I have been using Podcasting in my classes for years now. I spent years with piles of audio cassettes lined up in front of me to listen to student productions. The cassettes gave way to CDs, then to memory sticks and then in came emailing mp3 files and now currently, we are at the stage where we share files via GoogleDrive or via the school Pronotes platform. Things must evolve. From the earliest days in 1989, at the beginning of my career when the school I worked at invested in a quick cassette duplication machine, I have always fervently believed in the personalisation of Listening and Speaking work.

My students do the majority of their Listening and Speaking work at home in the comfort of their bedrooms, away from the gaze of others, where they can really let go and be who they want to be. Progress can be spectacular.

In a recent training course in Dakar, we watched a film which showed CP students working with iPods to listen and to record themselves speaking. my students use the same equipment as we are lucky enought to have an Apple system with 15 iPods and a Macbook for use in class. The film can be found HERE.

The system in place at Lycée Jean Mermoz is called DUPLICATOR and in 3 seconds, I was able to transfer 4 listening mp3 files to the 40 mp3 players that were plugged in. No time at all.