I think that you can use audio podcasts two ways -- as examples of conversational English for students to listen to and maybe prepare comments about (so that listening is task-based).  Also, in flipped classroom methodology, teachers may make their own audio or video podcasts as learning activities outside of class.

Dear Muhammad Iqbal,

you can have a look in the iTunes store (you need to download iTunes to access: https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/), there is already a ton of free podcasts available teaching English as a second language, such as from the Center of Educational Development "English as a Second Language (ESL) Podcast - Learn English Online": https://www.eslpod.com/eslpod_blog/what-is-esl-podcast/ or from BBC World Service "The English We Speak" for more advanced learners, or Business English-Podcast (http://www.businessenglishpod.com). Possibly these podcasts can be of interest and help to you. 

Podcast can be added to the language class as any relia. Short ones are better to work with in class. Long ones are good for homewok, but seldom students can see them at home. Those commercial ones will probably help a teacher to work passive skills. But if the teacher has his students creating their own podcasts to publish online, then this will open a wide door to the classroom. Even if, the students are not the ones who are doing the presentation.

It´s up to your imagination!!!

Podcasts are a generalizes feature of Internet these days. It´s not difficult to find it.  Or you can either post or create your own, or even suggest your students to do so.

-- Have a look of sites like Deutsche Welle, TV5, RAI, TVE Spain, BBC for some. They present good features of their countries cultures, and themes for debate.

-- Some english courses offer podcasts too. At the link: 

http://www.russianpod101.com

They have it for other languages too. You can have some inicial podcasted (and even some writing) russian languages. If you like it, you pay to learn more.

-- You ca find podcasts through iTunes o other players. They´re abundant in Youtube.

-- Choose a podcast and givie it for your students as a task or lessons.

-- Many sites also offer mock models of the International tests for ALTE Idiom validationtests, for free. You can check on these too. Download and use them.

-- There are many international sellers that sell regular MP3 files you can use.

at

http: sparachenshop.de

(paid) you can subscribe to german, french, English and Spanish audio magazines. They offer the opportunity of monthlly downloading both audio and PDF files, exercises and transcripts, and they are classified from easy to difficult according to ALTE standards. You can even give them as CDs for the people to study in their casr or stereos. they offer all kinds of cultural topics, and associated thematic lessons, plus grammar exercices - audio and writing.

Or even go MP3 and transform a music, an audio-ebook, an audio extract of a movie or youtube play, etc as a podlike activity.

Podcasting is a distribution mechanism. It is a framework for syndicating content, which in this case is an audio presentation. For all intents and purposes once the presentations are collected they differ very little from any other audio-visual teaching/learning tool. As the other participants in this discussion have indicated, the web is rich with content. 

The strength of podcasting at a teaching/learning tool is in their production. A school or organization can put together a simple podcasting studio at a reasonable cost. Assignments directing students to produce a podcast develops reading, writing, research, and speech skills. Students can work individually or in groups. The results can be shared within the classroom, school, or community. Students who are interested in pursuing a career related to media can use the work they have produced in their portfolios. 

Technical Requirements

http://www.ellorywells.com/podcasting-essentials-create-podcast-studio-bag/

http://freedompodcasting.com/how-to-set-up-podcast-recording-studio-record-podcast/

http://www.ellorywells.com/podcasting-essentials-create-podcast-studio-bag/

http://freedompodcasting.com/how-to-set-up-podcast-recording-studio-record-podcast/

I am extremely thankful to all the above contributors.  I have started using podcasting in my language classes.  There are myriad of podcasting websites on the internet.  The selection according to the level of the elf students particularly in Saudi context needs extra care.  When listening and reading go together in a podcast, the students not only feel motivated but are also keen to communicate what they have learnt.  Now we are also engaging the learners in making their own podcasts.  Despite technological problems, once they succeed making their own podcasts, they feel excited.  So this is an activity or a task that has something for the students to do with certain autonomy.  Again I express my sincere gratitude to all those who have provided me with very useful links and resources.

Exploration and possibility never end.  Further suggestions in using and making a podcast will be vehemently appreciated.

(I've come a bit late to this debate. I hope someone is still looking at it!)

In Spain, many teachers of  General English, Business English and Academic English are using podcasts fairly regularly, both in class and for "homework". 

"Real" podcasts, that is those that have not been recorded for learners of English, are excellent for listening comprehension as they  cover interesting topics and expose students to very fast speech. I have yet to find any ELT listening materials that are as fast as a lot of the podcasts. Even the materials for Cambridge Proficiency and the Toeic, which are presumably natural recordings, are slower than most podcasts. With proper support ( gapped tapescripts, comprehension questions, vocabulary preparation etc) most students from intermediate level upwards can cope with podcasts, providing that the right selection is made.

Podcasts are a great way of generating speaking activities: summarizing the podcast in pairs or groups, giving their opinión on the topic etc. Jigsaw listening also generates debate:  half the class listen to one podcast on a topic and half listen to another on a related topic. They then get together in pairs and tell each other about their topic or, for lower levels, perform more structured information-gap activities related to the two topics.

If the right podcasts are chosen, they can also be a great way of working on language. Podcast tapescripts can be used to introduce topic vocabulary, learn collocations and develop collocational awareness.It should also be possible to use some podcasts as means  of focusing on aspects of spoken grammar. However, I have yet to try this out myself.

Evaluative summaries are an excellent way of developing writing skills: students listen to a podcast at home, taking notes and looking at the tapescript if need be. They then summarize the podcast in their own words and give their opinion on the topic.

Ted Ideas Worth Spreading, the BBC (especially Radio 4 and the World Service),  the NPR, and , for Business English, the Harvard Business Review are great sources for podcasts, but there are many more to choose from. The challenge is often finding a short enough podcast on the topic you are looking for. A few BBC podcast pages are quite short, while in Ted it's possible to search for (e.g.) three minute podcasts. Sixty second podcasts from Scientific American are fantastic for high-level podcast gap-fills.The only problem is that they use a very limited range of speakers, so students soon become familiarized with the voices.