Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Episode 5 - First Day of School

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khiUsEyiNfM

Produced by:
Joleen J.
Rosario K.
Max T.

Ages/Grades: high school to adult
Suggested ELL level: intermediate-advanced students

Our ESL podcast introduces the typical schedule in a U.S. High School. We present this information in the format of a one-on-one interview (talk-show style), with informative or humorous narration throughout. Rosario, Max, and I filmed this based on the Kidspiration® graphic organizer and storyboard that Rosario created, shown here. We wanted to present a mini cultural lesson by talking about how many U.S. high schools are organized. The interviewer, Joleen, introduces Rosario and asks her about the upcoming school year. We find out about “A schedules” and “B schedules,” where high school students have different classes on alternating days, as well as some typical classes a high school student may have, such as Art, Science, Math (Algebra II), and Study Hall. We find out what Rosario is interested in and what she is looking forward to in her classes this year.

High School Senior played by: Rosario
Interviewer played by: Joleen
Narrator: Max

Follow-up activity:

Using the graphic oranizer that supports this interview, have students compare and contrast the classes and activities discussed for this graphic organizer with the classes and activities from the interview. Then have students use the organizer and the podcast as a model to write and perform their own, similar interviews in pairs or small groups for the whole class.

Episode 4 - Steps to a Healthier You with the Food Guide Pyramid

http://streamer.utsa.edu/ramgen/2007/Spring/FS/ESL6973.901.Wright/Food.Pyramid.rm

Produced by:

Marysol TreviƱo
Rosa Jonasz
Adrienne Padilla

Age/Grade Level: Elementary and Beginning
English Language Proficiency Level: Beginning to Intermediate


Instructions

Listen to Adrienne and Marysol interview Rosa on how to choose a healthy meal and become healthier using the Food Guide Pyramid. At the end of the Podcast you will have an opportunity to see if a meal you have eaten today is healthy.

Accompanying worksheets (click to view)
Nutrition Tracker
Food Guide Pyramid
A Close Look at my Pyramid
My Pyramid Worksheet
What's Your Portion? ... Size Matters.


Script for Podcast

Adrienne- Hello you are listening to “Steps to a Healthier You using the Food Guide Pyramid” with Marysol, Rosa and Adrienne. Today we will learn about how to pick a healthy delicious meal using the food pyramid as a guide.

Marysol- What is the food pyramid, Rosa?

Rosa- The Food Guide Pyramid is one way for people to understand how to eat healthy.

Adrienne- Hmm. Rosa, what kinds of foods are in the Food Guide Pyramid?

Rosa- We already eat foods from all the food groups in the Food Guide Pyramid; we just need to learn about how much to eat of each group. This includes the food portions.

Marysol- But Rosa, What is a food portion?

Rosa- A food portion is the amount of food in one serving. In other words, the amount you serve on your plate to eat.

Adrienne- Okay Rosa, Lets start from the beginning. What foods are in the food pyramid?

Rosa- Well, there are the Breads and Cereals Group, the Fruit Group, the Vegetable Group, Milk Group, Meat Group and a very small amount of fats, oils and sweets Group

Marysol- Wow! It sounds like a lot of food.

Adrienne- It does. How do we know how much food to eat Rosa?

Rosa- Good question Adrienne! This is where we use the Food Guide Pyramid.

Marysol- Rosa, how many portions of each food group do we need?

Rosa- Well we need about 6 or more portions from the bread and Cereals Group, 4 from the fruit group, 4 from the vegetables group, 3 from the milk group and 2 from the meat group.

Marysol- What types of foods are in each group?

Rosa- The meat group has fish, chicken, meat, eggs, peanut butter, nuts and beans. The milk group has milk, cheese and yogurt. The bread and cereals group has cereals, bread, pasta, rice and all kinds of whole grains.

Marysol- What are whole grains, Rosa?

Rosa- Whole grains are breads that are fully made of natural wheat. This natural whole grain will digest better in your body and this makes it a healthy choice.

Rosa- The fruit group has all types of fruits, like strawberries, bananas, melons, apples and pears to name a few. But, remember that you have a limit of 3 servings a day. The last group is the oils, fats and sweets group that has butter and sugars. The vegetable group has lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli and cucumbers just to name a few. Remember that like all the other groups you also have a limit of only 4 servings a day.

Adrienne- Great! Good information Rosa! Now, let us see if we know how to eat healthy. Marysol, what did you eat for lunch this afternoon?

Marysol- I had a choice today to either eat a big plate of pasta or 2 tacos.

Adrienne- Remember what we have learned today about food groups and portions, what meal do you think is the healthiest?

(Pause- )

Marysol- The tacos because the pasta is too big a portion for one day. The tacos have lettuce, tomatoes, meat and cheese. There are a lot of food groups in my tacos and there are only two of them, hmm.

