The benefit of using podcasts in the classroom

Thursday, February 2, 2017

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Something I want to remember from this article is verb system and imagery system of students. The verbal system, in my own words, is the capacity of the students to process linguistics information and the imagery system is the ability to create mind maps.

These two elements, for us as teachers, are really important if we want to start using podcasts in our classes. therefore, incorporating podcasts in our classes, such as videos or audio models of input or to be more specific explaining a topic with details and demonstrating on-line listening, reading, speaking or writing strategies with real examples, helps learners to have better understanding and retention of the listening strategies and the real examples make the students feel confident with the topics because they seems more understandable.

A belief of mine that was confirmed was the benefits of podcasts. Some teachers say that use of this CALL can extend class time. This might be extra tasks for some students but for second language- learners who only have fewer hours in contact with the language is the perfect tool to have more audio input to practice their listening skills. Also, learners have the facility to gain more exposure to different types of spoken English since some of the speakers on the podcasts have heavier accents than others.

Something I learned and that I immediately wanted to share with a colleague was students feel that the podcasts with a demonstration component of some sort were more informative than the podcasts which summarized and expanded on concepts previously covered in class.