podcast review

Today is podcast review day.

The first one was titled, "iSpeak Hawaiian." This sounded interesting, because as I live in Hawaii, and am surrounded by the language, at least in place-names. I am curious to know some of the language. However, this podcast had only a Hawaiian version of Stille Nacht. No other explanation or raison d'etre. One would expect something as to rationale for choice, or why that song; something.
Grade: Fail.

I then downloaded a few, titled as "One Minute_____". I tried one for Polish, one for Gaelic, one for Irish, and one for Zulu. This series is lead in for Radio Lingua, and most begin with one loooooong advertisement for their network, and then something about how you can pay for their courses. Then about something about how you can access materials. Finally, I found one which targeted the language. Here, it focused on phrasology. No mention of grammatical structure or vocabulary. I felt like I listened to either Berlitz course, only on-line, or was listing to one of the Lonely Planet guidebooks. Now, I really should not expect too much of something that titles itself as "one minute" anything---- unless it is "one minute eggs", because I like soft boiled eggs.
I was still disappointed, because I hoped for something a little bit meatier.
Grade: D

What we can learn from this is that podcasts vary in quality, and if you want to have people come back again and again, you have to be very careful how you structure the podcast. People who really want to hear the language should have some context as to what they are doing and why, not just listen to words from native speakers. Here's how I would do it: first, explain the process of what you are doing, give some vocabulary, give some simple phrases, include a dialogue, and then expand on it a little. Like a language teacher, I guess, which may or may not be something people are looking for. Maybe I should try and see?