In my school district, one of the new big initiatives amongst the language department is the use of podcasts in the classroom. There is actually discussion about purchasing ipods for student use in foreign language classes such as French, Spanish, German, and Latin. In addition, soon our district might have the ability to create and broadcast podcasts.
Apple itunes provides a great number of very useful podcasts for modern languages. However, searching through the itunes music store I was dismayed at the lack of Latin resources. One however I happened to stumble upon last year was the "Word Nerds". It is a show put on by English and Latin teachers in the Washington D.C. area about words and language. It touches a great deal on Etymology, is entertaining, and also delves into some very serious subject matter such as race, bullying, sexism, and other controversial topics. Some of the material is explicit, and is explicitly stated as such. So teachers must be selective when choosing materials from this podcast. Details on the word nerds program can be found at:
http://thewordnerds.org/
I had some of my own students in an etymology class do projects using programs from this podcast. Students really got into it, and enjoyed the use of technology and the change of pace. As the current school year moves forward, the producers of the Word Nerds have stated that they intend to cut how often they broadcast the podcast. As a fellow teacher, I fully understand the busy school year, but I do hope that they quality of the program continues for a long time to come.
Anyhow, I invite others to add any podcasts or itunes related material to this blog that might be useful in the classroom. The Word Nerds I found to be one useful item, and I hope they continue with their podcast. I also hope that podcasts like the Word Nerds become more frequent on itunes, and that a greater number of resources on Latin and Classical Civilization become available. Hopefully, before too long we might be able to produce a podcast ourselves of high quality at my own school district. One of the pieces of software that is most useful in this endeavor I have discovered is "Garage Band". Anyone with any more information on any of these topics, feel free to respond.
posted by B R S @ 4:43 PM
1 Comments:
Brian,
I hope you decide to do a podcast lesson for the last mod. Since you are already familiar with the use of other's podcasts, this might be the pr=erfect opportunity to start one of your own. Check my http:del.icio.us/burgos account for info on podcasting. I haven't reviewed what's there lately. I just keep adding to it, but you might find something useful.
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