teaching and learning
Ross Thorburn
How Languages Are (And Aren't) Learned (With ...

Second language acquisition researcher, Patsy Lightbown, joins us to discuss how languages are learned, and also, how they aren’t. We hear about problems of training teachers, how learners overcome challenges and aspects of language teaching which still lag years behind research.

How Languages Are (And Aren't) Learned (With Patsy Lightbown)
Ross Thorburn
End of Year Special: What's The Best Way To ...

If you regularly listen to this podcast, the chances are you listen because you want to be a better teacher. But what is the best way to become a better teacher? Is it attending training? Is it being observed by your boss? Is it watching your peers teach? In a special end of year double length episode, Professor Thomas Guskey, author of Evaluating Professional Development talks to us about the best way to help teachers learn and the evidence for workshops, peer observations and what the best teachers do that the rest of us don’t.

End of Year Special: What's The Best Way To Become A Better Teacher (With Thomas Guskey)
Ross Thorburn
8th Anniversary: Changes to Teacher Training

We speak with friends and experts about teacher training and what needs to change. Our guests are David Nunan, Kathleen Bailey, Thomas Guskey, Steve Walsh, Mark Hancock, Marek Kiczkowiak, and Chris Rolland.

8th Anniversary: Changes to Teacher Training
Ross Thorburn
PPP vs Task Cycles (with Jane Willis)

Jane Willis joins us to discuss the drawbacks of PPP and the benefits and challenges of using task cycles for language lessons.

PPP vs Task Cycles (with Jane Willis)
teaching and learning
Ross Thorburn
The Downsides to Speaking (with Professor ...

Students need to speak to learn a language and the more students talk, the more they learn. Not according to Professor Stephen Krashen. For 40 years he has championed the concept that what students should be doing in class is reading (and listening), not speaking. In this episode, Stephen tells Ross some of the arguments against forcing students to speak, something which might not just be inefficient, but in some cases counterproductive.

The Downsides to Speaking (with Professor Stephen Krashen)

interviews

End of Year Special: What's The Best Way To Become A Better Teacher (With Thomas Guskey)

End of Year Special: What's The Best Way To Become A Better Teacher (With Thomas Guskey)

If you regularly listen to this podcast, the chances are you listen because you want to be a better teacher. But what is the best way to become a better teacher? Is it attending training? Is it being observed by your boss? Is it watching your peers teach? In a special end of year double length episode, Professor Thomas Guskey, author of Evaluating Professional Development talks to us about the best way to help teachers learn and the evidence for workshops, peer observations and what the best teachers do that the rest of us don’t.

Creating Creativity in Language Teaching (with Alan Maley)

Creating Creativity in Language Teaching (with Alan Maley)

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Maya Angelou. But how to get started? We speak with Professor Alan Maley, author of Creativity and English Language Teaching, about how constraints can prompt creativity in teachers and what teachers can do to bring in their lives, interests and personalities to make the classrooms more creative.

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Building the Perfect Coursebook (with Professor Brian Tomlinson)

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Building the Perfect Coursebook (with Professor Brian Tomlinson)

Professor Brian Tomlinson from University of Anaheim wrote his first coursebook with Rod Ellis in the 1960’s and has been involved in materials design since. We ask him: how do you write a great coursebook?

Building Autonomous Teachers (With Ian McGrath)

Building Autonomous Teachers (With Ian McGrath)

Ian McGrath, author of Learner Autonomy, Teacher Autonomy: Future Directions talks to us about teacher autonomy. How can teacher education help make teachers more autonomous? How do observations from supervisors and student testing encroach on teachers’ decision making? And how can observations and testing be redesigned to give teachers the freedom to teach students the way they need to be taught?

Does Professional Development Make a Difference? (With Thomas Guskey)

Does Professional Development Make a Difference? (With Thomas Guskey)

I speak to world expert on teacher development, Professor Thomas Guskey, about how to evaluate professional development. What evidence should we use? How can we tell when it’s successful? What can go wrong in professional development? And how can teachers be at the center of the checking process?

Stages and Stories in Second Language Acquisition (with Stephen Krashen)

Stages and Stories in Second Language Acquisition (with Stephen Krashen)

What stages do students pass through in learning a language? Stephen Krashen, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, tells us about the conduit hypothesis. We discuss the role of reading, the growing importance of listening and how to encourage students to read and acquire more through comprehensible input.

The Past, Present and Future of Second Language Acquisition (With Vivian Cook)

The Past, Present and Future of Second Language Acquisition (With Vivian Cook)

We talk with Vivian Cook, Professor Emeritus at Newcastle University about second language acquisition; how it has progressed in the twentieth century, how it gets used by language teachers and what the future holds for SLA.

Podcast: How Teachers Can Find The Right School and How Schools Can Find The Right Teachers

Podcast: How Teachers Can Find The Right School and How Schools Can Find The Right Teachers

We interview Jessica Keller who has recruited over 1000 ESL teachers in China, Korea, Japan and the USA about the importance of recruitement as well as do's and don'ts for schools and teachers during the recruitment process.