Category Archives: TEFL celebs/ TEFL heroes and villains

Free download of Mario's Humanising Your Coursebook

Posted on 07/11/2011 by

Is it really nine years since I reviewed it?? That would explain why I long ago lost my copy, so though I’ve already read the whole thing I might even download another copy myself here (free registration needed).

Posted in TEFL heroes- Mario Rinvolucri | 13 Comments

How I became Sandy McManus

Posted on 06/05/2011 by

Although some people online have somehow had their suspicions that I actually am that (formerly?) famous foul-mouthed TEFL blacklisting anti-Semite from Brighton, I am most certainly not. “Foul-mouthed” was often true until my daughter first copied me, “from Brighton” is … Continue reading →

Posted in TEFL heroes- Sandy McManus | 7 Comments

An interview with Andrew Wright

Posted on 30/12/2010 by

One of the many nice things to come out of the storm in a TEFL cup that was my attempt at making a list of the 100 most influential books in TEFL was Andrew Wright agreeing to an interview, and here it … Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Wright | Tagged | Leave a comment

EL Gazette campaign to save UK TEFL

Posted on 25/07/2010 by

As usual, I can find little to add to what the ever fabulous Melanie Butler has to say here, except that if you think this doesn’t concern you, just think about TEFLers fleeing the UK and further flooding the teaching … Continue reading →

Posted in EL Gazette, TEFL heroes- Melanie Butler, TEFL in the UK | 3 Comments

An interview with Katie of TEFLlogue (History of TEFL blogging Part Three)

Posted on 15/05/2010 by

In my interview EFL Geek, he mentioned Katie of TEFLlogue fame as someone he most missed from the TEFL blogosphere, and I’m sure everyone who was active at that time will feel exactly the same way. She was incredibly productive, … Continue reading →

Posted in EFL geek, TEFL blacklist, TEFL blogs, TEFL heroes- Sandy McManus, TEFLlogue | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Something chewy from Jeremy Harmer

Posted on 30/03/2010 by

“…before you get too starry-eyed about the functional-notional approach… it would be good to remember Chris Brumfit’s worry that teaching formulaic ‘doing-things-with-language’ was a way of trying to force students to say things that WE wanted them to say, rather … Continue reading →

Posted in Functional language, TEFL, TEFL heroes- Jeremy Harmer, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury | Tagged | 5 Comments

Rod Ellis on theory and practice

Posted on 01/02/2010 by

“SLA research is not capable of providing teachers with recipes for successful practice. It should be treated as providing teachers with ‘insights’ which they can use to build their own explicit theory. It is on the basis of this theory- … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge Delta, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, MA Applied Linguistics, MA TESOL, Rod Ellis | 7 Comments

Evidence-based teaching?

Posted on 24/01/2010 by

Evidence-based medicine is all the rage at the moment. While not lacking in critics and almost certainly leading to the dismissal of some brilliant mavericks and their ideas alongside the control of crackpots and incompetents, all the evidence seems to … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge Delta, Cambridge ESOL, TEFL Heroes- Michael Lewis, TEFL heroes- Michael Swan | 54 Comments

Development, blogs, books and Japan- An interview with Darren Elliott of Lives of Teachers blog

Posted on 09/01/2010 by

We all seem to be seeing your name around a lot recently. A masterplan to become the next Thornbury/ trying to keep yourself busy while your wife watches Japanese television/ sleep disorder/ other? I think it takes more than a … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge Delta, CELTA, Critical Mass ELT, Eikaiwa, Experience of Language Teaching, first TEFL job, MA TESOL, Teacher training, Teaching English in Japan, TEFL, TEFL blogs, TEFL conferences, TEFL heroes- Rose M Senior, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury, TEFL qualifications, TEFL reviews, TEFL villains- Jennifer Jenkins, TEFL workshops | Tagged | 8 Comments

A typical TEFL biography (and one big difference)

Posted on 04/01/2010 by

The typical bit: “I did not know what I wanted to do but I did know what I did not want to do.  I did not want to work in the UK. ” and the untypical bit: “A panel of misguided … Continue reading →

Posted in British Council, TEFL, TEFL heroes- Alan Maley | Tagged | 1 Comment