News Podcasting

DESIGNING AN ACTIVITY FOR PODCASTING

“Teaching opens the heart… the mind… and the world.”

Lesson plan for a student created podcast Students can learn about life and learn about cultures around the world

Topic: Student created podcasts on world news.

Introduction: These mini lessons provide students practice with their listening and speaking skills by creating podcasts on world news. They also promote a critical attitude towards issues.

A. General information: · · · · ·

Mariana Ríos Eglish Intermediate level Young adults and adults (16 to 40 years) 20 students Resources: International news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ http://www.nytimes.com/ http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/ National news: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/noticias.html http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/ http://www.reforma.com/

AUDACITY PROGRAM: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/?lang=es How to download audacity and work with it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Rzc46daaM Features of podcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtgKme9Ypfg SCREENCAST-O-MATIC: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ TEACHER’S RUBRIC: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2321414&

By Mariana Ríos González.

UNAM ALAD PODCASTING 4 EFL TEACHERS

DESIGNING AN ACTIVITY FOR PODCASTING

Teacher’s pod-o-matic account.

B. Specific information:

This is a project based on designing news podcast. In two weeks students will be able to create their own podcast on recent news. Besides creating podcast, students will be able to reinforce the grammar features such as uses of tenses, passive voice and reported speech. The project is based on six 20 minutes sessions in each class for almost a week. Each session has the purpose to guide students in their creation of their own script. We can ask students to work on this project individually or in groups work, as they choose.

C. Procedure

Session 1: Two heads think more than one!

Warm-up activity: Elicit news from your students. First, we can start the activity by paying attention to what they are talking about. They generally enter to the class chatting about the news. However, if they don’t seem interested on any news, we can start introducing one which we consider attractive to catch their student’s attention. (5-10 minutes) Activity 1.

Share with the students the importance of reading, listening or watching the news, and their preferences to do it. Explain to your students, the purpose of the project, and explain that they will work in groups of two to three students, and each of them will have a role in each session (the gatherer coach, the editor coach and the recorder coach).

Activity 2.

Once students are placed in teams, we need to classify the groups in areas, for example: European news, Asian and African news, North American news, Latin American news, National news, State news, Sport news and Artistic news1. In this stage I suggest to write down the areas on the board and each group choose them, or if you prefer we can make pieces of paper with the names of the news, and raffle the papers. Finally, send students the links where they can get information about the news by mail, so students start working on selecting the news they like the most and the following day they will share their information. Hand out the copies Appendix 1 to make it easier for the student to carry out his/her research. Each student must bring to the class different news on education, politics, money, etc. but sport or artistic as they correspond to a different group.

Gatherer Session (2.1): What about you?

1

The teacher has the freedom to choose the topics as the number of students he/she has.

By Mariana Ríos González.

UNAM ALAD PODCASTING 4 EFL TEACHERS

DESIGNING AN ACTIVITY FOR PODCASTING

Ask students to work in their groups and share what they found. The gatherer coach must elicit from their partners the information they brought to the class. The coach should pay attention to the recent date and the general information of the source, where their partners found out the information. At the end of this session, students must choose one topic from the several news they have. Hand out the copies for Appendix 2, so students make their call.

Gatherer Session (2.2.): What else?

Ask students to work in their groups to find out more about their news. Hand out the copies of Appendix 3 and ask students to complete the information. At the end of this session, students must read the news and select the relevant information about the news and start working on choosing images and references to support their project. (20 minutes) Extra class activity: The audacity program and podcast features.

Send to the students the video where they will have to watch and download the audacity program.

Students can do it at home, or if it is necessary you can ask students to bring their own laptop and do it at school. The video lasts 20 minutes aprox. and they can download the program in other 20 minutes.

In this video, students will see how to work with audacity, and the relevance for the project. Ask students to watch the video about the features of a podcast, and complete the worksheet to share their comments the following day. See appendix 4.

Writing session (3): Let’s get down to work!

In this session students will start writing their script. They can choose the format about how to do it.

For example, they can do it like an audio interview, like a video, or commentators. Hand out the copies for Appendix 5 to the writing coach, so they start planning and drafting their script. The worksheet will help students to take into consideration the features of a podcast. This may take a while, so students will have to work extra class to get the final product.

Extra class activity: How to use Screencast-O-Matic.

If students feel motivated to work with a video, they can work with the Screencast-O-Matic program, which needs to be shown how to work with it in a lab or if there’s the equipment necessary to do it in class we can present the program at school, and send students the link by mail.

Recording session (4): Keep working hard!

Students start rehearsing their audio or video cast. Depends on the format they want to do it. It’s necessary that the student, who is the coach in this stage, should be one of the strongest so he/she could guide the rest of the group. Here, students work on their pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, etc. and finally record what they have done. In this session, students will have the freedom to edit their

By Mariana Ríos González.

UNAM ALAD PODCASTING 4 EFL TEACHERS

DESIGNING AN ACTIVITY FOR PODCASTING

audio and make it attractive. Remind students the worksheet about the podcast features, so students take them into account, and make it shine! This session may last two or three days, so they will work extra class and using their own computers to prepare and edit their cast.

Final Product: Show to the world!

Finally students will hand in the final product via email, and the teacher will be responsible to upload the information in his/her Pod-o-matic account. The evaluation will be divided into two. Each group will have a week to see their partners’ news, and will comment on them. In class, ask them to evaluate each of the teams and to consider the information for appendix 6. Teacher will make a different evaluation and take into account the format of the cast and the structural features. Go to this link for the suggested rubric: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2321414&.

