Language Fuel Podcast

I’ve recently come back from the CLESOL 2018 conference, and absolutely loved it. In this episode, I summarise some of the interesting talks I attended, and what general threads came out of the conference. If you’re interested in following up about the speakers I mention, here are some links: Dr. Martin Andrew: https://www.drmartinandrew.com/ Dr. Tan Bee Tin: http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/people/ttin009 Dr. Angel Lin: https://www.sfu.ca/education/faculty-profiles/alin.html Paulette Tamati-Elliffe http://www.kmk.maori.nz/our-people/ Dr. Jeanette King https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/arts/schools-and-departments/aotahi-school-of-maori-and-indigenous-studies/contact-us/key-contacts/jeanette-king.html Dr. Rae Si’ilata https://unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz/profile/r-siilata

This episode, I’m responding to a thoughtful article by Sarah Priestly. See it here https://eltjam.com/author/sarah-priestley/ I explore why English teachers love fun, and suggest the underlying motivation is essentially student engagement. This then brings me to start a series of instructional videos on Gagne’s 9 events of instruction. Gagne’s first ‘event’ is GAIN ATTENTION. I suggest a couple of ways to gain attention of your learners at the start of a lesson, and ask you for your opinion on a couple things. Give me some feedback in the Language Fuel Community (free) Facebook group! You can read about Gagne’s 9 events, plus other key concepts in instructional design in the following book: Gagné, R. M., Wager, W. W., Golas, K. C. and J. M. Keller (2005) Principles of Instructional Design (5th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage.

We're back in the podcast mode with our first episode for Season Two! ​Te Reo Is one of New Zealand’s linguistic and cultural treasures, but everyone’s divided about how much it should be promoted. There’s been plenty of discussion in the NZ press lately about whether or not learning Te Reo should be compulsory in New Zealand schools. ​I couldn’t sit by and not add my own two cents to the debate. ​Hear what I have to say below, and stay tuned for an offer for any current or future Maori language teachers! ​If you are a teacher of Maori (or are training to be), then get in touch - we want to hear from you, and we'll be giving away a free Premium Membership to the Language Fuel Academy!  ​Sign up to enter that draw at www.languagefuel.com/tereo

Today I follow up on our previous podcast, and complete the review of Duolingo, including some information about what it CAN’T do for language learners. Last time, we talked about some great features of the Duolingo app, in terms of software design, e-learning features, and second language acquisition ideas.  While I love the app, there are some things it can’t do, and I go into these by looking at a variety of lenses through which one can view language, from phonetics right through to historical linguistics and seeing what aspects of language Duolingo is teaching, and recognize what it is not teaching. 

We all want to make progress in life. Recently, I learned a great nugget of truth from one of my mentors, which summarises the key to making progress in any area. In this episode, I share that nugget of truth with you, and apply it to language learning. Leslie Foster has also just published two  courses on setting SMART goals for language learning, and for language teaching. The nugget of truth is embedded as a principle in both of these courses, and I outline for you how those courses are structured, and how they help you make progress in language learning, or assist your learners to make progress in their language learning.

The recent events in Christchurch are devastating, to say the least.  But let's remember that as language learners and teachers, we are helping to build bridges between cultures and between different people.  Let this event remind us of that. Let this be our "Why".

In this episode, we share with you the latest course we have just published! It’s a course on understanding different types of sentence structure. That might sound boring, but listen in to see how we make this stuff interesting!

In this episode, we’re finishing off our interview with Jill Hadfield, an enormously successful English Language Teacher and materials writer, who has been working in the field all over the world for many years. This final part of the interview touches on her charity work that she started in Madagascar, and then walks us through some of the books she’s written. We also hear about some of the research she has worked on in the last decade of her career. (Catch up on parts one and two of the interview in the previous two episodes.) #CelebrateJill We’re super delighted to have Jill in our Language Fuel team, contributing as the ELT Content Editor in our online ELT Training Library. As part of our celebration, we’re giving away a free annual Premium Membership. Enter the draw before the end of February 2019 at www.languagefuel.com/celebratejill

In this episode, we continue our interview with Jill Hadfield, the new ELT Content Editor at Language Fuel. Jill tells us all about the time she and her husband Charlie spent in Madagascar, where they encouraged and trained teachers who had very little resources. It’s hard for Western teachers today to even imagine that. Don’t forget to enter the draw at www.languagefuel.com/celebratejill We’re so excited to welcome Jill to the team, that we’re giving away one year-long membership to our ELT Training library.

