Using Podcasts to

Increase Student
Engagement,
Motivation, and
Proficiency
KELLIE PENDLEY
SECONDARY ELE COORDINATOR / ELL
INSTRUCTOR
BRAINTREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
BRAINTREE, MA
 Rationale

❖ Listening is the most frequently

used language skill in a
classroom setting.
❖ Students have expressed
wanting more practice with
authentic language.
❖ Most students (high school and
younger) have never known life
without computers and internet.
What are podcasts?

❖ In simple terms, a podcast is an audio

file.
❖ It is shared over the Internet by
subscription, usually in the format of an
MP3.
 Why use podcasts?

❖ Podcasts are powerful tools.

❖ Boost listening skills
❖ Easy to use
❖ Can be listened to on many platforms
❖ iPod/MP3 player
❖ Cell phones
❖ Desktop computer
❖ Laptop computer
❖ iPad/tablet
Why use podcasts?

❖ Wide variety of genres

❖ Multi-disciplinary—not just
for learning a foreign or
second language
❖ Use technology that
students are already
familiar with
❖ Build background
knowledge
❖ Students are engaged and
motivated!
How do you find podcasts?

❖ Easy to find, growing library of podcasts

on the internet
❖ www.itunes.com
❖ www.spotify.com
❖ www.podcastalley.com
❖ www.learnoutloud.com
❖ You can access them on your cell phones
through a variety of podcast apps
❖ You can also go directly to a podcasts
website and listen from your computer or
tablet
How do you find podcasts?

iTunes (on a Mac or PC)

❖ Make sure you have iTunes downloaded
❖ Click on the “iTunes Store” link on the top menu
❖ Search for the Podcast category and browse or
search by keywords
❖ When you find the right podcast for your needs, click
“Subscribe”
❖ Click on the “Podcasts” link in your iTunes Library
❖ Right-click the podcast to select “Download All” or
download individual episodes
How do you find podcasts?

❖ On your iPhone or iPad

❖ Launch the Apple Podcasts app
❖ In the bottom right hand corner, click the
search icon
❖ Type in the name of the podcast you want to
subscribe to or search by keyword
❖ Once you find the right podcast, tap the
button that says “Subscribe”
 How do you find podcasts?

On your Android
❖ Download a podcast app such as

Pocket Casts and Spotify

❖ Type in the name of the podcast you

want to subscribe to or search by

keyword
❖ Subscribe and listen
 How do podcasts engage
and motivate students?

❖ The Reporting
❖ Emotion
❖ Pacing
❖ A Sense of Place
❖ Length
Preparing to use podcasts

❖ Avoid overwhelming students

❖ Manipulation of recordings
❖ Search for transcripts
 Developing Better LANGUAGE
Skills

❖ Pre teach key vocabulary words and phrases

❖ Give copies of transcript---reading
❖ Journals—pre-, while, and post listening written
reflections
❖ Share---discuss, debate with peers
My Most Memorable Podcast Teaching
Experience
Example Activities
What are students saying?

❖ “This podcast is actually attractive to me because I like things similar

as detective. The activities were fun and it made me learn more
about American culture.”
❖ “I love the choice you made by choosing this project as our second
semester thing [curriculum]. We should go and visit Maryland! I love
Serial.”
❖ “You shouldn’t change anything. It’s a really great semester, one of
the best things we did in class.”
❖ “[Serial] helped me learn some new words and how to say them.”
❖ “Listening to Serial helped me improve my listening skills so I could
listen and understand for what was happening.”
❖ “Serial helps improve my listening and my reading skills because of
the transcripts.”
What are students saying?

❖ “Not only listening to episodes, but also having activities

related to the podcast so that they [we] wouldn’t get bored of
sitting and listening for an entire class. Thank you, Mrs. Pendley!
It was so much fun!.”
❖ “This case still is not closed and for this reason I didn’t enjoy it.”
❖ “Meh…fair enough…”
❖ “You can just keep it this way. The only thing I didn’t like are
works like vocab or writing. But students don’t like work
anyway.”
❖ “I actually hate podcasts so no I will not listen to podcasts
again, I just hat[e] them.”
❖ “We learned more vocabulary that we usually don’t use in our
everyday lives. We can improve our reading and listening
skills.”
❖ “Jay lied during the podcast to cover something up that he
doesn’t want to reveal. Jay is guilty!”
 Student Feedback: A list of pros and
cons of listening to a “story” rather
than reading it.
❖ Pros
❖ More interesting, easier to pay attention to the story
❖ I can learn how to pronounce words
❖ The person reading gives actions [emotion] with their voice
❖ If you don’t know how to say a word, the audio tells you the correct way
❖ You can listen anywhere and don’t worry about light or wind
❖ I like the way they [narrator] tells the story. It sounds very great and clearly to
me.
❖ Cons
❖ Sometimes the sound goes in one ear and out the other
❖ I get sleepy listening to some voices
❖ If you listen to the story without a [tran]script, people get confused
❖ If I’m reading and I don’t know a word, I can stop and look it up. If I try to
look up the word while listening to the story, I always lose my place.
Student Suggestions

