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Want to teach more reactively and in line with what SLA research says? Join LYE founders Leo, Mike, and Andrew for monthly long-form interviews with language acquisition experts so you can throw that textbook away. Whether you’re building your own business, working for a school, or just love learning about trends in language teaching, this is your bridge between the research lab and practical classroom.
Episodes
Friday Nov 01, 2024
Friday Nov 01, 2024
Book a free 1:1 to strategize your teaching business goals.
Escaping precarity in ELT? Join our free support group here.
Education is designed around focusing on the learner first and the teacher as a medium to support the learner. Sarah Mercer tells us why this leads to unhealthy teachers.
Sarah Mercer is a Professor of foreign language teaching at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience. She is co-editor of Multilingual Matters’ Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching book series, currently vice-president of IAPLL, and ambassador for IATEFL.
In this episode, Sarah expounds on:
- why connecting with learners is fundamental
- cell phone addiction and what we CAN'T do about it
- re-framing what "student-led" means
- defining "engagement" and pedagogical caring
- students faking engagement out of respect for their teacher
- burnout and stress are the result of the systemic element of teacher well-being
For more from Sarah Mercer:
3. Her handbook "Teacher Wellbeing"
Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
Ways we can help you right now:
1. Book a free 1:1 chat to strategize your teaching business.
2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days
3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.
Wednesday Sep 25, 2024
Wednesday Sep 25, 2024
Book a free 1:1 to strategize your teaching business goals.
Escaping precarity in ELT? Join our free support group here.
ELT is full of disasters, including the destruction of the communicative approach. Dr. Enrica Piccardo tells us why.
Dr. Piccardo is a Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her research spans language teaching approaches/curricula, multi/plurilingualism, creativity and complexity in language education.
She recently published The Action-oriented Approach. A Dynamic Vision of Language Education 2019) Bristol: Multilingual Matters, co-authored with Brian North.
In this episode, Dr. Piccardo discusses:
- leveraging the messiness of learning
- how Headway destroyed the communicative approach
- multiple disasters in ELT: the separation of languages, the native speaker model, organizing curriculum around grammar, and others
- how we're still teaching in a grammatical way because it's easier
- what mediation is, its role in learning, and its 3 types
- updating the CEFR to include mediation
- the link between mediation and plurilingualism
- the action-oriented approach and its benefits
- why teachers need to delegate learning
For more from Dr. Enrica Piccardo:
1. Check out her new book here.
2. Her University of Toronto profile
Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
Ways we can help you right now:
1. Book a free 1:1 chat to strategize your teaching business.
2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days
3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.
Saturday Aug 24, 2024
Saturday Aug 24, 2024
Book a free 1:1 to strategize your teaching business goals.
Escaping precarity in ELT? Join our free support group here.
What do toad venom, the 5 stages of grief, and precarity all have in common? Andrew, Leo, and Mike explain.
Sustainability in the ELT industry as a teacher is pretty simple:
1. It is precarious
2. We all need to earn more money
3. It's unlikely to do that by having just one job.
In this episode, we discuss strategies to earn more by creating your own offer. Specifically, we dive into:
- the 5 stages of grief pertaining to precarity
- two paths teachers have: stay in ELT or move on
- why earning more money is a requisite to stay in the industry
- how to create a compelling offer that will actually sell
- why focusing on lesson frequency is restricting
- not creating solutions to problems no one cares about
- toad venom and how you can apply it to your teaching business
Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
Ways we can help you right now:
1. Book a free 1:1 chat to strategize your teaching business.
2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days
3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.
Wednesday Jul 31, 2024
Wednesday Jul 31, 2024
Escaping precarity in ELT? Join our free support group here.
Want to move faster? Book a free 1:1 to strategize your teaching business.
ELT provides the wrong input: language as it should be spoken not as it is spoken. This is wrong and Sheila Thorn gives us another way.
Sheila Thorn is a teacher, teacher trainer and materials writer whose niche focuses on teaching listening. She founded The Listening Business in 1998 and is the author of countless seminal books that have moved our industry forward. She has recently embarked on a new career as an artist, specialising in portraits of people and animals.
Her latest publication, "Integrating Authentic Listening into the Language Classroom" is a must-read.
In this episode, Sheila discusses:
- ELT having the wrong input
- coursebooks as impoverished language
- learners being scared of real language
- how teacher training fails teachers as much as coursebooks fail students
- the 5 listening goals every learner should have
- a 3-pronged approach to teaching listening
- the problem she is trying to solve in ELT
For more from Sheila:
Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
Ways we can help you right now:
1. Book a free 1:1 chat to strategize your teaching business.
2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days
3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.
Tuesday Jun 18, 2024
Tuesday Jun 18, 2024
Join our free support group for teachers building their business.
Grammar instruction or grammar learning? We dive into this with today's guests.
Tania Ionin is a Professor of Linguistics and Director of Graduate Studies in Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her areas of expertise include second language acquisition and experimental semantics, with a focus on the nominal domain.
Silvina Montrul is Marjorie Roberts Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the director of the Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism Lab, founder and director of the University Language Academy for Children, and former director of the Doctoral Program in Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education (SLATE).
Together, they have written and published the book "Second Language Acquisition: Introducing Intervention Research."
In this episode, they discuss:
- grammatical knowledge in the context of language acquisition
- what intervention research is
- why we expect too much of adult learners
- how instruction contributes or doesn't contribute to grammar acquisition
- efficacious conditions for grammar instruction
- how educators can influence the learning of grammar
- why studying monolinguals helps to understand L2 acquisition
- literate vs illiterate native speakers for a study on grammatical knowledge
For more on today's guests:
1. Get their book "SLA: Introducing Intervention Research"
Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
Ways we can help you right now:
1. Book a free 1:1 chat to strategize your teaching business.
2. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days
3. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.
