by Kaylene Powell
In Part 1, I introduced the idea of using TEDEd video lessons to help ESL students build vocabulary, listening fluency, and critical thinking skills with inviting input.
Today, I want to focus on another source of authentic input I like to use with my college-aged and adult students. While building my program and then revising the curriculum, I decided to somehow incorporate news articles or podcasts. However, while the website called Breaking English News and similar resources are appropriate for various ESL contexts, I wanted to use input that ran with more standard and real-life vocabulary and speeds. Yet, I still wanted to maintain low anxiety levels with pieces that were not overwhelming in speed and length.
Enter National Public Radio. I noticed that quite a number of the articles on their website have an audio track to accompany them. And while the wording/contents of the two may be a little different, most of those articles have a word-for-word transcript to go with the audio track.
Check out an example. Go to In Home of Original Sriracha Sauce and hit the “play” icon. Then scroll down and see how the text of the original article varies a little from the audio recording. Click on “transcript” in the upper left column, and see how nicely the transcript complements the audio recording. The speakers have a natural cadence while still speaking clearly; additionally, this particular story is about four minutes long, making it manageable for both in-class and after-class practice.
To find articles, I start at the NPR homepage and search the lists under different topics such as news – health or arts & life – movies. Then, I click on stories that have a blue “listen” button and check to see whether or not they offer a transcript option. When I see a story that meets these promising qualifications, I read and listen further to screen for anything that would potentially be offensive to my students or prove to be too challenging for them.
If an article comes with a transcript, I will often allow students to read the transcript as they listen, either the first or second time they listen, earlier in the semester. Then, depending on the students’ level, I will either gradually not allow students to see the transcript while listening or have them produce more application after listening before we double-check their answers with the transcript. (If the article doesn’t come with a transcript but has a nice audio track, I may still use this as a good challenge for my more advanced students, or I may guide students in overcoming anxiety to listen more confidently for main ideas.) And over the course of a semester or when students move from one class level to another, I can gradually increase the length of the pieces they are listening to as well.
Kaylene Powell is an assistant professor of ESL/English at Bellevue University and the director of Bellevue’s ESL Program. She is passionate about helping learners feel empowered to meet their own individual learning goals and overcome their unique communication challenges, and she enjoys mentoring other teachers.
