Teacher Talking Time

Want to move away from 1:1 and build your teaching business? Book a free 1:1 with us to see if we can help.   "Don't teach at the students. Teach off them." Scott Thornbury becomes our first repeat guest and helps us dissect this and more.  Scott Thornbury is a teacher, teacher trainer, and award-winning author in English language education. He has taught and trained teachers around the world, including on the MA TESOL program at The New School in New York, and is widely recognized for his contributions to ELT methodology and teacher development. He co-authored Teaching Unplugged (2009) and Dogme in Practice (2025), both with Luke Meddings. His latest book is called Scott Thornbury's 66 Essentials of Lesson Design.   In our chat, Scott delves into: tensions between planning & spontaneity what an effective lesson design process looks like if the communicative approach can be rehabilitated shifting from surface-level communication to meaningful interaction adapting teacher training and institutional expectations  the role of technology in education   FOR MORE FROM SCOTT THORNBURY: 1. Visit his website 2. Book: Domge in Practice  3. Book: 66 Essentials of Lesson Design 4. Connect on LinkedIn    Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you. If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com    RESOURCES TO HELP YOU: 1. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business  2. Follow the LYE YouTube Channel 3. Learn how to monetize your teaching skills with TAP  4. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs  5. Join our Substack community 

Want to monetize your skills as a teacher? Book a free 1:1 with us to see if we can help.   Learner autonomy is something that happens INSIDE the classroom, not out of it. Teachers can't sit back and wait for their students to become autonomous. This is part of what the esteemed Dr. David Little shared with us in our conversation.  David Little is Fellow Emeritus at Trinity College Dublin and a leading scholar in learner autonomy, linguistic diversity, and the application of the CEFR in language education. He played a key role in developing the European Language Portfolio and has led several national and international projects focused on language support for migrants and refugees. He currently coordinates the Council of Europe’s Romani–Plurilingual Policy Experimentation and is the author of influential works on educational inclusion and language learning.   In this episode, David discusses: Understanding Language Learner Autonomy Defining Autonomy in Language Learning Pedagogical Models for Autonomy Autonomy in Diverse Educational Contexts Challenges and Collaborative Solutions for Teachers Language Learner Autonomy and Writing Developing Reflective Dialogue in Classrooms Practical Advice for Fostering Learner Autonomy   FOR MORE FROM DR. DAVID LITTLE: 1. His page at Trinity College, Dublin 2. His Research Gate page  3. Language Learner Autonomy: Theory, Practice, and Research   Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you. If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com    RESOURCES TO HELP YOU: 1. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business.  2. Follow the LYE YouTube Channel 3. Learn how to monetize your teaching skills with TAP  4. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs. 

Want to monetize your skills as a teacher? Book a free 1:1 with us to see if we can help.   "It's  such social injustice to expect people to use English like native English speakers, whichever country they're in." We dive into this and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) with Jennifer Jenkins.  Jennifer Jenkins is a British linguist and academic. She was Chair Professor of Global Englishes at the University of Southampton until her retirement in 2019. She is a leading figure in the study of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), and is an expert on communication in English between non-native speakers. She has published and lectured widely and is a founder editor of the Journal of English as a Lingua Franca. In this episode, Jennifer tackles: what English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is native speakers vs local speakers why she was shunned from many rooms for her views the cultural and linguistic bias in language testing  how tests are not predictive of academic success the myth that ELF lowers English standards the role of adjusting language rather than mimicking it  having a pioneer mindset even when people dismiss you how international universities have hypocritical linguistic standards  the future of English as a global language    FOR MORE FROM JENNIFER JENKINS: 1. Her Google Scholar page 2. Her page at the University of Southampton  3. Accommodation in ELF: Where from? Where now? Where next?   Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you. If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com    RESOURCES TO HELP YOU: 1. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business.  2. Follow the LYE YouTube Channel 3. Learn how to monetize your teaching skills with TAP  4. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs. 

Book a complimentary meeting with us to help grow your business.  Learners can think a native teacher is a vaccine against poor pronunciation. Equally, native teachers can be misinformed in thinking that students should just follow them. We dive into pronunciation, intelligibility, and teacher effects on learner performance with the great John Levis.  John is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Technology at Iowa State University. He is founding editor of the Journal of Second Language Pronunciation and the founder of the annual Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference. His research focuses on pronunciation, intelligibility, pronunciation, and accent. John has received university awards for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, for Career Achievement in Research, and was named Angela B. Pavitt Professor of English in 2018. In our conversation, John talks about: accent vs pronunciation the nativeness principle vs the intelligibility principle how he coined "the intelligibility principle" high and low value features of pronunciation  why some vowel sounds don't matter native and non-native teacher effects on learner performance learners viewing native speakers as a vaccine for poor pronunciation some native teachers believing learners should just follow them getting "caught" with accent For more from John Levis: 1. Pronunciation for Teachers 2. His faculty page 3. His publications  Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you. If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com  Ways we can help you right now: 1. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business.  2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days 3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.  4. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs. 

