the lives of teachers

new semester, new style

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 06:17:44 +0000

For anyone who is still watching, I’m back from my blogging break just in time for classes to start tomorrow. The bigger picture is that teacher development passes through different stages, and in a pragmatic assessment of my blogging and tweeting I realised that neither was the most efficient way for me (personally) to become [...]

an interview with phil benson

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:10:32 +0000

I met with Phil Benson at the JALT national conference in Tokyo, Japan at the end of November 2011. He had just given an excellent plenary entitled Autonomy in Language Teaching and Learning: How to Do it “Here”, ‘Here’ being wherever you are….acknowledging the commonly heard complaint levelled at promoters of Learner Autonomy – “Yes [...]

an interview with keith johnson

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:33:56 +0000

I very much enjoyed meeting Keith Johnson at the JALT conference in Tokyo last week. We discussed a few aspects of what adds up to a very distinguished career in language teaching. More recently, Professor Johnson has focussed on expertise studies, wrestling with the difficult question of what makes an expert teacher…. and you might [...]

an interview with ken wilson

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 00:27:11 +0000

I was very happy to finally meet Ken Wilson, at the JALT conference in Tokyo last week. Ken gave several presentations, including a fantastic closing plenary. I’ve seen him speak before, and I can’t stress this enough – if you get a chance, get to one of his talks! His theme this time around was [...]

ipad 2 for teachers – a review (part two – dictionaries)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:13:47 +0000

As mobile learning takes off, it’s inevitable that the big publishers are going to want in on the act. The question is, will they do a good job? Oxford University Press have started fairly gently by adapting existing print products for the iTunes store, and have very kindly gifted me a number of iPad apps [...]

happy hallowe’en!

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:23:52 +0000

It’s that time again…. a couple of quick ones in time for Jason Renshaw’s Hallowe’en Lesson Plan Challenge. The first worksheet is a set of questions to get them in the mood – there are four different question sheets with spaces to add extra questions. Students can circulate and make notes, then report back to [...]

realizing autonomy conference update

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 03:28:02 +0000

With only three weeks to go, the excitement is rising for the Realizing Autonomy conference to be held at Nanzan University in Nagoya on October 29th. The website for the conference (and the accompanying book) is constantly evolving, so keep your eyes on it. Part of the reason I am writing here today is to [...]

ipad 2 for teachers – a review (part one – classroom applications)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 06:16:33 +0000

I’ve had my new toy for a couple of months now, enough time to play around with it in various teaching contexts, on a few long and short trips, and in two different countries. I say toy because, if I’m honest, that is mainly what it is – I mean, it’s a luxury item, [...]

Realizing Autonomy – the book and the conference

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:50:23 +0000

Just searching through my inbox, it was way back in November 2008 that I received the call for papers sent to all members of the Learner Development SIG of JALT (The Japan Association for Language Teachers). They had just gotten the go ahead to put together another book in their series of edited collections, and were [...]

A is for Ankylosaurus

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 21:55:58 +0000

Although I earn my money up at the university, my main job these days seems to be teaching of young learners. Two of them, boys, aged two and four. I’ve started sitting down with Ibuki everyday for ten or twenty minutes to do our ‘letters’, and both boys love being read to, but I wanted [...]

one step back, two steps forward

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 03:24:30 +0000

I haven’t read Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, but I have heard enough about it to feel as if I have. The handy little factoid that is most quoted is the 10,000 hours rule; basically, that it takes 10,000 hours of hard practice to master achieve mastery of one’s given discipline. What constitutes mastery, or practice for [...]

three new books you might like to read

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:10:10 +0000

I am very happy to have taken up a position as book reviews editor for a new online, open-access journal based in the UK, The Journal of Second Language Teaching and Research. The first issue should be out shortly, with three excellent book review contributions sourced from my personal learning network. Part of the remit of [...]

presentation tips for language learners

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 06 May 2011 07:06:27 +0000

I am working on some short videos or animations to show language learners how to do basic presentations. At the moment, I am focusing on common problems my students have had in the past and I used these tips as a kind of jigsaw reading today. What do you think? Anything to add, or take [...]

