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The obvious is difficult to see

Gregory Bateson is the person I am quoting in my title. Recently, one of my cheer leaders for Small Changes e-mailed me to say that his students–3rd year English majors keen to become English teachers–had great difficulty understanding the audio on my videos. My cheer leader had to spend much of each class aiding the […]

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The British Council to the rescue

In 1962, I was assigned to teach in a teacher training college in Eastern Nigeria. I was responsible for teaching literature and language and for supervising teachers during practice teaching. I had taught literature in English and Spanish during my own practice teaching so I was not totally incompetent in these two areas. But I […]

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Discussing our classes with visitors

In 1992, Longman published Contrasting Conversations a book about ways to discuss what we do in our lessons with visitors or supervisors or guests such as parents. It was based on this article“Let’s see–Contrasting conversations about supervision and observation.” 1988. TESOL Quarterly Vol. XXII, March. (Awarded the Malkemes Prize from the American Language Institute of […]

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Contrasting conversations

In 1992, Longman published Contrasting Conversations a book about ways to discuss what we do in our lessons with visitors or supervisors or guests such as parents. It was based on this article“Let’s see–Contrasting conversations about supervision and observation.” 1988. TESOL Quarterly Vol. XXII, March. (Awarded the Malkemes Prize from the American Language Institute of […]

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An English teacher in Moscow interviews John

In January of 2019, I taught a live on line course for iTDi dealing with my obsession: exploring teaching and earning. There were a number of teachers from around the world but the majority were from Russia and the Ukraine. One of these teachers was Alexandra Chistyakova who teaches English in Moscow. Shortly after the […]

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Motivation and lying

The juxtaposition in the title of motivation and lying, meaning cheating, not lying on the grass, probably sounds a bit strange to many of you. I hope as a result the juxtaposition has aroused your curiosity. I also hope that by the end of my blog you will understand the connections between lying and motivation. […]

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Never . . . . . . . . phonics.

Before you read more, please think of a couple of words you would write between Never and phonics in the title of this post that reflect your beliefs about phonics. Here are words others write on the dotted line between Never and phonics: 1 criticize 2 ignore 3 teach 4 neglect 5 encourage 6 forget […]

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Overcoming the tyranny of power point–using its advantages

0. Overoming the tyranny of Power Point NEW

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Overcoming the tyranny of Power Point and using its advantages.

0. Overoming the tyranny of Power Point NEW

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Confusion is the beginning of learning

Some years ago I wrote a book titled Huh? Oh. Aha! in which I described activities for learners that required them to ask a series of questions. Fortunately, the publisher cancelled the contract. I used a lot of jargon that got in the way. In Small changes in teaching, big results in learning, I have […]

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