Thing 15 - How to Use Podcasts in Schools

My first use of podcasts in the classroom would be podcasts made for students. The primary reason that I would initially seek to use podcasts in the classroom would be to expand the amount of authentic Spanish that my students hear. They become accustomed to my accent and pace and often need to have input from other sources, especially native speakers, in order to develop a better trained ear. An increase in the amount of authentic Spanish presented significantly enhances the students' listening skills. In my upper level classes the podcasts offer current events in Spanish. This synthesized audio content is real language that has not been reduced to the topic of a text chapter or the vocabulary of a specific story. Podcasts are current and not outdated as some of the textbook supplements may be. This unpredictable oral presentation triggers comprehension skills needed to understand native speakers in real life situations. Podcasts offer a tremendous boost to the development of listening skills in my Spanish language classroom.

Eventually, I would like to use podcasts made by my students. Currently, my students are required to present dialogs that accompany each chapter segment. These could be done in a podcast format. My upper level classes could make content review podcasts for my lower level students. Students could make podcasts about the artists, foods, cultures, countries, etc. that we study. I think the first podcast recording session that I would like to have would be autobiographical with the students describing themselves to me. It is hard to get to know all of the students in September. This could be one way to start to learn more about them. These autobiographical podcasts could be updated with the new vocabulary themes that we study.

I still need to learn quite a bit about how to have a class make and save podcasts but I work with some excellent staff members who are skilled in this technology at my school. I do not expect any pushback from my administration. Generally my administration values technology in the classroom. I found a few good resources (mentioned in Thing 14: www.coffeebreakspanish.com, www.NewsInSlowSpanish.com) but would need to search out more. Most of the Spanish sites on David Warlick's directory were not useful to me and some were not accessible. I anticipate that the highest interest would be students listening to other students that they know. Podcasts are a great match for listening and speaking skill development in a Spanish language classroom.