For ESL, Podcasts Offer Flexibility, Variety

Whether or not you have ever listened to one via streaming or download on your phone or mp3 player, without a doubt everyone with any internet experience has come into contact with podcasts. For those who haven't listened to one yet, you may be asking the question what exactly are podcasts? Well in fact they have no specific purpose or subject. Generally speaking, any audio recording where a bogger, journalist, host, etc. speaks on a topic or a variety of topics of interest within a general them that is available through the internet for the public's consumption could be considered a podcast. Users can subscribe to podcasts from specific websites or hosts, usually for free but sometimes for a charge, and receive them regularly via automatic download or download/stream them one by one. Most commonly podcasts are about news, sports, music, technology and other mainstream topics. Less frequently, but maybe more practical, podcasts are designed and used for educational purposes.

Educational podcasts can be oriented toward common subject areas from science or history for kids, to business or computer science for more mature learners. And, for the L2 learner and educator, there are also podcasts available that aid in language instruction. Virtually every language with a significant number of speakers is represented through language acquisition podcasts, and more widely used languages like English, Spanish, Mandarin, French and so on have podcasts from hundreds of reputable sources. The manner in which they go about exposing the listener to the language, and to some extent putting it into practice, can vary greatly depending on the platform and intended audience.

As a student of French, I have used podcasts myself to increase the amount of input from the target language, or TL, that I take in. My favorite podcast source, and the one I use most frequently, is the French-based, multilingual news agency Radio France Internationale, or RFI. This agency, created by the government of France, has as a secondary mission (after news reporting, of course) the promotion of the French language throughout the world. For those who decide to use RFI for French language learning, there is an accompanying iPod app to get the most out of the podcasts. Ideally, one would have the app through which they can listen to a daily podcast focuses on the top world news stories in addition to some Eurpean economic and sports news. These podcasts are spoken in basic, simple French and are accompanied by a French-language transcript to follow along with. Of course, if someone had no knowledge of French (or whatever the TL may be) reading and listening may serve only to recognize the relationship between the phonology and morphology of lexical items. However, though even that may be quite useful, I don't think anyone would recommend podcasts as a stand-alone or introductory means of learning an L2. It serves best in a role as one tool of many, a piece of the puzzle.

Having learned firsthand the value of podcasts as a part of augmenting exposure to a TL and thus SLA, its only logical to implement (or at least suggest) them as part of a language learning curriculum for my ESL students. While I think the most effective podcasts for SLA, whether the TL is French, English or Afrikaans, are those accompanied by apps that are interactive or provide a visual aspect as well, it would be unfair to assume all students have or want an iPod or smartphone that is capable of running such apps. There are useful alternatives. One series that I have been exploring and find to have an interesting approach to basic exposure to spoken English is 6 Minute English produced by the BBC. These podcasts explore one story of general interest each week that range from the "War on Drugs" in Australia to cyber attacks in Bangladesh and even invasive plant life in Antarctica.

The podcasts are 'hosted' by two actors that go by the monikers of Chris and Rosie. Chris introduces the news report to Rosie and, by extension, the audience. While narrating the story, Rosie acts as commentator, sharing her personal thoughts, opinions, and questions. She serves as a learner, and it is through her simple questions in elementary English where an English learner at a low proficiency would gain some insight into the content of the conversation. An example of the general pattern of each podcast in the series can be heard in this episode titled Dream apps posted on Friday April 20th, 2012. Here, Chris introduces the topic, but before starting presents a multiple choice trivia question to the audience. He asks "what do Margaret Thatcher, Napoleon Bonaparte and Florence Nightingale have in common?" and presents three choices (  a. They all dreamt of becoming farmers when they were children; b. They all suffered from a recurring nightmare of being bitten by spiders; and c. They all usually slept for just four hours a night, for those that are interested), but does not disclose the answer. This is intended to keep the listener interested, perhaps even if they are not so enticed by the topic of the podcast, which is unrelated by design.

