TEFL Training Institute Podcast
224 episodes - English - Latest episode: 22 days ago - ★★★★★ - 26 ratingsFar too much of language teaching literature is, to quote Stephen Krashen, “Far too long, far too incomprehensible and far too full of jargon,” not to mention far too expensive. The TEFL Training Institute podcast is short, easy to understand and free. In each 15-minute episode, we discuss practical, thought-provoking or controversial topics with our friends, and some of the biggest names in language teaching. From motivation to materials, training to teenagers, approaches to assessment, if you want to become a better teacher, trainer or manager, start here. With host Ross Thorburn.
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Episodes
The Downsides to Speaking (with Professor Stephen Krashen)
March 31, 2024 22:23 - 15 minutes - 11.1 MBIn this episode, Stephen Krashen tells Ross some of the arguments against forcing students to speak, something which might not just be inefficient, but in some cases counterproductive. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel Ross Thorburn: Hello and welcome to the podcast. This week we have a man that I think does not requi...
Is Your Training Making a Difference? (with Niamh Ryan)
March 03, 2024 22:32 - 15 minutes - 11.1 MBMy friend Niamh Ryan, joins me to talk about evaluating teacher training. How can you tell if your training is making a difference?
Remembering More, Forgetting Less (with Lesley Painter-Farrell)
February 04, 2024 22:49 - 15 minutes - 10.5 MBIn this episode, I had the privilege of speaking with Professor Lesley Painter Farrell about how we can help students retain more language lessons for the long haul. During the podcast, Lesley outlines the difference between short-term learning and long-term memory. We discuss evidence-based techniques teachers can implement to optimize retention. Lesley also shares some simple but effective techniques such as recycling content across lessons, building in reflection time, avoiding cognitive...
How can Language Teachers Use AI?
December 31, 2023 22:54 - 15 minutes - 8.96 MBTake our AI course and get one third off using the promo code: ROSS33. Go to AI for Language Teaching | Hong Kong TESOL to sign up. Dave Weller joins the show to discuss the benefits and limitations of AI for teachers. Dave explains how AI can help automate administrative tasks and free up time for the more creative aspects of teaching. He also talks about how AI can help teachers in lesson planning, creating customized materials, and analyzing student performance data to differentiate inst...
Teacher Evaluation - A Double Edged Sword (with Professor Kathleen Bailey)
December 03, 2023 22:24 - 30 minutes - 20.5 MBProfessor Bailey tells us about what supervisors can do to earn trust, why supervision and evaluation is important, and how everyone can make the most out of the process. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Young Learners Doing Communicative Tasks (with Annamaria Pinter)
November 05, 2023 22:43 - 11 MBYoung learner expert, Annamaria Pinter joins me to talk about getting young learners to communicate with each other.
Spoken and Written Academic English (with Paul Thompson)
October 01, 2023 22:03 - 15 minutes - 16.3 MBPaul 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? Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, v...
Using Corpora (with Michael McCarthy)
September 03, 2023 22:40 - 15 minutes - 10.8 MBProfessor Michael McCarthy joins me to talk about using corpora in language teaching. Mike tells us how teachers should use corpora when planning lessons, the advantages and disadvantages of showing corpora to students. We discuss how teachers can create their own corpora and how to use corpora to create better materials.
Top-Down and Bottom-Up Listening Strategies (with Jonathan Newton)
August 06, 2023 22:42 - 10.9 MBProfessor Jonathan Newton joins me to discuss teaching listening skills. Does it make sense to talk about top-down and bottom-up approaches? How can we practice these in the classroom? And what are Jonathan’s top tips for improving students’ speaking skills?
Effective Online Teacher Development (with Thom Kiddle)
July 02, 2023 22:12 - 15 minutes - 10.9 MBThom Kiddle joins me to talk about online teacher training courses. What makes them effective? What best practices are there for trainers? And what kinds of questions can teachers ask to help trainees reflect? Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtraininginstitute.com Sign up for our mailing list Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Making Relevant Materials and Making Materials Relevant (with Ceri Jones)
June 04, 2023 22:32 - 15 minutes - 10.7 MBCoursebook writer Ceri Jones joins me to discuss coursebook content. Why are coursebooks still necessary in the 21st century? How can writers avoid PARSNIPS topics, but still write engaging content? And how much does the language in coursebooks actually represent how real people speak? For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube chan...
