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Hands-on activity

Medium ~120 min

Soil Podcast

A student-produced podcast — interviewing farmers, scientists and community members about the soil under their feet.

#podcast #audio #media #interview #secondary #school-heads

Audio teaches a different kind of attention than video. A podcast forces the listener — and the producer — to focus on what someone is actually saying. Students learn to ask well, to listen well, and to cut well. Each episode becomes a 15–25 minute conversation with someone whose work touches soil.

Steps

  1. 1

    Build an interdisciplinary production team

    Three roles, deliberately drawn from across departments: Host (often a Languages student — they've trained for interviews even if they don't know it), Producer (often a Science student — they care about getting the soil claims right), Engineer (often a Computer-Science or Music-Tech student — they're fastest with the editing software). Rotate roles termly so everyone learns each.

    The interdisciplinarity is the point. A podcast made only by science students sounds like a lecture; made only by languages students it floats free of the facts. The mix is what makes it.

  2. 2

    Set the format

    20-minute episodes. Six episodes a term. Always the same intro music and structure: 30-second intro, 2-minute guest introduction, 15-minute conversation, 2-minute closing reflection by the host, 30-second outro with credits. Predictability builds an audience.

  3. 3

    Build the guest pipeline

    List 30 potential guests across categories: working farmers, soil scientists, community gardeners, food entrepreneurs, indigenous knowledge-holders, policy people. Reach out to three per month — expect one to say yes. The pipeline is the team's most precious asset.

  4. 4

    Prepare the questions properly

    Five questions, written ahead, sent to the guest 48 hours before. Three are predictable ("how did you start?", "what changed for you?", "what should listeners do next?"). Two are surprising — ones that only THIS guest could answer. Coach hosts on follow-up questions; they're where the gold is.

  5. 5

    Record and edit

    One USB mic per voice, recorded in a quiet room (a stairwell is often surprisingly good). Edit for sense, not for perfection — leave some "um"s, leave some pauses. The audience wants real, not radio-host slick.

  6. 6

    Publish and promote

    Free hosting on Anchor / Spotify for Podcasters. Mirror every episode on the school website and the school's social channels. Publish on a fixed day. Each episode gets a 60-second teaser cut for social media and a 200-word summary on the school site. The first 10 episodes are the hardest; by 20 the show is finding its audience.

Wrap-up

Podcasts are the most undervalued school media. They sound more professional than they cost to make, they teach skills students will use for life, and they create a permanent record of voices that would otherwise vanish. The first season is the apprenticeship — the second is when the show becomes the school\'s.

📺 Videos

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+start+a+school+podcast

How to start a school podcast (search)

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=audio+podcast+interviewing+tips

Audio interviewing technique (search)

Worth a watch for hosts before they record their first episode.

🔗 Additional resources