a fresh start

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 22:52:03 +0000

I took this photo last week, as I do every year. I’m not a nature photographer, and I though I love living here I wouldn’t call myself a Japanophile, but there is something about an early blossoming sakura tree…. The hanami celebrations have been muted this year, and many people in Northern Japan will be [...]

the new chernobyl? – media literacy in action

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 08:14:09 +0000

*IMPORTANT* Above all else, there are a huge number of people in Northern Japan who are going to need our help in the coming days, weeks, months, and (dare I say it) years. If you would like to help, from in or outside Japan, there are a number of ways you can do so. The [...]

personal learning networks – the what, why and how (existential crisis remix for #plek12)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:55:31 +0000

I have recently started a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with the University of Florida. It’s free, open access, and for me non-credit. The first ‘assignment’ is to write about why you are taking the course and what you expect to gain from it. One simple and practical answer is that I want to find [...]

the lure of mediocrity (six minutes and forty seconds)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 22:00:52 +0000

intercultural training for pre-service teachers – a favour

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:34:44 +0000

Searching the Cambridge CELTA syllabus for ‘culture’, I discover the following. Unit 1 – Learners and teachers and the teaching and learning context 1.1 Cultural, linguistic and educational backgrounds Demonstrate an understanding of the range of backgrounds and experiences that adult learners bring to their classes A quick scoot around the Trinity CertTESOL site yields similar results…. [...]

the mark e. smith guide to writing guide

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 02:17:34 +0000

Day three. Get up and go to pub. Day four. By now, people in the pub should be continually getting on your nerves. Write things about them on the backs of beer mats. Day five. Go to pub… by now guilt, drunkeness, the people in the pub and the fact you are one of them [...]

on standardisation

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 06:18:38 +0000

“..standardisation is a reasonable way of maintaining minimal standards, not the best way of ensuring the highest possible ones. Establishing minimally acceptable standards and imposing them on everybody, even on those who can exceed them, can create a powerful but stultifying myth about what constitutes ‘good’ teaching. Creativity in teaching is then stifled in favour [...]

an interview with kaz hagiwara

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:23:21 +0000

An Interview with Kaz Hagiwara from darren elliott on Vimeo. Kaz Hagiwara is a teacher of Japanese working in Australia, and a leading exponent of (de) suggestopedia. It’s a method you have probably heard of, but in seeing Kaz’s presentations and spending some time talking to him I realised that there was more to it [...]

new year, new projects

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 04:25:06 +0000

(hatsuhinode – the first sunrise of the new year) The Winter holiday is a time above all to reflect on what has been and plan for what might be. Aside from what goes on in the classroom, I have a few things coming up in the year ahead. On the evening of January 14th I’ll [...]

an interview with nicky hockly

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 07:08:08 +0000

An Interview with Nicky Hockly from darren elliott on Vimeo. I was very happy to talk to Nicky Hockly at the JALT National Conference in Nagoya, Japan in November 2010. She gave a fantastic plenary – well-paced, useful and pertinent – and if you get a chance, see her talk! If not, then this fifteen [...]

six things you should say in the staff room (if you want to get ahead)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 05:26:17 +0000

Now Lindsay is retiring his blog, we can safely plunder its fantastic format. I suppose it would be more respectful to wait until after the official date, but frankly I’ve been sitting on this one for a while and it’s Friday afternoon…. I feel like starting a meme. Here is my ‘something for the weekend’, [...]

an interview with michael swan

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 13:13:29 +0000

An Interview with Michael Swan from darren elliott on Vimeo. I was very happy to speak to Michael Swan at the JALT conference in Nagoya last month, and now you can listen to what he had to say too! We discussed grammar and how it should be approached by teachers, ELF and errors, and changes [...]

religious fervour and pedagogical evangelism

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 11:34:07 +0000

(My contribution to the ＃dogmeme, with advance apologies to Karenne Sylvester) Teachers have a lot of people telling them what to teach, and how to teach it. Governments looking for cheap votes. Parents who want to abdicate themselves from the responsibility of raising their own children. Administrators who need to hit targets, meet budgets and [...]