Lesson Staging for Young Learner Classes
April 30, 2023 22:47 - 15 minutes - 22 MBRegular guest Matt Courtois and I discuss staging lessons with young learners. What is staging? How much should teachers deviate from their plans? How can we avoid running out of time in our lessons? Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtraininginstitute.com Sign up for our mailing list Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
How to Use Stories in Class (with Dave Weller)
April 02, 2023 21:13 - 15 minutes - 10.3 MBin class. We discuss prediction activities, what engages students in stories, and how to do follow-up activities. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Deliberate Learning (with Jeremy Harmer)
March 05, 2023 22:01 - 15 minutes - 11.7 MBTEFL guru Jeremy Harmer joins me to discuss deliberate learning. How important is input? Can students “pick up” language in the classroom with “study”? What is the role of grammar? And what does Jeremy think about Stephen Krashen’s ideas about language acquisition? For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Observing New Teachers (with Matt Courtois)
February 05, 2023 22:59 - 15 minutes - 20.9 MBTeacher trainer and regular guest Matt Courtois joins me to discuss observing new teachers. What should we do when new teachers struggle with teaching? What about when students complain? Why do we even observe teachers in the first place? For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Episode 200! Best and Worst Common and Uncommon Teaching Practices
January 08, 2023 22:45 - 1 hour - 42.1 MBWe talk to friends and experts and ask two questions about changes they’d like to see in classrooms: what common teaching practices would you like to see less? And, which less common teaching practices would you like to see more? Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtraininginstitute.com Sign up for our mailing list Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training c...
How To Get To Know Your Students (with Anne Burns, Thomas Farrell and Karin Xie)
December 11, 2022 22:41 - 15 minutes - 21.3 MBWe discuss classroom activities teachers can use, what it means to get to know your students, and other ways of collecting useful data about our learners. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
What Motivates Teachers to Develop? (With Amol Padwad)
November 13, 2022 22:03 - 15 minutes - 9.44 MBI speak with Amol Padwad from Ambedkar University Delhi about teacher motivation and teacher development. What incentives make sense for teachers at different stages of their careers? What demotivates teachers from wanting to develop? And how can schools encourage all their teachers to develop without forcing them? For more podcast, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as li...
Encouraging Young Learners to be Creative (with Matt Courtois)
October 30, 2022 22:07 - 15 minutes - 22 MBRegular guest, Matt Courtois joins me to talk about how teachers can encourage young learners to be creative. We discuss what creativity is, why it is challenging at low level and share some of our favorite creative activities. Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtraininginstitute.com Sign up for our mailing list Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Demystifying IELTS Speaking (With Pete Jones)
October 16, 2022 22:08 - 15 minutes - 8.66 MBWe talk about how fair the different criteria are, what are some common misunderstandings about the criteria and how teachers can help students improve their IELTS speaking scores. Watch Pete’s YouTube Channel For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Motivation in App-Based Learning for Adults (with Kirsten Campbell)
October 02, 2022 22:06 - 15 minutes - 10.4 MBKirsten Campbell from Busuu joins me to discuss how to keep learners engaged in learning using an app. Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtraininginstitute.com Sign up for our mailing list Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses
Independent Play in English with Very Young Learners (with Sandie Mourão)
September 18, 2022 22:45 - 15 minutes - 10.8 MBSandie Mourão joins me to discuss how to get young learners to play in English.
Quality Teacher Talk with Young Learners (with Matt Courtois)
September 04, 2022 22:32 - 15 minutes - 22.7 MBRegular guest Matt Courtois and I discuss what makes quality teacher talk. How should young learner teachers give instructions? How much should teachers grade their language? And when should teachers say nothing at all? Inside Online Language Teaching: Conversations About the Future That Became the Present Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtraininginstitute.com Sign up for our mailing list Watch as well as listen on...
How to Promote Your Writing (with Dave Weller)
August 21, 2022 23:29 - 15 minutes - 10.6 MBDave Weller joins me to talk about how to promote your writing. Dave tells us why you shouldn’t start a blog, where you can write instead, how to promote your writing across different platforms, how to find out what people search for online, how to choose a title for your writing and the key to writing a best selling book. Visit Dave’s website here. Support the show, and buy us a coffee.
Researching Your Own Teaching (with Anne Burns)
August 07, 2022 22:50 - 15 minutes - 10.5 MBFor more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Myths, Wisdom and Science - What Do We Know about Teaching? (with Russ Mayne)
July 24, 2022 22:07 - 15 minutes - 10.5 MBRuss Mayne, author of Evidence-Based ELT, joins me to discuss where knowledge about teaching comes from. What common teaching ideas and practices are myths? What do we know about teaching from research? And how can teachers include more evidence-based scientific practices into their teachers?
