Podcasting and Etwinning in the Business English Classroom

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Podcasting and Etwinning in the Business English
Classroom

• Suzanne Schumacher,
• ICT Co-ordinator
• British Council Milan

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Solution?

• Strong points
• Present record
• Individual attention
• Work on self
• Weak points
• What for?

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What are they? Two definitions from Wikipedia

• Podcasts are a collection of audio or video
  files that people can "subscribe' to. When new
  "episodes" become available in the podcast they
  will be automatically downloaded to that users
  computer. ... There is no live broadcast of
  content, the material is pre-recorded and users
  can check out the material at their leisure,
  offline.
• ETwinning is when... schools are paired with
  another school elsewhere ...The two schools then
  communicate using the Internet ... to
  collaborate, share and learn from each other.
  eTwinning ... encourages cross-cultural exchanges
  of knowledge, fosters students' intercultural
  awareness, and improves their communication
  skills.

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What can they improve?

• Podcasting
• ETwinning

For listening skills
For speaking skills
For communication skills
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Podcasting for listening skills

• Authentic material
• World Englishes
• authentic
• communicate
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/radio/waystolisten/podcasts/
• http//www.nytimes.com/ref/multimedia/podcasts.htm
  l
• http//www.learnoutloud.com/
• ESL/EFL podcasts
• easier to understand
• made to teach
• learning material
• http//iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts/

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Podcasting for Speaking Skills

• Cheap
• Easy
• http//www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/17-audaci
  ty-tutorial.htm
• students get to communicate their message
• 1.The Baseball Kid - 11/28/2006 Simmy talks
  about the Nats' big mistake... tips you off on
  the team to watch next season... and gives you
  his picks for the Hall of Fame inductions Podcast
  Date Nov 28, 2006 190000
• encourages goal setting and working towards goals
• Helps assess progress
• Involves teamwork
• Promotes language besides target language
• Extrinsic motivation through semi-authentic task
• Motivates them to listen to self

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Podcasting process in the classroom

• Sell it!
• Introduce it
• Do it
• Review it

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Podcasting process in the classroom The doing
and reviewing stages
Listen
Feedback
Decide what they need for next time
Broadcast
New language
Edit or redo
Practice
Record
Listen
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In practice

• Stage 1 Selling the idea
• Stage 2 Introducing podcasts
• Topic Personality
• Stage 3 Decide on the podcast If cars were
  like computer
• Stage 4 Introduce language and practice
• Stage 5 Set up the task - plan
• Stage 6 Record
• Stage 7 Listen back
• Stage 8 Broadcast
• Stage 9 Feedback

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Feedback

• From each other
• From the teacher
• From others
• From themselves
• From students to the teacher

one thing you liked, one thing youd change, to
give in person
group error analysis, individual feedback for
continuous assessment
on the website
at least two things you liked and want to do
the same, at most two things youd like to change
next time
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Feedback from the students(from 6 out of 19
students)

• How did you feel while making the podcast?
• 2 enjoyed it.
• 3 felt embarrassed, uncreative or uncomfortable.
• 2. Do you think the time given to make the
  podcast was the right amount?
• This was an assessed task, so they were given
  time to prepare, practice and record. Group A
  finished in about 1 hr 20 min. Group B wanted to
  redo the recording and finished in about 1 hr 40
  min.
• 5 said it was enough, 1 felt it wasnt enough
• How do you feel about the feedback process? Was
  there enough?
• 5 were satisfied
• 1 wanted more than just grammar and wanted ideas
  for making a better podcast and speaking
  corrections

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Feedback from the students

• Do you feel podcasts are a valid assessment tool?
• 5 students said yes.
• 1 student said probably, but with more practice
  first.
• How often do you think it would be useful to make
  a podcast?
• Answered ranged from once a week to once a month.
• Verbally, the answer was much different.
• Would you prefer working with a partner, or
  individually?
• 4 said theyd like to vary
• 2 said only with a partner

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• Would you like to make podcasts for homework?
• 4 said yes
• 2 said no
• Is there anything you would like to be different
  next time?
• More vocabulary on the podcast topic
• More time to prepare
• More practice
• Information on how to structure a podcast
• Pronunciation

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In practice Second round

• Stage 4 Introduce language and practice
  Sentence stress and Emphasis
• Stage 5 Set up the task soap opera plan,
  write dialogue in groups
• Stage 5b Practice Together
• Stage 5c Perform for the class
• Stage 6a To record or not to record
• Stage 6b Group A chose not to. Group B decided
  to record. They did so with instructions.
• Stage 7 Listen back.
• Stage 7b Music
• Stage 8 Broadcast

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But why is it good for Business English?

• Learning to collaborate and to work in teams
• Extrinsic motivation to do well, so really
  practice the new language
• Non-target language involves using useful
  language for a business context (opinions, taking
  decisions, negotiating, collaborating, explaining
  how to do things)

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Business English Student Podcasts

• Role play practicing a business situation (a
  meeting, a job interview, etc.)
• A discussion about current events (read the
  newspaper, listen to a related podcast, react)
• An interview
• An advice show (for example doing business in
  my country)
• Other cultural advice for foreigners

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ETwinning

• English
• Other language
• Different ages
• Teaching and learning
• Pressure because of native speaker
• Often limited

• Non-English
• Non-English
• Same age
• Not much learning opportunity
• All in the same boat
• Easier to find

• Practice reading, writing, speaking and listening
• Cultural breakdown

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Possible eTwin framework

• Use each others podcasts for classroom
  activities/homework activities
• Set up feedback guidelines with other teacher
  (EG Dont correct the other students mistake)
• Start email exchange teacher created tasks
• emails for homework - set by teachers (approx.
  once a week)
• When students starting to know each other,
  Skype/Interwise.1st and 2nd call very
  structured. Frequency depends on student
  feedback.
• Next 2 3 calls with structured element as well
  as non-structured element.
• After this, set calls as homework. Students may
  have tasks (eg Find out about ) or can decide
  to carry out the call as they wish.

http//www.britishcouncil.org/etwinning.htm
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