Do you podcast???

photo by Google images

Here we have another brand-new technology that makes me feel like I had lived in a cavern up to now: podcasts! Actually, I had already heard about them before Sarah explained the meaning of this word last Wednesday and I thought – how naïve I am - I knew everything which was worth knowing… “Podcast” is a term created by joining the words “iPod” and “broadcast”: basically, an audio broadcast is converted to an mp3 file so it can be downloaded and played back in your own computer or in a music player, such as the iPod (you can find the exact definition on Pcmag encyclopedia, but I knew it before reading it, I swear!). By the way, I believed that podcasts contained only music and that they offer people the advantage of listening to their favourite songs wherever they were, simply bringing with them that magical “matchbox” and earphones. This was all I knew about podcasts and I must admit it was enough to leave me dumbfounded…! I just couldn’t imagine that this tool could be used to multiply the occasions to practice English! I should have foreseen it, though: since I started my scholastic career, the technologies at the learner’s disposal have kept on changing and improving and I’m quite sure that iPods will be soon substituted by something even more time-saving and futurist! Audiocassettes and videocassettes are just a vague recollection by now: today CDs and DVDs lord it, they are used in every school to allow students to get in touch with spoken language. But they have to watch out: podcasts are at the gates! By downloading free mp3 files, you can collect on your pc, mobile phone, digital player the broadcasts you prefer and find useful to keep your listening skills in form! On the train, walking down the street or on the bus you can listen to, for example, BBC news. It’s impressive, isn’t it??
On Wednesday I also discovered that, thanks to RSS technology, podcasts are available as news feeds as well! So if you find a website that offers the kind of listening exercises you are interested in, not only can you bookmark it in del.icio.us to retrieve it more easily, but also you can save its url in your feed aggregator and any update will be automatically sent you! It seems to me as if the tesserae of a mosaic are going to in their place: feed aggregators, del.icio.us, podcasts…everything squares!
I started surfing the Net full of hopes but after a short while I was overcome by despair: the world of podcasts is even wider than the blogosphere…and more chaotic as well! I can’t even remember how many websites I visited to find something that was really worth suggesting, but most of the times I got disappointed: either they were rubbish or they didn’t publish RSS feed, so I couldn’t save them in Bloglines! Here you have the three websites that impressed me the most:
1) podcasting news: it is the directory with the largest number of links that I found. I surfed around it for a while and I think it has quite good an organization. On the right, you immediately find a list of sub-directories that you can click if you already have an idea of what you’re looking for; scrolling the page down, there are links that enable you to take part in various fora and articles containing useful information both for neo-podcasters and for advanced users. On the left, other links lead you to some funny podcasts that you can listen to if you have some free time. The website is organized as a blog, so everyone can add his/her podcasts to the lists or post a comment on one of the articles.

2) Englishpod: this is a very interesting website for those people who are a bit clumsy in everyday conversation (like I am!). As we all know, in our over-crowded classes there isn’t much time to practice speaking and we tend to ignore those social rules that are the basis for communication for English people. We are worried about getting the meaning across and don’t pay attention to the shades of that meaning. What would we do if we had to say something unpleasant to somebody? Would we just say “I’m sorry, honey, the skirt you’ve just bought is simply awful”? Well, I don’t think so!! In this website there are some useful tips to learn how to use language in everyday situations: you can listen to podcasts that show you how to be polite and diplomatic, how to present a project of yours to a public, how to use modals in Business English to communicate your ideas and make other people accept it. Interesting and original.

3) English stories: it’s a website that people keen on “soap operas” MUST bookmark! Here you can find podcasts containing the episodes of a story, “Missing person”: every week you will receive the following part, but it is always interrupted at the most awkward moment, so curiosity and suspense grow week by week! In the page there is also the transcription of each audio file: I think it is a good way to check your level of comprehension. Don’t be scared if you read that the website is thought for advanced learners of English: I listened to one of the episodes and the speaker reads the text in a very clear voice and quite slowly; maybe you could need to look up some words in the dictionary. Don’t miss the chance to visit it and enjoy yourself!
I found the link to the last website in a page that has no RSS feed: learn-on-the-go. However, I suggest you to go to it all the same because it’s a starting point where you can find many interesting websites that I’m sure you will appreciate.

That’s all for now!