Online Forum-based Teacher Training (with Simon Galloway)
July 10, 2022 22:11 - 15 minutes - 11.1 MBSimon Galloway (author of Teaching Teachers Online) joins me to discuss using forums in online teacher training. We talk about how to encourage interaction between trainees, how to encourage trainees to post critical and reflective comments, and how to incorporate variety into forum tasks.
Learning to Learn with Children (with Gail Ellis)
June 26, 2022 22:16 - 15 minutes - 10.6 MBGail Ellis, author of Teaching Children How to Learn, joins me to discuss learning to learn. Gail tells us the importance of encouraging metacognition, how to make learners more aware of the aims of activities, and how to encourage meaninful reflection. Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtraininginstitute.com Sign up for our mailing list Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
6th Anniversary Episode: Our Teachers' Teachers
June 12, 2022 21:56 - 1 hour - 45.1 MBIn our longest ever episode, we ask English language teaching legends Diedrick Van Gorp, Debbie Hepplewhite, Stephen Krashen, Vivian Cook, David Crystal, Jack Richards, Hugh Dellar, Penny Ur , Alan Maley and David Weller about their influences and what they learned from them. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Choice, Challenge & Routine with Young Learners (with Jake Whiddon)
May 29, 2022 22:17 - 15 minutes - 22.2 MBJake Whiddon and I discuss the two most common questions we get from young learner teachers: “How can I get my students to behave?” and “How can I get my students to pay attention?”
Choice, Challenge & Routine with Young Leaners (with Jake Whiddon)
May 29, 2022 22:17 - 22.2 MBJake Whiddon and I discuss the two most common questions we get from young learner teachers: “How can I get my students to behave?” and “How can I get my students to pay attention?”
Challenging the Limits of Technology (With Mark Pemberton)
May 15, 2022 22:28 - 15 minutes - 8.81 MBMark Pemberton, co-CEO of Study Cat, joins me to talk about app-based language learning. Where is technology based language learning going? What are the limits of technology? Can these ever be overcome? For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Creating Creativity in Language Teaching (with Alan Maley)
May 01, 2022 22:54 - 15 minutes - 9.11 MBWe speak with Professor Alan Maley, author of Creativity and English Language Teaching, about how constraints can prompt creativity in teachers and what teachers can do to bring in their lives, interests and personalities to make the classrooms more creative. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Do Coursebooks Stop Teachers Developing? (With Dave Weller)
April 17, 2022 22:51 - 15 minutes - 10 MBCheck our Dave’s book, Lesson Planning for Language Teachers, at https://amzn.to/31HJtpk What happens if the important decisions about planning get left to coursebook writers rather than teachers? How much of the coursebook should schools tell teachers to use? And what can you do if your school doesn’t let you deviate from the prescribed materials? Dave Weller, author of “Lesson Planning for Language Teachers” and friend of the podcast discuss. Ross Thorburn: Welcome back, Dave. Dave Well...
Replacing Texts With Pictures (with Mark Hancock)
April 03, 2022 22:40 - 15 minutes - 8.38 MBMark Hancock (author of Pronunciation Games, English Pronunciation in Use, Pron Pack and Pen Pictures) tells us about basing lessons around pictures and using these to generate stories, descriptions, language needs and much more. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Positive Behavior Management with Young Learners (with Matt Courtois)
March 20, 2022 22:20 - 15 minutes - 21.4 MBMatt Courtois and I talk about how to maintain discipline in your learner classes without using punishment. We discuss the problems with punishment, how to set rules, how to avoid boredom and more. Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtraininginstitute.com Sign up for our mailing list Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Running Effective Webinars to Train Teachers (with Simon Galloway)
March 06, 2022 22:00 - 11.7 MBSimon Galloway (author of Teaching Teachers Online) joins me to discuss how to run webinars. We discuss how to make the most of breakout rooms, polls and chatboxes, why webinars should be part of distance learning courses and when to avoid using webinars.
Building the Perfect Coursebook (with Professor Brian Tomlinson)
February 20, 2022 21:54 - 15 minutes - 11.5 MBProfessor Brian Tomlinson from the University of Anaheim wrote his first coursebook with Rod Ellis in the 1960’s and has been involved in materials design since. We ask him: how do you write a great coursebook? For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
What makes Teacher Training Successful? (with Diederik Van Gorp)
February 13, 2022 22:34 - 15 minutes - 20.8 MBTeacher trainer Diederik Van Gorp joins me to discuss the ingredients for a successful teacher training workshop. How much theory should trainers include? How can we make learning transfer more likely to happen? And what training activities work best in face-to-face training? Inside Online Language Teaching: Conversations About the Future That Became the Present Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtraininginstitute.com ...