Moving on to the subject of "dream apps," Chris explains how researchers have developed an app for the iPone, soon to be released for Android phones, called Dream: ON that allows users to select the time they want to wake up in addition to their ideal dream scenario. The app uses a motion sensor to detect when the user is in a dream state and uses various "soundscapes" to induce desired scenarios in the sleeper via the subconscious mind. Researchers believe that positively influencing dreams can aid sufferers of sleep disorders and depression. As Chris shares the information about the app, Rosie frequently interjects to express her wonder at the idea and also to ask questions about it, some of which Chris laughs at and implies are silly. In some sense, though she sounds like an adult, she speaks with the mannerisms and figures of speech of a child. Rather than some form of veiled sexism that first comes to mind, I feel the real intent of the presentation of her character is, as noted above, to allow an opening for the listener to become engaged and follow the story through her elementary use of the English language and exaggerated emotion in speech. This emotion provides context and meaning to her speech that may be inaccessible to the learner in plain speech.

As we have seen, podcasts are in fact a very helpful addition to any language learner's acquisition process. The best part about podcasts for ESL or any TL is that there is such a wide variety of approaches to different types of L2 inputs and the learning process. At worst, any exposure to a foreign language is written or spoken form is beneficial by at least getting the learner accustomed to the sound and appearance of the language. Good podcasts (and the possible accompanying apps)however, like the two discussed above, provide an added aspect to supplement typical listening to bland, monotone speech. With podcasts, your ESL or other foreign language learner can choose when they listen, what they listen to, and the extent to which they engage the subject matter.

ePals: An Online "Teacher's Convention" for Social Learning

By the day, more and more educators from all subject areas are becoming more aware of both the value of social learning and the ways in which the internet can make this more and more feasible. Particularly in second language learning settings, the ability for students to interact with other learners and even native speakers is extremely conducive to an enhanced learning experience. However, until the last 10 years, and even less than that in some cases, classes and student groups connecting with these learners or foreign language speakers has been difficult and rare, if not impossible.

Today, with the ever-expanding internet where more and more of the world is connected and able to communicate in real-time while on opposing sides of the globe, learners and educators have a much higher capability to learn a foreign language in a social context ; the way which many researchers suggest it is best accomplished. A large assortment of tools make this possible: social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, blogs such as those found on Blogger and eduBlogs, and of course individual websites of organizations and teachers all provide (either directly or through reference/links to other resources) a sort of populist assortment of learning tools. The problem with such an expansive battery of resources is that there is, to date, no centralized collection of these user-created tools that saves an educator valuable time and attention by presenting a vast selection of tools that are "peer-reviewed"; not in the research sense, but in terms of user-ratings. Using the internet, it is indeed very possible to get completely lost from the comfort of your home. One site, ePals, is potentially the start of a solution to this enduring road block in using the internet for focused social learning.

ePals  is an education technology website that connects users to learning networks that are both safe for students of all ages and effective. The fields of study and project foci are greatly varied but are targeted on the primary and secondary school levels. The bulk of the site in terms of value are the Member Projects. These projects are social learning plans that are not only designed by educators, but are in practice now. Even more, the site allows registered users to rate projects. Of course this is subjective, but it provides at least some means of sorting through the fog in an open-community to find projects that are truly advantageous.With a self-reported 700,000 users, ePals does have what could be seen as an overwhelming amount of "stuff" to share with you, but keeps them all in one space where you can search it, sort it, sneak a peak it it, then use it. Or move on to the next project.

As an example, one project I find interesting and with great potential in the field of social learning of an L2 is Far or Close Language Always Flows (A Culture and Language Project) submitted by an educator in Turkey and a partner in Italy. The project aims to allow teachers and students from different language backgrounds to share and teach language to each other using lexicon from a number of practical topics such as household items, food, clothes, animals, etc. The project puts students from the larger group into pairings to provoke them to both teach and learn their partner's language socially. The aspect of this project that these learning exchanges was precipitated by an actual, physical visit to one anothers' home countries. This may or may not be feasible, depending on many contextual and environmental circumstances, but, while ideal, may not be necessary thanks to tools like Skype and web-conferencing. That's what the site is all about... finding projects out there that you can use or that inspire you to modify them so they suit your class' situation. Visit the project's own external site to learn more about it.

