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TEFL Waffle
Steve and Troy waffle about the exciting and wonderful world of Teaching English in a foreign country.
Eliciting and concept checking form an important part of teacher talk, at least according to some. But what are they? Are they really necessary? How do you do them well? Why bother? What's the point the point of asking redundant questions that you already know the answers to, like this one? Would anyone ever do that? Well, teachers do, and students don't seem to mind, and there is a possibility that we sound like pompous idiots. But possibly not. So, let's waffle about these questions about questions to find the answers that might be the answers to all answers.
How experienced do you have to be to be considered experienced? This is the circular kind of question that Steve and Troy love waffling about. So, are you experienced? What does it mean to be experienced? When exactly did you become experienced? What changed when you suddenly became experienced? Do experienced teachers help students and other teachers more than inexperienced teachers? We waffle about this, and much much more. Oh, and Steve says some bad words - watch out for that.
Steve and Troy waffle up a storm. It's Steve's turn to be belligerent and he's doing on about marking. Or is it grading? Or evaluating? Or giving feedback? Whatever it is, teachers hate it, students hate it and yet it has to be done, and it's really useful for students' development. Or is it? Listen to Troy dancing around the edges of this very prescriptive and red-pen laced topic which sits close to every teacher's resignation letter.
Troy and Steve have a heavy duty waffle about the things we have been led to believe are true but are not in fact supported by research. Troy brings up the example of the myth that we only use 10% of our brain, but a more interesting waffle is about the myth of VAK, then even more interestingly a waffle about MI, and we touch on learner strategies, and then we get onto the myth that Steve actually knows anything much at all. But hang on, are these really all myths and should they all be thrown out with the baby?
It's not TEFLWaffle!! No, instead Yort and Evets are waffling about teachers in the movies. Ferris Bueller has a lot of teachers in it, and they are wonderful to talk about because they are all so stereotypically awful. Really, they are. Well, Evets thinks so, anyway. If you've seen the movie, come share in the discussion. If you haven't, come find out what you have missed from the 80s. And if you've never seen this movie, we'll make sure you hate it enough by the end that you'll stand out as an individual amongst your peers in your weekly Friday afternoon staffroom film club group meeting discussion.
In some schools, a clear distinction is made between the local teachers and the foreigner teachers. Working in these schools as a foreigner means things are sometimes rather opaque. This is the topic of today's episode. Why does that happen? What can be done about it? As usual, Steve and Troy will waffle endlessly, throwing ideas around, solving all the problems, and just generally being show-off know-it-alls.
Why are you a teacher? Yes, Troy and Steve waffle about this question, whether we make a difference, how teachers stay interesting in their jobs and all other kinds of stuff like that. Troy uses wonderfully banal analogies, Steve gives bizarre examples and neither of us have any doubt about the benefits and wonder of teaching. But really, why do some teachers teach well? This, in fact, is the real question. Isn't it?
Steve is on a mission to define what good board work is. Is a board necessary in a language classroom? Can Troy and Steve come up with 5 principles for good use of the whiteboard? Is Steve just barking up the wrong board? Will Troy ever agree with Steve on anything? Will you agree with Troy? Can you hear, somewhere in the podcast, Steve closing the curtains? Will you hear the phone ring? Will you be able to listen to both Steve's waffle and the phone ringing at the same time? Listen to one of the least professional waffles about board work in the history of language teaching.
It's not TEFLWaffle, it's TITM! Today, Evets and Yort waffle about Arnold Schwarzenegger, and how good (or is it bad?) he is at teaching kindergarten. If you haven't watched the movie, don't worry - we'll tell you all about it. If you have watched it, great, you can waffle along with us in your head as we go. The nice thing about this movie is that the plot builds in the concept of teacher development - Arnie can't teach, and then he can! It's actually amazing how much Arnie stretches his teaching muscles in only 90 minutes (or 91 perhaps). We won't waffle about professional development, though. We are far more interested in classroom management!
Steve and Troy wonder, wafflingingly, what happens when a teacher tries the communicative approach and it fails. Some teachers fight it, don't understand it, get confused by it, and even maybe reject it! Or maybe it's the students who reject it? Oh wait, is it maybe worth rejecting? Both Troy and Steve have lots and lots of things to say about teachers who are incompatible with the communicative approach - join us and laugh at Steve's stupid stories.
