Podcasts for the ESOL Classroom

Matt and Mark have created a site that contains several podcasts that provide teachers of English as another language resources and suggestions to use in the ESOL or EFL classroom called: ESL Teacher Talk. One podcast that I listened to was called, Teaching Communication Strategies. This necessarily would not be used in the classroom with students, however; it focuses more towards professional development in TESOL. I am always interested in improving my classroom instruction and consider myself a life-long learner. I find it really interesting to listen to discussions about issues concerning the ESOL classroom, also strategies and ideas to help facilitate English language instruction. This podcast was more about how teachers could teach students the pragmatics of entering, maintaining, and exiting a conversation.

English as a Second Language Podcast is another website that provides a series of free English podcast to help ELLs improve their English language abilities. There are many categories that ESL students can participate in, for example; daily life, health medicine, relationships, and English cafe. I listened to an ESL podcast about insulting people. This can be used at an instructional level when teaching American culture and pragmatics. This would be great for English language learners who are about to enter or already live in the United States. Learning about insults in another culture is practical and important when ELLs are faced with a problem or discrepancy within another culture. Students must be able to recognize criticisms and insults in order to respond appropriately and deal with that problem.