Week 10 Blog Post: Podcasts!

PODCASTS: I found this week's topics to be highly interesting. Perhaps this is because they address two of my favorite things. Professionally, I love teaching listening and speaking, and personally, I love podcasts. I could immediately see the potential benefits of incorporating podcasts into a classroom, both for listening and speaking practice. Dan Isbell and I discussed the following ideas: Application as project or task-based learning; Potential for collaboration between students when working together to produce a podcast; Potential for developing both fluency and accuracy in speaking; Ability to re-listen to material; Ability to re-record to produce better pronunciation. I also liked Jena's suggestion to use vocabulary podcasts, such as Bek's AWL Important Words,in conjunction with vocabulary logs. CORBEIL & CORBEIL: I found the Corbeil and Corbeil (2011) article very practical. I am taking my first online course this semester, and one of the difficulties has been feeling a connection to the teacher, just as they mentioned in the article. If the teacher were to produce a few podcasts or vodcasts in conjunction with the course, I would feel more positive to the feedback I am receiving from the teacher and about the experience of taking an online class in general. While online classes might be cost-effective and practical in many other ways, it's hard to get a sense of what the teacher expects without face-to-face interaction. Also, I think it would encourage me to contact the teacher with questions or concerns regarding the class if I had an idea of the teacher as an actual person rather than a machine-interface. FLIP TEACHING: James Carpenter and I occasionally talk about Flip Teaching, and podcasts/vodcasts are an integral part of teaching a Flip classroom. In a flip classroom, students watch or listen to the instruction at home, where they can rewatch or relisten as many times as they'd like, and where they can rewind and review as many times as necessary to comprehend the lesson. I think it is an interesting idea that I'd like to follow up with. Corbeil and Corbeil also had many practical suggestions for producing podcasts as a teacher, to encourage students to listen and stay engaged. ROBIN: The Robin (2011) article contained interesting speculations about advancements in technology especially as regards translation software for both written and spoken texts. While reading the article, I had a sudden fear that these technologies would eventually make our jobs as language teachers redundent! Our students are already using these technologies. I had a student recently admit to using translation software for her writing assignments. Will these translation technologies make it unnecessary to actually learn a langauge? (Maybe I am being unduly influenced by the science-fiction of Dr. Who, whose Tardis can translate nearly any langauge throughout time and space. Then again, I never thought 3D copying would be possible, but someone has made it so...) MUSINGS OF A TECH NON-NATIVE: I wonder if my enthusiasm regarding the applications for podcasts and vodcasts has something to do with my memories of utilizing a cassette recorder as a child. It was fun to record my voice while mimicing an accent or singing a song. The recordings provided my friends and I with a means to experiment with vocalizations, and a means of entertainment as we replayed and listened to them. All my memories are positive. I am not a "technological native" as the term is used today; I remember a time before email, personal computers, cell phones, video games, and the internet. I don't have the positive associations with current technology as many people in our class do, or as many of my students probably do. But I do have positive associations connected to technology as it relates to recording devices! That, plus the fact that I can see so many applications with a strong langauge learning focus, makes me excited about the potential of using podcasts in the classroom.