Category Archives: TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury

Something chewy from Jeremy Harmer

Posted on 30/03/2010 by alexcase

“…before you get too starry-eyed about the functional-notional approach… it would be good to remember Chris Brumfit’s worry that teaching formulaic ‘doing-things-with-language’ was a way of trying to force students to say things that WE wanted them to say, rather … Continue reading →

Posted in Functional language, TEFL, TEFL heroes- Jeremy Harmer, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury | Tagged | 5 Comments

Development, blogs, books and Japan- An interview with Darren Elliott of Lives of Teachers blog

Posted on 09/01/2010 by alexcase

We all seem to be seeing your name around a lot recently. A masterplan to become the next Thornbury/ trying to keep yourself busy while your wife watches Japanese television/ sleep disorder/ other? I think it takes more than a … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge Delta, CELTA, Critical Mass ELT, Eikaiwa, Experience of Language Teaching, first TEFL job, MA TESOL, Teacher training, Teaching English in Japan, TEFL, TEFL blogs, TEFL conferences, TEFL heroes- Rose M Senior, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury, TEFL qualifications, TEFL reviews, TEFL villains- Jennifer Jenkins, TEFL workshops | Tagged | 8 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

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

7 things you probably didn’t know about me

Posted on 01/02/2009 by alexcase

1. Dave Sperling still owes me ten Euros he borrowed off me at the TESOL Spain conference 2. The EF school in Eastbourne had the alternative word for the “F” part of its sign that me and my friends graffitied … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge Delta, EF, EFL geek, IATEFL, Teacher forums, TEFL blogs, TEFL chains, TEFL heroes- Jeremy Harmer, TEFL heroes- Michael Swan, TEFL heroes- Sandy McManus, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury, TEFL Tradesman, TEFL villains- Jennifer Jenkins | Tagged | 23 Comments

TEFL quotes of the year 2008

Posted on 24/12/2008 by alexcase

In reverse order by when they appeared on the blog (the first two are new): “Now Skinner did reign in the land of psychology, and it came to pass that Chomsky smote Skinner and begat Krashen, and Krashen begat Long, … Continue reading →

Posted in ALT, CELTA, History of English teaching in Japan, Kaplan, KOTESOL, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in Japan, Teaching English in Korea, TEFL chains, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury, TEFL in the UK | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

TEFL conspiracy theory of the day

Posted on 12/11/2008 by alexcase

Talking of TEFL jargon , am I the only one to notice that since Scott Thornbury wrote “An A to Z of ELT” his other books have suddenly become full of more jargon than you can shake a dictionary at? … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge University Press, ELT publishing, links, Materials, Speaking, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury | Tagged | 2 Comments

An alternative A to Z of ELT Part 15

Posted on 14/09/2008 by alexcase

Innateness hypothesis- The theory that studying English is inherently boring, so why bother with games. See also “Inaneness hypothesis”* Input- The theory that the language we expose students to should be as carefully chosen as when programming a computer or … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge Delta, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, Teaching English in Spain, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury | Tagged , | Comments Off on An alternative A to Z of ELT Part 15

You can't Beat that sh*t! Oh, okay, turns out you can…

Posted on 04/09/2007 by alexcase

So, Takeshi Kitano wins another film award at an arty festival, along no doubt with a whole load of other unwatchable crap. There are a few specifically Beat Takeshi points worth making here, such as: if the judges just watched some … Continue reading →

Posted in Dogme, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, TBA (Task Based Approach), TEFL Heroes- Michael Lewis, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury, TESOL, textbooks, The lexical approach | Comments Off on You can't Beat that sh*t! Oh, okay, turns out you can…