I am thinking about ideas to promote the culture learning program in Confucius Institute at NC State these days. One successful case can be referenced to is CSLPod
It effectively employed podcasting to promote its Chinese teaching programs.
CSLPod is located in Beiiing, the capital of China. They teach practical, real live Chinese to all level of students at physical classroom settings. On February 8th, 2007, CSLPod published its first Podcast. And now they have more than 700 podcasts and transcriptions offering lessons at three levels: elementary, intermediate and advanced. Through podcasting, their Chinese Language learners increased from those studying and working in Beijing to all over the world of more than 100 countries. Their podcasts are downloaded 100,000 times or more monthly.
Their success is not a coincidence.
First, they select the right media—podcasting. One of the most advantages of podcast in promote the culture program is to help people learning Chinese as the second language. Podcast is based on one-way communication and audio format, which is perfect for practicing Chinese listening skills, especially for the entry level students, who needs to spend a large amount of time to get used to the pronunciation and tonality of Chinese.
Second, podcasting release learners from fixed classrooms and class time. They can download the contents and listen to them with them wherever they go and whenever they like. It creates a good language learning atmosphere.
Third, the success of podcasting, in large part, relies on its contents and ideas. When you log into the CSL’s podcasting host website, you can see that CSLPod provides new lessons every weekday providing most fresh, useful, interesting Chinese phrases and sentences covering business, travel, sports, medicine, shopping, entertainment and other fields of daily life.
Fourth, integrate the podcasting with other communication channels: website, printing media such as books, email interaction etc, CSLPod overcomes the disadvantage of podcasting: one-way communication lacking of interaction, linear style inconvenient to control the playing of the contents.
I will go on researching this case, and figure out best mix of social media for Confucius Institute to use. If you have any ideas, welcome to drop a line here, let’s have a brainstorming!
2 comments:
Podcast learning has an irreplaceable advantage over classroom learning, esp. to foreign language learners. The whole point of learning a new language are practice and exposure. Podcast helps bridge the gaps between classroom and daily life. Students get to practice whenever they want to without any limitation of class hours or so. That's why it is successful. Good post!
Check mine out. I'm looking for cool marketing ideas for Chatroulette!
I think this is a great idea for language learning because you can replay them anytime you want and since they are mobile- take them anywhere. This may help the parents learn the language too since the learning is not just in the classroom.
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