Readings Feb. 25

Readings for Feb. 25:

RICHARDSON Ch. 8. Podcasting, Video and Screencasting, Live Streaming: Multimedia Publishing for the Masses

McQuillan, J. (2006). iPods in Education: The Potential for Language Acquisition

Stansbury, M. (2009). iPods help ESL Students Achieve Success. eSchool News (May 11).

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I have used a mp3 player for the last couple of years, and one of the reasons I got it was to be able to listen to Chinese lessons (podcasts) that I downloaded. I think it was good listening practice, and often a good way to make use of time spent on the subway. I thought it was most effective for me if I could also print out the text of the unfamiliar vocabulary and sentence patterns. But I have never seen the sort of video/text/slideshow functions that can be attached to audio files.

Re. the McQuillan article:

I think using video podcasts that students actually enjoy watching would be an excellent way to practice listening. And it doesn’t always have to be especially educational in content-- as long as it is reasonably realistic and they enjoy it, then it can be good practice for them. There’s lots of ways to extend that sort of activity-- like having students come up with questions to ask their classmates about the story.

I would like to try the “narrow listening” activity (several interviews on the same topic). If the students do the interviewing themselves, it could be even better.

I also like the ideas of arranging a reciprocal exchange with a class in another country (or with a class of speakers of the 'target language').

Re. the Stansbury article:

Having students put together a podcast to tell about a trip to the zoo, or the museum, etc., sounds like a great idea, too. I would love to try that, because I think students enjoy being creative in that sort of activity.