One of the most powerful tools I discovered for development of English language is podcasting. It gives authentic practice in oral communication, it’s engaging and motivating, but because it’s scripted, students who may be shy about raising hands to answer questions just put to them in that moment will give it a try.
Here is work I did last year with my fifth grade class. That was a classic ELD class with students at the early intermediate to early advanced level.
This year, I have an English only (native English speakers) class for ELD and I’m continuing with podcasting. I share that so you understand you are listening to these they are not learning English. If I had had ELLs, I would still be doing this because a key ELD standard for our school site is oral language development and practice. I provide them as an example of what can be done in a short period of time. Here is how I structure doing the podcast:
The podcast is a weekly news show of 60 minutes duration (so we can send it out over the school robo-dial system).
- Monday, the class picks three stories to do for the week.
- Tuesday, I put up a PowerPoint with a page for each story. All students have to write a script for at least one story. Many do more.
- Thursday, I go through the scripts, and either I pick the best of each, or have some students pick them.
- Friday, at the end of the day when I have a prep, and most students have P.E., I bring in three students to read the script. We edit it in Audacity, and sometimes add music.