This post is a summary of the content of a presentation I'm doing in Stirling, Scotland at the Communicate.07 Conference. My presentation is called The Podcast Factory and aims to introduce language teachers from across the country to podcasting and the possibilities offered both by "podcast appreciation" and "podcast creation" within languages education. The following information is not intended as a full transcript of the presentation. Instead I aim to provide links to anything I mentioned during the presentation and access to the handouts in pdf format which include useful tips on accessing and using language-learning podcasts.
Introduction
Within the presentation we're going to cover three aspects of podcasting: we'll begin by looking at what podcasting is (and what it isn't!); we'll then look at some language-learning podcasts; we'll cover some ideas for DIY podcasting and how it can be used within the languages classroom; and finally we'll make a podcast ourselves.
What is podcasting?
We "asked a ninja" what podcasting is - you can view his words of wisdom here. In reality, I'd describe podcasting as using audio or video programmes via the internet. These can be viewed directly from websites or downloaded to computers and transferred to portable media players. This way you can access content when you want it, how you want it and where you want it. More about that later.
Listening to podcasts via websites
Our first venture into accessing podcasts will be through plain old Google. If we do a search for "learn french podcast" in Google, we get these results. The top answer (which doesn't necessarily mean the best result!) is Learn French by Podcast. By clicking on the play button for one of the lessons we can immediately listen directly from the podcast's website. We can also see that further materials are available from Learn French by Podcast. These materials carry a small fee. This is very common among language learning podcasts: the basic podcast is free but learners can purchase extra materials to aid the learning process.
Subscribing to podcasts
But that's not all there is to podcasting. It's about more than just clicking on audio files and listening to them online. What about the "where, how and when you want it...". With podcasts you can very easily set your computer to download all future episodes of the particular podcast you're interested in. This is called subscribing to a podcast. You could go into your local newsagent and purchase the latest edition of MacWorld or Hello Magazine, or Good Housekeeping. Equally, if you wanted to be sure of getting all the latest information on celebrities, or computing, or whatever, you could subscribe to the magazine either through your Newsagent or directly with the publisher. You would then receive your copy of the magazine as soon as it's available, without having to do anything else. It's the same with podcasts: when you subscribe to a podcast, the next edition comes dropping through your virtual letter box as soon as the publisher releases it.
To subscribe to podcasts you therefore need some kind of application which will manage your subscriptions. This is called a podcatcher or an aggregator. The most well known and widely used aggregator is iTunes, Apple's music management software which included podcasting for the first time back in June 2005 with version 4.9 of iTunes. If you don't already use iTunes you can download it here. iTunes is available for Macs and PCs (though Vista users should be aware that a finalised stable version of iTunes for Vista is not yet available. One very important point to make is that although "subscribing" to a magazine normally costs money, subscribing to 99% of podcasts is entirely free. Indeed, every single podcast on iTunes is free of charge. Some, like Learn French by Podcast which we've already mentioned carry a fee for extra materials, but all the podcasts I'm mentioning in my presentation today are free to download the basic podcast.
We'll now take a look at how to subscribe to a podcast in iTunes. The example given was Coffee Break Spanish, and there are further details on the Coffee Break Spanish website to help you get subscribed. Also covered in this section were:
• Daily French Pod
• MyDailyPhrase German
• LearnItalianPod
• Chinesepod
• Japanesepod101
• A Spoonful of Russian
Make sure that you don't miss some of the most effective features of iTunes for using podcasts. First of all, use the charts to give you an indication of what other users find enjoyable and useful (but don't believe everything you see!) Secondly, every podcast is reviewed by its listeners. Read the reviews to gain an overall impression of the ratings on a particular podcast. You can also visit the websites linked to a particular podcast by clicking on the "Website" button for individual podcasts. You can double click on any episode of any podcast within iTunes to get a flavour of the style, the quality of recording, etc. If you want more then click subscribe.
The final tip for using iTunes is that you should "go global". iTunes is a global music store, and there are slightly different versions aimed at the different markets across the world. In terms of commercial music this means that consumers in France, or Japan, or Sweden will have different stores and access to different music than we have in the UK. Indeed the regulations surrounding rights management of music mean that certain items aren't licensed for the UK market, or for the US market, etc. Unfortunately this means it's impossible to go onto the French iTunes website and purchase commercial French music, unless you have a French credit card registered to a French address. However, when it comes to accessing podcasts which are free, there's no restriction. So, if you want to hear which podcasts are popular among French people then simply head to the French iTunes and you'll find a wealth of material aimed at native French speakers. Don't forget that there will also be French material in the iTunes Store for Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Canada, etc. The same goes for German with an Austrian and Swiss store.
Do it yourself
Podcasting is not just about "appreciation": it's also about creating podcasts yourself, either as a teacher for your classes, or with your classes, allowing your students to "star" in the podcasts. You don't need expensive equipment to create podcasts: most computers have built in microphones, or you can buy cheap microphone headsets (like this one or this more expensive one) in Argos. The better the quality of your mic, the better the quality of your podcast. You may therefore consider getting a USB microphone which will improve sound quality. One of the best is the Samson CO1U - it's not cheap, but the sound will be excellent. An alternative is the Q1U by Samson. The most important item you can own for better quality podcasting is a pop filter. You can buy these for about £8 in Maplin or a more school-friendly option for ordering may be CPC. The pop filter reduces the amount of air going into the microphone and therefore avoids "popping" and overloading of the signal.
When it comes to software to produce podcasts, if you're on a Mac then you already have one of the best podcasting solutions as part of your standard system software: Garageband. If you're on a PC then you can download the free program Audacity, used by tens of thousands of podcasters across the world. Both programs work in a similar way. We'll be using Garageband in today's demo.
So what can you do with podcasts? How can you use podcasts within your languages lessons?
• Make revision podcasts for your students with vocabulary or grammar tips
• Get a native speaker to record some listening practice
• Finish off a topic by creating a radio show (example here)
• Create a class podcast where students record their speaking assessments as practice (or indeed as the actual assessment!)
• Run lunchtime or afterschool clubs producing your own languages radio show
• Be cooler than other subject areas!
Podcasting fits beautifully into current ideas in Scottish Education. Adam Sutcliffe and his colleagues at the Gordon Schools in Huntly are doing some fantastic work using podcasting and blogging within the context of AiFL: see Adam's Rate my Mates site. Equally, what better way to develop our learners' confidence and their ability to learn independently by allowing them to prepare for assessments by podcasting? Or promoting citizenship by creating a radio show about their school or local area in the FL? Many aspects of A Curriculum for Excellence can be targetted with podcasting too.
The presentation continued with a demonstration of creating a podcast. This podcast will be uploaded to the site here as part of the presentation.
The Podcast
Download Live podcast from seminar. This podcast was created during the session and featured recordings made in different ways:
• the internal mic of the computer
• the PMD660 portable solid state recorder
• a mobile phone used to record the interview and then file bluetoothed to the computer.
The podcast also features the inaugural recording of the soon-to-be chart hit On va faire un podcast en français. If you want to sing along, here are the Grammy-Award-winning lyrics:
On va faire un podcast en français
Bien que nous soyons tous très fatigués
Les élèves seront contents
C'est quelque chose de différent
Though no-one told us we'd have to chanter!
For any further information about today's session, please contact me at info [at] markpentleton.com. Thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm and to our assistants for their help!
Access the podcast site of the conference here.
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