an interview with jeannette littlemore (metaphor and gesture)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 00:47:44 +0000

An Interview with Jeannette Littlemore from darren elliott on Vimeo. It was great to see Jeanette’s workshop, and to talk to her afterwards about the research she has been engaged in regarding metaphor and gesture. As teachers, we need to be aware of the ways in which our gestures may be interpreted… whether they support [...]

questions i’m no longer asking

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:31:48 +0000

George Siemens’ recent post on this topic was a thought provoking one. I am not a man who holds particularly firm convictions (if you were feeling uncharitable you might call me a flip-flopper, but I prefer to say I am open minded). I don’t think Siemens is suggesting that these questions should be locked away [...]

‘How-to’ student video making.

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 01:19:15 +0000

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about some of the possibilities opening up with new digital video recorders, and I’d like to explain in a little more depth a particular project I worked on with a class recently. This represents a full cycle of work over a number of lessons. Step One Everyone is [...]

culture and the language teacher

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 06:03:22 +0000

(Written as a NEST, working in a foreign country, but hopefully of interest to all) How did you learn cultural awareness? Assuming you did, of course…. For an industry which pitches different cultures together with such force and frequency as ELT, there is very little teacher training devoted to cross-cultural communication. On the CELTA? Sorry, [...]

“bona to vada your dolly old eek” (language and identity)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 05:58:43 +0000

Whether it qualifies as a fully fledged language is very doubtful. It may be a lexicon, but that doesn’t really give it the full sense of social gravitas it deserves. It’s not really a dialect, a pidgin or a creole. To call it a jargon would imply that it was a technical or professional form, [...]

metaphorical images of learner autonomy

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 04:11:01 +0000

Learner autonomy may have an established tradition in language learning, dating back to the 1960’s and beyond, but what, actually, is it? Is it a social, political or philosophical standpoint, or merely a methodological choice? Can it be implemented in the same way regardless of context? Should it be collaborative, or individual? I want you [...]

watch yourself – digital video recording in language education

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 12:00:46 +0000

Presented at the Chubu Junior and Senior High School Seminar 2010 First of all, a guide to the five kinds of digital camera I discussed. The ‘traditional’ camcorder, the pocket camcorder, the mobile phone, the digital camera, and the webcam. A Field Guide to Digital Video from darren elliott on Vimeo. Then a digital video [...]

collaborate to motivate #chubu26

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 03:32:18 +0000

If you were at the event on Sunday and are coming to look for the supplements on my presentation about digital video, please hold tight! I’m hoping to upload the checklist, some activities, worksheets, link, videos and a bibliography in the next couple of days. While you are here, if this is your first visit, have a look [...]

what teachers can learn from stand-up comedy

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 23:56:53 +0000

I’m not talking about how to get a laugh (although it’s always a pleasure). No, but I’ve been listening to some great interviews with comedians recently, and what struck me was the way in which they talk about honing their craft, succeeding, failing and getting better. They could easily be talking about teaching. I particularly [...]

Teacher Training for Complete Novices

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:02:41 +0000

I don’t think the hiring practices of English conversation schools in Japan are unique. If I were feeling charitable, I might suggest that such schools are looking for character and potential in their hires… presentable young men and women, native speakers, who can get along with others. And to be fair, people like that can [...]

What happened to August?

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:32:45 +0000

Well, after the last post it turns out I did absolutely nothing all summer… at least, nothing related to work. I had a lot of fun though, and thoroughly recharged my batteries with friends and family in England. I haven’t blogged or tweeted anything of note in all that time, and I am straining at the [...]

the grasshopper and the ants

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:58:29 +0000

When Karenne Sylvester wrote recently about the frequency of blogging, on Janet Bianchini’s blog it made me think. Initially, I disagreed… I would rather have an occasional, top quality read than a regular second rate one. But then I realised that some bloggers are delivering frequent, good quality content. Shorter, maybe, but good quality nonetheless. [...]

untitled film stills – student as archetype

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:53:14 +0000

In the first, a tousled woman peers out of a darkened room into the bright sunlight, martini glass in hand, sunglasses shielding her eyes from the glare, stocking hitched, a bored socialite drenched in ennui. Her children will populate the early Bret Easton Ellis novels of the 1980′s, deadened by money, neglect and sex. In the next [...]

