Podcasting in ESL class!

Podcasting (or non-streamed webcast), is a new and popular way to share and watch shows or create your own program episode. Recently it has become a more popular and acceptable way for students to learn. The word "Podcasting" stands for “Personal On Demand Casting”, you can download the show, all you need is a show catcher like iTunes, then when you can subscribe and download it on your computer or mobile device and pocket it with you and enjoy the show when every you want. This of course can be used in education; a teacher can post his or her show on the podcasting and allow students or other teachers to download it.

I would use ESL Podcast 743 – Writing a Story for an example for the students. It not only talks about how to create a story, it also introduces the meaning of the idioms used in the short conversation; what is more, it is spoken in an unnaturally slow speed so students will have no problem catching on. With this podcast, I can ask them how to create a good story, I can even assign them to write their own story and list out the settings like what he mentioned in the conversation for a big project. I can ask them to either write their own story or do cooperative writing. I can also ask them to listen and repeat the conversation with the podcast and try to write them down, then I can ask them the meanings of the idioms used in the conversation and tell them to make sentences with them. There are so many ideas of how I can do with podcasting, and this is only the starting of everything.