5 Teaching Strategies for using Podcasts or Audio.

Podcasts are a fun and different way to engage your students.

Here are 5 strategies and ideas/activities that could be used by the teacher or in your class by your students.

1: Language Learning 

Teachers can have students collaborate with other students with learning and practicing language online.

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I would use this strategy for students who are at the junior and intermediate levels. Students who are learning a new language (French) can use a tool like Skype to practice with another classroom that is learning English. For instance students in Ontario can have Skype partners where they practice vocabulary and oral composition with students in Quebec. By having the students rely on each other with some guidelines it can help them develop their language skills at their own pace.

2: Public Service Announcements (PSA's)

This is a good approach to have students think critically about issues that can be happening locally or globally and take a stance on that issue.

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For this activity at the junior level the teacher can have students hear various examples of PSA's to help students develop standards for their own PSA's. After have students do research on their issues. Then have your students create a script they can use to record their PSA that can be broadcasted to the class or over the school announcement system.

3: Story Telling and Critical Reviews

Students can practice comprehension and critical thinking through developing podcasts that retells stories or they can give reviews on certain aspects of the text.

For junior students as opposed to writing I would have them create podcasts that capture their comprehension of a class text. At the Intermediate level I would have my students do the same but provide reviews with critical analysis of texts they are reading independently.

4 Engaging Parents 

Keeping parents informed is a great way to help your students receive the proper supports they may need at home. Some teachers communicate via phone, online through a blog or maybe newsletters. A different approach you can try is creating weekly podcasts.

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What teachers can do is use the weekly podcasts for parents to listen to that recaps the week at school, in terms of projects, special announcements or events, and the upcoming week.

At the intermediate level what teachers can add to the podcast is student comments or opinions on activities that are happening in the classroom. For the busy parent this could be a great way to have them stay on top of what is happening in the class because they could download the podcast and maybe listen to it on their drive to work.

5: Assisting Absent Students

Any student who is ill and might miss a few days can fall behind and it can be hard for a teacher to support them and have them catch up. One way to tackle this is to create video podcasts that explain what they have missed and what they have to do to be able to keep pace.

If any handouts are used for any of the task we can easily upload as a digital file that can be downloaded to the student. You can also add the image of the worksheets onto the podcasts so you can further support your absent students by providing explanations of the worksheets.