Podcasts in ESL learning

After looking through the links a podcast I enjoyed was English cafe 500. I enjoyed the podcast because it was humorous and the episode looked at a famous American Elizabeth Blackwell. The podcast also provides a list of any potentially new or difficult vocabulary words for the students to listen for.  The podcast speaker speaks slowly and clearly, he also gives a clear definition of any potentially confusing phrases. Another thing I liked about the podcast was his discussion of a confusing set of verbs in English, which was in response to listeners questions.

I could use this podcast or any podcast within his series. This could be done by having the students look at the topics discussed in each podcast and have them pick out one that interests them. The students then can respond to the podcast they choose to listen to and provide details from the podcast as well as discuss the famous American spoken of in the podcast.

Performance Indicator - ESL.I.5-8.1.1.6: Students make and support inferences about information and ideas with reference to features in oral and written text.

 May Include - ESL.I.5-8.1.1.6.MI: Features such as vocabulary, format, facts, sequence, and relevance of details.