❖ More group activities

❖ More analysis of evidence
❖ Add more evidence, make it into a movie
❖ More vocabulary words
❖ Give students the words [transcript], sometimes
speakers are hard to understand
❖ Add a debate at the end, that would be so much
fun
❖ They should add a video to go along with the audio
❖ Some of the episodes were too long, there should
be some snacks!
 Tasks For Any Podcast

❖ Use students background

knowledge to make sense of what
they are listening to with these easy
to use tasks:
❖ Make a prediction before you listen
❖ Identify the topic in one to three words
❖ Identify the speaker

❖ Listen for key words and phrases

❖ Form pictures in your mind as you listen

❖ Try to identify where the podcast is taking

place
 Task: Peer to Peer Podcast
Activity
❖ Find a podcast and create an activity for a peer
❖ Before they begin the hunt, set up objectives
❖ Pre-listening tasks
❖ While-listening tasks
❖ Post-listening tasks
❖ Follow up activities
❖ Discuss the objectives with the students
❖ Brainstorming activities and questions to be used
❖ Students are paired with a peer that don’t know really
well
❖ Preview podcast
❖ Get teacher approval and then swap and enjoy! ☺
Try This In Your Class

? The Magnetic Memory Method Podcast

? A podcast that is for anyone who wants to improve
their memory and learn new things---and it just so
happens to have incredible tips and tricks that are
applicable to language learning!
? https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/category
/podcast/
Try This In Your Class

? Learn Out Loud

? Not a podcast, but a huge podcast directory.
? https://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/Langua
ges
 Try This In Your Class

❖ News in Slow
❖ Offered in Spanish, French, German,
and Italian
❖ Can choose between Latin American and
European Spanish, too!
❖ https://www.newsinslow.com/
 Try This In Your Class

❖ Learn Chinese Visual: Mandarin

❖ Learn Chinese the easy way with a visual
podcast for all proficiency levels and all ages.
❖ http://www.visualmandarin.com/main
Try This In Your Class

❖ Duolingo Podcast
❖ True stories in Spanish and French with
English support
❖ https://podcast.duolingo.com/
 Try This In Your Class

❖ Lex-I-Con Valley
❖ A podcast about language, from pet
peeves to syntax
❖ https://slate.com/podcasts/lexicon-val
ley
 Try This In Your Class

❖ Real English Conversations

❖ Improve conversation skills while listening to fun
and entertaining conversations about
everyday topics in American English.
❖ https://realenglishconversations.com/english-p
odcast/
Try This In Your Class

► Listenwise
► A website made up of carefully selected podcasts
that are focused on building listening skills for middle
and high school students.
► www.listenwise.com
 Try This In Your Class

❖ Invisibilia Podcast
❖ Storytelling with science that makes
listeners see their life differently
❖ https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510307/invisi
bilia
Try This In Your Class

❖ The Moth Podcast

❖ Features re-airs of all new episodes of
the Moth Radio Hour
❖ https://themoth.org/podcast
Try This In Your Class

❖ Criminal Podcast
❖ Stories of people who have done
wrong, who have been wronged, and
got caught somewhere in the middle.
❖ https://thisiscriminal.com/episodes
Try This In Your Class

❖ This American Life

❖ Weekly public radio program and podcast.
Each week has a different theme and stories
are put together on that theme.
❖ https://www.thisamericanlife.org/
Try This In Your Class

❖ Lore Podcast or Lore Video Series

❖ Non-fiction scary stories
❖ https://www.lorepodcast.com/
 THANK YOU

❖ If you would like a copy of the presentation and or

documents to help you use podcasts in your
classroom, please leave your name and email
address
❖ If you have different on ideas on how to use
podcasts in ESL and World Language classrooms, lets
chat! ☺
❖ My contact information:
❖ kellie.pendley@gmail.com
❖ kellie.pendley@braintreeschools.org