Podcasting in the Classroom

I recently learned what about what Podcasting is. Call me behind on the times, but these things are awesome! Podcasting in broad terms are downloadable series of audio recordings/videos and in which you can subscribe to and watch/listen to on the go. They are comparable to watching TV in the past, there is a series of which you are interested and tune in to keep updated on that show. But wait, now you don't have to be at the TV at 7pm or miss the Podcast, you can download or subscribe to them and they automatically appear on your mobile devices. How cool!! As an up-and-coming ESOL teacher, the idea of podcasting is gold. This is a prime way to incorporate technology into my classroom and have my ESOL students practicing on their own. They could subscribe to a podcast of my choosing and have certain assignments that follow it, but in their spare time there is plenty of room for listening practice all on their own. One specific podcast that I found to be a great example of what I could use in my class in the future was found on ESL Pod, a podcasting site that caters to ESL students and displays various scenarios that new-coming students might face while in America or learning English. One example that I found to be awesome was Buying Food at the Concession Stand. Eventually, ESL students are probably going to go to the movies, and there is a podcast that displays a typical conversation of what might happen in this process. In a classroom, I would have students listen to the podcast two times. After this, I would go over the given script and have students write down any terms that they don't know. There are a lot of colloquialisms used in the text which really prepares students to face real life conversations. We as a class would go over those terms and practice using them in sentences. To test their knowledge and comprehension of this lesson, I would have students form partnerships and make a script of a concession stand transaction and test it out using the terms that they have practiced. I think this would be great real-life practice as well as letting students use their new terms out loud and would work on pronunciation. Also, this activity would focus greatly on NYS Standards 4 (Language for Social Interaction) and Standard 5 (Language for Cross-Cultural Knowledge and Understanding). It would be a fun and learning experience all in one! Again, Thanks for listening.