[teachingenglishmadeeasy]

Hey all,

I am thinking about using Podcasts to help students improve their listening abilities. Have you guys ever used podcasts in your classroom? Pros? Cons?

[emile]

Hi,

I've used them extensively and they are definitely a great tool. They are best used with advanced level students because of the level of language, and the best thing is that you can get the students to make their own podcasts. Here's one my students made: R2G2: Podcast

[teachingenglishmadeeasy]

ah, cool. Thanks for responding. I'll check it out.

[mesmark]

Podcasts are just audio or listening scripts. If you go with actual shows, they'll be quite long but plenty of ESL websites publish shorter ESL student targeted podcasts.

Check
PodCards for some students podcasts
Medical English worksheets, teaching resources and free activities for healthcare professionals has a couple ESP medical audio downloads
Breaking News English Lessons: ESL Plans Teaching Current Events publishes audio with every news article

There are plenty of others, just search for ESL podcasts.

Just prescreen the audio files and make focus questions that go along with the script. Some of th sites may have those already prepared for you.

I do a show for teachers if you're interested ESL Teacher Talk

[susan53]

If you teach Business English tryBusiness English Pod Some good stuff.