Learning Languages Through Podcasts

Profiles in Success: ACS Egham International School

Podcasts are a valuable tool for learning a new language, as demonstrated by a class of seven year-olds at ACS Egham International School. The children grow in confidence as they hear their language skills improve, and teachers have found that podcasts are ideal for reviewing progress across the class.

“Learning a new language can be very frightening for a young child”, says Wendy Brandse, 2nd Grade Class Teacher at ACS Egham. “Making a podcast is something they can be successful at straight away. They can record and listen to themselves, and delete and re-record if there is a mistake. The child has control, and doesn’t feel exposed to the whole class, while the teacher can monitor more effectively how each child is doing”.

ACS Egham is one of a group of three ACS International Schools in south and west London. Students are aged between 2½ and 18, and originate from over 70 different countries. All ACS campuses are International Baccalaureate (IB) World Schools. ACS Egham is one of only three schools in the UK offering IB Middle Years Programme (IBMYP), and IB Primary Years Programme (IBPYP).

The broad provision of the IB makes the school particularly attractive to parents whose careers and lives are internationally based, and increasing numbers of children are joining with little or no prior knowledge of the English language. In Wendy Brandse’s 2nd Grade class, there is only one native English speaker.

English as an additional language (EAL) is taught throughout the school, but children in the EAL programme are in standard classes where the tuition language is English. For this reason, learning English quickly from the earliest stages is a high priority.

“Learning a new language can be very frightening for a young child. Making a podcast is something they can be successful at straight away. They can record and listen to themselves, and delete and re-record if there is a mistake.”

Wendy Brandse, 2nd Grade Class Teacher, ACS Egham International School

The school has enhanced its learning programmes by embracing technology. It has a five-year strategy, designed to encourage teachers to share lesson content widely so that it is easily accessible for their students. Podcasting is a central part of that strategy, and as the school begins to reap the educational benefits it is growing in importance.

ACS Egham has a comprehensive array of Apple hardware, with numerous Macs — both desktops and notebooks — in both the classrooms and the computer labs. Teachers also have a variety of multimedia learning aids at their disposal, including audio and video recorders, still cameras and interactive whiteboards. Staff and students find Apple’s iLife software easy to use, whilst IT Coordinator Donna Ellery provides assistance when it is needed.

Wendy Brandse pioneered podcasts with her 2nd Grade Class of seven and eight year-olds, and quickly recognised their potential as aids to language learning. Although she stresses that podcasting in her class is still at the pilot stage, she already sees significant learning benefits. After only a few months of exposure to English, seven year-old student Barbara found the medium gave her confidence to record a remarkable story she had written and illustrated. A number of her classmates saw her success and followed suit.

“We were amazed at the way Barbara was able to improve her language through a process of recording and listening and editing, mainly on her own”, she says. “Being ‘published’ is also really important as a motivator for the children. It helps to spread the word. Once Barbara’s peers could see what she had achieved, they wanted to make podcasts to show off their English language skills, too”.

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