Book a free 1:1 to strategize your goals for your teaching business.  Native speaker or non-native speaker? Monolingual or plurilingual? Why do we have a binary bias in modern society? These are some of the questions we tackled with Dr. Angelica Galante.  Dr. Angelica Galante is an Associate Professor in Second Language Education and Applied Linguistics, and William Dawson Scholar at McGill University. As the Director of the Plurilingual Lab, Dr. Galante conducts studies with language learners, teachers and educational leaders in the areas of plurilingual education, language teaching and learning, linguistic discrimination and justice, teacher education, and curriculum design. She speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish, and a bit of French and Italian. In our conversation, Dr. Galante talks about: Linguistic and Cultural Discrimination Strategies to Combat Prejudice in Education Plurilingual and Pluricultural Competence Navigating Binary Bias in Language Discussions Exploring Common Ground in Controversial Topics The Role of Language in Identity and Mental Health Practical Applications of Plurilingualism in Education Balancing Plurilingualism and Language Acquisition Challenges and Facilitators of Plurilingualism For more from Angelica Galante: 1. Her professional page 2. McGill's Plurilingual Lab 3. Her publications  Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you. If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com  Ways we can help you right now: 1. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business.  2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days 3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.  4. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs. 

Discover why some educators thrive in entrepreneurship while others falter. Unpack the seven Cs of teacherpreneur success, focusing on confidence as a skill and the crucial step of strategizing goals. Learn the importance of consistency and the power of emotional commitment in balancing health and business. Explore ways to find clients beyond social media and the significance of embracing your self-identity in teaching ventures. Join a supportive community as you navigate your path to success!

Book a free 1:1 to strategize your teaching business goals.  Black Friday 2024: 50% off CPD (click here).  Escaping precarity in ELT? Join our free support group here.   If you use vocabulary and grammar tests, you don't teach communicatively.  Audrey Rousse-Malpat tells us why.  Audrey Rousse-Malpat is an assistant professor in second language acquisition at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. She is also an entrepreneur and leads a teacher training company called Project Frans specializing in usage-based pedagogies for French as second language. She hosts the "Je suis #profdeFLE" ("I am a French language teacher") podcast.  Her research focuses on the AIM method: the Accelerative Integrated Method. In our conversation, she argues why it's a method education should adopt. In our conversation, Audrey talks about: thinking like a scientist schools as factories AIM (Accelerative Integrated Method) and how it works feeling like the Marry Poppins of error correction  structure-based teaching vs Dynamic usage why teachers need to relinquish control what went wrong with the communicative approach tips for implementing AIM multilingual approaches in higher education  For more from Audrey Rousse-Malpat: 1. Project Frans  2. Connect on LinkedIn Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you. If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com  Ways we can help you right now: 1. Book a free 1:1 chat to strategize your teaching business.  2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days 3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.  4. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs. 

Book a free 1:1 to strategize your teaching business goals.  Escaping precarity in ELT? Join our free support group here.   Education is designed around focusing on the learner first and the teacher as a medium to support the learner. Sarah Mercer tells us why this leads to unhealthy teachers.  Sarah Mercer is a Professor of foreign language teaching at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience. She is co-editor of Multilingual Matters’ Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching book series, currently vice-president of IAPLL, and ambassador for IATEFL. In this episode, Sarah expounds on: why connecting with learners is fundamental cell phone addiction and what we CAN'T do about it re-framing what "student-led" means defining "engagement" and pedagogical caring students faking engagement out of respect for their teacher burnout and stress are the result of the systemic element of teacher well-being For more from Sarah Mercer: 1. Visit her website 2. Read her publications  3. Her handbook "Teacher Wellbeing" Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you. If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com  Ways we can help you right now: 1. Book a free 1:1 chat to strategize your teaching business.  2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days 3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.  4. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs. 

Book a free 1:1 to strategize your teaching business goals.  Escaping precarity in ELT? Join our free support group here.   ELT is full of disasters, including the destruction of the communicative approach. Dr. Enrica Piccardo tells us why.  Dr. Piccardo is a Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her research spans language teaching approaches/curricula, multi/plurilingualism, creativity and complexity in language education. She recently published The Action-oriented Approach. A Dynamic Vision of Language Education 2019) Bristol: Multilingual Matters, co-authored with Brian North. In this episode, Dr. Piccardo discusses:  leveraging the messiness of learning how Headway destroyed the communicative approach multiple disasters in ELT: the separation of languages, the native speaker model, organizing curriculum around grammar, and others how we're still teaching in a grammatical way because it's easier what mediation is, its role in learning, and its 3 types updating the CEFR to include mediation  the link between mediation and plurilingualism the action-oriented approach and its benefits why teachers need to delegate learning For more from Dr. Enrica Piccardo: 1. Check out her new book here.  2. Her University of Toronto profile Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you. If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com  Ways we can help you right now: 1. Book a free 1:1 chat to strategize your teaching business.  2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days 3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.  4. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs. 

Book a free 1:1 to strategize your teaching business goals.  Escaping precarity in ELT? Join our free support group here.   What do toad venom, the 5 stages of grief, and precarity all have in common? Andrew, Leo, and Mike explain.  Sustainability in the ELT industry as a teacher is pretty simple: 1. It is precarious 2. We all need to earn more money 3. It's unlikely to do that by having just one job. In this episode, we discuss strategies to earn more by creating your own offer. Specifically, we dive into: the 5 stages of grief pertaining to precarity two paths teachers have: stay in ELT or move on why earning more money is a requisite to stay in the industry how to create a compelling offer that will actually sell why focusing on lesson frequency is restricting not creating solutions to problems no one cares about  toad venom and how you can apply it to your teaching business Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you. If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com  Ways we can help you right now: 1. Book a free 1:1 chat to strategize your teaching business.  2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days 3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.  4. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs.