Of course, I knew about podcasts before doing this homework but I had no idea of its wide range of topics and sections!! I'm familiar with downloading music from the iTunes musicstore and now, I can proudly announce I just downloaded my first podcast audiobook. It's not the first time that I listen to audiobooks but it's the first time I had one for free ;-)I took "Persuasion" by Jane Austen from http://www.oculture.com/2006/10/audio_book_podc.html. There were many other books that I'm interested in , too. However, I chose Persuasion because I still have this book at home from our first year in English literature (remember,right?) and so if there's something I don't understand I just look it up. If you go to this website you'll definitely find other novels ecc that might be useful to you. It's completely different to listen to a story than just to read it. In my opinion, you really have to concentrate on the readers' voices. I'm going to try it next time I will be on an airplane because, usually, the airplane noise really bothers me when I try to read something.
The second podcast I found nice was one about history ( http://www.historyonair.com/ ).
Here you can listen to articles about any kind of history and you can listen to it right away without downloading it. I chose an article about Elizabeth I. Not only can you listen to what the reader is saying but, you can also see a list of articles or websites where all the information was taken from ( just in case you need further information). I think audio files like this one are great because I can improove my English ( listening ability and comprehension exercise) and I can learn many things about history at the same time.
The third podcast I chose is from the New York Times newspaper. You can find all the audio files at http://www.nytimes.com/ref/multimedia/podcasts.html. Unfortunately, I couldn't subscribe to this website in Bloglines but I put it into delicious anyway. The reason why I didn't want to renounce was that the language is quite elevated and the topics are very different from one another. Moreover, I liked the Music Popcast. It's a review of the latest albums and music events. Well, you might think that there is nothing special about that but, in this case you can listen to the music too, which means that you can listen to the critics but you can immediately decide on yourself whether you like the album or not.
Last but not least I found a website where you can download university lessons from the University of Berkeley at http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_feeds.php. To tell you the truth, I couldn't manage to listen to the audio files which makes me really sad :-(
But maybe you can and I think it's very useful. You can decide on different courses such as Biology, Engeneering etc. In my opinion, it can be very effective regarding the comprehension excercise. I experienced myself how very difficult it is to sit in a university classroom listening to professors that speak very quickly in a language which is not your mother tongue. When I attended the first lessons here in Italy I hardly understood anything! It was so difficult to follow an academic discourse on history or law. So I think it can really help to listen to this sort of podcast. I will try again and again to download the files...wish me luck!!!
I guess that's all for this time. Enjoy listening to my podcasts!!
See you soon. Caroline
4 commenti:
Dear Caroline!
I’ve found your suggestions really stimulating and useful! I visited the New York Times’ Podcasts section and I have to say that even though you can’t subscribe to it, the materials are quite interesting!
The website is very well-organised and clear: I liked the fact that all the different topics are organised into different sections.
I listened to the sections named “The Ethicist” and “Front Pages”. The first one was quite difficult to follow ‘cause the speaker used some terms which were unclear to me. In the second one, a reporter summarised the New York Times’ headlines of the week. I think that newspapers’ headlines can tell you a lot about a city’s or even a nation’s concerns!
The only “negative” thing is that the audio files weren’t provided with a transcript or with a sort of “Learning Guide” with the explanation of the difficult terms. Of course, I know that it is due to the fact that the website was not exclusively designed for learners!
Anyway, it is an opportunity to learn without a guide, as if you were in a natural learning environment.
P.S.: I found out (but maybe I’m wrong) that you can actually subscribe to the single sections but you need to download i-Tunes…
I found the website with Berkeley’s lessons interesting too but I had problems with the downloading…hope to work it out to eventually have a full immersion in the famous Californian University!
Bye Bye
Alessia
Glad you found History Podcast and are enjoying it!
Jason (Host of History Podcast)
Dear Caroline,
thanks a lot for looking up and sharing these great podcasts.
I found it absolutely amazing that it's possible to download lectures from other universities, and especially from UC Berkley. I automatically jumped into it and downloaded some lectures from the Social psychology class and I'm still shivering from it:)
The iTunes books podcasts are also really cool. I have downloaded books before but with iTunes I find it way easier. I went for the same choice as you did and downloaded the Persuasion. I’m actually taking Brunetti’s class this semester so I found it very usufual☺
You are absolutely right about the panic we get at the beginning of new experience such as the first classes in a foreign country. It is only the matter of time though to get used to it and feel comfortable. Listening to lectures at home, in a save environment, is a good practice for further possible studies abroad.
See you in class tomorrow! Nina
Hello Caroline!
First of all, thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunately, two of your choices were not new to me as they had been chosen by Enrico as well : ) But it does not matter because the website about audio books contains a lot of different material… There are plenty of podcasts so it is not that important if two people put the same link in their post!
Anyway, I decided to listen to a podacast taken from the New York Times; it was the first time I visited this website and I must say I really liked it. I chose a file about technology, which is quite unusual of me actually, but this time I just wanted to concentrate on something different. The podcast was about a new high-quality laptop which costs just 200$; from November on you can pay 400$ and by Christmas you will get a computer for you and another one will be sent to a student who lives in a developing country. I think this is a great way to help our fellows who are less lucky than us.
You are perfectly right, it is pretty frustrating sitting in a room and listen to lectures in a foreign language in a foreign country; it happened to you when you came to Italy and it happened to me when I began my Erasmus period in Germany… Funny, isn’t it? ;-)
In any case, I am convinced that studying abroad is one of the best experiences you can do in your life… And I am talking not only about learning a language… Living in another country helps you get to know other cultures and get used to other habits and traditions. So now I think it was definitely worth suffering a little bit at the beginning :-D
See you soon!
Eleonora
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