Random Quote
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.
---- M. Cartmill
Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will
probably replace teachers who do not.
---- Ray Clifford
Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.
---- Kin Hubbard
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
---- Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
To have another language is to possess a second soul.
---- Charlemagne
The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself.
---- Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case, 1995
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.”
---- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 -1832)
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
---- John Ciardi
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.
---- J. Robert Oppenheimer
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
---- Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818)
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
---- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir
As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
---- Isaac Asimov
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
---- Thomas A. Edison
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
---- Sam Levenson
I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
---- Terry Pratchett
Drink coffee! Do stupid things faster!
---- unknown
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
it's probably not a good idea to underestimate my ability to make an ass out of myself—just when I seem to have it under control, I'll turn around and surprise you.
---- Tenser said the Tensor
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
---- Mitch Hedberg
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.
---- Galileo Galilei
ESL podcasting
I’ve been hearing the term podcasting for some time and never really understood the appeal. It’s basically somebody talking and recording their thoughts in audio format. You can’t skim it, you can’t quote it without transcribing, and you can’t print it. Additionally there is the issue of space and bandwidth for most people. With my host, I have no problems - 5 gb of space and 300gb of transfer is a good deal. I have changed host to Site5.com
I noticed that a few EFL teachers have started podcasts for thier students. Graham links to Charles Kellys podcasts which I don’t find particularly useful as it is primarly nursery rhymes which I don’t see being motivating for adult learners. I know someone will say what about kids? and to that I say, children who enjoy nursery rhymes are not old enough to be surfing the net and studying English. There are however a couple of good sites around.
Graham has started a blog about podcasting in ESL/EFL which is more of a meta approach discussing available resources and whether there is any value in it. This is a yahoo 360 blog and apparantly requires you to have a yahoo360 account. Fortunately I have one and am able to view his site. Graham has invitations available if you are interested (at this point I don’t).
Probably the best site available is The Daily Idiom. I will probably be informing my students about that site if they are interested in practicing listening on their own and learning idioms.
Comprehensible Input also has a podcasting blog titled Comprehensible Input: The Podcast though it doesn’t appear to be about ELT. He also has a post about educational podcasting in Canada.
If you are interested in running your own podcast and have your own web site space you will want to check out Loud Blog a CMS for podcasting. I’m not sure if I will get into podcasting myself, but I have asked on the Expression Engine forums if it is possible to have integrated podcasting in the same way that loud blog works.
update
I did some searching around and found a good thread with information about royalty free music over at podcasting alley: Royalty Free Music for your Podcasts and check the comments below for more info as well…
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday May 3, 2005 at 10:41 PM
Podcasting | Teaching | useful_web_sites |





Graham wrote 139 words on Friday May 6, 2005 at 07:41 PM
Hi ********
I’m really excited about podcasting - I’ve been listening to quite a few now and can see that there’s a great potential for students, if only we can figure out how best to do it.
I’m determined to give it a go, and I can see by your post that others are too - should be exciting to see how it develops. I’m looking forward to listening to Blinger’s first podcast too : I think there’s a demand for what you post about to be turned into a weekly podcast. For example, I don’t have time to read as many blogs / websites as I’d like to. However, I’ve been downloading podcasts and listen to them on the train, and while I’m walking around the city.
I find it an engaging, entertaining way to learn about things.
Sean. wrote 178 words on Friday May 6, 2005 at 08:31 PM
Graham,
I edited my real name out of your comment. I’m interested in learning more about podcasting myself. Any podcasts I listen to will be on my computer as I do not have an MP3 player and am not in the market for one.
I can see the appeal of listening to broadcasts on the train. If the podcaster is good, it would definately be better than pop-music. Did you listen to Comprehensible Inputs podcast? I thought it was well done and well paced. The author/podcaster also has a good voice for broadcast.
Making podcasts wouldn’t be a problem, I would use audacity as it is quite easy to use, but if I was to do it I would want to add some funky opening and closing music as well as the occasional sound effect for humor. sound bites are easy enough to find, but would you know where to find background music to use for opening and closing credits?
One last thing, Graham, I tried to visit you blog just now but I’m getting a 404 error…
Graham wrote 177 words on Saturday May 7, 2005 at 04:14 AM
Hi again!
I’ve been playing around with Audacity too, and will probably try and put my first podcast together this weekend (if the translation work I have to do doesn’t eat up all my time!)
You’re right about the music - the podcasts I’ve been listening too use something that they call ‘podsafe’ music, which is music that the artist lets them use in return for mentioning / linking to their website, etc.
The main source of this seems to be :
http://www.garageband.com/
It would be fun, I think, on a podcast for students, to sometimes include a song in English and provide an accompanying exercise related to the song.
Of course, we can’t all cater to all levels of students - I suppose I’m going to select one group to try out.
Would you be interested in preparing a podcast for students, or one (similar to your blog) for teachers?
I haven’t had a chance to listen to the Comprehensible Input site yet, but I will do when I get home tonight.
Have a good weekend
Sean. wrote 64 words on Saturday May 7, 2005 at 09:30 AM
Graham,
Thanks for the link, I’ll definately check it out. I am interested in podcasting, I’m not sure if it will be student or teacher oriented. I just purchased two domains
http://eslcast.comand
http://eflpodcast.comAt this point I’m not ready to do anything with the domains but this summer after I finish my essays and graduate from my MA program I’ll start something up.
Sean. wrote 99 words on Saturday May 7, 2005 at 08:50 PM
Well I looked at garageband but I can’t seem to find where it says the music is free to use as you want. It’s free to download, but I"m not sure about cutting it up and remixing it into my podcast.
I did find the internet audio archive audio archiveand it does seem promising
I will continue to look until I find a definitive answer and report back later.
James Chiou wrote 44 words on Sunday May 8, 2005 at 05:18 PM
I think although Charles Kelly’s podcasts are not easy enough for those non-computer-literate children, the teachers or parents can still make some good use of them.
So the target audience would be the adults who want to use those podcasts to teach/entertain their kids.
Sean. wrote 18 words on Sunday May 8, 2005 at 08:37 PM
James,
Good point. I didn’t really think about that, I was focusing on my students all university age.
Graham wrote 77 words on Sunday May 8, 2005 at 10:28 PM
Hi again
If you look at the Garage Band site, there’s a link at the bottom for those interested in webcasts / poodcasts - it depends on the artist, but a lot of the songs too have Creative Commons licenses, although it will be difficult for you to find an artist willing to let you cut up and mess around with their music, you can certainly find an instrumental track that could serve as an intor, etc.
Robert wrote 67 words on Tuesday May 10, 2005 at 02:08 AM
Hi,
Podcasting is going to be great for students, as soon as more teachers start producing them. I did the first EFL/ESL one, called The Daily Idiom, and have been very pleased with the response. I’ve also created the first, and so far only, EFL/ESL podcast site called Englishcaster for teachers and students to list their podcasts: http://www.englishcaster.com
Check it out and tell me what you think.
Robert wrote 36 words on Wednesday May 11, 2005 at 12:20 AM
I encouraged Sean at http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com to put his audio lessons into podcast form and I’m now happy to report that he has succeeded. Congrats, Sean! I’ve now added his link to http://www.englishcaster.com
Bob
The Daily Idiom