Podcasting for Teaching English as a Foreign Language

1. Podcasting for Teaching English as a Foreign Language Rashid A. Moore Nova Southeastern University Ft. Lauderdale, Florida USA www.nova.edu

2. Questions for the audience • How many of you like to speak another language? Listen to another language? Sing in another language? • How many of you would like others to hear you and your students? • Do you want to reach out to the world?

3. ¡Sí, se puede! • All you need is to explore the world of podcasting to have experiences that even media superstars in Ecuador do not have!

4. What is a podcast? • A podcast is an audio or video file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using distribution or syndication, for playback on MP3 players and computers.

5. What is podcasting? • Podcasting is distributing, or syndicating, the audio and video files from a website • Basically, that means you and your students have the power to create and broadcast worldwide when you have a podcasting account

6. Do I have to have a lot of skills to podcast? • Not anymore. Many podcast websites offer accounts that do much of the work for you. • As long as you have a computer, a computer headset, and Internet connection, and a podcasting account, you can start right away!

7. Do podcasting accounts cost a lot of money? • No! You can get a FREE podcasting accounts at a number of places, like Podomatic • http://www.podomatic.com

8. Why podcasting and EFL? It’s authentic listening • Podcasts offer language teachers and students a wide range of possibilities for extra listening both inside and outside of the classroom, not just to the teacher or each other.

9. Why podcasting and EFL?Different discussions, voices and themes • They can provoke interesting discussions • They can bring a range of different voices and varieties of English into the classroom • They can be selected because their of their themes ties into the curriculum. • Stanley, G. (2006). Podcasting: Audio on the Internet comes of age. http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej36/int.html.

10. Finding podcasts by theme • Use one of the many podcast directories, such as these popular ones: • Podcast Alley • http://www.podcastalley.com/ • Podcast Pickle • http://www.podcastpickle.com/ • Stanley, G. (2006). Podcasting: Audio on the Internet comes of age. http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej36/int.html

11. Why podcasting and EFL?Script and audio connection • Many podcasts come with a transcript of what is said during them • EFL students can make greater connections between spoken English and written English • EFL students can generate their own scripts if one is not available • EFL students can create their own scripts for their own podcasts

12. Podcasts for lower proficiency levels • Voice of America • http://www.voanews.com/english/podcasts.cfm • Englishcaster • http://www.englishcaster.com/ • Internet TESL Journal • http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts/

13. Popular EFL Podcasts • Jeff McQuillan's ESL Podcast http://www.eslpod.com/ is one of the most popular podcasts of any genre, having a very large audience • Another popular podcast for EFL is Robert Diem's English Idioms and Slang podcast http://www.englishcaster.com/idioms/ . • Stanley, G. (2006). Podcasting: Audio on the Internet comes of age. http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej36/int.html

14. Popular EFL Podcasts • The Bob and Rob Showhttp://englishcaster.com/bobrob/ is also well produced and entertaining as well as being educational, and features "weekly English lessons from a Yankee and a Brit". • Charles Kelly's Learn a Songhttp://www.manythings.org/songs/ is a podcast appropriate for low level learners • Stanley, G. (2006). Podcasting: Audio on the Internet comes of age. http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej36/int.html

15. PodCards? • PodCards are audio postcards that you can download to your iPod, your mp3 player or to your computer. You can also burn the files to CD to use in class, at home, in the car - wherever you want. • They contain information about a particular town or city from different countries around the world or biographies of famous people, inventions, films or events that make these places famous. • http://www.eslpodcards.com

16. Podcast Dos • Make it good quality if you canUse software like Audacity to edit the audio file and filter background noise. • Transcribe Provide listeners a transcript or detailed show notes in the description of the podcast feed. This will help prospective listeners locate and use your podcast http://www.podcasting-tools.com/podcasting-dos-donts.htm

17. Podcast Dos • Content As important as audio quality is, it should not be at the expense of content. What you have to say is just as important as how you say it. Provide engaging content that is informative, educational or entertaining. • Subscribe To Your Podcast Feed Subscribe to your podcast feed, this will allow you to see and hear what your audience sees and hears. http://www.podcasting-tools.com/podcasting-dos-donts.htm

