TEFL Waffle

Steve is on a mission to define what good board work is. Is a board necessary in a language classroom? Can Troy and Steve come up with 5 principles for good use of the whiteboard? Is Steve just barking up the wrong board? Will Troy ever agree with Steve on anything? Will you agree with Troy? Can you hear, somewhere in the podcast, Steve closing the curtains?  Will you hear the phone ring? Will you...

It's not TEFLWaffle, it's TITM! Today, Evets and Yort waffle about Arnold Schwarzenegger, and how good (or is it bad?) he is at teaching kindergarten. If you haven't watched the movie, don't worry - we'll tell you all about it. If you have watched it, great, you can waffle along with us in your head as we go. The nice thing about this movie is that the plot builds in the concept of teacher develop...

Steve and Troy wonder, wafflingingly, what happens when a teacher tries the communicative approach and it fails. Some teachers fight it, don't understand it, get confused by it, and even maybe reject it! Or maybe it's the students who reject it? Oh wait, is it maybe worth rejecting? Both Troy and Steve have lots and lots of things to say about teachers who are incompatible with the communicative a...

What do you believe? How do your beliefs change what you do in the classroom? What do you believe about podcasts? Are your beliefs congruent with Troy's beliefs? If so, I have a number for a good psychiatrist. Anyway, today we waffle. Specifically we waffle about what how beliefs influence what we do as teachers, as learners, and as trainers. Believe me, you're going to hear the word belief a lot!...

What's the point of hanging around with a bunch of teachers in a formal event where you have to talk about teaching and eat pre-prepared food? Do you really want to hang out with the type of teachers who are so obsessed with their profession that they choose to spend their own money on attending an event to show off how into it they are? Aren't they all just academic weirdos stroking each other's...

Troy and Steve waffle and waffle. Today Steve really waffles up a storm, he really does! So today they are waffling about the wonderful world of getting observed while you teach, observing teachers giving lessons, the difference between evaluation and feedback, and every now and again the cat gets to add some waffle support too. Troy say the word 'autonomic' which I don't understand - see if you c...

Today Troy and Steve have a guest - it's Sunee! Sunee has been teaching young learners since she herself was young. It's part of her genes. She knows a lot about children, children's classes, children's material, children's behaviour and all sort of other things about children and their classrooms. We grill her about all this stuff. In particular, we wonder how we might know who is destined to be...

Troy and Steve have taken the day off, but Yort and Evets are standing in. They don't Waffle about TEFL. Instead, they'll be exploring, in exquisite detail, the way teachers and teaching are portrayed in the movies - and today's movie is Good Morning Vietnam! Which is set in Vietnam, actually. In this movie, Robin Williams is a teacher sometimes. Yes he really is. But, do teachers in movies know h...

It's Steve who has a big fat waffle about things that happen outside of the classroom that may be opportunities for learning. At the end of the day it's time for the teacher to go home, sit in the garden and sip a pina colada... But wait! The school would really like it if you came back on Sunday and helped show off to the parents how special thieir programme is, look handsome and/or pretty (or bo...

Troy and Steve ask the crucial questions - how much should a teacher work? How many hours should we teach? How much time should we spend planning? Are we working too much? Should we work more? Does anyone know how much we work? Are any of these questions pertinent? Should we stop asking questions like this? Anyway, Steve has opinions, Troy has stories and we both waffle enoughly about working as a...

Troy has a question about whether teachers need to read formal research. What's the point of all these academics doing endless research instead of actually teaching? Surely those who do, do, but those who observe don't? Which is mightier, the practionioner or the theoretician? Should teachers even bother? Steve has a lot of things to say about this, though his opinion is really flawed and complete...

Steve has chosen the topic today. That's always a little dangerous. What, he asks cunningly, is the golden rule for teachers in the classroom? Do you have a golden rule for yourself as a teacher? Compare it with Troy's response! Then compare it with Steve's idea. Compare yours and Troy's with what the teachers you work with think is a golden rule for their classroom. Is there only one golden rule?...

Language learning is complex and subject a lot of variables - which Applied Linguists love researching. Troy and Steve waffle about it in a very unscientific way, citing absolutely no research and instead simply whinging about what it is that makes us as language learners useless at learning languages. Come wallow in our self-pity with us.

Today our special guest Stuart softly cajoles us into the meaningful and exciting world of soft skills in the classroom. An exerienced motivational speaker and general British fellow, Stuart has been a language teacher for quite a while now, and brings to his teaching his perspective that people are, in fact, people and should be treated as such. What does it mean when a students asks 'Teacher, ca...

Today Bob's not around so Steve and Troy waffle about substituting and why it's good for your proessional health. Notice, as an asside, that Troy's responses are muted in today's episode, and relfect on possible reasons for that. 

Teachers have to focus on both content and methodology. For our learners, which is more important? What do you think? What does Troy think? Does Steve even think at all?  As a fun drinking game, don't take a shot everytime you hear a response token like 'um, er, ah, erm', unless you're really looking to get alchohole piosening.

One characteristic of an accomplished teacher is the size of their repertoire. No, that is not a euphamism. Really. Anyway, Troy has a big one and likes to waffle about it and it makes him really awesome. Almost perfect. Is a repertoire as important as we make it out to be? 

Can teachers even technology?? Especially old teachers like Steve, and also ones that are teaching an experientially orientated thing like language. It's so bewlideringly complex, but it's also so breathtakingly attractive at the same time. What on earth should we do? Giggle and chortle along as Troy as he recounts his opinions, and roll your eyes in despair as Steve tries to sound intelligent on...

Steve tells a lot of boring stories, Troy tells a lot of boring stories, but somehow we create some meaning about the beliefs held by teachers (and management) about children in the classroom, movement, noise and acitivities. Waffle on!

Troy, and sometimes Steve, waffle(s?) about making mistakes when we teach, train or just generally live. Is it humble and noble to admit you're, oops, your mistakes? Is it better to remain a bastion of perfection and never make mistakes at all? This podcast is absolutely mistake free.

We worry, waffle, wonder and whine about the nature of the English that teachers speak (or are supposed to speak) in the classroom. How much is there to waffle about on a topic like this? Well, come find out!

This time, Steve and Troy (not in that order) waffle about whether language teachers should love languages, or perhaps English, or whether they should just love teaching. This is very exciting stuff; to us anyway.

We waffle around the issue of whether teachers should, must, ought to or (add in a modal auxiliary of your choice) use metalanguage when teaching. How do students respond to the teacher talking about past participles? Can teachers handle students asking questions about subjunctives? Do we tell the students about bilabial plosives? We also waffle about guitars and cars because they make cool analog...

We waffle about staffrooms and the culture of being a professional teacher around other teachers. Should we zealously hoard all our best stuff so that we can be the star teacher of the school, or should we be lovely and egalitarian to bring up the capabilities of the staff room as a whole? Which is more important? Your students? Or the school?  

Troy and Steve waffle about those awkward questions students sometimes ask that stump, confuse or otherwise bewilder the unsuspecting teacher. "Teacher, what does unsuspecting mean?" As usual Troy waffles much more blithely than Steve, but Steve's quickly catching on.