A Podcast is a series of digital audio or video file that are continuously released and it can be downloaded or subscribed through the web. For example, a mode of media files can be accessed over the internet like news reports, language lessons, cooking directions, etc. Normally, iTunes, Zune, Juice, and Winamp are used to automatically identify and download new files in a series when they are released.
How can Podcast be integrated in the classroom?
The instructor can implement the Audio-lingual Method for 30 minutes of its class time by having students listen to Podcast. Below is an example.
The students can watch a report and have them comment on it in class
The instructor can use to it provide directions to students, by video recording him or herself.
The students can share to the class which information on which media files they believe is best for English language learning.
Advantages:
One of the advantages of Podcast is that it can provide language immersion to the students. The files are easily downloaded to an iPod, therefore the students can listen to a language lesson audio or media file as often as they like. Also, there are countless of files to choose from.
Disadvantages:
One of the great disadvantages to Podcast is that it is exclusive to middle class or upper class students or langauge learning institutions. Not everyone or every school has the proper resourse to accomodate to Podcast. It is great for outside classroom use, however, for in a classroom activity I believe that there are more interactive sites to choose from. Lastly, the video recording aspect of Podcast takes alot of planning, it can provide many challenges (i.e. lack of proper equipments).
Listen and Write is an online language learning resource, which focuses on the learner’s listening, writing, and reading skills. The main objective is for learners to carefully listen to the audio clips and type dictated words. Learners can then evaluate and track their progress by creating an account. Furthermore, this site caters to various levels and the audio clips used are about current events, thus also providing interest to the learner.
How to integrate Listen and Write into the classroom?
Since Listen and Write focuses on students writing, reading and writing skills, this site can provide teachers a creative range of language learning activities. For examples:
After a student has finished listening to the audio clips, he or she can write their own interpretation of the dictated article.
Students can repeat or read out loud their typed text so that there’s also a focus on pronunciation.
Teachers can ask the student to dissect their sentences by asking them to identify the parts of speech
Advantages:
One of the great advantages of this website is that it is for free. While similar sites require members to pay, Listen and Write is easily accessible and freely available to language learners. Also, since one of the main objectives of this site is listening, it provides a sense of language immersion to the learner. It allows students to pay close attention to how certain words are pronounced and if they don’t understand it, the word or sentences can be repeated over and over again until they fully understand the article. Most importantly, Listen and Write is autonomous, thus once a student is registered, he or she can easily track their progress and further develop their skills.
Disadvantages:
Due to the fact that Listen and Write works somewhat similar to the Audio-lingual Method, I believe that students can easily get bored with it. In addition, depending on the level, the audio clips are difficult to understand and replaying the clips can eventually become annoying as well as mind-numbing. There’s also the factor of whether or not learners truly understand what they are hearing or are they just simply typing down words; there’s not focus on improving the learner’s communication skills. Lastly, any type of dictation can only hold someone’s interest for a limited amount of time.