We’re kicking off this season with a mini-series of interviews with our brand new ELT Content Editor, Jill Hadfield. Jill has been working in the English Language Teaching industry for many years, and brings with her a wealth of experience. In this mini-series, we get to know Jill a little better. In this episode, part one, we learn about how many books she’s written, what her recent research topics have been, and we start to learn about her time spent in different countries. We pause this episode just after Jill finishes talking about her time in Tibet… Tune in to the next episode to hear about their time in Madagascar and more! Don’t forget – during the month of February, we’re running a #CelebrateJill campaign. To enter the draw to win a year-long Premium Membership to the Language Fuel Training Library, go to www.languagefuel.com/celebratejill

It’s the end of the year, and we’re taking the time out to look back at 2018 and look forward to 2019. Joanna takes us through what has happened at Language Fuel in the last 12 months. We’ve re-designed our online training courses, and re-named them. We no longer have the Language Fuel Academy. Instead, we now have our two Language Fuel Training Libraries. We’ve also continued to serve the New Zealand community with language teaching and learning resources. And we’ve been doing a lot of materials development for language schools. Next year, we’re excited to welcome a new, very experienced team member to help take our ELT Training Library to the next level! She’ll also help out with the podcast going forward. So stay tuned for Season Three, which will be re-focused to become more about English Language Teaching, and will be co-hosted with our newest member of the team. Seasons Greetings to all our Podcast Listeners from the Language Fuel Team.

Have you ever thought of teaching a community language class? The good news is, you don’t have to be perfect to make an impact. In this episode, I reflect on my latest steps in learning Te Reo. I have started attending a local community class for beginners, and it was inspiring to be a part of the class. Tune in to hear what the teacher did right, and be encouraged in your own learning or teaching journey.

Do you have students with varying abilities in your class? Tune in to this episode, where Joanna summaries best practice around managing multi-level classes. Learn about becoming more learner centric, working with groups, having a range of self-directed activities, what it means to ‘flip the classroom’ and more. This episode is a brief overview. More in-depth and information about this topic will soon be available as part of our online training library. 

This week, we are reviewing a range of dictionaries! It’s a bit of a hot topic here in New Zealand at the moment, with our qualifications authority suggesting that language learners are allowed paper-based dictionaries, but not electronic ones, in exams. So language schools around the country are now forced to make sure they have some good quality paper-based dictionaries on hand for students to use. We look at three different types of dictionaries – bilingual dictionaries, English-English dictionaries, and learner dictionaries – and show you some of the features of each one. Get in touch with us at NZResourceroom@languagefuel.com if you are interested in purchasing a class set for your learners.

This episode, I’m exploring the final 4 steps in Gagne’s famous instructional design model: The 9 events of instruction. We looked at steps four and five last episode, and we look at steps six to nine this episode. You can read about Gagne’s 9 events, plus other key concepts in instructional design in the following book: Gagné, R. M., Wager, W. W., Golas, K. C. and J. M. Keller (2005) Principles of Instructional Design (5th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage. You can download the summary of these 9 steps at https://languagefuel.activehosted.com/f/43

This episode, I’m exploring further steps in Gagne’s famous instructional design model: The 9 events of instruction. We looked at steps two and three last episode, and we look at steps four and five this episode. Tune in to the next episode to hear about further steps, and how they apply to the language classroom. You can read about Gagne’s 9 events, plus other key concepts in instructional design in the following book: Gagné, R. M., Wager, W. W., Golas, K. C. and J. M. Keller (2005) Principles of Instructional Design (5th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage.

This episode, I’m exploring further steps in Gagne’s famous instructional design model: The 9 events of instruction. We looked at step one last episode, and we look at steps 2 and 3 this episode. Tune in to the next episode to hear about further steps, and how they apply to the language classroom. You can read about Gagne’s 9 events, plus other key concepts in instructional design in the following book: Gagné, R. M., Wager, W. W., Golas, K. C. and J. M. Keller (2005) Principles of Instructional Design (5th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage.

Swearing. Cursing. Profanity. Is it appropriate to teach swear words to language learners? We discuss this issue today, and hear about a new book by Dr. Sarah Byrne called Swearing is Good For You. The Amazing Science of Bad Language. https://emmabyrne.net/welcome/sigfy/

Have you seen the video about the man who claims to be fluent in 24 different languages? Could this be true? ​In this episode, I define fluency, and talk about the differences between fluency and competency and therefore how we might go about understanding these perhaps incredible claims.  ​Learn also how becoming fluent at every competency level can improve your overall language skills. Check out what resources you can find at the Language Fuel Academy to improve your fluency today!

Language Fuel is celebrating the launch of the Premium Membership! We are now inviting people to become foundational members of the Language Fuel Academy. Membership includes access to all of our courses, as well as access to our exclusive Facebook group. This podcast episode, Leslie and Joanna discuss what the Premium Membership is all about, and invite listeners to sign up. We discuss what some of the course content is, in our published courses, and we explain why we are including a Facebook group in our Premium Membership service. This is also the first time we’ve done a video version of the Podcast, so if you want to watch us, you can do so on YouTube. See you at the Language Fuel Academy!