TEFL Commute: Recent Episodes
TEFL Commute
TEFL commute is a podcast for language teachers. It is not about language teaching though inevitably it might crop up. All three of us are avid podcast listeners and like playing around making our own. TEFL commute is meant to be a light-hearted listen aimed at brightening your daily commute to class. Each episode is built a round a topic that you could use in your teaching and the podcast will have page on this site that will link you to articles, questions and resources you can use with your students. You can even get involved by recording your snippet of mp3 for inclusion on a future episode or leaving us a suggestion on this site.
We had fun making and developing the idea so we hope you enjoy the listen.
Lindsay, Shaun and James
Season 14 episode 7: Numbers is the last episode for this season and marks the 100th episode of our podcast. To celebrate the 100, we've done an episode on numbers. In this roundtable each of the team brings some numbers related to teaching to discuss. Since it is a milestone episode we also look back over some of our episodes and Shaun quizzes the team on TEFL commute related numbers. Enjoy our 100th episode and see you later in the year for season 15.
In this episode the team show they have the finger on the pulse of politics by talking about parties. Lindsay decides he wants to dissect 10 Downing street’s party invite and this leads into a discussion about the party vocabulary, the language of the parties, and ELT and parties (both political and the fun kind) in ELT. Get ready for the TEFL commute does discourse analysis!
We’re back after our mid-season break and we’re getting all dramatic. In this episode Ceri, Lindsay and Shaun discuss drama and ELT. Are they ELT thesps? Do they use drama? What are the benefits? In addition Lindsay tells us about academic drama and Shaun finds out if they other two can recognise a Shakespeare quote.
We reach the half way point of the current season just in time for the festive season. In this episode the TEFL commute gang foolishly leave Shaun alone in a zoom room so expect some terrible jokes at some point. In a different type of episode each of the regular commuters has their own little section as the commute team get ready for their Xmas Breaks.
In this episode the TEFL commute gang talk about volunteering and ELT. They start by talking about asking for volunteers in class before discussing their volunteering within the world of TEFL and how volunteering might be different to having a hobby.
In this episode, Lindsay Ceri and Sandy talk about authors and English language teaching. Did you know there are many famous authors who taught English? Why do materials writers not always consider themselves authors? We also have an interview with an English teacher who went into materials writing and then wrote a novel. And Sandy leads a classic TEFL commute quiz about books and writers and teachers.
We're back, it's our 14th season and we get underway by discussing reasons to be cheerful. After nearly two years of the pandemic, lockdown, online teaching and very little commuting we begin this season by looking at some of the positives we've taken from this time.
We bring our 13th season to a close with our round table episode. This season we talk words, words we like, words we don't like, words that have caught our attention and words that don't translate. The team are joined by @lexicojules to add a touch of gravitas to their discussions and get some insight into which of our chosen words might hang around. See you in the Autumn.
From old to young – in this episode the topic of teaching most certainly comes up as Lindsay Sandy, Shaun discuss teaching young learners. They discuss many aspects of the topic from looking at what ages are considered YL to if there is a point that is too young to learn a second language. The episode also features several YL trainers whose contributions give practical advice to those teaching this area
Are the TEFL Commute crew feeling their age? In this episode Ceri, Lindsay and Shaun discuss language associated with 'old', and consider language teaching with older students. Lindsay chats with Mark McKinnon about what it's like to teach senior learners, and Shaun leads the team through an Olde English quiz.
In episode 3, Shaun and Lindsay return to find themselves stuck on a plateau so use this as an opportunity to discuss what the so-called Intermediate plateau is in language learning, how it happens and what things can be done to try and avoid / get off it.
In this episode, we celebrate International Women’s Day with a takeover by Sandy Millin and Ceri Jones. They look at the history of the day, talk about their experiences as women in ELT, reflect on representation in ELT, and maintain the TEFL Commute tradition by having not one, but two quizzes!
