Two Teachers Talking™

We look at another teacher movie: Stand and Deliver (Ramón Menendez, 1988). Based on a true story of success at an inner-city Los Angeles high school. Related: - Episode 60 Great Expectations, March 2015 - Episode 118, Great Expectations Revisited, January 2020 - Jaime Escalante Forever https://youtu.be/mX0jKFd0KEk

158. Dead Poets Society This month we are going to make some folks angry. We look at one of the landmark teaching/teacher movies and conclude…well…have a listen. If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumbered here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: If you pardon, we will...

Well, maybe it's the time of year Or maybe it's the time of man I don't know who l am But you know life is for learning Joni Mitchel, “Woodstock” The days are short, temps are cold, energy is low, tempers may be short…several icons to us older folk already have passed as the new year begins. And if you read the news… Oh, yeah, and that pandemic thing. Lots of us - teachers and students - are DOWN....

The sky is falling! Or, so you’d think from the reaction to Open AI’s public release of its ChatGPT "thing.” Tony and Charles try to make sense of what it is and what it isn’t and how it will and won’t change what we do in our teaching and in our students’ learning. It’s our goodbye to 2022 and our hello to 2023. Pedals down. Happy new year! あけましておめでとう！今年もよろしく！ Links: What is Ch...

It’s holiday time for lots of people, and for most of them/us, that means buying gifts…and hopefully receiving, some, as well. Here’s our brainstorm session of gifts for the teacher in your life. As for your favorite podcasters, cash will do nicely.

“OK, let’s make this a little harder,” says Duo the Owl to us every day. We take a look at how some counter-intuitive practices can improve learning by tricking the brain to try harder. No, we’re not neurologists. But we have a podcast. Sans Forgetica - YouTube: https://youtu.be/CEXzSehu5HM Sans Forgetica - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans\_forgetica Why Making Learning More Difficult...

Charles talks with Nerida Rand to find out how a background in improvisation plays out in the classroom. Nerida was an exchange student in a Japanese high school in the 80’s and has been back in Japan as a teacher since 1997. She teaches in the Graduate School of International Social Sciences at Yokohama National University as well as being adjunct faculty at Keio SFC. When school’s out she’s acti...

We discuss the why, how, and what of music in the classroom - as well as music for the teacher. Mentioned: Radio Paradise: https://radioparadise.com/player Misheard lyrics: https://bit.ly/t3lyrics

A bit tweaked at the end of the semester? I guess we were, too, so off we go on a lightning round session of time saving and emergency pull-stuff-out-of-your hat ideas. Mentioned: Socrative: https://www.socrative.com Google Forms: https://www.google.com/forms/about/ (does not require Google Classroom) Teachers for Ukraine: https://www.teachersforukraine.org Bonus link: - NYT - 145 Picture Prompts...

We talk about teaching reading and all the ingredients that get baked into that. Why, what kind, how…all of it. Correction: only 55% of web content is in English, not 75% as I stated in the podcast. Mentioned: Episodes 73 and 77, the Paul Nation Interviews: https://twoteacherstalking.org Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China , Jung Chang: https://amzn.to/3QQCdkG "Why English?": http://tony-silva.co...

Mentioned in the podcast: Two Teachers Talking Podcast http://www.tony-silva.com/t3/index.html October 2021 - 141 Does everyone understand? Are there any questions? September 2014 - 54 Plagiarism

It’s a new school year in Japan, and very likely, most of your classes are now again face to face, or, at least, mask to mask. Things are returning to “normal.” Or are they? What is the new normal? How have the last two years changed you, your students, your teaching, their learning, and our academic universes?

Another year begins. Instead of talking about how, we discuss some of the whys. Why teach English? Why teach foreign languages? Why English?: http://tony-silva.com/eslefl/whyenglish.html Go Abroad: www.goabroad.com/articles/language-study-abroad/why-is-it-important-to-learn-a-foreign-language Decision making: How Knowing a Foreign Language Can Improve Your Decisions, Catherine Caldwell-Harris: htt...

Tony and Charles talk about last months’ discussion with Professors George Truscott and Nathanael Rudolph on what’s involved in program coordination. Then, the discussion turns to Tony’s departure from Japan and his landing in Mexico.

Charles sits down with George Truscott and Nathanael Rudolph to discuss the art of Program Coordination. Approaches, philosophies, goals and outcomes, staff management, limitations, liabilities, and juggling all the balls.

Treading carefully into 2022, we first look back at Episode 143 (Teaching While Black in Japan) and two years of COVID Era Teaching. We then pull out our cloudy crystal balls for a look at the future.

Three very special guests join us to discuss being a black educator in Japan: hiring (and leaving), student interaction, staff interaction, peer interaction, teaching materials, stereotypes of the English teacher…and, most importantly, how we can improve things. Avril Haye Matsui is an educator, activist, researcher, and Ph. D. candidate, studying the status and roles of black women in ELT. You ca...

We all dream about it. What’s yours look like? But, remember the old adage…be careful what you ask for. Make your list and let’s compare notes.

We know that Japanese students’ English comprehension is overrated, even by those of us who know that their listening comprehension is overrated. But that’s not it, or, at least all of it. Join us in a deep dive on impediments to understanding and how maybe, just maybe, we can make things better. Mentioned: Grant Wiggins, Understanding By Design: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Design-Grant-W...

Thoughts and comments on teaching pronunciation and the interview with Prof. Alison Kitzman in Episode 139. Then, a brief discussion of how computer translation may require a reset on how English, or any foreign language, is taught. Mentioned: My Cousin Vinny, Two Youths: https://youtu.be/NdCijCUj8w Perfect English in an incomprehensible essay: http://tony-silva.com/download/badessayannotated.pdf...

Prof. Alison Kitzman of Kindai University talks to us about the what, why, and how of teaching English pronunciation in Japan. Included free: cicadas and a very bad Eliza Dolittle impersonation. Mentioned: Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Peter C. Brown: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Stick-Peter-C-Brown-ebook/dp/B00JQ3FN7M/ref=sr\_1\_1?dchild=1&keywords=make+it+stick&qid=1627252684...

You know how you’re “supposed” to conduct and manage your classes, assignments, and grading. Sheer work volume—classes per week, students per class—often makes that ideal impossible. So, how do you get it all done and still maintain quality and sanity? With great difficulty and effort. And some tech.

Approaching mid-semester, an odds and sods SITREP. What can we learn and apply going forward this year, including a report from Tony on the world of retirement. Mentioned: Compleat (sic) Lexical Tutor: https://www.lextutor.ca

Two heads, too many cooks...so, when does it make sense to sit down and hash things out and when is it better to just go it alone? Mentioned: Modular Press - Charles' new textbook and materials publishing portal: https://modularpress.org . The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Fred Brooks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month . Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Mainte...

Maybe you don't know whether you'll be teaching online or in the classroom. Maybe you know. Maybe you think you know. If the past year has taught us anything, it's to be prepared for the unexpected. We try to help you cover all the bases. Good luck this year, folks.