TEFL Training Institute Podcast

All language lessons need a context. Language must be learned and practiced in context. Without context, students cannot remember or use new vocabulary. You've probably heard these arguments before (possibly on this podcast), but are they true? We discuss the pros and cons of context with our friend and teacher trainer (and former many other things!) Diederik Van Gorp.

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…

Patsy Lightbown, Professor, author and second language acquisition researcher tells us about language learners of different ages. Are kids better language learners than adults? Who learns languages faster? Are there any advantages to learning a language later in life? Listen to find out…

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.

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.

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.

We often assume that observations are more about being assessed and judged than about learning. But observations don't necessarily need to be trainer centered. This episode we look at how we can observe through three types of observations - being observed, observing others and observing ourselves.

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.

"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...

We speak with ELT course book author and teacher trainer extraordinaire John Hughes about critical thinking: what is it, how can teachers use it and what challenges it presents for teachers and students

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.

We celebrate our second anniversary episode by interviewing Emeritus Professor Paul Nation about reading. Paul tells us about research into the effectiveness of reading, why as teachers we tend to avoid including reading in our classes and how we can start doing more reading in class.

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.

Do teachers of different races get treated differently? Do schools prefer white teachers? Do students care what color their teacher's skin is? We interview Asia Martin about her experiences as a black teacher in China and discuss Ross' research into racism in TEFL recruitment.

Teacher talk. It was good, then it was bad, now it's good again. Are you confused? We are! We look at teacher talk from four different perspectives - time, aim, language and quality (or TALK for short).

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.

Didn’t make it to Brighton for this year’s IATEFL conference? We chat with returning guests and friends Dave Weller, Simon Galloway and Felicity Pyatt and new guest Will Ferguson about the best ideas and concepts from the IATEFL’s 52nd annual conference.

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.

We look at minimalist approaches to teaching, training and management and discuss examples of when less busy means more efficiency.

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.