TEFL Waffle

Please write a short description of a podcast episode where 2 teachers discuss students usage of AI in writing lessons: Title: "Bytes of Wisdom: Navigating the AI Frontier in Student Writing" Description: In this insightful episode of "EduChat Chronicles," join our hosts, seasoned educators Ms. Anderson and Mr. Rodriguez, as they delve into the fascinating realm of artificial intelligence in the c...

In this episode Troy and Steve discuss an episode in which Troy interpolates meaning from his kid's comments on classroom activities. It's a wild ride into the meaning one projects onto the blanks slates that all teachers are. Or something like that...

Can you learn how to do something without doing the something? Is listening to people talk about learning to do something a complex or compound sentence? To explore this topic, join us and our menagerie, flora, fauna, offspring and a cool car cameo!

If you want something done right, then sometimes you have to do it yourself. But if what you want done is for someone to do your job for you, then that's kind of moot. Perhaps what you want to do is be mute, and let them do it for you. As long as they are doing it the way you want done, without you telling them how to do it, and for them to do it their own way, without you having to supervise them...

A: "Did you hear that they got a new puppy?" B: "Get out of here!" A: Leaves...... B: "Oh, come on!" A: "Huh?" B: "Are you off?" A: (Sniffs own armpit) "Um, no?" B: "Are you off your wheaties?" A: ... (Gives up on English forever)

Pomp! Circumstance! Flowing Gowns! Is it all worth it? Or is it all about it? Is it the icing on the cake, or being pushed to give a rating and review after a meal? A lot of people love a good celebration, and it is a nice way for them to tie up a part of life that (presumably) required some commitment. So, come along with us while we throw our hats in the air and take selfies until our faces feel...

We all get a little lonely sometimes, but we get by with a little help from our friends. But what if we don't have any friends? What if nobody wants to help us? What if nobody wants our help? It's OK though, sometimes we're in a lovely egalitarian environment with a benign dictator who is willing to make sure that everybody gets a friend, such as a classroom! Surely teachers always have our best i...

To homework, or not to homework. That is the question. Do you think Mr Wilkins will remember to check the assignment? Can I copy yours? Sorry, my dog ate my pencil.. In this episode, Troy and Steve facilate on this rather (un)important question. Both have long histroies of avoiding homework -  as students and as teachers. But both also have a long history of dealing with people who believe that it...

In this episode, Troy and Steve ask whether teachers can ever not be teachers. What happens to us after the lessons end? Can we turn all that teacher stuff off? Or do we carry it around like a bad backpack with all the important stuff in it that one can't possibly do without? Or, as we kind of hope, are we just normal people with a job and a life outside the job? Troy and Steve kind of agree for a...

To teach, or not to teach, the question is, is that a complete sentence, seeing as the rule dictates that sentences should contain a subject, verb, and object. Also, when is the correct time to use a semi colon; that is, is it correct to join the clauses as was done when it also includes a zero relative clause? Oh, and never and a sentence with a preposition. Because it's just wrong! I hope this e...

Are you comfortable? Are you happy? Is this activity pleasing you? Troy and Steve don't care, really. Nevertheless should you feel these things are important, you are a humanist. And if you teach lessons with these concerns in mind you are a teacher who worries about classroom atmosphere. Actually, Troy and Steve do care - we lied. Atmosphere is really really important and how you feel matters a l...

Do you ever have the feeling that the person handling the other end of your technology have no idea what they are doing? Like Troy and Steve trying to do this podcast, perhaps? Well, it might be that students and teachers have the same problem even though they have to teach and learn online. They may have absolutely no clue whatsoever. Well, with Covid we are all learning, developing, growing, exp...

Troy and Steve waffle endlessly about cases where students confide, and to complicate things, it's all about another teacher. What does ethics say? What does your heart say? What do the students say? What does your gut say? In one amazing moment, Troy actually uses the word 'albeit' with perfect pronunciation. See if you can spot it. Also listen out for our opinions about students' opinions about...

