TEFL Commute

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

Episodes

Episode 100: TEFL Commute 100th Episode

March 8, 2022 • 53 mins
Season 14 episode 7: Numbers is the last episode for this season and marks the 100th episode of our podcast. To celebrate the 100, we've done an episode on numbers. In this roundtable each of the team brings some numbers related to teaching to discuss. Since it is a milestone episode we also look back over some of our episodes and Shaun quizzes the team on TEFL commute related numbers.  Enjoy our 100th episode and see you ...
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Episode 99: Season 14 Episode 6: Party

February 22, 2022 • 39 mins
In this episode the team show they have the finger on the pulse of politics by talking about parties. Lindsay decides he wants to dissect 10 Downing street’s party invite and this leads into a discussion about the party vocabulary, the language of the parties, and ELT and parties (both political and the fun kind) in ELT. Get ready for the TEFL commute does discourse analysis! 
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Episode 98: Season 14 episode 5: Drama

February 8, 2022 • 45 mins
We’re back after our mid-season break and we’re getting all dramatic. In this episode Ceri, Lindsay and Shaun discuss drama and ELT.  Are they ELT thesps? Do they use drama? What are the benefits? In addition Lindsay tells us about academic drama and Shaun finds out if they other two can recognise a Shakespeare quote. 
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Episode 97: Season 14 Episode 4: Hotch Potch

December 13, 2021 • 33 mins
We reach the half way point of the current season just in time for the festive season. In this episode the TEFL commute gang foolishly leave Shaun alone in a zoom room so expect some terrible jokes at some point.   In a different type of episode each of the regular commuters has their own little section as the commute team get ready for their Xmas Breaks.   
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Episode 96: Season 14 Episode 3: Volunteering

December 2, 2021 • 36 mins
In this episode the TEFL commute gang talk about volunteering and ELT. They start by talking about asking for volunteers in class before discussing their volunteering within the world of TEFL and how volunteering might be different to having a hobby. 
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Episode 95: Season 14 Episode 2: Authors

November 19, 2021 • 41 mins
In this episode, Lindsay Ceri and Sandy talk about authors and English language teaching. Did you know there are many famous authors who taught English? Why do materials writers not always consider themselves authors? We also have an interview with an English teacher who went into materials writing and then wrote a novel. And Sandy leads a classic TEFL commute quiz about books and writers and teachers.
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Episode 94: Season 14 Episode 1: Cheerful

November 1, 2021 • 21 mins
We're back, it's our 14th season and we get underway by discussing reasons to be cheerful. After nearly two years of the pandemic, lockdown, online teaching and very little commuting we begin this season by looking at some of the positives we've taken from this time. 
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Episode 93: Season 13 Episode 6: Words

May 18, 2021 • 50 mins
We bring our 13th season to a close with our round table episode. This season we talk words, words we like, words we don't like, words that have caught our attention and words that don't translate. The team are joined by @lexicojules to add a touch of gravitas to their discussions and get some insight into which of our chosen words might hang around. See you in the Autumn.
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Episode 92: Season 13 Episode 5: Young

April 26, 2021 • 44 mins
From old to young – in this episode the topic of teaching most certainly comes up as Lindsay Sandy, Shaun discuss teaching young learners. They discuss many aspects of the topic from looking at what ages are considered YL to if there is a point that is too young to learn a second language. The episode also features several YL trainers whose contributions give practical advice to those teaching this area
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Episode 91: Season 13 Episode 4: Old

April 13, 2021 • 51 mins
Are the TEFL Commute crew feeling their age? In this episode Ceri, Lindsay and Shaun discuss language associated with 'old', and consider language teaching with older students. Lindsay chats with Mark McKinnon about what it's like to teach senior learners, and Shaun leads the team through an Olde English quiz.
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Episode 90: Season 13 Episode 3: Plateau

March 22, 2021 • 38 mins
In episode 3, Shaun and Lindsay return to find themselves stuck on a plateau so use this as an opportunity to discuss what the so-called Intermediate plateau is in language learning, how it happens and what things can be done to try and avoid / get off it.
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Episode 89: Season 13 Episode 2: Women

March 8, 2021 • 44 mins
In this episode, we celebrate International Women’s Day with a takeover by Sandy Millin and Ceri Jones. They look at the history of the day, talk about their experiences as women in ELT, reflect on representation in ELT, and maintain the TEFL Commute tradition by having not one, but two quizzes!
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Episode 88: Season 13 Episode 1: Animals

February 22, 2021 • 40 mins
Our 13th season begins by looking at animals. Lindsay ponders when we teach animal vocabulary, while Shaun gets carried away with onomatopoeic sounds. After joining us at the end of the last season, we welcome Sandy back with her new feature. Add in some quizzes, idioms and collective nouns and we have a bumper first episode of the season,
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Episode 87: Season 12 Episode 5: Podcasts

December 21, 2020 • 50 mins
It’s the final episode of season 12 so it’s our traditional round table (well, round zoom) episode. This season’s theme is podcasts with Shaun and Lindsay joined by James, and a new additional to the TEFL commute team. This year’s rules are simple – bring one podcast related to language, one about teaching and one you’d recommend to others. So come listen and find out what we’ve chosen
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Episode 86: Season 12 Episode 4: Adventure

December 14, 2020 • 35 mins
In the penultimate episode of the season, Shaun and Lindsay discuss adventure. They look at how TEFL is often marketed as an adventure, and the part adventure plays in course materials as well as discussing how to go about utilising ‘adventure’ with students from timeless classroom activities through to the latest craze of escape rooms.
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Season 12 Episode 3: Fake

November 16, 2020 • 47 mins
It’s episode 3 already and this episode we talk ‘fake’, an interesting word that doesn’t always collocate with news! In the episode Shaun and Lindsay look at authenticity, imposter syndrome and whether ‘the man with 13 jobs, is real or not. In addition there is a ‘fake’ music quiz, and producer James gives us an idea for a fake news activity.
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Season 12 Episode 2: Dictator

November 2, 2020 • 38 mins
In the week of the US election it seemed fitting to do an episode called dictator but don’t worry, we are not giving him too much airtime. While we do look at Trump's impact on the English language, the episode also discusses authoritarian teachers, and explores the use of dictation as a teaching activity.
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Season 12 Episode 1: Normal

October 19, 2020 • 34 mins
Shaun and Lindsay kick off the 12th season of the TEFL commute by discussing ‘normal’. The talk about the use of the word ‘normal’, and discover the phrase ‘ the new normal’ is older than it seems. Lindsay regales Shaun with a tale of Mr. Average, and since it’s a new season we even let Producer James join the episode.
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Who's zooming who? The future

June 16, 2020 • 14 mins
In the final instalment of our mini-series Shaun and Lindsay take ten-minutes to discuss the future. With lockdown beginning to undo in many places and schools working out how to start up again we discuss some of the ideas that have been suggested
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Who's zooming who? Breaks

June 12, 2020 • 12 mins
In our penultimate instalment Lindsay and Shaun discuss taking breaks. We consider how to ensure that we take break in and between lessons and little trips for our well-being.
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