http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/22_-_Stafford_Lumsden_-_Online_Learning.mp3 {bleep bloop bleep} I booted up cyborg teacher Stafford Lumsden to talk about online learning and the changing perception of what exactly a classroom is. We are more connected than ever and this shift in technology is changing the options that students have and how we teach. We discuss…. distance learning e-learning vs online […]

Masters of TESOL

22 – Online Learning Past and Future – Stafford Lumsden

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/21.5_Thinking_Skills_-_VIDEO.mp3 I am branching out into video. First Video Channel Please watch, subscribe, like and all those things that everyone on YouTube is begging you to do! This is the first step of an expansion of MOT with the aim of eventually making materials for you to use in your own classes. Please smash “subscribe”, […]

21.5 – Thinking Skills – VIDEO!

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/21_-_Can_Dictation_Be_Fun__-_Oksana_Kharley.mp3 “Oh googie…dictation….” Possibly one of the most misused input/output techniques. The dreaded dictation. How can we move beyond playing a CD or reading and having students just write down what they hear? Oksana Kharley takes us through some useful approaches and techniques for practicing listening and writing that don’t include playing audio a couple […]

21 – Can Dictation Be Fun? – Oksana Kharley

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/20_-_Roger_Fussellman_-_TED_Talks_in_ESL_ELF_class.mp3 I caught up with Roger Fusselman after his KOTESOL conference presentation on using TED talks and videos in general for language teaching. This is a MUST listen for anyone using visual media in the classroom. We cover the DOs and DON’Ts of choosing videos as well as his principles of using media: Challenge / […]

20 – using TED talks (and other videos) in ESL EFL class – Roger Fusselman

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/19_-_Reflective_Practice_-_Thomas_Farrell.mp3 The self-styled ‘bad boy’ of language teaching, Thomas Farrell, dropped by my office to take about self reflection. What do we do in the classroom and, importantly, WHY do we do it? Who are YOU as a teacher and what do YOU bring into the classroom?   Start adding this reflective practice regularly to […]

19 – Reflective Practice – Thomas Farrell

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/18_-_Discourse_Markers_-_Jon_Campbell-Larsen.mp3 Well, discourse markers are kinda a feature of, like, natural speech in, you know, basically every language. Jon Campbell-Larsen takes us through the how and why of teaching Discourse Markers. Here is a link to an example of how to scaffold students practicing these markers (based on Jon’s KOTESOL hand out). Feel free to adapt […]

18 – Discourse Markers – Jon Campbell-Larsen

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/17_-_Reichmuth_and_Hanf_-_TV_shows_for_pronunciation_-_QUICKIE.mp3 How effective is using English language TV in helping students improve their pronunciation? Well, Reichmuth & Hanf actually did some research and the results are in. How I Met Your Mother! Another quickie from the last KOTESOL conference.   Keywords: ESL, EFL, TESOL, TEFL, CELTA, DELTA, pronunciation, pronouncing, TV, linguistics, language, second language, teaching, […]

17 – Reichmuth and Hanf – How to use TV shows for pronunciation – QUICKIE

Plurals are easy, right? There’s one or there’s more than one… pretty straight forward. “All”, “every”, “All the” “each” – that’s pretty simple too, isn’t it? Well, hold on to something sturdy as Eytan Zweig gets you to think a little deeper about how we both form and understand language. The literal meaning (semantics) and […]

16 – Eytan Zweig – what words really mean – semantics and pragmatics

In the first of this batch of hit-n-run quickie interviews from the KOTESOL conference in Seoul at the end of 2016, I spoke to Justin McKibben about how we can expand students roles. By giving students certain speaking tasks the traditional classroom would consider a teacher’s job, we can vastly increase student talk time and […]

15 – The Student Becomes The Teacher – Justin McKibben

In this end-of-year episode, we get the funnier side of teaching English with stories from listeners and future interviewees. Special thanks to Grace, Thomas, Matthew, Jon, Fergal, James, Mierkamil, Oksana, Jacob, Roger, Gordon, and Jake. http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/14_-_Listeners_Tails_From_The_Classroom.mp3 We cover accidental phallic drawings, mistranslations, unintended puns, uncontrollable sweating… If you have a good story, you can be […]

14 – MOT Listeners’ Tales from the classroom

I’m making a Christmas episode of the podcast and I need your help. Yes, YOU. The person reading this right now. Don’t look around, I’m talking to you~! http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/MOT_call_for_stories.mp3 As serious, devoted education professionals, we all love hearing about things going wrong or weird in a lesson, so the end-of-year episode is going to be a collection of funny […]

Your Funny EFL / ESL Teaching Stories – an open call

  This episode, we start with a little experiment and get more interactive. Let us know what country you thought the music originated in at @MOTcast with the hashtag #motesol . I’ll put up the results on www.mastersoftesol.com http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/13_-_What_the_way_you_speak_says_about_you_-_Sociolinguistics_with_Andrew_Euan_MacFarlan.mp3 Andrew Ewan MacFarlane is a lecturer at University of York in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science […]

13 – What the way you speak says about you – Sociolinguistics with Andrew Euan MacFarlane

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/12_-_First_Language_Acquisition_-_Tamar_Keren-Portnoy_pt1.mp3 @MOTcast Now on Instagram! Once again, I got lost in the labyrinthian corridors of the University of York Language & Linguistic Science department, this time to speak to Tamar Keren-Portnoy about first language acquisition. There’s a lot of similarities between how we learn our first language and how we acquire our second language, so it’s a […]

12 – Babies and First Language Acquisition – Tamar Keren-Portnoy pt1

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/11_-_Too_old_to_learn__The_Critical_Period_-_Heather_Marsden.mp3 This episode, I speak to University of York’s Heather Marsden about the controversial Critical Period hypothesis. This theory suggests that there is a limited age at which we can learn a second language, after which it grows increasingly difficult. Anecdotally, we assume this to be true – kids are sponges for language while older […]

11 – Too old to learn? The Critical Period – Heather Marsden

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mastersoftesol/10_-_Is_your_English_test_fair_.mp3 @MOTcast www.mastersoftesol.com Subscribe on iTunes I’m alive! Back after five months with a quickie that (hopefully) gives us a foundation for a deeper look at this topic later this year with a real expert. We’re looking at TESTING & EVALUATION – The main priciples in this episode: Practicality Reliability Validity Authenticity Washback Lots of […]

10 – how fair is your English test? – QUICKIE

The biggest brains in TESOL spill the beans on the most effective way of teaching English as a Foreign Language.