speaking

Spoken and Written Academic English (with Paul Thompson)

Spoken and Written Academic English (with Paul Thompson)

Paul Thompson from Birmingham University joins me to talk about English for academic purposes. What is academic English? How much does it vary between subjects? How can teachers assigned to teach academic English figure out what to teach? Which activities from general English classes translate best to academic English classes? And asides from listening to lectures, what do university students need English for?

The Power of Fluency (with Paul Nation)

The Power of Fluency (with Paul Nation)

Paul Nation tells us about the importance of fluency and how to develop it with students at all levels. Paul Nation is one of the world’s leading researchers on and writers on vocabulary, reading and fluency, has written dozens of books and been publishing research on these topics since 1970. 

Teaching Phonics (with Lesley White)

Teaching Phonics (with Lesley White)

Letterland teacher trainer Lesley White tells Ross about phonics. We touch on the history, the advantages of phonics over other approaches, different options to teachers within the phonics system and some of the differences between learning to read in your first language and in your second language.

Please Mind The ___________ Gap (with Matt Courtois)

Please Mind The ___________ Gap (with Matt Courtois)

We speak with one of our favorite guests, __________ about _____________. An antidote to free talk activities, _____________ are a great way to get students to _______, listen to each other and ___________. ___________ activities can even be used in teacher training. Listen to fill in the _______.

Episode 75! What's The Best Way to Learn a Language (With Dave Weller)

Episode 75! What's The Best Way to Learn a Language (With Dave Weller)

For our 75th episode, we discuss a question which is both very simple and highly complex: What’s the best way to learn a language? We challenged each other to fit everything we could about language learning onto a single page of A4 paper, then compare our notes in a marathon 60-minute discussion. For maximum effect, prepare your own notes on “What’s the Best Way to Learn a Language” before you listen.