Podcasts in the Classroom: Food for Thought

If you’re an auditory learner, you may agree with me when I say that podcasts are the best thing since sliced bread. Bread, particularly the kind that your grandmother kneaded and rolled out by hand, is an appropriate image for the podcast on food traditions that I have selected for use in my ESL classroom. As part of a thematic unit on food, I decided that a podcast could be an effective way for students to practice listening skills. Through NPR’s podcast directory, I was able to locate this podcast by food commentator Bonny Wolf. The three-minute podcast, which shares personal accounts of how food traditions connect people over generations, provides authentic listening material for students to practice their listening skills in meaningful contexts.

The content of the food commentary podcast may be a “stretch” for many intermediate level language learners. Therefore, I designed my lesson with the simple objective of listening for the “gist” or main idea of the commentary. Students are instructed to listen to the podcast and think of a title that best describes the content. I include several measures to scaffold students in their listening. Prior to playing the podcast I ask students to share holiday food traditions to activate their prior knowledge. Next, I define vocabulary that I identify as most likely to cause problems for learners. After these pre-listening activities, I give students the opportunity to listen to the podcast more than one time, with pauses for discussion where necessary. Finally, I give small groups of students the opportunity to work together to decide on a title for the podcast. In their discussions, students are encouraged to identify examples that support their choice of title.

Through lively discussion and teacher guidance it is hoped that students will arrive at a main idea similar to that reflected in the actual podcast title, Food Traditions the Thread that Links Generations. More importantly, dialogue about this well-crafted commentary is likely to motivate adult learners who are hungry for meaningful ways to engage with the English language.

Using YackPack as a Tool for Global Cooperation

YackPack is a Web 2.0 tool created for group communication, similar to an audio discussion board. Its capacity to bring together classrooms from around the world through private packs makes it an attractive option for ESL classrooms. When used in a language learning classroom, especially in conjunction with more writing-focused communication tools like ePals (see prior post dated April 10, 2010), YackPack can meet multiple language learning and cultural objectives for multiple levels of learners.

In my own classroom of adult learners I could use YackPack to facilitate a collaborative project that gives students a meaningful context for practicing English oral communication skills. For example, I could find a classroom through ePals Classroom Match that is interested in engaging in a project on “Green Technology.” Our collaborating classrooms could research examples of green technology that are available or being developed in our countries or local communities. Prior to communicating on YackPack, our classes could share with one other a written presentation of research findings. (A PowerPoint shared through Slideshare could be useful here!) Then I, or the other participating instructor, would serve as a pack creator and moderator on YackPack to initiate a discussion that flows from the research findings. “Yackers” could share their findings and perspectives on the latest green technology in homes, jobs, vehicles, etc. Participants would be encouraged to ask questions of one another and discuss whether advances in one part of the world could be implemented elsewhere.

It’s difficult to know how smoothly such communications would flow, but certain steps could be taken to create a positive working relationship. I would encourage students to upload images and a short profile of themselves help to help build a relationship and cohesion between cooperating classrooms. Also, although YackPack can be used for synchronous communication, I would initially choose the option of participating asynchronously. This takes the pressure off of learners to make comments spontaneously, and allows them time to reflect on content as well as language form before making comments. Lastly, I would maintain regular contact with the cooperating teacher to ensure that objectives for developing language skills and expectations for collaborative learning are being met on both ends.

ePals Communication and Global Citizenship

Today more than ever, educators have a responsibility to encourage their students to see themselves as global citizens in an interconnected world. This is one reason why ePals is an invaluable teacher resource. Several features of this program are particularly useful for enabling students to interact with people who are different from themselves on topics that stretch their thinking.

First, the ePals Student Forums and Focus-Area Forums are set up as open discussion boards allowing for students to contribute their ideas in areas that are of most interest to them. These forums are screened for appropriate content and are initiated through questions that pertain to specific website content (e.g., biodiversity, black history, geography) and other global issues, so teachers and parents are assured that student interaction is educational in nature.

Second, the ePals SchoolMail feature enables students to connect and build relationships with other students around the world through school-safe emails. The email has built-in instant language translation to aid in cross cultural communication.

A third feature that aids in establishing cross-cultural relationships is the Classroom Match component . This resource helps teachers to find a match with another classroom that is looking for a collaboration partner. Classroom Match adds thousands of new classroom profiles each month, and participating classrooms come from over 200 countries.

Another component, the ePals Projects feature, nicely complements Classroom Match by providing collaborators with structured activities, such as digital storytelling, to work on together. All of these ePals features facilitate global communication and collaboration. By using them students begin to see themselves as informed and active global citizens, not as passive spectators of the world.

With regard to my own ESL classroom use, I could use ePals Classroom Match and Project features to connect my students to a classroom of adult English language learners in another part of the world. Adult learners could share their observations of the culture in which they are immersed, and in doing so compare and contrast cultures. Students in both classrooms could compile for one another a brief description of the three greatest social challenges that they have observed in their country of residence (e.g., crime, income disparity, racism, access to healthcare, access to quality education). Students could support their choices with links to media reports and photos that illustrate the severity of the problem. Together the classrooms could identify countries where these issues are well managed and reasons for it. Since adult ESL classes typically include learners from many different countries, the wealth of perspectives makes this project particularly conducive to broadening students’ understanding of social issues and imagining the possibilities for change that may be realized through interconnectedness.