Professeur Podcasting - You are on zee air

Teachers, you know the feeling – that feeling of utter joy and relief when you stumble across a truly useful and applicable teaching tool? It usually happens on a Sunday afternoon while you’re madly combing the Internet, trying to figure out just what you are going to do with the kids in the coming week. Well, podcasting is rockin’ my world. Why you ask? As a second-language teacher, podcasting is the tool that will surely transform my teaching and my students’ learning experiences. So much of what I already do involves audio – such as my weekly listening comprehension activities, using songs to reinforce grammatical concepts or to highlight a cultural theme, or recording students’ spoken French so as to evaluate their pronunciation. With podcasting, this is merely the beginning.

I’m starting to learn more about myself during this inquiry of web-based tools. First, I seem to start at the general, by gathering as much information as possible (readings, Trail fires, web searches, others’ blogs, etc.). As usual, I LOVED Lee LeFever’s tutorial on podcasting as it is simple, visual and straightforward. I had no idea that the POD in podcasting stood for ‘personal on demand’ broadcasting, although Wikipedia says it’s a backronym, meaning that the acronym was applied after the fact. I like the idea of a ‘podcatcher’ so that I can subscribe to podcasts. I am astounded at how accessible the read/write web has become – not only from a financial standpoint since all you need is an Internet connection, a computer and a microphone, but also from a technical standpoint. Really, if this techno-peasant can do it, ANYONE can do it. Another useful resource was a podcast from videojug of how to find and download podcasts.

One of our course readings, “Podcasting 101 for K-12 Librarians” gave a good overview of the classroom applications, but also made me think about why podcasting is so appealing. Obviously, it is popular because people can access a podcast when and where they want. But for all you auditory learners out there living in this digital age, it must be a welcome new format. From a personal and professional standpoint, the strength of podcasting lies in the ‘human aspect’. The human voice carries so much meaning, far beyond what simple words communicate. For second language learners, in particular, voice qualities such as volume, pitch, tempo and even articulation, rhythm and accent, all provide essential clues to those trying to make meaning of a message. The fact that podcasting highlights the human voice warms the heart of this linguist.

Next, I try to find the tools that are the easiest to use. I checked out the following online audio file hosting services – podomatic and divshare. Will Richardson recommended podomatic, but I actually found divshare preferable to use. The sign up process was faster and didn’t ask for superfluous information such as my birthday. Another great resource is Podcast Alley, which is ‘the podcast lovers’ portal’ or podcast directory. On Podcast Alley, I found FrenchPod 101 which comes from Innovative Language and has dozens of French language podcasts created specifically for French as a second language learners. I could have spent all day listening to them!

Finally, I try to put it all together or synthesize my discoveries and learning. I like to call it 'making connections'. In that spirit, I added David Warlick’s Connect Learning blog to my blog roll as it is mentioned in Richardson’s book and because it has many examples of good pod casts on educational topics of interest to teacher-librarians. As I already have used Audacity with my students in the past, I have chosen to use it for my first podcast. It was easy enough for me and my students to use when recording our class radio show last year.

So, how will podcasting help me and my students to become more effective, energized and engaged in our learning and teaching? Well, you’ll just have to listen to my podcast to find out!