Friday Apr 26, 2024
Friday Apr 26, 2024
Join our free support group for teachers building their business.
So many teachers focus on teaching when they should focus on something else. In this episode, we dive into this with the great Bill VanPatten.
Bill VanPatten is an award-winning scholar and teacher with an international reputation in the fields of second language acquisition and second language teaching. He is a requested speaker at conferences and meetings and over the course of his career he has given over 500 keynote speeches, plenaries, invited talks, and workshops.
We chat with Bill about why:
- the majority of teaching is not in accordance with SLA research
- Krashen was right
- teachers need to get rid of the "Atlas Complex"
- most people don't understand what a communicative classroom means
- grammar rules are not psychologically real
- many researchers don't want to talk to teachers
- understanding how non-college educated L1 speakers process language shows explicit instruction's ineffectiveness
- if learners can do your assignments using AI, the assignment is flawed
For more from Bill:
2. His recent article "Krashen forty years later: Final comments"
Thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
Ways we can help you right now:
1. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days
2. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.
3. Already have clients? Share your vision with us: book a free chat to strategize your business goals.
Friday Mar 29, 2024
Friday Mar 29, 2024
Join our free support group for teachers building their business.
So many teachers feel they can't teach pronunciation if their speech doesn't sound a certain way. Listen to this episode to discover why that isn't true.
Robin Walker and Gemma Archer are pronunciation specialists who co-authored "Teaching English Pronunciation for a Global World," which aims to encourage pronunciation instruction from a lingua franca and intelligibility perspective.
We chat with Robin & Gemma about:
- intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness
- why the Lingua Franca Core is what teachers should learn
- their disdain for Jennifer Jenkins' criticism of them - before realizing she was right
- how intelligibility is the thing that allows pronunciation to do its job
- weak forms and why they're not necessary for intelligibility
- why the goal of international intelligibility doesn't exclude other goals
- how to measure intelligibility & use Linca Franca Core diagnostics with your students
For more from Gemma:
For more from Robin:
2. His website - Englishglobal.com
As always, thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
Ways we can help you right now:
1. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days
2. Just starting your business? Get free guidance in our support group.
3. Already have clients? Share your vision with us: book a free chat to strategize your business goals.
Thursday Feb 15, 2024
Thursday Feb 15, 2024
Find your niche & get 5 new clients. Start here.
Many teachers are wary of using a task-based approach. Learn how to overcome that and start using it in your business or classrooms.
Lara Bryfonski is an applied linguist and assistant professor of linguistics at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on task-based language teaching and she is the Project Director of STARTALK-TASK, an NSA-funded task-based training program for critical language teachers. She recently co-authored the book The Art and Science of Language Teaching with Alison Mackey.
In this episode, we chat with Lara about:
- if "TBLT" is a fad
- the myth that novice teachers can't handle TBLT
- why experienced teachers are often the most resistant to try it
- using a TBL approach within a strict syllabus
- where grammar instruction fits into a TBL approach
- what a task is and isn't
- navigating a learner's internal syllabus
- task design and how to apply it in your courses tomorrow
- Twitch, gaming, and asynchronous TBLT
- her advice for aspiring TBLT practitioners
For more from Lara:
2. Find her new book "The art and science of language teaching"
4. Her website
As always, thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
Ways we can help you right now:
1. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days
2. Sandbox your own course ideas in our free support community for teacherpreneurs.
3. Map your first course in 60 minutes or less - your free guide here
4. See our free guides for teachers starting their own business
5. Try our TAP program free for 7 days
Saturday Jan 13, 2024
Saturday Jan 13, 2024
Our 5in30 community helps you get 5 new clients in 30 days. Start here.
Donna M. Brinton is a methodologist, trainer, author, and distinguished figure in applied linguistics. A key aspect of Donna's work is her advocacy for Content-Based Instruction (CBI). Over her five decades in the field, she has authored and co-authored many books, including the famed "Apple Book."
In this conversation, Donna expounds on:
- her beginnings as a teacher & her struggles with methodology
- why she decided to focus on methods as a point of emphasis
- content-based instruction and how it impacts language learning
- developing and using a CBI syllabus
- the 6 "t's" framework & the 3 CBI prototypes
- CBI case studies around the world
- the problem with minimal pairs and what can be done instead
- the future of methodology & teacher development
For more from Donna, connect on LinkedIn
As always, thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
Ways we can help you right now:
1. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days
2. Sandbox your own course ideas in our free support community for teacherpreneurs.
3. Map your first course in 60 minutes or less - your free guide here
4. See our free guides for teachers starting their own business
5. Try our TAP program free for 7 days
Tuesday Dec 19, 2023
Tuesday Dec 19, 2023
Our 5in30 helps you get 5 new clients in 30 days. Start here.
Leo, Mike, and Andrew grab some nog, get in the holiday spirit, and chat about authenticity - Merriam-Webster's word of the year for 2023. We delve into what the word means to us and how we and anyone building a business can bring as much authenticity as possible into 2024.
Specifically, we dive into:
- LYE's beginnings
- our process and struggles with niching down
- why the response "teachers will love that" to our first offer was a bad answer
- the highs and lows of developing your own business
- the "do one thing" philosophy to business growth
- unconventional niche fusions
- how you can develop sustainable practices in your business in 2024
Watch the Pharrell Williams/Maggie Rogers niche-fusion video mentioned in this episode.
As always, thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
Ways we can help you right now:
1. 5in30: Get 5 clients in the next 30 days
2. Sandbox your own course ideas in our free support community for teacherpreneurs.
3. Map your first course in 60 minutes or less - your free guide here
4. See our free guides for teachers starting their own business
5. Try our TAP program free for 7 days