Podcast for Class

Happy belated Thanksgiving everybody!  I hope that you had a great, restful holiday with those you care for most.  I also hope you were able to move after indulging in so much food.

I think one of the more misunderstood audio technologies out there has to be the podcast.  I know for me, I used to think that you needed an iPod in order to listen to a specific podcast.  Also, I wasn't sure what the advantages of a Podcast were and since it was unfamiliar, I completed ignored this technology.  However, this week, thanks to this helpful video explaining what podcasts were in about 2 minutes, I was able to get a grasp on the benefits of this technology.  In short, it's the DVR of audio, allowing you to listen to a variety of broadcasts on demand.  And you don't need an iPod just to listen (note to self).  Just subscribe to the specific podcast you'd like to listen to and it's available to you.

In my quest to explore technologies that are useful in the 21st century Mandarin Chinese classroom, I found some examples of Podcasts that were enjoyable to listen to but also helpful for my future classroom.  One in particular is called "Popup Chinese", which is a podcast that is different from traditional "textbook-centric" learning methods, and has made them the highest rated Chinese podcast series on iTunes.  The particular podcast I listened to is for what they classified as absolute beginners and is called Let Me Do It, Myself.  This episode talked about the difference in pronunciation among particular speakers and is very easy to understand, even without any Mandarin background.

This could be used to help with a couple of specific learning objectives for Languages Other Than English:

• Model how spoken language, body language and social interaction influence communication
• Recognize that there are important linguistic and cultural variations among groups that speak the same target language.

The conversation and topics this podcast offers regarding the uses of Mandarin, along with teaching various phrases and words, are ideal for learning about HOW the language is used and not just speaking the language.  I'm looking forward to students being able to utilize these podcasts to learn more.