What do you believe? How do your beliefs change what you do in the classroom? What do you believe about podcasts? Are your beliefs congruent with Troy's beliefs? If so, I have a number for a good psychiatrist. Anyway, today we waffle. Specifically we waffle about what how beliefs influence what we do as teachers, as learners, and as trainers. Believe me, you're going to hear the word belief a lot!
What's the point of hanging around with a bunch of teachers in a formal event where you have to talk about teaching and eat pre-prepared food? Do you really want to hang out with the type of teachers who are so obsessed with their profession that they choose to spend their own money on attending an event to show off how into it they are? Aren't they all just academic weirdos stroking each other's egos? Should I endeavor to be a stroker and keep stroking until I finally become an elvated strokee? We tackle these important questions, giggle a little, and decide that conferences are a must for every teacher. Well, sometimes.
Troy and Steve waffle and waffle. Today Steve really waffles up a storm, he really does! So today they are waffling about the wonderful world of getting observed while you teach, observing teachers giving lessons, the difference between evaluation and feedback, and every now and again the cat gets to add some waffle support too. Troy say the word 'autonomic' which I don't understand - see if you can hear it. Email us with a definition. And, who watches the watchers that break multiple grammar rules in the beginning of a single sentence? Is that why we have a special guest cat?
Today Troy and Steve have a guest - it's Sunee! Sunee has been teaching young learners since she herself was young. It's part of her genes. She knows a lot about children, children's classes, children's material, children's behaviour and all sort of other things about children and their classrooms. We grill her about all this stuff. In particular, we wonder how we might know who is destined to be a teacher of young learners, and whether the characteristics that make a YL teacher are bred into them by some twist at birth, or whether it's something someone can learn.
Troy and Steve have taken the day off, but Yort and Evets are standing in. They don't Waffle about TEFL. Instead, they'll be exploring, in exquisite detail, the way teachers and teaching are portrayed in the movies - and today's movie is Good Morning Vietnam! Which is set in Vietnam, actually. In this movie, Robin Williams is a teacher sometimes. Yes he really is. But, do teachers in movies know how to teach? Or is it a farce designed to trick the layman? Does Robin know how to teach (his character in the movie, that is)? Does he make any stupid beginner-teacher mistakes? Listen to Yort and Evets and find out what they think. Watch out, there's some language in here you don't want your grandmother to hear (like 'elicit', and maybe even 'illicit'). You'll never watch a movie in the same way again!
It's Steve who has a big fat waffle about things that happen outside of the classroom that may be opportunities for learning. At the end of the day it's time for the teacher to go home, sit in the garden and sip a pina colada... But wait! The school would really like it if you came back on Sunday and helped show off to the parents how special thieir programme is, look handsome and/or pretty (or both), and justify all those shiny school fees they're paying. Is this part of our job too? Should we be paid a marketing bonus for coming in on a Sunday? Surely there's no educatiobal value in getting ther students dressing up for Halloween! Explore the world of teaching that happens outside of the classroom, and away from pina coladas and gardens.
Troy and Steve ask the crucial questions - how much should a teacher work? How many hours should we teach? How much time should we spend planning? Are we working too much? Should we work more? Does anyone know how much we work? Are any of these questions pertinent? Should we stop asking questions like this? Anyway, Steve has opinions, Troy has stories and we both waffle enoughly about working as a teacher.
Troy has a question about whether teachers need to read formal research. What's the point of all these academics doing endless research instead of actually teaching? Surely those who do, do, but those who observe don't? Which is mightier, the practionioner or the theoretician? Should teachers even bother? Steve has a lot of things to say about this, though his opinion is really flawed and completely biased anyway. Troy, in the other hand, has a whiteboard marker.
Steve has chosen the topic today. That's always a little dangerous. What, he asks cunningly, is the golden rule for teachers in the classroom? Do you have a golden rule for yourself as a teacher? Compare it with Troy's response! Then compare it with Steve's idea. Compare yours and Troy's with what the teachers you work with think is a golden rule for their classroom. Is there only one golden rule? Or are there two? Or are there zillions of golden rules? This podcast almost hits the infinity button, and as usual, waffling ensues.
Language learning is complex and subject a lot of variables - which Applied Linguists love researching. Troy and Steve waffle about it in a very unscientific way, citing absolutely no research and instead simply whinging about what it is that makes us as language learners useless at learning languages. Come wallow in our self-pity with us.