18. Can I make a podcast? All you need is: • a computer • a computer headset • an Internet connection • a free podomatic account • free Audacity software (recommended)

19. Account at Podomatic • First, register for an account. You'll need to give a username, password and email address. • Next, check the confirmation email and click on the link. This will take you to your new podcasting homepage. • From here, you only need to click on one or two buttons ('Post Episode' at Podomatic) to record straight from your browser. • Afterwards, your audio is automatically published as a podcast. • Stanley, G. (2006). Podcasting: Audio on the Internet comes of age. http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej36/int.html

20. A sample podcast site • A sample homemade podcast site • www.rushmoore.podomatic.com

21. Once you have learned the basics, it is time for Audacity • In order to have even better quality podcasts, it is a good idea to use a free computer program called Audacity • http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

22. Some of Audacity's features • Importing and exporting WAV and MP3 (via the LAME MP3 Encoder), and other file formats • Recording and playing sounds • Editing via Cut, Copy, Paste (with unlimited Undo) • Eliminate noise • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audacity#Features

23. Posibilidades de uso • Grabar sonido en directo. • Convertir casettes y grabaciones analógicas en grabaciones digitales. • Editar archivos de audio tipo MP3 & WAV (con el codificador LAME MP3). • Permite, mediante su interfaz gráfica cortar, copiar, pegar y mezclar sonidos. Puede trabajar con múltiples pistas. • Eliminar ruidos • http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audacity

24. From simple to multiple track • Vision Andina • made with Podomatic recorder (1st) • The Living Statue of the Alameda • made with Podomatic recorder (last one) • Ni Una Sola Palabra, Pero Muchas Liricas Cantadas • Made with Audacity and music mp3 • Say It Dad! • Made with Audacity and music mp3

25. Let’s make a podcast • obtain free podcast account at www.podomatic.com • find and use a computer headset with microphone • search for a text to record, or create your own text to record • record your podcast • post your podcast for the world!

26. Let’s create a podcast today! • In a small group, adapt the song lyrics provided for you today. Change the lyrics in any way that would like. • Create short introduction for your new song (why you changed some words and what you learned about the language in the song 1 or 2 minutes) • Take turns recording your podcast. • Convert your podcast into an mp3 file • Send to podomatic account

27. Posting to Podomatic • Log in to your account at www.podomatic.com • Scroll down to Post New Episode and click on it • Give the podcast a title and tags, like English, story, poem, letter, song, etc. • Copy and paste your text into the Comments area. Make sure to use <p> if you want to leave a space between sentences

28. Posting to Podomatic 2 • If you want to add a picture, click on Browse and find the picture on your computer or Flash drive • Check the box for “This show is clean” to indicate you do not have any bad words in the podcast

29. Posting to Podomatic 3Using podomatic recorder • Click on “mic settings” to check on your microphone settings for your headset • Click on the Record button and begin recording • Click on Post Recording • Go to your podomatic address (like www.rushmoore.podomatic.com) and play your recording

30. How to use Audacity • Open Audacity program • Click on the red circle button to begin recording an audio track. • Click on the brown square button to stop recording • Click on the left purple arrow button to go back to the beginning • Click on the green arrow button to play

31. How to use Audacity • In order to generate a special effect on part of the track, go to the point in the track you want to affect. • With your mouse, highlight the part you want • If you want to “fade in” or “fade out”, click on the “Effect” menu and scroll down to the effect you want. • If you want silence for that selected part, click on the “Generate” menu and select silence

32. How to use Audacity with music • Click on the “Project” menu and scroll down to Import Audio • Find the music file you want from your computer • Import the music file in your new project • You can add new audio track with the music by following the earlier direction for creating an audio file • You can generate special effects for the music file you have imported, like fading in and out

33. How to save files with Audacity • Click on the “File” menu and select Save Project. This saves your work as an Audacity file. • If you want to save your work and create an mp3 file to send for a podcast, select Export as mp3. This will blend your track together if you have more than one, such as music tracks and speaking (audio) tracks.

34. Thank you for your attention! This presentation can be obtained from: www.nova.edu/~mrashid Click on the poster for the Guayaquil conference