Podcast

Depending on the LOs (Learning Objectives) of a particular class (in a usual classroom setting)  podcast can be a useful, supplemental source for learning L2. To expand on this, I would like to mention the following important points from my point of view. If the learning objective of a class is to develop note-taking strategies, short dialogues as podcast can be a nice authentic material. The same would apply for teaching vocabulary: students need to listen to the podcast and write down unfamiliar words, then based on the podcast they need to guess the meaning. This can be done in small groups of 2-3.
In case of grammar teaching podcast could be a supplementary material
 Students may be assigned to listen to a particular podcast to fully understand the grammatical part. This can be a helpful tool especially for Armenians who are learning English, since we are used to explicit instruction. We need the rule first.

Podcasts, Why or Why not a teacher would assign a podcasting assignment

During my years at school the only "podcast" Chanel was the TV and we were to fight in the family to have the chance to turn the channel to the English. Elders would argue they would not understand anything, but they wanted to learn the latest local news. Nowadays we all have been granted with new technologies which we can use in our everyday routine: smartphones, MacBooks. Why not integrating podcasts as a part of the learning process? We can start with a very short audio, to let students get used to the new format and by the time make it a part of the learning. Podcasts can be a bit challenging for students with low level of listening skills, but by the time it is integrated into the learning materials, students will enjoy it.