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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

Saturday May 14, 2022
Anthony Gaughan
Saturday May 14, 2022
Saturday May 14, 2022
Anthony Gaughan is a teacher and teacher-trainer with over 25 years of experience working in the corporate, state secondary, higher education, and private adult education sectors. He is a Cambridge English approved Assessor and Main Course Tutor for the CELTA initial teacher training qualification, as well as a Tutor for the DELTA Module 2 and the Trinity Diploma. Together with his then-colleague, Izzy Orde, Anthony first applied Dogme ELT principles to running CELTA courses in 2009, and has been advocating for simplifying initial teacher education ever since.
See his blog "Teacher Training Unplugged."
In this episode, Anthony dives into:
- how a Japanese balloon pushed him towards Dogme
- teaching versus teaching-like behaviours
- transforming CELTA training into unprescribed, dogmatic experiences
- why he was called irresponsible and dangerous at IATEFL
- training as a suspension of disbelief
- debunking myths about beginner students, beginner teachers, and new beginnings
Read more about this episode on the LYE blog.
More on Anthony Gaughan:
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
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
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Want to Grow your Teaching Business? Book a Call with us

Wednesday Apr 13, 2022
Florencia Henshaw
Wednesday Apr 13, 2022
Wednesday Apr 13, 2022
Want to talk about how to grow your business? Schedule a chat with us to see if we can help.
Florencia Henshaw has a Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she is now the Director of Advanced Spanish. She is an award-winning educator who has published and presented nationally and internationally on technology integration and research-based pedagogical practices. Dr. Henshaw is also the host of “Unpacking Language Pedagogy” (available as a podcast and YouTube channel), where she summarizes and discusses research articles, activities, terms, and various topics related to language teaching. Her co-authored book, "Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory goes to the Classroom," aims to help educators visualize how to put principles into action.
In this episode, Florencia discusses:
- if people are born teachers
- classrooms as artificial environments
- why empathy is required for teachers to relinquish control in the learning process
- how we should prioritize learner perceptions and attitudes
- the backwardness of how most assessments are set up
- strategies to scaffold and increase the presence of target language
- how her new book helps teachers incorporate new SLA research into the classroom
Read more about this episode on the LYE blog.
More from Dr. Henshaw:
Her YouTube channel "Unpacking Language Pedagogy"
Her website "Technology for Language Teaching and Learning"
Her book "Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory Goes to the Classroom"
Follow her on Twitter: @Prof_F_Henshaw
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
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
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Want to Grow your Teaching Business? Book a Call with us
Take our free 120-hour training on how to overcome common obstacles in your business

Thursday Mar 31, 2022
Practically Speaking: The CEFR & Plurilingualism
Thursday Mar 31, 2022
Thursday Mar 31, 2022
This is a very special episode of Teacher Talking Time, in partnership with the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. This episode was created as part of an MA course "The CEFR in Context: Learning, Teaching, Assessment and Research" by Prof. Dr. Marije Michel and Dr. Audrey Rousse-Malpat. We at Learn YOUR English are thrilled to be a part of it coming to life.
Episode Description:
This episode of Moments Mediating Matters explores the influence of plurilingualism on the Dutch educational system, examines how the concept of mediation is presented in the Companion Volume, and further discusses how mediation can accompany not only teachers but also learners in their learning process. To do so, three guests with different levels of expertise were invited to converse on the influence of the CEFR, and more specifically, the concept of mediation in an increasingly plurilingual society.
Episode created with thanks to Tessa Jutstra.
Interviewers:
Amarins Jager, Michelle Leegsma, and Laura Polman are currently doing the Educational Master track for English at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Guests on this episode:
Prof. Piet van Avermaet is the head of the Centre for Diversity and Learning at the Linguistics department of Ghent University. His field of expertise is multilingualism and more specifically, how multilingualism can be applied in the classroom and how it can be a cause of social inequality in terms of inclusion and language assessment.
Dr. Brian North is one of the co-authors of the CEFR and the Companion Volume. He is an expert in the field of foreign language learning, applied linguistics and intercultural communication, and coordinated the 1991 Symposium that recommended the CEFR. North has been involved with the work of the Council of Europe for a long time and developed the levels and descriptors of the CEFR.
Prof. Enrica Piccardo is also co-author of the Companion Volume of the CEFR. She is a professor at the University of Toronto in the Languages and Literacies Education Program and Head of the Centre for Education Research in Languages and Literacies. Her work focuses on the acquisition and teaching of foreign languages, the structuring of curricula, and the role of multi/plurilingualism in education and she has been cooperating with the Council of Europe on the project of developing the Companion Volume
Read more about this episode on the LYE blog.
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
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
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Want to Grow your Teaching Business? Book a Call with us

