments. Look at cnn.com at the bottom of the screen, you will see a podcast link. I especially like CNN because there are also transcripts for most material. Or look at this site: http://abc.go.com/downloads.htmllid=ABCCOMGlobalMenu&lpos=Downloads
You can download TV shows to your ipod. There are thousands of sites like this, so you can use your imagination at how they can be exploited for your students and for yourself!

Best
Sherri

[dmb]

The Guardian weekly podcast is fantastic. sadly, the footie season is over and we have to wait until after the summer. However they do have an archive to relive the highlights of the season

[Glenski]

Not to sound like a crusty old fart, but does ANYONE believe in Internet searching these days? Thirty seconds gave me this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting

http://pod-efl.wikispaces.com/

http://podcasting101.pbwiki.com/

http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Podcasting_Legal_Guide

http://podcasterswiki.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

And, in case you hadn't noticed, the ESL Cafe has more than an employment forum. There's a teachers' forum that covers a lot of topics. Some of the sections are pretty lifeless, but the one on CALL has what you need. Fourth item alone (when I checked just now) has this. (Oh, and in case you didn't know, CALL = computer assisted language learning)
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewforum.php?f=7&sid=f3e7026ae548ad9b62521fda1811fd31

[jpvanderwerf2001]

I looked on Wikipedia, glenski, but was more looking for insight to how people use them in the classroom. Thanks for the links, though.

[Glenski]

Other than what you can find on the teacher's forum, and from whomever might chip in here, I'd strongly suggest seeking out journals online and proceedings from CALL conferences in the past couple of years.

Here's a list of the abstracts from the recent JALT CALL conference. There are some reports of using podcasts there.
http://jaltcall.org/conferences/call2007/mod/resource/view.php?id=148
If you want to know how to contact the authors, contact the JALT special interest group (SIG) on CALL itself.

Thomas Robb is a CALL guru. Here's his homepage.
http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/

A list of links to various CALL organizations.
http://jaltcall.org/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=37
http://www.iatefl.org/content/sig/index.php

Check out the Journal of JALT CALL, especially issue 2, 2005 for one article.

Podcast Directory
http://www.podfeed.net/podcast/Robert+Chartrand+and+Bill+Pellowes+ELT+Podcast/11174

http://www.gigadial.net/public/station/15116?page=3&station_id=15116

These are all things just to get you started.

[dmb]