Ross Thorburn
Dilemmas in Language Assessment (with Kathleen ...

Author of Learning about Assessment, Professor Kathleen Bailey joins us to talk about testing. Professor Bailey tells us about why assessment exists, the effects it can have (both positive and negative) on teaching and learning, how we should design tests and how we should grade our learners.

Dilemmas in Language Assessment (with Kathleen Bailey)
Ross Thorburn
Using Stories in Language Teaching (with Mario ...

Mario Rinvolucri, author of “Once Upon a Time: Using stories in the language classroom” talk to us about storytelling, one of the “most compelling and ancient of human activities”. How can stories give students meaningful, comprehensible and motivating input? Listen to find out.

Using Stories in Language Teaching (with Mario Rinvolucri)
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

Podcast: How Teachers Can Find The Right School and How Schools Can Find The Right Teachers

Podcast: How Teachers Can Find The Right School and How Schools Can Find The Right Teachers

We interview Jessica Keller who has recruited over 1000 ESL teachers in China, Korea, Japan and the USA about the importance of recruitement as well as do's and don'ts for schools and teachers during the recruitment process.

Podcast: How to Spend a Lifetime in Teaching

Podcast: How to Spend a Lifetime in Teaching

For our first anniversary episode, we talk with Ross' parents about the differences that teaching has seen over the last 40 years, how to motivate yourself throughout your teaching career and what advice they have for young teachers working with older teachers.

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Career Paths in Teacher Training - How Teachers Become Trainers

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Career Paths in Teacher Training - How Teachers Become Trainers

Becoming a teacher trainer is super popular career goal for new teachers, but it can also seem pretty daunting. How can you move from teaching into training?We speak with three teacher trainers (Simon Galloway, Ray Davila and Dave Weller) about their careers; where they started, where they are now and how they got there.

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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).