Monday Jan 31, 2022
TAP into the Future
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Want to teach less and earn more? Find out how.
How much lesson planning is required? Should I use a coursebook? Are teaching 1-1 or groups are the only options? How do I set up my business to be scalable? Mike, Leo, and Andrew kick off 2022 by examining the most common questions teachers going freelance ask.
They also examine teacher profiles who have joined LYE's new Teacher Accelerator Program and what they have in common. If you're a teacher looking to escape precarity, reduce lesson planning, and achieve better work-life balance, this episode is for you.
Welcome to 2022!
Read more about this episode on the LYE blog.
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
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
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Join Our Teacher Accelerator Program

Sunday Jan 02, 2022
The Cult of Learning 18: Fear
Sunday Jan 02, 2022
Sunday Jan 02, 2022
Want to teach less and earn more? Find out how.
CULT/K^LT/A fashionable belief, idea, or attitude that influences people’s lives/The cult of learning encourages people to find and pursue what they are passionate about/
*”The Cult of Learning” are episodes for learners of languages. These episodes will discuss tools and strategies for learning and provide opportunities for effective listening practice. These episodes are also part of our Self-directed Learning Portal, which helps thousands of people around the world improve the English skills important to them.
Leo and Mike dive into fear. What is it? Why do we have it? What are the consequences of fear? Its benefits? And, of course, how do these apply to learning a language?
As we start a new year, fear - embracing it, conquering it, coping with it - is once again on the to do list. Mike and Leo discuss three strategies for dealing with the fear holding back our potential.
For this episode, we ask you: how do you handle fear in your life?
If you are a learning a language, these Cult of Learning episodes are for you!
Thank you for listening! If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Teach less and earn more in your teaching
Our Blog post for this episode
Our FREE E-book on Learning. We hope it helps you learn outside the classroom!

Saturday Dec 18, 2021
Episode 37: Twenty Twenty Won
Saturday Dec 18, 2021
Saturday Dec 18, 2021
Want to teach less and earn more? Find out how.
Mike, Andrew, and Leo sip some nog and reminisce on the year that was. From COVID to a corrective feedback series to interviews with amazing scholars, it was quite the year for the Teacher Talking Time Podcast. Here, the guys touch on the year's most listened to episodes, words of the year, how language has changed during the pandemic, which is ebb and which is flow, and predict what 2022 might have in store - including some work-life balance goals. Thanks for listening this year and stay tuned for many exciting things we have in store for 2022.
Happy holidays from us at Learn YOUR English!
Read more about this episode on the LYE blog.
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
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
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Join Our Teacher Accelerator Program

Thursday Nov 18, 2021
Episode 36: Ask Us Anything
Thursday Nov 18, 2021
Thursday Nov 18, 2021
Want to teach less and earn more? Find out how.
Mike, Leo, and Andrew get back in the studio for a special, bizarro episode. In this "Ask Us Anything" show, the guys prepared secret questions for the others. The only rule? They can't be about teaching or education.
Of course, they're not great at following rules.
Touching on Nickelback, self doubt, being vulnerable, accepting or rejecting dinner invitations, Stephen King, pending life goals, long distance relationships - and much more - they invite you on a different type of journey.
For a non-education episode, this is very educational.
If you want to give your answer to the questions asked here, make a post in our teacher discussion forum.
To ask us your "ask me anything" question, shoot us a DM on Instagram: @learnyourenglish
Read more about this episode on the LYE blog.
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
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
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Join Our Teacher Development Membership
Join our Self-directed Learning Portal

