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)
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Teachers? Trainers? Schools? Who Is Responsible for Teacher Autonomy? (with Special Guest Jake Whiddon)

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Teachers? Trainers? Schools? Who Is Responsible for Teacher Autonomy? (with Special Guest Jake Whiddon)

Every year schools spend millions of dollars developing curriculums, creating tests, training and observing teachers. But what are the side effects? 

Are Your Materials Helping Your Students Learn Or Just Wasting Your Time?

Are Your Materials Helping Your Students Learn Or Just Wasting Your Time?

Materials creation can be both an outlet for teachers' creativity and an opportunity to make lessons more relevant to students. On the flip side they can also be a giant time-drain and introduce uncertainty to students. Find out what you can use as materials, how to evaluate how useful they are and when it might just be better to stick to the course book.

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Podcast: Becoming a Teacher - Success for New Teachers and Mentors

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Podcast: Becoming a Teacher - Success for New Teachers and Mentors

Becoming a new EFL teacher is almost as hard as learning a new language. We look at typical challenges that new teachers face, consider strategies that teachers and mentors can use to overcome these and help you decide if TEFL is right profession for you.

Podcast: How Much of What We Know Is Wrong - The Difference Between Theory and Practice

Podcast: How Much of What We Know Is Wrong - The Difference Between Theory and Practice

Listen to find out what common misconceptions teachers have (like 'learning styles', 'multiple intelligences', etc.), why theories don't get applied in the classroom and how teachers can bridge the gap between theory and practice (with special guest, Dave Weller).