http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/22_-_Stafford_Lumsden_-_Online_Learning.mp3 {bleep bloop bleep} I booted up cyborg teacher Stafford Lumsden to talk about online learning and the changing perception of what exactly a classroom is. We are more connected than ever and this shift in technology is changing the options that students have and how we teach. We discuss…. distance learning e-learning vs online […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/21.5_Thinking_Skills_-_VIDEO.mp3 I am branching out into video. First Video Channel Please watch, subscribe, like and all those things that everyone on YouTube is begging you to do! This is the first step of an expansion of MOT with the aim of eventually making materials for you to use in your own classes. Please smash “subscribe”, […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/21_-_Can_Dictation_Be_Fun__-_Oksana_Kharley.mp3 “Oh googie…dictation….” Possibly one of the most misused input/output techniques. The dreaded dictation. How can we move beyond playing a CD or reading and having students just write down what they hear? Oksana Kharley takes us through some useful approaches and techniques for practicing listening and writing that don’t include playing audio a couple […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/20_-_Roger_Fussellman_-_TED_Talks_in_ESL_ELF_class.mp3 I caught up with Roger Fusselman after his KOTESOL conference presentation on using TED talks and videos in general for language teaching. This is a MUST listen for anyone using visual media in the classroom. We cover the DOs and DON’Ts of choosing videos as well as his principles of using media: Challenge / […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/19_-_Reflective_Practice_-_Thomas_Farrell.mp3 The self-styled ‘bad boy’ of language teaching, Thomas Farrell, dropped by my office to take about self reflection. What do we do in the classroom and, importantly, WHY do we do it? Who are YOU as a teacher and what do YOU bring into the classroom?   Start adding this reflective practice regularly to […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/18_-_Discourse_Markers_-_Jon_Campbell-Larsen.mp3 Well, discourse markers are kinda a feature of, like, natural speech in, you know, basically every language. Jon Campbell-Larsen takes us through the how and why of teaching Discourse Markers. Here is a link to an example of how to scaffold students practicing these markers (based on Jon’s KOTESOL hand out). Feel free to adapt […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/17_-_Reichmuth_and_Hanf_-_TV_shows_for_pronunciation_-_QUICKIE.mp3 How effective is using English language TV in helping students improve their pronunciation? Well, Reichmuth & Hanf actually did some research and the results are in. How I Met Your Mother! Another quickie from the last KOTESOL conference.   Keywords: ESL, EFL, TESOL, TEFL, CELTA, DELTA, pronunciation, pronouncing, TV, linguistics, language, second language, teaching, […]

Plurals are easy, right? There’s one or there’s more than one… pretty straight forward. “All”, “every”, “All the” “each” – that’s pretty simple too, isn’t it? Well, hold on to something sturdy as Eytan Zweig gets you to think a little deeper about how we both form and understand language. The literal meaning (semantics) and […]

In the first of this batch of hit-n-run quickie interviews from the KOTESOL conference in Seoul at the end of 2016, I spoke to Justin McKibben about how we can expand students roles. By giving students certain speaking tasks the traditional classroom would consider a teacher’s job, we can vastly increase student talk time and […]

In this end-of-year episode, we get the funnier side of teaching English with stories from listeners and future interviewees. Special thanks to Grace, Thomas, Matthew, Jon, Fergal, James, Mierkamil, Oksana, Jacob, Roger, Gordon, and Jake. http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/14_-_Listeners_Tails_From_The_Classroom.mp3 We cover accidental phallic drawings, mistranslations, unintended puns, uncontrollable sweating… If you have a good story, you can be […]

I’m making a Christmas episode of the podcast and I need your help. Yes, YOU. The person reading this right now. Don’t look around, I’m talking to you~! http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/MOT_call_for_stories.mp3 As serious, devoted education professionals, we all love hearing about things going wrong or weird in a lesson, so the end-of-year episode is going to be a collection of funny […]