So how do you take the above project and make it work if you can't afford 20 airline tickets from Buffalo to Paris? Well, another project of value to me that would aid in putting a modified project, as discussed above, into fruition virtually is Connecting Classrooms with Skype submitted by educator Betsy Weigle of South Carolina. This project attacks the hurdles of distant social learning. The project synopsis linked above shares the teacher's goals for this specific project: "...to open my classroom to the world by bringing children from Washington state and South Carolina together virtually to share insights on Native American cultures".They did this in a shared virtual classroom by doing research, creating PowerPoint point presentations and other digital exhibits, and maybe most importantly, verbal presentations. "Combining these presentation techniques with Skype allowed in-depth, real-time interaction on shared content," according to the submitter.

Of course, the topic of Native American cultures may not at all be pertinent to my L2 classroom or your own. But, the topic of study in the projects you find on ePals is not necessarily relevant at all. The biggest advantage of the site is the ideas the projects provide regarding how to teach a lesson socially and how to use technology to do it. This is how I would use this site in the future; not to carbon copy a project and duplicate it with my students. Rarely would all of the circumstances be the same to make such a duplication as effective as it could be. The networking of information and ideas that you can incorporate into the best possible use for your specific classroom is what makes this site great. Again, these benefits are amplified by its centralized nature, ease of "search-ability", and its user-ratings.

No Good Videos to Use in Your L2 Classroom? Make Your Own with Stupeflix!

Various means of multimedia and entertainment, such as film, music, online digital photography and so on are, in my opinion, well underrated in terms of their potential in augmenting L2 education as a whole and are thus under-utilized. Surely upon consideration, nearly any L2 educator can see the value that foreign language media and art can have as part of an immersion in L2 language and culture. So it follows that if a student can not in fact be physically immersed in an L2 environment, then certainly a kind of "sensory immersion" would be the next-best thing.

This is not to say that the arts, again meaning to include film and music, are not already frequently used in foreign language and second language classrooms; indeed, they are, though maybe not as much or in ways that they should. In addition, maybe you can't find enough of them that are "just right" for your usage, you'd like to do more with multimedia. Now the internet and its seemingly endless supply of applications and websites, provide students and educators with an opportunity to experience and create these modes of L2 inputs (and outputs, as it relates to the creation of multimedia discussed below) via the "cloud" from anywhere at anytime with a computer and an internet connection.

Of course viewing and listening to foreign language films and music, respectively, on the web or at home is not a new possibility. But the capability to use these art forms to put SLA into practice using written and orally-based L2 compositions to produce a personal audio-visual presentation (without the need to purchase editing software at exorbitant costs) is a relatively new advent.

An example of, but certainly not the only, web-based application / website for user-created multimedia productions is Stupeflix.

Stupeflix allows users, aftera short registration process (or a convenient option to log-in with one's Facebook or Google accounts), to upload personal photos or downloaded images (appropriately licensed ones, that is!) and join them with site-supplied video-esque backdrops and transitions to liven up a typical slideshow to a more feature-like exhibition. Allowing the addition of captions to tell the story and backing music from your own audio files, you are left with the potential for fun-to-produce, fun-to-watch, and even fun-to-grade L2 assignments. Below is a silly Stupeflix production I created based on a vacation I took a few years ago. While watching it, imagine that this type of presentation was elicited from a non-native speaker of English as part of a skills task...





So how do you turn something apparently goofy like this into an assessable exercise? Simply supply your students with a language-learning objective, be it proper usage of verb tenses, syntactical features, pronoun selection, newly introduced lexicon, or the appropriate location of negatory clauses. In fact, the options here are as endless as they would be for any standard writing assignment. Then, ask your students to tell a story with their own images (I prefer the usage of personal photos, as they are more expressive) while following those linguisitc features being assessed. Now you have a fun (possibly even fun-ny), engaging task what will be entertaining for the creator/student, his or her peers, and you, the instructor.


