I just wanted to share with you an English video podcast, which I have been following for a year now.
Those of you who know and enjoy the gifts of Web 2.0 will definitely know YouTube, the video sharing site, mostly used to find copyrighted material and homevideos of all sorts. But everyone who has taken a closer look will find gems of amateur productions on there, original and entertaining content, for free!.
The Daily English Show is definitely one of these. It is a daily English internet show, produced and hosted by Sarah, an English teacher from New Zealand, currently based in Canada.
On weekdays there are the main shows, mostly consisting of an introduction, followed by a "news segment" called Stick News, in which Sarah's alter ego presents a - more or less known - piece of news, illustrated by drawings of stick figures (hence the name of the segment). Then there's usually "conversation with sarah", in which you have to repeat the lines of a part of an conversation and then, in the second step, talk to Sarah by reading the subtitled lines. The last segment is "questions&answers", containing a few questions (sometimes) related to the content of the show.
On Saturday, there are special shows, sometimes it's Sarah's Diary, in which she talks about things she has done and experienced. On Sunday you will get to see "Sunday Kitchen", a kind of cooking show, always featuring vegan recipes with everyday ingredients.
I think it is a really cool concept and a good use of new media for teaching English. Teachers are encouraged to use the shows and the scripts in their classes, providing a basis for tasks and discussion.
The show is suited for students with an intermediate English level, I'd say, though there are quite a few native speakers watching the show too. And it should be noted that Sarah speaks English with a Kiwi accent.
Since I love this show so much, I've decided to start translating/mediating the scripts into German. If anyone would like to help me with that, even if it's just one segment of the show, perhaps as excerise, I'd really appreciate it.
So go and check it out and tell me if you like it!
See you 'round,
Thomas
PS: I hope this post does not interfere with the forum's policy on advertising. It's a free show, it would most likely be licensed under Creative Commons. Sarah does not earn a penny from it (except for donations) - neither do I for advertising it (no one ask me to do it).