Using Podcasts to Improve Language
Just Vocabulary Offers New Online Opportunities For ESL Students
Jul 24, 2007
Do you practically live online and want to improve your English? A new teaching tool is available to students who prefer to learn on the web. Just Vocabulary offers short episodes in the "Podcasting" format - short digital video files that are distributed over the Internet.
The 3-minute episodes introduce two words Monday through Friday. The host, Jan Folmer, provides a definition, then explains and uses the words in example sentences. At the end of the week, there is a review edition of the ten words.
Folmer started recording the Just Vocabulary podcast two and a half years ago, after he moved from The Netherlands to Cape Town, South Africa.During the day, he works in an insurance company. "The Just Vocabulary podcast is something that I do in the evenings and weekends," he says.
English is Folmer's second language. "Because I moved to an English-speaking country, I had the need to improve my English," he says.
Yet Folmer believed that the English as a Second Language (ESL) podcasts he could find on the Internet were "a bit too easy" for him. Most of the podcasts for students learning English as a second language focused on grammar, and Folmer wanted to improve his vocabulary.
He started downloading the Merriam Webster Word of the Day podcast, which introduces one new word every day. He realized that the words were so difficult hat even his English-native colleagues and friends did not know the meaning of those words. "That's when I decided to create a podcast myself that would cover the common English words," he says.
Folmer picks the words for the podcast from newspapers, books, movies and day-to-day conversations. Since May 2007, David Chang, a devoted listener and an English Literature University student from Nighbo, China, helps him with preparing the episodes.
On July 17, 2007, the first word was 'tardy', defined as "Slow in action or response, done later than it should have been done." The example sentences were: "Tardy children were sent to the principal" and "Dinner was somewhat delayed on account of David's rather tardy arrival."
The second word, 'smorgasbord', was somehow more challenging. Folmer provided the following definition: "A buffet offering a variety of hot and cold dishes." He explained that in its figurative sense, 'smorgasbord' also means "a number of different things, a wide collection, a great variety."
According to Folmer, Just Vocabulary has over 25,000 downloads a day in total and newer episodes can bring in about 6,000 downloads per.
Most of the audience is comprised of students learning English as their second language. According to Folmer, some listeners are completing their masters or PHDs. Even elementary school teachers listen to Just Vocabulary with their class, feedback indicates that their students enjoy the podcast.
Vocabulary advice
For Folmer, spaced repetition is the way to go for people willing to improve their vocabulary.
Listening to the daily podcast may not be sufficient to learn and easily remember the new words. He suggests that listeners:
- Write down the words
- Use Flash Cards
- Try to use the words in real life
Flash cards for iPods and cell phone, online quizzes and a weekly newsletter will be available soon.
Related article- Podcasting: Learning Spanish