Our 13th season begins by looking at animals. Lindsay ponders when we teach animal vocabulary, while Shaun gets carried away with onomatopoeic sounds. After joining us at the end of the last season, we welcome Sandy back with her new feature. Add in some quizzes, idioms and collective nouns and we have a bumper first episode of the season,
It’s the final episode of season 12 so it’s our traditional round table (well, round zoom) episode. This season’s theme is podcasts with Shaun and Lindsay joined by James, and a new additional to the TEFL commute team. This year’s rules are simple – bring one podcast related to language, one about teaching and one you’d recommend to others. So come listen and find out what we’ve chosen
In the penultimate episode of the season, Shaun and Lindsay discuss adventure. They look at how TEFL is often marketed as an adventure, and the part adventure plays in course materials as well as discussing how to go about utilising ‘adventure’ with students from timeless classroom activities through to the latest craze of escape rooms.
It’s episode 3 already and this episode we talk ‘fake’, an interesting word that doesn’t always collocate with news! In the episode Shaun and Lindsay look at authenticity, imposter syndrome and whether ‘the man with 13 jobs, is real or not. In addition there is a ‘fake’ music quiz, and producer James gives us an idea for a fake news activity.
In the week of the US election it seemed fitting to do an episode called dictator but don’t worry, we are not giving him too much airtime. While we do look at Trump's impact on the English language, the episode also discusses authoritarian teachers, and explores the use of dictation as a teaching activity.
Shaun and Lindsay kick off the 12th season of the TEFL commute by discussing ‘normal’. The talk about the use of the word ‘normal’, and discover the phrase ‘ the new normal’ is older than it seems. Lindsay regales Shaun with a tale of Mr. Average, and since it’s a new season we even let Producer James join the episode.
In the final instalment of our mini-series Shaun and Lindsay take ten-minutes to discuss the future. With lockdown beginning to undo in many places and schools working out how to start up again we discuss some of the ideas that have been suggested
In our penultimate instalment Lindsay and Shaun discuss taking breaks. We consider how to ensure that we take break in and between lessons and little trips for our well-being.
In this instalment Lindsay and Shaun talk slow. No that will never happen, they only have ten minutes afterall. By slow we mean what to do when the internet slows. Lindsay gives you tips on making sure you have enough bandwidth while shaun gives you some ideas to help you with students on a slow connection.
It's WZW 12 and this time Lindsay and Shaun talk about breakout rooms. In the ten minutes they cover What they are? How they work? And of course things that they are good for from jigsaw reading through to escape room games.
In one of our favourite instalments of WZW, Shaun and Lindsay discuss sound, how you can do listening lessons, and what you can do with sound effects in an online room. From animal noises through to sounds around the house the ten minute challenge suggests how they can be used in online lessons.
In the 10th instalment of WZW Shaun and Lindsay talk about the participation tools that you find in online classrooms. From emojis to polls they go through the features suggesting ideas for using each - all in ten minutes of course!
Realia - the ELT term for Real world stuff we use in teaching. In this episode Lindsay and Shaun fill their ten minutes with the teaching ideas based around real world stuff. Enjoy.
This is time out Shaun and Lindsay talk about Ideas for using a guest in your online lessons. The ideas they talk about include a teacher swap, getting guest judges and even having mystery guests. Listen now to find out about those and other ways you can utilise getting a guest
Online teaching often means using a slide so for this installment Shaun and Lindsay give you tips for the perfect slidedeck. Ten minutes means ten tips so off we go....
It's another instalment of WZW and this time Lindsay and Shaun talk warmers, in their ten minutes they try and give you a few activities you could try with your online classes. Enjoy!
In this instalment Shaun and Lindsay use their ten-minutes to suggest language areas that would fit into a lockdown syllabus. From the vocabulary of fridges to the grammar of wishes listen and decide if you agree.
In this instalment of WZW, Shaun and Lindsay talk about some of their favourite picture activities for online rooms. As usual they set themselves a ten-minute time limit which, when trying to share anecdotes and ideas, once again might prove to be challenge.