Adrienne- Now that you have learned about the Food Pyramid Guide and about how many servings you should eat, you know how to eat healthy. Thank you for listening and share this information with your family.




Monday, May 7, 2007

Episode 3 - What's In it For Me? Why Learn English?

http://streamer.utsa.edu/ramgen/2007/Spring/FS/ESL6973.901.Wright/Trial.Interviews.mp3
Produced by:
Carol Costello
Rita Radke
Koyin Sung

Age/Grade Level: Teens - Young Adults
English Language Proficiency level - Beginning to Intermediate

Instructions

Listen to Carol interviewing Koyin and Rita about why they learned English and tell someone why you are learning English.

Script for Podcast

Music

Carol: Hello, today we are going to talk about why people learn languages. Basically people learn languages for a lot of different reasons. Several of the principle reasons are in order to travel because of course you need other languages in other countries if you want to eat, for jobs, as an icebreaker in getting to know people, for education al purposes so that you can pick up a higher education in other countries and also to understand other cultures. In order to understand what motivates people to learn languages, I have . . we have the pleasure of having a couple of English learners here with us to talk about their experiences. So, without further ado, I introduce, ta, ta,
Koyin: Hi, my name is Koyin Sung from Taiwan. How are you today? Ni hou ma?

Carol: Koyin, you’ve fought the language wars. Tell us, why did you learn English?

Koyin: I started learning English when I was a teenager. I love to travel, so every summer, when I had summer vacation I would go to England to learn English.

Carol: Wonderful! And we are so happy to have you here in San Antonio. I have on the other side, Rita Radke. Rita, why did you learn English? And where do you come from?

Rita: Hi, my name is Rita and I’m from Hungary. The reason why I decided to learn English is that when I about 12 I visited Turkey with my parents and I noticed that everyone who we had interaction with as tourists, they all spoke English. So I figured this is a really useful language and this is the language that I would like to learn.

[BELL!]

Rita: Hi, this is Rita. Do you remember why I decided to learn English?

[Pause]

[BELL!]

Koyin: Hi, my name is Koyin. Do you still remember why I started learning English?

[Pause]

Carol: And now it’s your turn. Find someone to tell why you want to learn English.

[Pause]

Carol: Before we leave you, we like to thank you and tell you . . .

Carol, Koyin, Rita: GOOD BYE!

[Music]


Episode 2 - Forest Animals

http://streamer.utsa.edu/ramgen/2007/Spring/FS/ESL6973.901.Wright/Forest.Animals.mp3

Produced by:
Lisa Morales
Ines Rodriguez

Age/Grade: Elementary School
English Proficiency Level: Beginning to Intermediate

Instructions
Use the graphic below as you listen to the Podcast.
Complete the worksheets (click here to open) listening to the Podcast.

Podcast Script

“Hi! And Welcome to our Pod cast”

Today we will be talking about forest animals and how they are different from each other. We will focus on 7 forest animals who are all unique in their own way.

Let’s begin…Look at the outline and find the animal that only eats plants or berries, these animals are called herbivores – that means they only eat plants – if you named a rabbit, mouse, squirrel or deer you are correct.

Now, let’s look at carnivores – these are meat eaters. Can you name at least carnivores?

If you named a bear, fox or owl you are correct! These animals are carnivores because they only eat meat.

Now, let’s talk about what animals eat in order to survive. Which animal do you think would eat a rabbit or a mouse? If you named a fox or an owl you are correct. Remember, a fox and an owl are carnivores – they eat meat.

Now, let’s talk about hibernation. Do you know what that means? It is what some animals do during cold months.

Which animals do you think hibernate? Look at the picture carefully. If you named a bear or a squirrel, you are correct!

Finally, we are going to see how each animal is different from each other. Can you name the animal that can fly? What about the animal that hunts for fish? You are doing great! Now tell me which animals have 4 legs? What about the animals that have a tail? Which animal runs the fastest? Which animal runs the slowest?

Well, I hope this has helped you better understand how animals can be the same and especially how they are different. I hope you enjoyed this activity. Goodbye!

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Episode 1 - Podcast Description

In this episode, Dr. Wayne E. Wright provides an overview of the ESL 6973 Podcast. He also provides a description of the ESL 6973 course and the students who produced the episodes of the podcast.

http://streamer.utsa.edu/ramgen/2007/Spring/FS/ESL6973.901.Wright/Episode1.overview.mp3

Welcome

Welcome to the ESL 6973 Podcast Blog.

The purpose of this blog is to post the podcasts produced by graduate students in ESL 6973 Language Learning and Technology, at the University of Texas, San Antonio.

For more information on this course, see our ESL 6973 course blog at http://esl6973.blogspot.com

Enjoy!