Sunday Nov 07, 2021
The Cult of Learning 17: The Art of Noticing Language
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
Want to teach less and earn more? Find out how.
CULT/K^LT/A fashionable belief, idea, or attitude that influences people’s lives/The cult of learning encourages people to find and pursue what they are passionate about/
*”The Cult of Learning” are episodes for learners of languages. These episodes will discuss tools and strategies for learning and provide opportunities for effective listening practice. These episodes are also part of our Self-directed Learning Portal, which helps thousands of people around the world improve the English skills important to them.
Leo and Mike look at an important "technique" that is crucial for those who want to learn a language: noticing. What is noticing? How does it affect language learning? How do we notice language? Why is noticing important?
More specifically, they go in-depth on how it works:
1. What noticing language means
2. Why noticing the gap between what you hear or read and what you can say is essential
3. How you should practice applying what you notice in your use of language
If you are a learning a language, these Cult of Learning episodes are for you!
Thank you for listening! If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Our Blog post for this episode
Our FREE E-book on Learning. We hope it helps you learn outside the classroom!
Improve your English with our Self-directed Learning Portal - only $50/year

Friday Oct 01, 2021
Episode 35:Jane Setter
Friday Oct 01, 2021
Friday Oct 01, 2021
Want to teach less and earn more? Find out how.
Jane Setter joins the show to talk accents, speech prosody, and her new book "Your Voice Speaks Volumes."
Jane is Professor of Phonetics at The University of Reading, UK. In addition to her new book, she is also co-editor of the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary and the Cambridge Handbook of Phonetics. Jane's research interests include speech prosody in children from atypical populations, teaching and learning English pronunciation, and features of the suprasegmental phonology of global varieties of English, such as Hong Kong and Malay speaker English.
*there's some slight static from 5:00 - 12:00
In this episode, Jane dives into:
- the influences that pushed her into a career in phonology
- speech classes and how Margaret Thatcher learned to "unshrill" her voice
- being the first phonetician invited to speak at the IATEFL conference
- the why and how of (unconscious) linguistic judgement
- the significance of four seconds in speech recognition
- why television shows choose certain accents for certain roles
- why men can't make their voices sound sexy
- what it means to have a voice that doesn't represent who you are
Read more about this episode on the LYE blog.
More on Jane Setter:
Her book "Your Voice Speaks Volumes"
The Cambridge Book of Phonetics
Twitter: @janesetter
YouTube: Jane Setter
Email: j.e.setter@reading.ac.uk
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
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
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Join Our Teacher Development Membership
Join our Self-directed Learning Portal

Tuesday Sep 21, 2021
The Cult of Learning 16: S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Effective Language Learning
Tuesday Sep 21, 2021
Tuesday Sep 21, 2021
Want to teach less and earn more? Find out how.
CULT/K^LT/A fashionable belief, idea, or attitude that influences people’s lives/The cult of learning encourages people to find and pursue what they are passionate about/
*”The Cult of Learning” are episodes for learners of languages. These episodes will discuss tools and strategies for learning and provide opportunities for effective listening practice. These episodes are also part of our Self-directed Learning Portal, which helps thousands of people around the world improve the English skills important to them.
Many language learners get frustrated because, in their heads, they’re thinking they’re just "learning a language." Their goal is usually "to be able to speak the language they’re learning." But what does this actually mean? If you want to make progress, you really need to know right from the outset what it is that you’re trying to learn.
S.M.A.R.T. Goals help with this. Mike and Leo discuss this 5-step process to achieving goals. Listen to this episode to learn:
- what is each step of the process
- how each step applies to you learning a language
- how you can put this into practice right away
If you are a learning a language, these Cult of Learning episodes are for you!
Thank you for listening! If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Our Blog post for this episode
Our FREE E-book on Learning. We hope it helps you learn outside the classroom!
Improve your English with our Self-directed Learning Portal - only $50/year