podcasting

our new word for the week ispodcasting .

I've seen a few pairs of the little white headphones dangling from students' necks lately. Although some people think they isolate users from the community, I feel that there are important benefits to using an Ipod or other mp3 player as a study tool. At least two universities in the US,Duke and Drexel, have given or are giving incoming students ipods. Reports are mixed but I think that for students in places like Vietnam where there aren't a lot of other sources of natural,authentic spoken language; podcasts can be a high quality, motivating, repeatable way to improve listening skills.

This page has over 43,000 podcasts on hundreds of subjects.

Even traditional broadcasters are releasing podcasts.

There is so much to listen to!