TEFL Commute
TEFL commute is a podcast for language teachers. It is not about language teaching though inevitably it might crop up. All three of us are avid podcast listeners and like playing around making our own. TEFL commute is meant to be a light-hearted listen aimed at brightening your daily commute to class. Each episode is built a round a topic that you could use in your teaching and the podcast will have page on this site that will link you to articles, questions and resources you can use with your students. You can even get involved by recording your snippet of mp3 for inclusion on a future episode or leaving us a suggestion on this site.We had fun making and developing the idea so we hope you enjoy the listen.Lindsay, Shaun and James
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Episodes
Monday Mar 14, 2016
Monday Mar 14, 2016
In this episode, Ceri and Shaun talk all things voice. The voice is one of the main tools of the teacher but how well do you look after it? Do you warm it up? Should you really avoid coffee? Is a female voice preferred to a male voice? Ceri and Shaun discuss all these aspects and give you some tips for looking after your voice and ensuring it is ready for the day's teaching ahead.
Sunday Feb 28, 2016
Sunday Feb 28, 2016
In this episode Lindsay and Shaun discuss what happens behind the closed of the classroom. We discuss the 'secretive' nature of a teacher's domain and chat about teacher observation. We consider the use of video cameras for observation and discuss whether big brother is now being used to keep an eye on what we do. Phillip Kerr rejoins us to talk about a website that will analyse your teaching performance.
Sunday Feb 14, 2016
Sunday Feb 14, 2016
In this episode Lindsay and Shaun discuss the alphabet. We consider how we got 26 letters and what happened to letters such as thorn and ampersand. We choose our favourite letters and some of our favourite techniques for dealing with the alphabet in the classroom. In addition we look at the pangrams and lipograms and James tries to decode nyms, phones and graphs for us. Finally, Shaun risks Lindsay’s future collaboration in the podcast by making him endure some alphabet related humour.
Monday Feb 01, 2016
Monday Feb 01, 2016
In the first episode of the new season Lindsay and Shaun talk invented languages. From Esparento to Dothraki, we look at the purpose of invented language and what we can learn from looking at how they work. We also discuss the rise of emoji, if it is impacting on language and how we might use it with students. A new series also brings a new game and of course an end of pod activity.
Sunday Dec 06, 2015
Sunday Dec 06, 2015
In this episode Shaun and Lindsay attempt to meet up and talk about gifts. They discuss typical gifts that teachers receive and how we went from an apple to expensive watches. In addition Lindsay delights in corny thank you messages and Shaun brings you a seasonal timeline. The last episode of the season ends with a gift related classroom activity. See you next year.
Sunday Nov 15, 2015
Sunday Nov 15, 2015
In this episode Shaun and Lindsay discuss translation devices such a google translate and skype. They consider how effective they are and what the effect on language teaching maybe. They also pander a little to their inner sci-fi geek with a look at universal translators and even get Philip Kerr to come and talk about translation in language teaching. Throw in a bit of Facebook wisdom and an end of pod activity and you have another glorious episode of the TEFL commute.
Sunday Nov 01, 2015
Sunday Nov 01, 2015
In this episode Lindsay and Ceri talk all things photocopy. They explore everything from their photocopying pet hates through to schools policies to copying. They even discuss how and when the photocopier came into being. Elsewhere in the podcast you'll find some more Facebook wisdom and we exile Christina Rebuffet-Broadus to the Dessert Island.
Sunday Oct 18, 2015
Sunday Oct 18, 2015
In this episode Shaun and Lindsay are joined by Scott Thornbury to discuss typical sentences used in language teaching. From phones interrupting baths through to spending a million dollars we discuss model sentences and explore why we use them. In addition we have some more Facebook philosophy and give you a second chance to play our podcast game, timeline.
Sunday Oct 04, 2015
Sunday Oct 04, 2015
In this episode Lindsay and Shaun talk explicit language. We discuss how smart technology is trying to stop us swearing and look at some frequencies list of words considered taboo. We also explore the features of a swear word. With the help Ceri’s corner we also talk about how to go about dealing with swear words in the classroom. Throw in some Facebook philosophy and a bit of coffeeepotting and you have another episode of the TEFL commute.
Sunday Sep 20, 2015
Sunday Sep 20, 2015
In this episode Shaun and Lindsay talk about classrooms. We discuss unusual places in which people have taught, how much classrooms have changed over the last 100 years and what makes the perfect classroom. We also explore some whacky names for classroom sitting organisation. James busts some jargon and as usual we end with an activity you can take to class.