Lindsay does like getting all meta so join this episode of who's zooming who we meet in zoom to talk about zoom. Shaun and Lindsay discuss zoom, zoom bombing and its effects and suggest some ways to ensure zoom security.
In this instalment Lindsay and Shaun's ten-minute challenge is online whiteboards. They discuss the different things teachers are using as a whiteboard from washing lines to cupboards. What do you use?
With very few teachers commuting but with Lindsay and Shaun still feeling the need to podcast, here's a spin off. Over a few mini episodes they will look at some of aspects of teaching live online, setting themselves the challenge to do it in just ten minutes.
In this episode, Lindsay is joined by Ceri to discuss all things home, which is perfect as they are both under quarantine at the moment! They talk about home expressions in English, how difficult it is for materials writers to find the right images of homes, and some activity ideas for lockdown. And as Shaun isn’t there, you don’t need to worry about hearing any of his jokes!
In this episode we talk sick but don’t worry we won’t bang on about a certain virus! In this somewhat bumper episode we talk to Kate in Italy about what it’s like when the government imposes quarantine rules, and how to cope when a school is closed. Lindsay and Shaun talk about the best song to wash your hand to and discuss the metaphors of illness and the language we teach. Realising that neither of them had ever taught medical English, we speak to Ros Wright, who’s more of an expert on the matter. Finally, since we can’t do an episode in being sick without a few doctor doctor jokes, Shaun yet again tries Lindsay’s patience.
In this episode we talk privacy (and try to work out how to say it!). Lindsay and Shaun talk privacy in the classroom, private lessons and technology and privacy and the implications for the classroom. On this last point we talk with Chia Suan Chong who has written about this issue. Oh and we also 'fight' about which is better group or 1-2-1.
Have you missed us? It's time for season 11 to get underway it might be the beginning of season but we're going to talk exits. In the episode Shaun and Lindsay about ways to end a lesson, different kind of sotry endings, exiting ELT and yes the politics of the UK. James also joins in the episode with a bit of jargon busting.
Another comes to end with our traditional end of season round table. So join Lindsay, Shaun, Ceri and James to see what they would take with them if they were stranded on a dessert island.
In episode 5 we get disruptive though Lindsay would probably say Shaun is every week! This episode we explore disruption in education both from a technology point of view and a disruptive classroom. And since we're being disruptive we bring back the TEFL fight feature, and there can be only one winner.
In episode four Shaun and Lindsay address most teachers' daily accessory - the backpack. They share some and I quote Lindsay here "fun facts about backpacks" and discuss what they always carry in theirs. They also discuss why some refer to ELT as a backpack profession.
Since Halloween is upon us (well, to be honest, it's been and gone) Shaun and Lindsay discuss fear. They talk about teacher fears, scary teachers and finally other things that make students afraid. We also explore some common phobias in the return of our listener quiz.
Time to talk food, in this episode, we explore recipes in ELT. In this episode, Lindsay and Shaun discuss the language of recipes and what makes them such a useful and often used piece of ELT material? What is it that makes them a good metaphor for teaching? On a less serious note, Lindsay discovers the joys of traditional English recipes and is that the returning sound of angels?
We're back and to start the new season we've gone green. We meet two of the people behind ELT footprint to talk about the ELT profession with regards to climate change.
We close out our 9th season with a lighthearted round table on songs about teaching. Ceri, James, Lindsay, and Shaun discuss their favourite songs about a) teaching, b) teachers, c) education in popular music and d) songs that should be about teaching. Do you agree with our choices? Listen and find out.
In our latest episode, Lindsay and Shaun discuss pairs - why do teachers love pair work but then refuse to work in pairs in a workshop? Do we use pair work too much? Lindsay shares some of his favourite ways of putting people in Paris (yes, Paris) and the duo discuss binomials, reduplications and the rules governing the word order within them.
