The Scout Report from May 12 recommends this site : « With an impressive headquarters in downtown Oakland, Youth Radio is fast becoming a compelling and insightful media phenomenon that should be watched closely. Their mission is a laudable one, and as their website puts it, “….is to promote young people’s intellectual creative and professional growth through training and access to media and to produce the highest quality original media for local and national outlets.” Of course, the real heart of the site contains the actual programming, which is streamed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Along with unique mix of music, individuals can listen to a host of stories reported by young people. Visitors can also browse a list of recently added stories by topic, which include relationships, society, sports, poetry, and health. Those who are hoping to get some of the basic flavor of the offerings here would do well to take a look at the story featuring reporting from a group of Berkeley High School students at the World Social Forum in Caracas, or by listening to the commentary offered by Lauryn Silverman on the modern conundrum of multi-tasking. [KMG] »
http://www.youthradio.org
You will find lots of authentic material there (American accent). The front page topic of the moment is immigration : there are audio and video reports about events and demonstrations. But there are lots of other documents where young people talk about their feeling or their lifestyle. Most documents are texts (some as short as 200 words, other longer) but all the texts are read by their author. They are easy to understand and can be used as oral comprehension material. Here is a selection from several sections ( video, education, lifestyle, relationships) for you to see what’s available, but there is a lot more…
– this poem (script and the audio file) about the feelings of a young illegal immigrant, that can be used with lower intermediates (4ème) and upwards:
text: http://youthradio.org/poetry/060417_lafrontera.shtml
audio: http://easylink.playstream.com/youth/latinousa2006/060417_border_poem.rm
– this argumentative text about wearing a uniform at school : easy to understand ( intermediates and upwards), and a good starting point for a discussion, since he presents the pros and the cons:
text: http://youthradio.org/education/wabe060218_dresscodes.shtml
audio: http://easylink.playstream.com/youth/wabe2006/0218_dresscodes_wabe.rm
– a video ( no script, but not too difficult to understand) for upper intermediate about sideshows ( spinning cars at full speed : it is illegal, and lots of accidents happen when the police chase them : should it be legalised?)
http://youthradio.org/video/sideshow.mov
and a text with the audio file ( pros and cons. You can use it as a whole for upper intermediates or just parts of it for lower intermediates)
text: http://youthradio.org/lifestyle/kpfa040424_sideshow.shtml
audio: http://easylink.playstream.com/youth/kpfa2004/0424_sideshows_kpfa.rm
– for upper intermediates and advanced students : videos of interviews of students about segregation at university. They don’t really know why, but the race groups hang together and tends to segregate each others. The only answer they give is : we should watch what we say and try to respect people. Here is the comment from the website:
« It’s been fifty years since public schools have been de-segregated. But do kids of different races really hang out? Youth Radio’s interns share their thoughts. August 2003 »
video : http://youthradio.org/video/raceimpressions.mov
and for intermediates and above, a text ( with several interviews of students ) and audio file about teaching MLK and the Civil Rights movement in a school full of Latinos.
text: http://www.youthradio.org/society/npr060116_mlk.shtml
audio: http://easylink.playstream.com/youth/npr2006/0116_racemlk_npr.rm