A key to successful and consistent SLA is prolonged interest and attention from the student. A "changing-up" of the methods and  means of working with the TL is critical to this. In addition, an aresenal of varying forms of input and output exercises provide greater contextual expanse and depth for linguistic interaction, helping to bettew attain L2 proficiency. Stupeflix, and its numerous counterparts, are excellent for fulfilling these roles.

VoiceThread: Speaking Aloud in the Cloud

When teaching your L2 students, do you find yourself wishing you could expand the discussion beyond the walls of the classroom? Are you instructing a "distance learning" course and feel you are not fully connecting with the students because oral communication is absent? Well, VoiceThread may be just the web-tool for you.

After a quick registration that takes no more than 5 minutes, you can get started right away. After creating your account, just click on the "myVoice" tab for step-by-step tutorials on how to get the most out of this web-based application. Suddenly, you are verbally communicating with your students through the "cloud."
Since the discussions are recorded, class participation can occur at the convenience of the instructor and the students. (Of course, the creators of VoiceThread were thoughtful enough to include the option to type comments in addition to audio recordings.)


A screenshot of a prepared VoiceThread with several users.


As for the content and objectives when utilizing this tool, the choice is up to you. You can do anything from simple discussions on a given topic led by the thread initiator to activities based on images uploaded by users. Tools such as the color wheel allow users to interact with images and "virtually draw" on posted images. Other features include the ability to upload webcam and/or audio files directly to the thread from your computer.

For some ideas, check out the following VoiceThreads created by fellow instructors: This VoiceThread by Wenjing Zhao is an example of a basic open discussion-based thread, this one amongst educators sharing their ideas on how VoiceThread might assist learning in an L2 classroom. This thread by Meng Zhang is an example of a "hands-on" L2 activity that utilizes the virtual drawing feature. Take a look and poke around to see exactly how these users made the most out of their own VoiceThread accounts. These are great examples of how to get started putting VoiceThread to good use with your class. Of course, the discussion can be about anything, and the images can be of anything (withing the confines of classroom appropriateness, of course).

However you see fit to use this interactive, user friendly tool, it surely provides educators one more asset, a tool in the belt so to say, that can increase interpersonal dialogue and class participation.

Digital Storytelling in L2 Learning



Screen capture from the Bookr website


Digital storytelling has not only become an important form of social media and expressive creativity, but it is steadily growing in its importance educationally. While many varying forms of social media can be considered a means of digital storytelling, from short fictional films and narrated presentations to online documentaries and musically-backed slideshows, one very simple but unique and fun way to share a story is with the webtool Bookr. With Bookr, users can search for photos on flickr that are part of the Creative Commons' licensing and legally use them with their own writing to publish a virtual mini-book on the internet.

While it can serve only as a toy for some creative and amusing illustrated tales, it can also serve the classroom as part of a short assignment that incorporates creative thinking with a personal touch that keeps both the writer / student and the reader interested. Here is an example of a short Bookr creation I have made to demonstrate how simple it is to manage either for personal or educational use, though it is maybe best-suited for older adolescents and adults (the Bookr tool and the example!).
Specifically for ESL or foreign language classrooms, a creative writing assignment utilizing Bookr can be an exercise in compositions skills, with the objectives of putting into practice one's proficiency levels in syntax, grammar, and lexical depth and flexibility. Also, in examining fellow classmates' projects and being asked to respond to the stories, reading comprehension can be evaluated.

One can picture a lesson where students are asked to compose an illustrated Bookr story with a given number of "pages." Part two of the assignment would ask students to expand on each others' stories by adding one slide to all of the other Bookr creations (depending on class size, of course). This would lead to a progressive story construction that would certainly be amusing while watching where the story leads. This assignment would provide a reasonable opportunity for an informal or possibly a formal (depending on rubric flexibility) assessment that examines the skills mentioned above.