  This episode, we start with a little experiment and get more interactive. Let us know what country you thought the music originated in at @MOTcast with the hashtag #motesol . I’ll put up the results on www.mastersoftesol.com http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/13_-_What_the_way_you_speak_says_about_you_-_Sociolinguistics_with_Andrew_Euan_MacFarlan.mp3 Andrew Ewan MacFarlane is a lecturer at University of York in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/12_-_First_Language_Acquisition_-_Tamar_Keren-Portnoy_pt1.mp3 @MOTcast Now on Instagram! Once again, I got lost in the labyrinthian corridors of the University of York Language & Linguistic Science department, this time to speak to Tamar Keren-Portnoy about first language acquisition. There’s a lot of similarities between how we learn our first language and how we acquire our second language, so it’s a […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/11_-_Too_old_to_learn__The_Critical_Period_-_Heather_Marsden.mp3 This episode, I speak to University of York’s Heather Marsden about the controversial Critical Period hypothesis. This theory suggests that there is a limited age at which we can learn a second language, after which it grows increasingly difficult. Anecdotally, we assume this to be true – kids are sponges for language while older […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/10_-_Is_your_English_test_fair_.mp3 @MOTcast www.mastersoftesol.com Subscribe on iTunes I’m alive! Back after five months with a quickie that (hopefully) gives us a foundation for a deeper look at this topic later this year with a real expert. We’re looking at TESTING & EVALUATION – The main priciples in this episode: Practicality Reliability Validity Authenticity Washback Lots of […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/09_-_Bilingual_Mythbusting_-_Marilyn_Vihman.mp3 Subscribe on iTunes Follow me on Twitter – @MOTcast To a monolingual, being bilingual or multilingual seems magical. More than one language in one head – no one can live at that speed! As a result, some unusual misconceptions have grown around linguistic phenomena that, globally, is far more common than speaking a single language. […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/08__English_as_a_Lingua_Franca_in_the_ESL_classroom__Martin_Dewey.mp3 [This episode follows up on issues first covered in episode 4 with Jennifer Jenkins.] English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is a perplexing thing. It’s not an approach. It’s not a methodology. It’s a perspective. So there’s nothing for teachers to really get solid a grip on. This can get frustrating for teachers and can leave us […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/07_-_Why_your_ESL_lesson_bombed_-_Tom_Randolph.mp3 In this episode we hear from TESOL methodology trainer Tom Randolph about some of the reasons ESL / EFL lessons don’t succeed, and how to avoid it happening. I chip in with my own experience as a teacher trainer based on the classes I have monitored that didn’t go well. There’re plenty of solid […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/06_-_How_ESL___EFL_students_learn_-_Stephen_van_Vlack.mp3 As teachers, we need to be aware of how students are learning. Different brain systems need to work together in order to retain information and, most importantly, integrate it into existing systems. So, what is the best approach for teachers to give the best chance for students to improve? Stephen van Vlack slices open the brain […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/05_-_How_to_teach_intonation_-_Dorothy_Chun.mp3 One of the most overlooked elements of teaching spoken language is intonation. Yet it’s extremely important for conveying meaning. Traditional methods of teaching intonation tended to be simple listen-and-repest drills. Our guest for this episode, Prof. Dorothy Chun, has researched using visualisation to teach intonation, where students are able to see the contours of […]

  http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/04_-_Questioning_the_Native_Speaker_Norm_-_Jennifer_Jenkins.mp3 English as a Lingua Franca – ELF – is English as a shared language (usually) between non-native speakers. As English becomes more and more globalised, we question whether the Native Speaker model should be the goal in the classroom. Prof. Jennifer Jenkins first broached this idea back in 2000 and was met with […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/03_-_Effective_Feedback_on_Writing_-_Ahmar_Mahboob.mp3 Hands up if you’ve been properly trained on giving feedback on students’ writing… Yep, not many of us. Ahmar Mahboob gives a valuable insight into the most effective approach. Below are some links where you can get a more in depth look at his approaches. Is peer assessment any good? How and when should […]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/02_-_Gestures_and_Embodied_Cognition_-_Scott_Thornbury.mp3 In class, we point behind us to represent the past. Forward for the future. But, other than Total Physical Response, how else can we use gestures? Scott Thornbury is the second of my “ambush interviews”. His current workshop revolves around using gestures beyond the simple physical references, going deeper into how they affect cognition and strengthen recall. For […]