Category Archives: TEFL celebs/ TEFL heroes and villains

Interview- TEFL Hero Jon Marks on the life of a full-time TEFL writer

Posted on 31/12/2009 by alexcase

It’s been a while since I’ve used the TEFL hero category, and I’ve even stripped some people of the honour (and Sandy MacManus has been pretty close a couple of times), but I’m glad I kept it going because Jon Marks deserves it for … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge Young Learner Exams, Delta Publishing, EFL exams, ELT publishing, English Teaching Professional, General English textbooks, getting into ELT publishing, Getting published, Grammar games, IELTS, links, Photocopiable worksheets, PPP (Presentation practice production), Teaching English in Korea, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL games, TEFL heroes- Jon Marks, TEFL pay, TEFL Tradesman, textbooks, Writing ELT textbooks and materials | Tagged | 2 Comments

How to cope with methodology books

Posted on 12/12/2009 by alexcase

Daaren E!!iott’s doubts about reading TEFL books as a way of improving your lessons and my desperate attempt to justify reading books about Korea as a form of CPD instead on building up my arm muscles with Rod Ellis’s The … Continue reading →

Posted in CPD, ELT publishing, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, Rod Ellis | 1 Comment

"Save UK ELT" Number 10 petition

Posted on 24/11/2009 by alexcase

I haven’t yet signed because I know nothing about the law in question (I usually wait for Melanie Butler of EL Gazette to make up my mind for me on things like this). If you want to find out more … Continue reading →

Posted in TEFL heroes- Melanie Butler, TEFL in the UK | 11 Comments

A fireside chat with Sandy McManus

Posted on 22/09/2009 by alexcase

He’s been the most famous/ notorious online TEFL figure for around five years, and the age of Twitter doesn’t seem to have calmed him down at all. In this exclusive TEFLtastic interview, Sandy shows his sensitive side

Posted in Dogme, EL Gazette, first TEFL job, getting out of TEFL, Guardian TEFL, Humanistic language teaching, NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), Teaching English in Spain, TEFL blacklist, TEFL blogs, TEFL career planning, TEFL chains, TEFL heroes- Mario Rinvolucri, TEFL heroes- Sandy McManus, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury, TEFL in the UK, TEFL villains- Paul Lowe, TEFLtrade | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Breasts in ELT

Posted on 21/09/2009 by alexcase

And you thought Sexy ELT was an attention grabbing blog post title! This post was prompted by the infamous Bosomgate incident and agreeing to censor the word “tits” in my contribution to the Birds in ELT series on Kalinago English. … Continue reading →

Posted in links, TEFL blogs, TEFL heroes- John and Liz Soars, TEFL Tradesman | 12 Comments

SLA error correction

Posted on 10/09/2009 by alexcase

In best EFL progress test style, change at least one word in the often seen sentence below to make it less ridiculous: “Our teaching methodology is in line with current SLA theory” Took me a while too, in fact I … Continue reading →

Posted in Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, Rod Ellis | Tagged , | Comments Off on SLA error correction

Why you don’t know where I work

Posted on 08/09/2009 by alexcase

…unless you (like Jason Renshaw and possibly Darrrren Ellllliotttt) have worked it out from the clues, in which case I would very much appreciate you not making guesses online. The reason for that radio silence and having to ask ELTJ … Continue reading →

Posted in Dave Sperling's ESL Cafe, Teacher forums, TEFL blogs, TEFL celebs/ TEFL heroes and villains, TEFL villains- Paul Lowe | 7 Comments

Rules, patterns, words and conclusions

Posted on 23/08/2009 by alexcase

At last, an ending to the series of posts that started here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here* several blogging decades ago on the book by Dave Willis. My chief objections to the approach suggested in the … Continue reading →

Posted in CPD, Dave Willis, PPP (Presentation practice production), TBA (Task Based Approach), Teaching methods and methodologies, TEFL reviews, textbooks | Comments Off on Rules, patterns, words and conclusions

Some nice quotes from the last ELTJ

Posted on 16/08/2009 by alexcase

As promised, proof that I do pay some attention when reading TEFL magazines: A possible explanation for why Mr Bean and TEFL go so well together: “An adult learner has noted that what [textbook character] Arthur and learners in the … Continue reading →

Posted in CPD, ELT Journal, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, links, Mr Bean, TBA (Task Based Approach), Teaching teenagers, Teaching young learners, TEFL heroes- Jeremy Harmer, TEFL reviews | Tagged | 1 Comment

New TEFL articles etc June 2009

Posted on 29/06/2009 by alexcase

Here is this month’s supply, perfect for reading while your students do their end of term tests: 18 fun activities on the topic of amusement parks (a fab topic with kids and teenagers, tied in with feelings vocab, videos etc) … Continue reading →

Posted in Feelings vocabulary, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, Skills, Teaching teenagers, Teaching young learners, Technology, TEFL, TEFL games, TEFL heroes- David Crystal, TEFL heroes- Sandy McManus, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury, Vocabulary, Writing, Writing games | 1 Comment