For Teachers
Most SEND7 listeners are individual English learners, or people with English as a second language, however, some teachers find the podcast useful for engaging their students. The language level used in SEND7 podcast changes slightly every day, but is generally similar to the CEFR B2 (upper intermediate) level.
Here are some ideas for activities:
Listening
Easy - Recognition
Students listen for particular types of words e.g. verbs or adjectives, or recognize particular things e.g. country names or people’s names.
Preparation time - None!
Easy - Gap fill
Teacher gives a copy of transcript with some words missing, and students fill these gaps.
Preparation time - 5 minutes to delete some words and print!
Easy - Hard - Listening comprehension
Teacher gives some questions to answer while listening to SEND7, e.g. Where did a volcano erupt today?
Preparation time - 10 minutes to decide on some questions and print!
Reading
Easy - Synonyms
Teacher gives a copy of the transcript, and highlights words for students to find alternative words that would not change the meaning of the sentence. You could also try re-writing the whole sentence.
Preparation time - 5 minutes to select words to find synonyms of, and print!
Easy - Hard - Reading comprehension
Teachers gives a copy of the transcript and a list of written questions to answer. Once completed, the class listens to the episode and pauses every time an answer is being given.
Preparation time - 10 minutes to write appropriate questions, and print!
Writing
Medium - Summary
Student writes a summary of (a) story(ies) in their own words.
Preparation time - None!
Medium - Hard - Prediction / Imagination
Students predict what may happen in the future of a news story, justifying why they think so. Students could also write what they would do if they were in a position of power (i.e. the president!)
Preparation time - 5 minutes to select story(ies) that would be appropriate for a prediction exercise.
Speaking
Because SEND7 gives a summary of world news every day, it can easily be the spark for conversation regarding many topics. However, different abilities could base conversation on...
Easier - "What happened in... ?"
Medium - "Why did that happen?"
Hard - "What do you think will happen next?"
Preparation time - None!
If you are a teacher, and you use SEND7 with your students, we'd love to know how! Please send us a message below!
"I am a teacher of English in Germany and I have been using your podcast for one year (after I heard about it on Luke‘s English Podcast) to generate oral grades. My students are between 16 and 20 years old and I have to give them an oral grade. Once I also asked them to create their own podcast. In groups of five they came up with a report one minute each. It was good fun :-) especially because they tried to talk like Stephen. Their task for the oral grade is to listen to yesterday‘s podcast (I see them twice a week) and they should be able to talk about any reports of their choice. I want them to talk for at least 2 minutes. In addition I ask them for new vocabulary we talked about in class. I think your Podcast is very useful for my students because it is the level they should be at and the way you talk is very comprehensible. Thank you very much for your work - I really appreciate it. Yours sincerely Martina"
Teacher Martina from Germany / October 2023
"I teach English as a second language in Brescia (Italy). My students are teens and their CEFR level is A1/A2/B1. I don't like so much to follow the textbook during my classes. I try to find every day new ideas. Thank you for this opportunity. Best regards. Francesca"
Teacher Francesca from Italy / October 2023
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