Podcast: one thing in a French day

  More and more multimedia publishings on the Web are self made entertainment.  It's much easier to create one's own podcast online as well. Since Apple has incorporated support for listening and subscribing to podcast into iTunes, which make listening to the podcast from all over the world, with different topics and in different languages easier to get. No specific technologies are needed, while everyone could subscribe, or make a podcast by themselves.

 

  I used to listen to podcast of music each week, I liked it so much and it was made by an individual who was a big fan of music, and I also listened to the ESLpod ,these days, which has different topics every a couple of days. It offers a variety of topics, like business, social, cultural... and it speaks in a lower speed in cater to the language proficiency to ESL learners, to learn the language in a context of learning cultural. This podcast is really interesting for ESL learners, especially for those beginners or intermediate level students who are in a EFL environment, where they could not have much exposure to the English.

         

  Meanwhile, I found another one which is really interesting,  which helps me to learn French,One Thing In A French Day , it is made and produced by an individual each week, she talked about the tourist attractions, cultural issues of France, and with a natural speed of speaking, the best thing is it has the text on the website, which could be taken as the reading or dictation materials.  If I teach English or French, I would like my students to listen to these more natural podcast which relate to cultural issue, and make them interested in learning this languages. I can also expand the topic.  For example, one podcast of it is about the vacation plans,Les prochaines vacances, I could let students to dictate it, and talk about their own vacation plans as an oral practice or let them write with some target vocabulary as a writing exercises.

ePals- Connect the students

   Epals is a global teaching and learning community which connects more than 200 countries and territories. It's a great platform which promotes a meaningful and secure web 2.0 environment, and also it helps teachers and students from different age to reach  other learners of different background and reach different online sources for learning. Epals projects are centered around content and experience require teamwork, brainstorm and communication. By learning about relevant issues, students, teachers work together, and different people share their ideas. It's a communicative way to learn and teach, and  this learning experience motivates students for self-study, and helps their future career as well.

  I love the Global community products of ePals. It helps students and teachers to connect the others to cooperate and learn through communication. For example, Class in USA Seeks Email Exchange in Chinese , the teacher is asking for exchange of emails and skype for the students who learn Chinese in the states. It's a great way for students to learn the original languages, and to motivate their interests. I cannot help but thinking that if I were younger and I know to use ePals, I would have more connection to the English native speakers as well. Technology Class in Texas, USA Seeks Partners for Countries Around the World Project

is also a good project, which help students around the world to communicate based on the exploration of the Internet, and it also requires the learning of powerpoint, and students can learn the public presenting skills through the project.

  I'd like to apply the use of ePals in my future classroom, and I will start the project for the objects of letting Chinese students connect to the native English speakers of the same age, and letting my students to change the emails and skypes to communicate with others, and gain knowledge of both cultural and linguistic.