We're back after our conference enforced mid-season break. In this episode we are post-IATEFL and more significantly post TEFL commute games night. We took our recording stuff with us so this episode features amongst others Ceci, Ceri, Chia, Craig (our new number one fan :-)), Graham, Daniel, Dennis, Mike, Olga, Tyson, Sandy, Vicky, and lots of games!
This is the perfect episode! Lindsay and Shaun explore the perfect aspect and what makes it so fun / hard/ difficult (delete as appropriate) to teach. They also explore what makes a perfect classroom and a perfect student. Finally, they discuss how close they are to being perfectionists.
In episode two Lindsay and Shaun discuss instructions and the complexity they hold for teachers. We discuss what makes a good instruction, how we wish other jobs took on board ELT instruction giving, as well as what makes them go wrong. Later in the episode, we consider what ELT activities have complicated instructions and Lindsay shares some advice about writing good instructions. There is also a surprise guest appearance from a high-demanding ELT Author sharing his wisdom on instructions.
We're back with a new season and in this episode Shaun and Lindsay discuss sleep. They talk about sleep vocabulary and look at the importance of sleep on learning as well as discuss different sleep routines. Then, Lindsay gets 8 seasons of joke revenge by putting Shaun on the spot. Welcome back.
In this episode Lindsay, Shaun and James (yes we've let him on mic again) give it their best shot at a cheesy Christmas episode. After stumbling across a website that proclaims the recipe for an unforgettable Xmas lesson for adult learners we decided to put it to the test....Happy Christmas everyone.
In the penultimate episode of this season Shaun and Lindsay talk stereotypes. They discuss teaching stereotypes in movies and what the real-life equivalent might be. They also consider if they have any stereotypical behaviours in the classroom before touching on class materials and the students they teach.
It’s an irregular episode! First because one of the regular hosts (Shaun) isn’t here. Instead, Lindsay and Ceri sit down to talk about all things irregular in language teaching. First off, this means the infamous irregular verb list. We were both surprised at how much research and writing has been done on these approximately 180 verbs. We begin to go deep on the origins of irregular verbs and whether or not they are disappearing. We also talk about other irregular things in English grammar, and finish by looking at how English teaching is irregular in other ways - irregular hours, irregular contracts, irregular teaching style.
Inspired by James' foray into publishing the team gather to discuss conversation. Lindsay and Shaun discuss what makes a good conversation and talk all things conversation class. Are they a boon or a bane? While James joins the podcast to throw in some unusual conversation starters.
Have you ever cheated on a test? Have your students? If so how imaginatively did they do it? In this episode, the TEFLcommute team explore cheating in education. From different types of cheating through to why people do it, Shaun and Lindsay talk about it all.
It's the start of a new season and in episode one Shaun and Lindsay talk family. They discuss whether teaching runs in someone family before looking at how families are dealt with in ELT. Which famous family tree would use in class? Do you know what a nibling is? Just how many types of cousin are there? All this and more in our season 8 opener.
Lindsay and Shaun bring the curtain down on another season by discussing the classics - not Greek or Latin but what they consider to be classic ELT books and activities. Will you agree their choices? Since it's also the last episode we let producer James have a turn on mic as well.
In episode four Shaun and Lindsay talk puzzles. From crosswords to jigsaw reading we look at the types of puzzles we use in class and discuss the advantages of using them. Shaun takes the opportunity to puzzle Lindsay and we bring you a puzzle related timeline.
In season 4 Lindsay and Shaun sat down with James and Ceri to talk about their pet teaching peeves. Three seasons later we sit down again to discuss what irks us in three areas of language teaching. Have a listen and see if you agree with our new peeves.
Have you noticed the use of the English accent in films? Lindsay has. The RP accent, once the goal of many language learners, is often used to voice 'the bad guy' or the 'fantasy character'. In this episode Shaun and Lindsay explore this use of accent.
