News Podcasts - Reading While Listening
Intended students: Academic students in an IEP, intermediate to advanced levels
Time needed: 45-60 minutes, depending on time needed to pre-teach grammar and vocabulary
Objectives:
Procedures:
7. Students each write one review question about the content of this article. Mix up questions between groups and discuss answers in small groups.
EXAMPLE:
Article: “Two Powerful Earthquakes Strike Chile” (04/05/2014) http://learningenglish.voanews.com/audio/audio/394851.html
Follow-up activity: Write five questions about earthquakes. (Brainstorm as a class the types of questions to ask, mainly about facts and experiences: locations of earthquakes, biggest earthquakes, what to do if you are in an earthquake, where were you when it the last earthquake happened, did you have any damage to your home, etc.) Search the internet and interview two native English speakers to find answers. Record one of the conversations using your phone (or on Vocaroo.com) and email the file to the teacher. Be prepared to share with the class what you learned.
Materials:
Evaluation:
The sample article in this activity is about an earthquake in Chile, but the activity could easily be adapted for any podcast and transcript. It is always a good idea to have a backup plan when working with technology, so if possible, download an MP3 or other audio file of the podcast prior to class.
References:
Time needed: 45-60 minutes, depending on time needed to pre-teach grammar and vocabulary
Objectives:
- To practice reading and listening strategies – understanding the gist, figuring out meanings of new words
- To identify and learn new (AWL) vocabulary
- To review form, meaning and use of grammar structures
- To promote listening and reading fluency
Procedures:
- BEFORE CLASS: Download a news podcast and transcript from the Voice of America (VOA) or National Public Radio (NPR) websites. (Alternative option: stream from smartphone or classroom computer with internet access and speakers.)
- Input transcript to LexTutor website to find AWL vocabulary. Choose 8-10 words that you want to teach.
- IN CLASS: Pre-teach grammar (perhaps using YouTube videos or screencasts in a flipped classroom) and AWL vocabulary from the article transcript. (Teaching suggestion: Use Wordle activity mentioned above as a warm-up activity and vocabulary introduction.)
- Listen to the first 30-50 seconds of the news article without the transcript. Students write down key words they recognize. Discuss: What is this report about? What other details did you notice? Where did it happen? What happened? Tease out the information and ask what words they wrote down.
- Start the podcast again from the beginning and listen to news report with transcript (ideally about 5 minutes). As they read along, students circle or underline important words that help them understand what is going on in the story.
- Mark up the text (one page only) with observations about the grammar structure in focus. For example, Ss underline all the verbs.
- Write P for passive or A for active next to each verb.
- Circle who is doing the action.
- Discuss which are the main verbs, briefly explain quoted speech, and focus conversation on the passive verbs (or other grammar point in focus).
- Browse the article for other passive verbs. What is going on in those sentences? Who is doing the action? Discuss passive verbs, how and why they are used. Practice changing sentences to active voice.
7. Students each write one review question about the content of this article. Mix up questions between groups and discuss answers in small groups.
EXAMPLE:
Article: “Two Powerful Earthquakes Strike Chile” (04/05/2014) http://learningenglish.voanews.com/audio/audio/394851.html
- Grammar focus: Passive voice (YouTube video to pre-teach grammar: http://youtu.be/ePfmgMTgXl8 )
- AWL vocabulary: area, expert, affect, energy, survey, predict, aftershock, community, somewhat, release
Follow-up activity: Write five questions about earthquakes. (Brainstorm as a class the types of questions to ask, mainly about facts and experiences: locations of earthquakes, biggest earthquakes, what to do if you are in an earthquake, where were you when it the last earthquake happened, did you have any damage to your home, etc.) Search the internet and interview two native English speakers to find answers. Record one of the conversations using your phone (or on Vocaroo.com) and email the file to the teacher. Be prepared to share with the class what you learned.
Materials:
- AWL vocabulary list selected from article
- Podcast download with external speakers, or internet access to stream and project podcast
- Printed transcript of the news podcast from VOA or NPR (one per student)
- Students: Audio recording app on phone or www.Vocaroo.com (for follow-up activity)
Evaluation:
The sample article in this activity is about an earthquake in Chile, but the activity could easily be adapted for any podcast and transcript. It is always a good idea to have a backup plan when working with technology, so if possible, download an MP3 or other audio file of the podcast prior to class.
References:
- Dalton, B., & Grisham, D. L. (2011). eVoc strategies:10 Ways to use technology to build vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 64(5), 306–317.
- LexTutor website to create vocabulary list from article: http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/
- National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/
- Popko, J. (2011). Reading while listening to build receptive fluency. In Ashcraft, N., & Tran, A. (Eds.), Teaching Listening: Voices from the field (pp. 105-114). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
- Voice of America: http://www.voanews.com/
- Voice of America, Learning English: http://learningenglish.voanews.com/