Friday, October 17, 2008

Podcasts

1. Ecoutez- This may be a bit obvious, but podcasts would be extremely helpful for foreign language students in listening exercises and practice. This would be teacher-generated, and students would have the chance to focus solely on listening without any other distractions.

2. Disez- Podcasts would be good for storytelling. This could be either student-generated or teacher-generated. Teachers can use podcasts for storytelling as students are reading text so that they can hear the pronunciation of words. Students can use podcasts for storytelling to practice their own ability to pronounce words.

3. Devoirs- Podcasts can be used for homework purposes. This would clearly be teacher-generated. Teachers could ask questions in the appropriate language, and have students write up answers to assess whether or not the students understood what was being asked.

4. Absence- If a teacher would know ahead of time of an absence the he/she will have, then he/she could create a lesson on the podcast so that the students have something to do and practice while the teacher is away. Plus, this would make it less stressful for substitute children.

5. Changez- Foreign languages can get repetitive in lesson format, especially for secondary education because they normally deal with grammar and vocabulary. This would be a change within the atmosphere, not to mention something that would keep students engaged. This would be teacher-generated.