Podcasting for ELD

January12

One of the most powerful tools I discovered for development of English language is podcasting. It gives authentic practice in oral communication, it’s engaging and motivating, but because it’s scripted, students who may be shy about raising hands to answer questions just put to them in that moment will give it a try.

Here is work I did last year with my fifth grade class. That was a classic ELD class with students at the early intermediate to early advanced level.

This year, I have an English only (native English speakers) class for ELD and I’m continuing with podcasting. I share that so you understand you are listening to these they are not learning English. If I had had ELLs, I would still be doing this because a key ELD standard for our school site is oral language development and practice. I provide them as an example of what can be done in a short period of time. Here is how I structure doing the podcast:

The podcast is a weekly news show of 60 minutes duration (so we can send it out over the school robo-dial system).

  1. Monday, the class picks three stories to do for the week.
  2. Tuesday, I put up a PowerPoint with a page for each story. All students have to write a script for at least one story. Many do more.
  3. Thursday, I go through the scripts, and either I pick the best of each, or have some students pick them.
  4. Friday, at the end of the day when I have a prep, and most students have P.E., I bring in three students to read the script. We edit it in Audacity, and sometimes add music.
7 Comments to

“Podcasting for ELD”

  1. January 12th, 2008 at 3:11 pm      Reply Mathew Says:

    This is an excellent post on how to work podcasting in to curriculum.


  2. January 12th, 2008 at 7:42 pm      Reply alicemercer Says:

    Okay, I’m seeing an error, I said it’s a sixty minute podcast, but it’s just 60 seconds. Also, I have kids for a 30 minute period every day.

    Larry has requested that I explain about robo-dialing, which I’ll try to put up in the next few days.


  3. January 12th, 2008 at 8:11 pm      Reply alicemercer Says:

    Oh, thank you Matthew for your kind words, can you add a link about your video site?


  4. January 13th, 2008 at 11:25 am      Reply mrneedleman Says:

    OK, I work with large populations of English Language Learners. Our video work is here: http://www.videointheclassroom.com


  5. February 1st, 2008 at 3:48 am      Reply dogtrax Says:

    I like how you use the phone tree to send the podcast home. We can’t expect that all of our families have access to technology to experience their children’s work.
    Great idea, Alice
    Kevin


  6. February 2nd, 2008 at 4:48 am      Reply Elona Says:

    Alice,
    Thanks for the great idea. I’m going to adapt it for my learning strategies class and have students create mini podcasts about how to study effectively, how to study for tests, how to write tests, etc. Thank you so much. 🙂


  7. February 2nd, 2008 at 7:54 am      Reply alicemercer Says:

    Thanks for all the great comments! Elona, I look forward to hearing those podcasts. I might even share then with my students.


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