Podcasts

Podcasts are a great way for both teachers and students to expand their knowledge on a specific topic through the use of the internet. Podcasts can be available to listen to even after they originally "air" making the content easily accessible. As a future ESL instructor I would use podcasts during my instruction. The podcast that I listened to on the English As A Second Language Podcast website is called Seeing A Circus Performance. This website is made specifically for ESL learners. This podcast can be used in my classroom for multiple purposes. This podcast uses clear and slow use of the English language that will allow my students to be able to follow along. This particular podcast includes a dialogue about going to the Circus. This can be used as a listening activity for students to participate in. This podcast can also be used along with a book about the Circus to reinforce concepts about what a circus is. This podcast can be done as a listening activity in the classroom with all the students at once, or individually with students so they can listen at their own pace and pause the podcast when they need to. Students can also work on the computer individually and have dictionaries available in case they are unfamiliar with words being used in the podcast, they can use the computer as a resource to look up those unfamiliar words. Podcasts are very beneficial because they allow students to learn new information from an English speaker outside of their teacher as well as incorporate technology and work on their listening comprehension.