I’ve spent an enjoyable evening browsing podcasts from schools all over the world. Podcasts are, of course, audio programmes over the internet (like Storynory), and the term was recently declared “word of the year” by The New Oxford American Dictionary.
Schools podcasts are enormous fun for the children, but also, I imagine, for their teachers. They happen to make brilliant advertising for a school that wants to show off both its creativity and its grip on technology, and at the same time broadcast all its news and achievements to the world. Fond parents must love them too.
One of the first schools podcasts I came across was “Downs FM” by The Downs Church of England Primary School in Kent (here in the UK). Jokes prove to be great source of content, and children’s laughter is very infectious, and makes wonderful audio. As a listener, you really feel that you are there on the playground with the children. In the latest Christmas episode, the young reporters have been wandering round the classrooms asking younger children what they hope Santa will bring for Christmas. Reporting is a good way to involve other pupils, as well as the main presenters. The programme has been skillfully edited and put together.
Scotland seems to be a hub of podcasting. Croftfoot Primary School in Glasgow has some very natural and fluent young presenters for its “Buzz” show. Amongst other news, they announce awards to children at the school for being cheerful in class, working hard and having a nice smile, and being kind to others. They urge listeners to go to their website and click on the Amazon buttons to make some pennies for the school coffers (I hope they have better luck with this tactic than we did!). They also made good use of “podsafe” (that’s royalty free) music.
The kids at Musselburgh Grammar School in Edinburgh have been to interview a couple of DJs at the commercial radio station, Forth 1 FM. They hear that being on the radio is “the best job in the world” because you get paid to play music and meet famous people. And encouragingly, the professionals started young too, DJing at the school disco.
Far away from us, in Aukland, New Zealand, pupils of the PT England School , make their own music for their KPE podcast . I love their chant, “You’re listening to KPE.” The presenters use the corridor outside the classroom for their studio. A little background atmsophere from other school children works to the production’s advantage, and I prefer it to a clinical studio sound. The idea of the show is to review children’s books by authors from New Zealand. Their literary discussion is turned into a “really neat rap” about Santa not being able to find the chimney. Apparently the lack of chimneys in New Zealand is a great cause of concern for local children. One of them would like to leave the front door open, but doesn’t think that mum would be happy with that. They surmise that Santa is smart enough to find a way in to the house some how.
Music is also central to Cranbook Composers’ Podcasts, from Cranbrook Kingswood Middle School in Michigan, USA. In the edition I caught, one young pupil interviewed another about her latest composition. The composer says that she wrote it for her mom, “who is a very cool person.” And the music – singing and sampling put together on the computer – is pretty cool too.
Ace Kids, from Ballina, New South Wales, Australia, is very professionally put together. It’s newsy, with an underlay of music. We learn about the origins of the name “Ballina”, and that Mr. Bruce is flying off to a conference in Korea. We hear poetry and jokes, and make inferences from some rather dramatic sounds. A slick production.
And finally, I was interested to hear The International School of Caracas, Venezuela, as they are doing A production of A Christmas Carol to rival Stornory’s this year. It’s great to hear accents from South Africa, Spain Mexico, and of course, Venezuela, all in one performance. Marley’s ghost is accompanied by some very effective wind sounds, chains, and clanging.
These podcasts mentioned here are just the tip of the iceberg. For more schools podcasts from around the world, I suggest you visit the excellent Podcasts for Educators site. You will find it’s very rewarding to hear children having fun and being creative from all over the world, and the production standards are humbling.
If any schools starting out in this field would like any advice or tips for their podcasts, we would be happy to help, if we can. Just email us, bertie@storynory.com.
Ad: Bluehost offers very generous bandwidth – 250 gigs per month for $6.95 per month. Ideal for podcasts.
