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.