While I was having a beer with a few of you the other day I started whining as I didn't have the time to cope with so much work. And I remembered that I still kept somewhere a list with the suggestions of podcasts episodes you'd been listening to when I first introduced you to podcasting back in November or so. I got some feedback about what it was you listened to, whether it had been any interesting in your opinion, difficult, easy to understand, if the podcast provided students or listeners with the transcript, how often it was updated and things like that.I also surveyed what were the chances of having a podcast but unfortunately it didn't come off. Not because you just couldn't be bothered but because I wasn't able to think how I was going to organize the recording sessions while in the classroom, the post-editing and that. Anyway, I got some very interesting ideas about what the contents might be, some people (especially from 1st Avanzado) sounded excited about the whole idea and I've made up my mind that we will have our own podcast next year, whoever my students are, whether I'm a teacher in 4th year or 5th or any other. So if I happen to be your teacher next year you're in for trouble!
But I digress...back to the podcasts. As I was saying I got a list of podcasts, crossed out the ones you didn't like whatever the reason and then chose a few of the best ones in your opinion, which are as follows.
-Podcasts in English
-Listen to English
-6 minute English
-English as a Second Language
-Breaking News English
-Talk about English
-Better at English
-Tu-Ingles
-City by city
-Business English Pod
-Travel with Rick Steves
-National Geographic
These are all web-based so if you click on the title you will be referred to the site and then you'll get all the information about the podcasts and the archives. Remember you can either download or listen to the episodes in streaming and also subscribe to them. For subscriptions you have three options-
RSS, or else as they say 'easy does it': get the episodes via iTunes (strongly recommended application for downloading and managing podcasts). If you have problems you can also try Juice ipodder. If you still have problems, let's face it, you're a bit clumsy and state-of-the-art technology is not for you. Buy a transistor radio instead.And last but not least, some of my suggestions, things I, to be honest, download-every-day-but- never-find-the-time-to-listen-to, well, sometimes when I go running listening to the Geoff's show while I puff my way up the slopes makes being scant of breath a bit more bearable. Most of them are, I'm warning you, not specifically for teaching English as a second language or educational purposes, which might make it a bit too difficult as they're aimed for natives. Actually it's mostly radio programmes which have a podcast as a bonus. You might have a go, though. Here's then a few of the things I sometimes, hardly ever, very few and far between, listen to but I still like:
-Adam and Joe
-Ricky Gervais
-Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show
-The Larry King Show
-This American Life
-TED talks
I think that's enough, isn't it? Next year we'll take over and our classroom-made podcast will be top-notch!
See you in class...
3 comments:
is very interesting the "podcast method " to learn english, maybe the difficulty is to find one that you love to listen, because sometimes you find one that you can think is very interesting and you get boring in twoo minutes, for example, i have listened one about english as a second languague and surprisingly they speak so slowly that i have finished completely nervous, the point is as i said before to find something that you are really interested in , and listen ten minutes without effort , it made me stop and think about all the things i might do better, about english of course, and the wide range of things you can do to improve it, and how long is the way to the " perfect english" if you didnt speak a word in english before 30........., have a good weekend to everyone, javier corera L GROUP
Palma Tocón, 1st Advanced, Group M.
Yes, I think it's a good idea having our own podcasts, and, at the same time, it's a complicated idea. No everybody in the class have the same ability with "technology" (you need a computer) and some people could need more time than other. Otherwise, some people like me, could feel embarrassed of listening to themselves. But, if the teacher says to do it, I'll try to do it, of course (you know, we must have an optimistic mind).
Regarding to the list of podcasts you’ve given, I prefer “the six minutes English” and, in general, the website of BBC learning English. It might be because it’s a more familiar site for me and easier to surfing on it.
Hi guys,
I agree with my classmates about the interesting websites which are: 6 minuts English, Breaking News English, Talks about English, National Geographic and others.
Among these kind of pages, perhaps there are some of them more close for us, but it's just to surf in the net. If you have some time, you can find loafs of awesome reports, nice reviews, interesting interviews, etc,..from different parts in the world and all of them in English!!.
I recommend you to grab the chance and visit them. It's worth a try, because you can learn much vocabulary, much grammatical expressions, practicing your listening and your reading, etc,..
Cheer up!
Cristina, N Group, 1st Adv.
Post a Comment