What do you teach? In what order? Is that part needed there? Perhaps you should just skip this section here till later. Oh wait, scaffolding won't work here because they don't know X and they have to do Y, but they don't know Z yet. I know, I'll look at the curriculum! Wait, where is it now?

Troy has a new job, and his students are strong. They lift weights, carry buses around, and speak English like they don't need a foreign language teacher. That means he has a lot of fun, but a few problems too. What is he to do with these super students? How will he cope with the demands made on him by their zealous curiosity? Will he survive the fun, stress, difficulties and rewards of all this a...

How do you know what a 'bad teacher' looks like? Well, his name rhymes with cape, and he is wearing one! In this episode Evets and Yort explore one scene - yes, just one scene of only 2 minutes - and find out just how bad Snape is as a teacher, and by extension, how you shouldn't bother trying to run your classrooms. Snape is awesome, if you like bad teachers, and British drawls. Evets isn't sure...

Steve and Troy finally emerge into the sunshine after an indeterminate length of time in their respective basements and get together to waffle endlesslessly. Endless waffle is kind of like that terrible lesson you didn't prepare for, where time seems to last forever. Steve even says so. If you are looking for a 5 step solution to your joblessness woes, you won't find it here. Or maybe you will, wh...

How good is anyone's English when the tests we give are hard to understand? Even Troy can't understand these test questions, and his English is excellent. In this fun episode, Troy compiles a selection of fantastic test questions that are difficult to answer because there isn't one, or not any that we can figure out. Perhaps the problem is that we can't understand the answer key. In an unrelated c...

Troy's argument in this episode is that when you are offered a job, you need to ask a lot of very penetrating questions, and just sort of generally act the inquisitor during the interview. This makes sense because Troy often takes jobs and doesn't actually know what he's said agreed to do! Steve, on the other hand, hasn't had a job for years so doesn't know how to be interviewed, or to interrogate...

Welcome to pod-battle, compliments of TEFLargue. Listen, and learn how to win a fight and alienate people. Anyway, what role to tests play in a teacher's life? Should a teacher worry excessively about test quality, or just get them done to submit scores? Do exams really make any difference in language teaching, especially in schools? In Troy's defense, he did come up with a concept of a language c...

This podcast is not a sequel. We all hate sequels because they are never as good as the original. Except Star Wars. And Star Trek. And To Sir With Love. Yes, it's true, although that's simply Steve's opinion. This teacher is now an old man, in a grungy American school, with awesome students who we are supposed to dislike initially. We watched this movie, and versions of it, on multiple occasions,...

How good are you at grammar? Or should that be 'with grammar'? How seriously do you take things when someone makes a mistake? Are there such things as mistakes? Do you think teachers should take things like grammar as part of their core job? How about disagreeing with another teacher about grammar mistakes? Troy and Steve are good at disagreeing, even when things are fairly clearly wrong (in Troy'...

In this exciting episode, which was recorded at home, Steve interviews our guest speaker, Troy, on his experience of working from home during these unprecedented (at least in our lifetimes) times when going to work is illegal, banned, disallowed, and generally not a good idea. Troy tells us about his difficulties, challenges and the rewards of spending a whole day at home working and at the same t...

Yes, and how do British people pronounce Wagga Wagga? Or how do Americans pronounce 'Sawatdi Krap'? And how does anyone pronounce Edinburgh? Are these political questions? Or are they issues of phonology? Does it matter? Well, today Troy and Steve make it matter a lot. Not only are these political and phonological, they are also podcastical and wafflable. Should South Africans really be upset when...

Nomination is the process of selecting individual students in the classroom to respond to a question. In this episode, the cat decided to nominate itself to be a very vocal member of the podcasting team, blasting Steve and Troy into oblivion with its eagerness to participate with you, dear listener. In between the cat, Steve and Troy self-nominate to discuss the question of nomination in the class...