Using Corpora with Learners (with Paul Thompson)
February 06, 2022 22:15 - 15 minutes - 8.37 MBDr. Paul Thompson from the University of Birmingham talks to me about how teachers can use corpora and corpus data with students. We discuss the benefits of using corpora with students. What teachers and students need to know about corpora like COCA (The Corpus of Contemporary American English) to be able to use these effectively. Paul also tells us about his favorite corpus-based activities which teachers can use with students. Learn more about Campus Talk Visit COCA Support the podcast ...
Teaching Grammar Lexically (with Hugh Dellar)
January 23, 2022 22:34 - 15 minutes - 8.96 MBHow is grammar similar to lexis? What mistakes do we make when we teach grammar? And how can we include enough grammar to keep grammar obsessed students satisfied? Visit Hugh’s Website For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Are MA TESOL Courses Failing Teachers? (with Thomas Farrell)
January 16, 2022 21:52 - 15 minutes - 10 MBProfessor Thomas Farrell joins me to discuss MA TESOL courses: what are their shortcomings and how could these be improved? We discuss what is covered in MA courses, how they are taught, whether MA TESOLs ought to include a practicum, and much more. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Student Self-Assessment (with Sara Cotterall)
January 09, 2022 21:59 - 15 minutes - 10.5 MBSara Cotterall joins me to discuss getting learners to self-assess. We discuss how self-assessment can boost student motivation, how to encourage learners to keep records of their learning, and how to incorporate self-assessment into learner evaluation. Visit Sara’s website For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Watch as well as listen on our YouTube channel
Vocabulary: What to Teach and How to Teach It (with Michael McCarthy)
January 02, 2022 22:47 - 15 minutes - 10.4 MBProfessor Michael McCarthy joins me to talk about what vocabulary we should teach and how to teach it. Mike tells us about the most common words in English and what non-common words we should teach our students, what aspects of vocabulary we should teach at different levels and how to stop students from forgetting the vocabulary they’ve already learned. Visit Mike’s website Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtrainingin...
Behavior: the Elephant in the Classroom (with Chris Roland)
December 19, 2021 22:27 - 30 minutes - 17.7 MBIn this special length end of year episode, we talk with Chris Roland, author of Understanding Teenagers in the ELT Classroom about why students don’t always behave as teachers would like them to, why behavior gets discussed so little on teacher training courses and what teachers can do to better manage their students’ behavior. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Wa...
Making Group Work Work (with Jonathan Newton)
December 12, 2021 22:51 - 15 minutes - 10.9 MBJonathan Newton joins me to talk about running group work successfully. We discuss the skills teachers need to make group work effective, common problems in group work activities and what to do after group work to maximize learning.
L1: Friend or Foe (with Penny Ur)
December 05, 2021 22:20 - 15 minutes - 9.07 MBAll language students speak a first language, but what do we do with it? Some teachers ban it. Some teachers use it to teach English in. Some schools make students sign a pledge never to use it. Penny Ur tells us about what we can do take advantage of students first language, when to avoid it and when even to encourage it. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Support the podcast – buy us a coffee! Develop yourself! Find more about our teacher training courses Watch as...
The Power of Fluency (with Paul Nation)
November 21, 2021 22:58 - 14 minutes - 9.37 MBPaul 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. Paul is Emeritus Professor in Applied Linguistics at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies (LALS) at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and has taught in Indonesia, Thailand, the United States, Finland and Japan. For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website Suppor...
Involving Students in Feedback (with David Carless)
November 15, 2021 01:27 - 11 MBProfessor David Carless from the University of Hong Kong joins me to talk about feedback. David tells us why our students should spend more time reading and acting on feedback than teachers spend writing it, how we can use examples from outstanding students to help students give feedback to themselves and how much should the content of feedback be based on teachers’ ideas as opposed to students. Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our websit...
Making Reflection Effective (with Lesley Painter-Farrell)
November 07, 2021 22:02 - 10.6 MBOn this week's podcast, Lesley Painter-Farrell joins me to talk about reflection. We discuss why reflection is so important, different ways teachers can reflect and the best question you can ask yourself after teaching a lesson. Inside Online Language Teaching: Conversations About the Future That Became the Present Support the podcast by buying us a coffee For more podcasts, videos and blogs, visit our website: www.TEFLtraininginstitute.com Sign up for our mailing list Lesley Painter-Fa...