Do you listen to podcasts?

[Jamie (K)]

Does anyone here load podcasts into their MP3 player and listen to them? Which ones do you like?

I like to listen to the news and world music podcasts from National Geographic. Everything they talk about is a "worldwide crisis" and "we may be too late". You can listen to a show called "Science Friday" from National Public Radio, in the States. There are foreign language lessons, and almost anything you can imagine, and I use them to get listening practice in different languages on various subjects.

One podcast I get a big kick out of is called Coffee Break Spanish, and it features two people with VERY Scottish accents teaching Iberian Spanish. One reason I like this is that it probably would not exist without the Internet. In pre-Internet days, they would have to have written a book and recorded some CDs, but first a publishing company would have to support the project, and their charming Scottish accents would never be heard. It turns out this podcast is quite popular, with at least 8,000 downloads per day from all over the world.

[Stew.t.]

Hi Jamie

Of course I do. German news in German mainly or interviews. Podcasts are great for lessons as well.
They are user friendly, easily interchangable (unlike burning to CD), up to date and you can expose your students to different sources of audio, as well as accents. I just now gotta persuade the schools to up-date their equipment.
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Please meet Stewart Tunncilff