Thrive in ELT

What if …? We make contingency plans for all kinds of moments in our lives. These plans provide us with an opportunity to experience less stress and overwhelm when the possibilities become realities. The probability of needing contingency plans in your ELT life is no less likely than in any other part of life. What if … your car won't start? you or your child is sick and you have to stay home? you...

Have you ever noticed that no matter where you are in a term, planning never really stops?  Weeks into it, you're still adding and refining, and at the end, you find yourself making notes about things you want to change for next time. So if it's the case that you're always planning, then why is it so important to make space for it before a term even begins? Well, it's at this point in time that yo...

There's nothing that says you teach English for Academic Purposes quite like your schedule, right? Classes, office hours, meetings, training sessions, and the list goes on. It can be really hard to get things done when you're constantly on the move with few opportunities for extended periods of concentrated work time. Those dreams of teaching in the mornings and planning in the afternoons do come...

Files, folders, the cloud …  If you're like me, you couldn't survive as an ELT professional without them! But when you open your storage system, what do you see?  Three to five main folders?  Or hundreds of individual files? How long would it take to find that shared presentation from the latest conference? Five clicks in five seconds? Or five minutes because you forgot where you saved it (and the...

Have you ever been taking care of all the things that need to get done at the beginning or end of a term and realized that you haven't left the building all week except to go home? Have you ever had so many PD events lined up that you've forgotten one or two (or three)?  Have you ever gotten into a routine that doesn't include time for YOU? When we're in work mode, it can be really easy to tell ou...

Going through all of your email messages not your favorite thing to do?  Overwhelmed with thinking about all the things that need to get done … tomorrow?  Wish you had gathered progress updates on your students for today's meeting a bit earlier?  It can be easy to let administrative tasks like these slide when there are so many other more important things that need to get done – like lesson planni...

Do you ever wish that the lesson materials sitting on your desk would find their own way back to the shelf? Or have you ever been ready to file away those important student documents from weeks ago but can't find them now? Our brains like it when our work spaces have order to them. We can put all of our attention on the important task at hand, and t ime is spent more productively with fewer distra...

When you think of English language teaching, this is probably the part that comes to mind first – instruction. It's what we do, right? Yet instruction involves so much more than the time we spend with our learners in a single lesson. To even get to that point, we have to plan. But what happens when your plans aren't organized? I know what happens to me – I forget things, lose focus, and feel overw...

On a scale of 1-10, how organized would you say you are? And how organized would you like to be? Not being organized leads to clutter, stress, constant busyness, and feeling overwhelmed. But being organized brings relief, greater focus and productivity, and a reclaiming of time.  In today's episode, I'm sharing four areas in your ELT professional life where organization is key. Whether you love or...

Have you ever been unmotivated to go to class even though your learners are terrific? Or have you ever wondered why you aren't enthusiastic about going in to work despite your supportive colleagues? Have you felt guilty for feeling that way? I've been there, and it's not a fun place!  In today's episode, I share four things you can do to get through the challenges in your ELT life: Give yourself t...

Does just thinking about presenting or working on certain professional development activities by yourself make you feel a little nervous or overwhelmed? What if instead of going it alone you made strides toward growth with someone? In today's episode you're going to get a lot of good insight about PD collaboration from Ashley Micklos, the Curriculum Director and an instructor at the Wisconsin ESL...

Did you know that our brains are actually hard-wired to take the easy way out? I don't know about you, but that makes me feel a little bit better about some of my professional decisions!  Although I'm not suggesting you go all in, taking a small step forward on the less easy path can encourage necessary growth. In today's episode, I give examples of what "presenting" can look like. (Hint: Conferen...

What do you do after a professional development event? Do you make an immediate plan to put what you've learned into action? Or do you set aside the notes and thoughts telling yourself you'll get to them later? I've done both, and I'm sure we'd agree on which one is more difficult!  If you're a person who values professional growth, then you have to be intentional about following up on the PD oppo...

Where are you on your ELT professional development journey? Do you know the direction in which you're headed? Do you know why you're going there? There's a lot more to choosing PD opportunities than simply choosing. You need a personal PD plan – a plan that's created just for you, your preferences, and needs. A plan that's created by you. In today's episode I share four important reasons why you n...

Why do you choose to participate in professional development? To learn something new? To grow in a particular area? Professional development is a necessary and beneficial activity you can, and should, participate in. But sometimes, it can pose problems that get in the way of taking part.  In this episode I talk about the problems that can keep you from saying yes to an opportunity or from even wan...

Have you seen (and maybe even participated in!) more professional development opportunities than you ever imagined before 2020? With all of the conferences, webinars, and available recordings, it can be easy to find yourself overwhelmed with deciding which ones to attend and even if you should participate. In today's episode I'm going to share what my own professional development journey has looke...

Textbooks. They can provide you with a foundation when teaching a new course, structure for lesson planning, and ideas for supporting activities. But you may have also felt bound by them at one point or another. In today's episode, I'm answering four questions I'm often asked when it comes to using ELT textbooks: How is it possible for me to get through all of this?  Do I need to cover everything,...

Your extended break was so good – you're rested and your brain isn't foggy. Why? Because there was no weekday alarm and you could enjoy that favorite hot beverage at a leisurely pace! But a new semester is approaching and you're starting to feel a bit stressed and maybe even a little gloomy. And it's not that you don't like what you do. In fact, you really enjoy it.  It's just that you know that a...

What does it look like when you serve your students well? Is it well-planned, engaging lessons? Opportunities for students to practice with meaningful resources? Talking through questions and challenges both in and out of the classroom? It's definitely all of these and more. But at what cost? One of my core value statements in serving you is: Service to students and self must be balanced. This is...

Do you ever ask yourself that question? Following week after week of planning lessons – and then changing them – your teaching world comes to a screeching halt. You have no classes to prepare for or lessons to teach.  It's the transitional time between one semester and another. The odd part is that you can't stay in the past and you can't move toward the future without taking the steps to link the...

What has been your experience teaching academic writing in the ELT setting? What are the strategies you find yourself using over and over again? In this episode I'll be sharing five tips to help you stay focused and keep moving forward in your academic writing instruction. I'll also share a not so uncommon experience of overwhelm -- starting something new or getting back into something you haven't...

What was your most recent gratitude-filled ELT moment? Where were you? What were you doing? Who were you with? Being grateful when teaching can be difficult. Stress and exhaustion can set in, and sometimes the things we even enjoy doing -- like looking for supplemental resources and catching up on the latest issue of a professional journal -- can feel monotonous.  In today's episode I share with y...

Where do you go to find reliable materials for your adult students? What's your process for choosing the right ones? In today's episode I talk about the process for choosing the (so-called) best resources. But what really defines "best"?  As instructors, you and I don't want just "okay" or "pretty good." That's not going to serve our students or ourselves well. However, what's good for me might no...

What resources do you have to teach your ESL/EFL students online? Are they providing you with everything you need right when you need it most? In the world of ELT, resources are your support system. They can help you introduce an idea, extend upon previous lessons, or reinforce a specific skill. Using resources to help you teach in person is probably second nature to you. But what happens when the...

What procedures do you have in place for your online teaching? Are they helping both you and your students succeed? While our situations aren't exactly the same, I would bet that we have more in common than we might think.  Today I'll be talking about my key takeaways from teaching online in the 2020-2021 academic year. The three strategies that I'll be sharing with you -- establishing routines, b...