I speak with phonics guru, Debbie Hepplewhite, about common mistakes teachers make in teaching phonics. Not sure if you’ve been teaching reading right? Listen to find out what you might have been doing wrong…
Who Learns Languages Best and How Long Does it Take? (with Professor Patsy Lightbown)
How to Market Yourself or Your School
In the the words of McKinsey, "we're all marketers now". But what can teachers and schools do to better promote themselves? We interview three ESL marketing experts (David Weller, Jonny Arthur and Peter Liu) about how (if you're a teacher) you can promote yourself and (if you're a manager) how you can promote your school.
Podcast: Learning from Theory, Learning From Practice (with Dave Weller)
Everyone learns from their experiences in the classroom, and if you’re listening to this, you’ve probably learned from theory too. What are the differences and similarities between the two? Ross and Dave Weller discuss the differences between theory and practice in teacher development and the most effective was to learn from theory and learn from practice.
Podcast: What Can Neuroscience Teach Us About Language Teaching
We speak with Carol Lethaby about what neuroscience can do for language teaching. We know more about how the brain works and how learning occurs than ever before, so why does so little of it get used? Carol is an English language teacher, teacher trainer, ELT consultant and author who has coauthored Just Right Second Edition (Cengage Learning) and English ID (Richmond Publishing) as well as articles on Neuroscience in IATEFL Voices and Neuromyths in the Teacher Trainer Journal.
Podcast: Learning Through Observations (with Ray Davilia)
Episode 50: Stop Complaining and Start Adapting - How to Make Best Use Of Your Coursebook (with Professor Brian Tomlinson)
Whoever you are, whatever you teach, you’ll probably use a coursebook. How can you make the best use of the coursebook you've been given? We celebrate our fiftieth episode by interviewing world expert on language learning materials, Professor Brian Tomlinson from University of Anaheim about how teachers can better adapt their coursebooks.
Lying Less in Language Teaching (with Jessica Keller)
"By lying, we deny others a view of the world as it is. Our dishonesty not only influences the choices they make, it often determines the choices they can make—and in ways we cannot always predict. Every lie is a direct assault upon the autonomy of those we lie to" (Sam Harris). So what of lying in language teaching? How honest are we with our students? How honest are schools with their teachers? And how can we be more honest with ourselves? We discuss with ESL recruitment guru, Jessica Keller.
Applying Critical Thinking In Classes and Materials Writing (with John Hughes)
How to Apply What You Learn (with Matt Courtois and Karin Xie)
Learning is one thing. Using what you learn is something else. We speak with Karin Xie about how to bridge the gap. Find out how to help students apply their learning, how teachers can apply what they learning on teacher training courses and what trainers and teacher educators can do to encourage teachers apply more of what they learn in professional development.
Podcast: Read To Learn (With Paul Nation)
Podcast: Context - the Secret Sauce in Language Teaching & Training (with Matt Courtois)
Understanding what people in say from the sounds they make is all but impossible without context, even in our first language. So how can we make more use of this amazing tool which helps prediction, understanding, engagement and application? We discuss what context is, why it’s important and how to incorporate it when teaching adults, teaching kids and in teacher training.
Racism In EFL (with Asia Martin)
Podcast: Should Teachers Even Talk?!
Highlights from IATEFL 2018 in Brighton (Part 2)
The second of our two-part special from the 2018 IATEFL conference in Brighton. We chat with our friends, fellow teacher trainers and returning podcast guests David Weller, Simon Galloway, Fifi Pyatt and new guest and DipTESOL candidate Will Ferguson about technology in the classroom, activities for teenagers, creating positive group dynamics in classes, native and non-native English teachers and effective practices in language teaching.
Highlights From IATEFL 2018 in Brighton (Part 1)
Podcast: How to Start Thinking Straight - Cognitive Biases for Teachers, Trainers & Managers (with Simon Galloway)
Cognitive biases screw up our thinking. They make us make bad decisions, come to wrong wrong conclusions and for the most part we're completely unaware of them. This week we speak with Trinity DipTESOL course Director Simon Galloway about cognitive biases for teachers, cognitive biases for trainers and cognitive biases for managers and how to avoid them and start thinking more clearly.
Podcast: Is "Less" Sometimes "More" In Teaching, Training and Management? (Matt Courtois)
The "Native" / "Non-Native" English Teacher Debate (with Dave Weller)
What are the real differences between "native" and "non-native" English teachers? How did we end up with these distinctions in our industry? And what should we be doing about discrimination? We meet with Dave Weller to discuss the issues surrounding "native" and "non-native" English teachers such as attitudes of parents and teachers, the responsibilities of language schools and how to change opinions.
Podcast: Personalizing Learning, Development and Work
Personalization is in every aspect of our lives; the clothes we wear, the TV we watch, the podcasts we listen to. But what about in language teaching? In this episode we discuss how teachers can personalize lessons and materials for students, how trainers can personalize development for teachers and how managers can personalize work for their staff.