global issues in ELT

Making it though

Drawing from a personal experience in these last few difficult months, I reflect briefly on how seriously teachers’ mental health is taken by educational institutions.

73 cows: a video about sustainability

I have recently watched this short film and I found it so compellingly beautiful that I thought about creating a lesson around it. 73 COWS 73 Cows is an award-winning short documentary about the journey and personal conflict of Jay Wilde, the first farmer in the UK to embark upon transitioning from beef farming to

#IATEFL2018: ELT as emancipatory practice by Steve Brown

Here’s another set of notes from a talk I attended yesterday. Introduction We live in a world where people who are in position of power are using it to further disadvantage people in an already disadvantaged position. We are assisting to the commodification of language, learning and teaching! Wheere is power located in ELT? school owners publishing

#IATEFL2018: Making PARSNIPs palatable by Rose Aylett

Here are my notes from this very interesting and thought-provoking session I attended yesterday. Premise PARSNIPs are left out of classroom practice because of: institutional policies local culture lack of materials fear of Ss reactions However, they are important and Ss often need the language to talk about these issues. So why boycott them? How

I’m tired

I apologise for the rant that follows, but sometimes I just need to get things out of my chest, and this is one of those times. Despite the best efforts of the institution I work for to actively promote equality, we still get loads of requests for madrelingua (native speakers). And do you know where these

Fighting climate change: lesson notes

Today I would like to share a very successful lesson I created for a B2 (upper-intermediate) group around the topic of climate change and this article by The Guardian. This is a very rough plan and needs fine-tuning, mainly to suit your learners needs and interests. I have used this lesson with both adults and

Does equality really exist in ELT?

Lately I’ve been feeling a bit pessimistic about the state of ELT. It feels everyday more like a club we NNEST are not welcome to join. When I look around me, online and offline, I see more and more people participating in the NEST-NNEST debate, affirming that there should be no differences. That gender, colour

How to be a confident NNEST

Many things have already been written and said about the topic of NNEST equality in ELT. However, what can we do as NNESTs to improve our self-confidence and how students and employers see us? Last week I read this excellent post by Elly Setterfield, which got me thinking about how I see myself as a

Sensitive issues and ELT

It all started with a notelt from Mike Harrison where he was asking if we thought it appropriate to bring up hot or controversial topics in class. I thought my answer would be “no”. I remember my CELTA tutors telling us how “what’s the best way to avoid stress” is a good topic for ELT,

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