TEFL commute has turned three years old and over that time we have brought you 40 episodes. Since we have lots of new listeners, and to celebrate both our birthday and being added to Spotify, we bring you a special episode that looks back over some of our best bits from the last three years.
We're back for our 7th season what better way to start a new season than with the positivity of bad students. In this episode Shaun and Lindsay discuss different types of 'bad students' and decide if they would call themselves bad students. Lindsay also decides to see what Shaun's knowledge of bad students in film is like.
It's the final episode of the season and Lindsay and Shaun tackle the topic of 'fun'. Well, actually they planned to tackle to subject fun but got so carried away talking to Diana England about 'fun in the classroom' that we let her do all the talking. Enjoy this final episode and see you in the New Year for another season of the commute.
In this episode Lindsay and Shaun return to the topic of games (see season 5 episode 2). This time they invite Dave Dodgson to join them to talk about using digital games. Over the episode they discuss digital games they have used, why they use them and give listeners advice on how to get started with them.
In this episode Lindsay returns to chat with Shaun about Robots. It's almost a hundred years since the first teaching machine was suggested so are we finally at the point were robots can take over from us? Shaun and Lindsay discuss this and put it to the ultimate test as the topic of a TEFL fight.
In this episode Lindsay is away so we can actually talk about teaching :) Ceri and Shaun discuss the line between being a teacher and being your students' therapist. They talk about some of the psychological aspects involved in teaching and ponder how qualified the average teacher is to deal with the area. This leads their discussion into that of teacher well being so Shaun has a chat with Sarah Mercer about that.
In episode 2 Lindsay and Shaun jump on the post-truth bandwagon and discuss how post truth maybe the norm in the typical ELT grammar rules we give students. They explore the rules for their validity and manage to get tangled up in when to add er or not. James makes a rare appearance to test their fake newsdar and the angels yet again grace us with their wisdom.
It's time for a new season of the TEFL commute and in this first episode of the sixth season Lindsay and Shaun discuss lesson openers. They explore if an opener is warmer and therefore if warmers are always openers! We welcome back the angelic host with their philosophy and test your musical opener knowledge. Here we go again......
In the final episode of the season, Shaun and Lindsay discuss alcohol. We talk about why you never see a drink in a coursebook and discuss claims that alcohol helps language learning. Shaun tests Lindsay on drunken words and Lindsay tries to finally best Shaun in a TEFL fight.
After a small break, the TEFL commute returns to talk about clothes. Lindsay and Shaun discuss what teachers wear to work, dress codes and whether teachers should dress in particular way. Lindsay tries to educate Shaun in Northern American Vocabulary while Shaun gets revenge with some clothes related humour.
In this episode we meet with Ben Goldstein to discuss video. We take a walk down memory lane and look at how video has been used in ELT courses and discuss where it might go in the future. We also ponder whether the ELT classroom would work well in film, considering how the teachers are often portrayed on the silver screen. We think this one of the most interesting episodes we've ever recorded but will you?
In this episode Shaun and Lindsay talk dictionaries. Well, in fact, we talk to someone who knows about dictionaries with an interview with lexicographer Julie Moore. We discuss dictionaries of all kinds, whether in the digital age dictionaries still have a use, and also how we might get our students using them.
In this episode we once more sit down at our virtual round table. This time we look at the role of games in language learning. Inspired by something James said in the previous series, we talk about our favourite (non-digital) games, how we use them in the classroom and why James needs to change his mind. We'll also test your history of games with another timeline.
We're back! In the first episode of the new season Lindsay and Shaun discuss many teachers second home - the staff room. They explore the role of the staffroom, what a typical staffroom looks like and some of their favourite staffroom activities. There is also a new castaway on the Dessert Island telling us about some of their favourite teaching resources.
In the second part of our discussion, Lindsay and Shaun talk about songs. They discuss everything from the songs people like to use in classroom through to issues such as copyright before ending with their favourite ELT song puns (did yours make our top ten?). In addition Ceri brings us one of her corners and Lindsay and Shaun have another 'fight'.
