Let's PODCAST !
According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, "a podcast is a multimedia file distributed over the Internet using syndacation feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. The term, as originally coined by Ben Hammersley in an article in The Guardian February 12, 2004, was meant as a portmanteau of 'broadcasting' and 'iPod'".

The word podcast is a play on the word broadcast combined with the word iPod (one of the most popular MP3 players). However, you don't necessarily need an iPod to listen to or create podcasts. In fact, there are many other MP3 players that you can use for better listening to podcasts. You can listen to them on anything that plays MP3s. Because once the podcast is downloaded, it's just an MP3. You can also listen to them by clicking a link online or even get them delivered automatically to play on your PC or Mac every time there is a new show.

Sports, comedy, movies, food, politics, music, books, speeches, walking tours, whatever - you name the topic, for example in Google, del.icio.us or odeo, and you'll find podcasts about it. But never forget to be critical because you have incredible choices. When you enter the world of podcasting, you're stepping into a realm where anyone and everyone can have a voice and broadcast their opinions and imagination to the world.

There are thousands of podcasts covering a myriad of subjects, including many of the programmes, from the BBC which are available as podcasts, too. If you've ever wanted to learn a new language or find a different way to learn vocabulary or grammar, podcasts allow listening to take place anywhere at any time. Take a look at BBC Learning English to see some of what's out there. You will discover a huge material for improving your English. Students can download podcasted programs view wherever they go among the different sections (News English, Watch and Listen, Grammar & Vocabulary, Quizzes, Business English, etc.) and whenever they like. New episodes of a podcast are automatically downloaded when students "subscribe". When you subscribe to a podcast you'll get the newest episodes delivered right to you as soon as they're available.

Another perfect example of using the Web to improve your English is Englishfeed. You can easily download reading comprehension quizzes, focuses on English grammar, i.e. adverbs of frequency, reported speech, conditionals, future forms, time expressions, etc. and also several podcast on English pronunciation and on how stress works in words. It develops English learning and teaching materials for English learners as a L2 in a variety of formats.

Even the Italian University of Messina has a blog which provides English material that can be podcasted. You can learn, for example, some interesting English on how to survive different situations. i.e. a first date, an Halloween party, a journey in the UK, etc.

Podcasting allows education to become more portable than ever before; it cannot replace the classroom but it provides teachers one more way to meet their students. For example, podcasting allows lectures or other course content to be made available to students if they miss class. Beyond missed lectures, podcasting can also provide access to experts through interviews.

What's more, students can create their own podcasts as a record of activities, a way to collect notes or a reflection on what they have learnt as we've been doing for our first podcast. I have to thank Sarah if podcasting makes a difference in my efforts to learn English. To be honest, at the very beginning I was actually a bit sceptical about podcasting: how could such a tech-genius as I am have ever recorded her voice onto a computer and published it online making that speaking accessible to anyone at any time?...

Well, I'm sure now there is a huge return for the learners.
Podcasts offer an authentic audience for students' spoken work and offer them a different way to learn, either listening to material proposed to them or creating their own lessons and resources for the class.

Have fun podcasting ;-)

Alice


Photo taken from: Flickr