NPR My Unsung Hero Podcast

Ask students what comes to mind when they hear the word "hero."

Ask students if heroes are only fictional and need to have superpowers or if heroes can be everyday people.

Have them name some people they think of as heroes and explain why.

Tell students that they are going to talk about heroes with some conversation. Use the conversation questions from ESL Discussions.com or write your own.

Tell students that they are going to listen to a story about an everyday, unsung hero. Explain what that means.

Prepare a few questions to spark interest and activate background knowledge for the topic of  a selected podcast episode from My Unsung Hero. Then share the audio, image, and transcript. Optionally, have students practice fluency by reading the transcript aloud in a choral read or in pairs or small groups, giving feedback on prosody and pronunciation.

Ask students to share their thoughts on the episode. 

Then model writing a 20-word gist of the episode. Elicit from students words they would use to describe the story.

Now assign students to select a podcast episode from the site.  You may want to pre-select a list for them to choose from. They will work individually or in pairs to complete the handout to write a word to describe the episode and a 20-word summary.

Have volunteers share their summaries with the class or have students share in small groups.

Now go over the written assignment. Have students free select some of the topics listed on the handout and freewrite. Then help students to draft their narrative scripts for their podcast episode. Have them choose a topic, write a title, work on a hook, chronologically tell their story, and include some sort of conclusion, such as a lesson learned, a tie back to the hook, etc. Give feedback along the way, focusing first on meaning and the storytelling and later on mechanics (spelling, grammar, punctuation).

After students' written drafts are revised and edited, have them practice reading aloud with each other or you or tutors. Provide feedback on prosody, emotion, stress, pacing, pausing, intonation, etc. Optionally, as time permits, they can record their scripts with you giving oral feedback to work on volume, stress, intonation, pausing, prosody, and pronunciation.

Show students how to use whichever audio recording tool you select and how to share their audio files for posting to the podcast hosting (or other) site you select. Include the script to accompany the audio recording to the site you post. As a reminder, ensure that you have students' permission to post. Optionally and depending on the hosting platform you select, allow students to include a photo or image with their episodes. You may want to have students sign your agency's permissions release. Some students may choose not to share their stories with others if they are personal.

In a "podcast reveal listening party," play students' podcast episodes as a whole class or assign students to listen to their classmates' podcasts and give feedback.

Ask for group feedback: What stood out? What did you learn about your classmates?

Include a student reflection activity. For instance, students can be asked to talk or write in response to this question: What did you learn about storytelling and yourself?

Use a rubric or checklist to give final summative feedback on students' work.

Students will be able to understand the structure and elements of a compelling personal narrative, develop and revise their own story, and improve language, pronunciation, and delivery/prosody.