In the first part of our look at the role of music and song in ELT, Lindsay and Shaun focus on music - that is to say tunes without lyrics. They talk about the role of classical music in suggestopedia and discuss how music can be used in the classroom. Along the way they make a confession or two about their past and enjoy a game of timeline.
Do you have a pet teaching peeve? Is there a language point that really gets your goat? Which activity are you tired of doing in the class? In this episode we once more set up the virtual round table and persuade producer James and Corner maker Ceri to sit down to get things off their chest with Lindsay and Shaun. Listen and find out which things in EFL annoy us most.....
In episode 3 Lindsay and Shaun are joined by Sinead Laffan to discuss how we approach the teaching of the Schwa. We explore everything from how it is dealt with in class, how it got its name and some of our favourite ideas for teaching it. Lindsay and Shaun also try and guess why Sinead has taken her love of the sound to a level most teacher's wouldn't go to.
In episode 2, Lindsay and Shaun talks about the pains and pleasures of being a substitute teacher. Be it the one lesson cover or the professional stand-by teacher, we look at what it means, how hard it is and explore what things a substitute teacher should have in their toolbox. In addition James unravels some EFL terminology and the angelic Facebook phil brings us more words of wisdom.
TEFL commute is back and in the first episode of the new season Lindsay and Shaun talk about first classes and what is like to go back to school, all the things that need to be done and how we deal with a group of new students. We also introduce a new feature ' the tefl fight' and of course provide you with an activity you can try out this week in class.
We're still on a summer break but to ease your missing us pangs, we've put together this bonus episode with bits and pieces we had left over from season three. We've even let James have a microphone!
In the final episode of season 3, Shaun and Lindsay talk awards. They discuss the purpose of the awards and rewards in the classroom and explore the positives and negatives behind them. There is also another dose of Facebook wisdom and an awards-based timeline game to amuse you on your commute.
In this episode Shaun and Lindsay discuss punctuation. They discuss everything from oral punctuation through to trying to identify just what the semi-colon does. In addition they explore whether there is such a thing as a 'punctuation nazi' and whether or not punctuation is changing as a result of technology. You'll also find some Facebook wisdom, a voxpop punctuation quiz and of course another activity that you can use in your class.
In this episode 6, Shaun and Lindsay talk ELT conferences. They discuss the first conferences they went to and spoke at, the benefit of going to conferences and their conference stories. Our audience members share their conference mishap stories and we also hear from lots of conference attendees who share their advice and their reasons for being at the recent IATEFL conference.
In this episode refreshed from his week off, Lindsay takes on Shaun in a battle of….no not really, but ‘inspired’ by this week’s big cinema release, they take a look at some of the ‘versus’ that exist in the profession. They discuss everything from Dogme to the NNESTS; TTT to Accuracy. On top of that Shaun takes a break from joke telling to bring an edition of ‘time line’ and the angels bring us another piece of Facebook philosophy.
In this episode, Ceri and Shaun talk all things voice. The voice is one of the main tools of the teacher but how well do you look after it? Do you warm it up? Should you really avoid coffee? Is a female voice preferred to a male voice? Ceri and Shaun discuss all these aspects and give you some tips for looking after your voice and ensuring it is ready for the day's teaching ahead.
In this episode Lindsay and Shaun discuss what happens behind the closed of the classroom. We discuss the 'secretive' nature of a teacher's domain and chat about teacher observation. We consider the use of video cameras for observation and discuss whether big brother is now being used to keep an eye on what we do. Phillip Kerr rejoins us to talk about a website that will analyse your teaching performance.
In this episode Lindsay and Shaun discuss the alphabet. We consider how we got 26 letters and what happened to letters such as thorn and ampersand. We choose our favourite letters and some of our favourite techniques for dealing with the alphabet in the classroom. In addition we look at the pangrams and lipograms and James tries to decode nyms, phones and graphs for us. Finally, Shaun risks Lindsay’s future collaboration in the podcast by making him endure some alphabet related humour.