Students will get their two feedbacks, one from their partners, and the second by his/her teacher.

Once students are familiarized with the process, they can repeat the stages of gathering, writing and editing, three more times, and we are having a three-series podcast.

By Mariana Ríos González.

UNAM ALAD PODCASTING 4 EFL TEACHERS

DESIGNING AN ACTIVITY FOR PODCASTING

Appendix 1. Two heads think more than one!

Individual worksheet 1. Find out about your new in the following links.

International news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ http://www.nytimes.com/ http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/ National news: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/noticias.html http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/ http://www.reforma.com/

2. Once you have checked the information write down some information you consider attractive to

talk to.

TOPIC

SOURCE

USEFUL VOCABULARY A BRIEF REPORT (25 WORDS)

By Mariana Ríos González.

UNAM ALAD PODCASTING 4 EFL TEACHERS

DESIGNING AN ACTIVITY FOR PODCASTING

Appendix 2. What about you?

Group worksheet 1. Work in groups and share all your news. Think about your coincidences and choose one of

the most interesting new for your group. Decide on one of them.

2. Write down the sources where you collect the information.

a)___________________________________________________________ b)___________________________________________________________ c)___________________________________________________________ d)___________________________________________________________

3. Write down the vocabulary you consider useful to help you write you report on this event. _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 4. In groups, write a brief report in your own words in about 100 words.

______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

By Mariana Ríos González.

UNAM ALAD PODCASTING 4 EFL TEACHERS

DESIGNING AN ACTIVITY FOR PODCASTING

______________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________

Appendix 3. What else?

Group worksheet.

1. Decide on the format of your new. a) Audio cast: ·Commenter: Write summary of 150 words about your new. What are the references of

your new? ·Interview: Who are you going to interview? Are you having a presenter? Don’t forget to

mention the references of your new.

You must use the Audacity program to work on you cast. · http://audacity.sourceforge.net/?lang=es b) Video cast: Write a summary of 150 words about your new.

What are the photos or pictures you’re going to use? You may use power-point presentation and Screencast-O-Matic. · http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Appendix 3. What else?

Group worksheet.

1. Decide on the format of your new. a) Audio cast: ·Commenter: Write summary of 150 words about your new. What are the references of

your new? ·Interview: Who are you going to interview? Are you having a presenter? Don’t forget to mention the references of your new.

You must use the Audacity program to work on you cast. · http://audacity.sourceforge.net/?lang=es b) Video cast: Write a summary of 150 words about your new.

By Mariana Ríos González.

UNAM ALAD PODCASTING 4 EFL TEACHERS

DESIGNING AN ACTIVITY FOR PODCASTING

What are the photos or pictures you’re going to use? You may use power-point presentation and Screencast-O-Matic. · http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/

Appendix 4.

Extra class activity: The audacity program and podcast features.

Individual worksheet Watch the videos about downloading and using audacity, and the video about the features of a podcast.

This is the link for the audacity program. Watch it at home and follow the steps to download it.

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Rzc46daaM This is the link about the feature of a podcast. Take notes about the main features, and take them into consideration to create your own.

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtgKme9Ypfg 1.1.

Write down ten useful words that describe how to make a podcast and its features. Compare your list with your partners.

1.__________________________ 2.__________________________ 3.__________________________ 4.__________________________ 5.__________________________

6.___________________________ 7.___________________________ 8.___________________________ 9.___________________________ 10.__________________________

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix 4.

Extra class activity: The audacity program and podcast features.

Individual worksheet Watch the videos about downloading and using audacity, and the video about the features of a podcast.

This is the link for the audacity program. Watch it at home and follow the steps to download it.

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Rzc46daaM This is the link about the feature of a podcast. Take notes about the main features, and take them into consideration to create your own.

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtgKme9Ypfg 1.1. Write down ten useful words that describe how to make a podcast and its features. Compare your list with your partners.

By Mariana Ríos González.

UNAM ALAD PODCASTING 4 EFL TEACHERS

1.__________________________ 2.__________________________ 3.__________________________ 4.__________________________ 5.__________________________

6.___________________________ 7.___________________________ 8.___________________________ 9.___________________________ 10.__________________________

Appendix 5.

Writing session: Features of a podcast Check list.

Check it!

1. Is the topic presented in an interesting and imaginative way?

2. Is the format attractive?

3. Is the content well-structured and organized?

4. Can the voice or voices be heard clearly without interfering noises or background music?

5. Are the audio effects used to enhance the content and presentation?

6. Is the content useful or relevant for its purpose?

7. Was the length of the podcast appropriate for its content?

8. Did the podcast adhere to the copyright guidelines and its use of music, pictures, etc?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Appendix 6.

Check list.

J

K

L

1. Is the topic presented in an interesting and imaginative way?

2. Is the format attractive?

3. Is the content well-structured and organized?

4. Can the voice or voices be heard clearly without interfering noises or background music?

By Mariana RĂ­os GonzĂĄlez.

UNAM ALAD PODCASTING 4 EFL TEACHERS

5. Are the audio effects used to enhance the content and presentation?

6. Is the content useful or relevant for its purpose?

7. Was the length of the podcast appropriate for its content?

8. Did the podcast adhere to the copyright guidelines and its use of music, pictures, etc?

By Mariana RĂ­os GonzĂĄlez.

UNAM ALAD PODCASTING 4 EFL TEACHERS