Podcast in teaching

I will use VOA Special English http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/ as a teaching and learning tool in my class. VOA stands for Voice of America, the website is very famous and popular for efficiently practicing and improving American English. The spoken speed of all the programs there are slow, clear, and easy to understand, which is exactly suitable for my ESL and EFL students, especially for low to intermediate students. There are three factors make Special English quite suitable and unique that I could either encourage my students to use it at home or I use it in my classroom. The first is its simple core vocabulary. Most words describe objects, actions and emotions of daily life. The second is its short, simple sentences and active voice; the third is the slow pace of broadcasting, about two-thirds the speed of standard English.
With the help of VOA Special English, I could use the first 10 minutes of my class time to play a short piece of news on Mon, a scientific report on Tue., and a story about American people’s life on Wed., and so on. And when students listen to the MP3 files, they can also read the text online at http://www.manythings.org/voa/rss/. In my class, students could practice their listening and speaking skills as well as learn about American culture and world news. I might also require students to use it for extensive listening at home and they could select any program they are interested in to watch and listen. When they come to the class, I might set group discussion time and they could share what they’ve learned with each other.