In the first episode of the new season Lindsay and Shaun talk invented languages. From Esparento to Dothraki, we look at the purpose of invented language and what we can learn from looking at how they work. We also discuss the rise of emoji, if it is impacting on language and how we might use it with students. A new series also brings a new game and of course an end of pod activity.
In this episode Shaun and Lindsay attempt to meet up and talk about gifts. They discuss typical gifts that teachers receive and how we went from an apple to expensive watches. In addition Lindsay delights in corny thank you messages and Shaun brings you a seasonal timeline. The last episode of the season ends with a gift related classroom activity. See you next year.
In this episode Shaun and Lindsay discuss translation devices such a google translate and skype. They consider how effective they are and what the effect on language teaching maybe. They also pander a little to their inner sci-fi geek with a look at universal translators and even get Philip Kerr to come and talk about translation in language teaching. Throw in a bit of Facebook wisdom and an end of pod activity and you have another glorious episode of the TEFL commute.
In this episode Lindsay and Ceri talk all things photocopy. They explore everything from their photocopying pet hates through to schools policies to copying. They even discuss how and when the photocopier came into being. Elsewhere in the podcast you'll find some more Facebook wisdom and we exile Christina Rebuffet-Broadus to the Dessert Island.
In this episode Shaun and Lindsay are joined by Scott Thornbury to discuss typical sentences used in language teaching. From phones interrupting baths through to spending a million dollars we discuss model sentences and explore why we use them. In addition we have some more Facebook philosophy and give you a second chance to play our podcast game, timeline.
In this episode Lindsay and Shaun talk explicit language. We discuss how smart technology is trying to stop us swearing and look at some frequencies list of words considered taboo. We also explore the features of a swear word. With the help Ceri’s corner we also talk about how to go about dealing with swear words in the classroom. Throw in some Facebook philosophy and a bit of coffeeepotting and you have another episode of the TEFL commute.
In this episode Shaun and Lindsay talk about classrooms. We discuss unusual places in which people have taught, how much classrooms have changed over the last 100 years and what makes the perfect classroom. We also explore some whacky names for classroom sitting organisation. James busts some jargon and as usual we end with an activity you can take to class.
In this final episode before we take a break, Lindsay and Shaun talk summer. They take a look at the silly season and Shaun quizzes Lindsay on some obscure summer facts. In addition they discuss the value of the UK summer school market. Ceri brings you another one of her corners and fittingly, for a summer episode, we whisk another teacher (David Petrie) off to a desert island.
In this episode we talk dead poet’s society. In a change from our usual format, Lindsay and Shaun 'sit down' with Ceri and James to discuss the film and why so many teachers cite it an influential film. During the conversation we decide that maybe the film is the catalyst for many of today’s classroom approaches and look at whether the teaching approach would work in the ELT classroom.
In this episode we talk excuses. Shaun and Lindsay discuss the rise of the technology excuses for not doing homework, does this mean an end to dog food? They also discuss the sad demise of grandmothers and give listeners valuable advise for those needing an excuse. We introduce two new features and get all cheesy. Don't forgot to check out the show notes for the links we refer to - teflcommute.com
In this episode we discuss names. Lindsay and Shaun talk names, remembering students names and why some students choose to use English names in English class. We also welcome Ceri Jones to the podcast and of course provide you with an activity you can take straight into class. Don't forgot to check out the show notes for the links we refer to - teflcommute.com
In this episode we discuss stationery. Lindsay and Shaun talk pens and pencil cases, before discovering the secret life of Microsoft's Clippy. We also talk to Sinead Laffan about her favourite ELT books and dessert (yes really) and finish with an activity using paperclips.
In this episode we discuss commuting. Lindsay and Shaun talk about teachers' commutes; their stresses, whether they make you younger and if they should be done by jetpack. We also have the first in our jargon buster pieces and an idea for you to take into your classroom.