what teachers want from technology (epic fail)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:18:11 +0000

Xtranormal is a site I have championed around the blogosphere before. It allows users to make animated movies by clicking and dragging icons, and converts text to voice in a variety of computer generated accents. If you have time, it is a great way of creating skits with students. We can work on body language, [...]

an interview with larry davies – organisational structures, educational administration and online learning

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:21:04 +0000

Download Here I talked to Larry at the JALTCALL conference in Kyoto about his career, technology, the future of higher education and had a great time! Please enjoy! His presentations, via Prezi, are here… and worth a look. ] an interview with larry davies from darren elliott on Vimeo. www.livesofteachers.com

an interview with joy egbert – engagement, technology and flow

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:54:26 +0000

an interview with joy egbert from darren elliott on Vimeo. Download Here Joy Egbert was in Kyoto, Japan for the 2010 JALTCALL conference and gave the keynote speech on student engagement. In this interview we talked about that, teacher training, creating ‘flow’ and ‘micro-flow’ situations, and working in limited technology contexts. Joy has a book [...]

a class with no teacher part two – feedback and reflection

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 03:25:33 +0000

About a week ago I wrote about an experiment in silence with a class, and promised to come back with a report on the students’ reactions. It really was quite enlightening. This is what we all learnt. 1. A particular result may not mean what you think it means Looking back through the many comments [...]

JALTCALL 2010 – What’s your Motivation?

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:47:27 +0000

The Japan Association of Language Teaching is over thirty years old now, and currently numbers around three-thousand members. One of it’s larger special interest groups is the CALL sig with an internationally peer-reviewed journal, and last weekend I attended it’s annual conference. Paul Lewis, one of the co-chairs and someone with a longstanding involvement with [...]

parallel learning and video blogging (my first prezi mash-up)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 27 May 2010 20:55:23 +0000

Two workshop prezis from JALTCALL 2010 at Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan, May 29th – 30th 2010. Parallel Learning: How online teacher development informs classroom practice Video blogging and Podcasting: Interviews with English Language Teaching Professionals As you can imagine, there is a fair bit of overlap between the two sessions, so I chose to use [...]

an interview with kip cates – global education and language teaching

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:36:06 +0000

download here an interview with kip cates from darren elliott on Vimeo. Kip Cates is an English teacher based in Japan but with an interest in collaborating with teachers and learners across Asia and the rest of the world. Just over twenty years ago, he founded the Global Issues in Language Education (GILE) SIG in [...]

a class with no teacher

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 25 May 2010 07:15:17 +0000

I recently read and enjoyed Jason Renshaw’s post about teacher silence in class, and thought I’d try it out myself. I have a class of students who are all very smart and engaging young people, but perhaps a little too relaxed. Most of them know enough English to do what they want to do…. which [...]

a vast pool of human knowledge, neglected

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 21 May 2010 05:37:54 +0000

I very much enjoyed the recent ‘ten blogs’ deal doing the blogosphere rounds, and I also love the monthly round ups that Shelly Terrell and Karenne Sylvester (and others) often do, but I got to thinking about all those other blog posts that are going to waste…. Maybe they appeared before the blog took off. [...]

the importance of the expectation of failure in the life of a teacher

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 15 May 2010 17:24:28 +0000

It really isn’t that hard to learn how to teach. Or should I say, a teacher can be trained to stand in a classroom without making an absolute idiot of themselves within about a week, from a standing start. For something which is only actually relevant for a very small proportion of a teacher’s career, [...]

an interview with hayo reinders (podcast)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 11 May 2010 05:38:47 +0000

Download Here This is the audio version of my video interview with Hayo earlier this year. I’m by no means a gamer*, but I was fascinated to hear Hayo address the question ‘Do computer games really contribute to language learning?’ as keynote speaker at the 4th International Wireless Ready Symposium in Nagoya, Japan. The answer? They can, [...]

an interview with barbara hoskins-sakamoto (podcast)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:27:38 +0000

Download here This is a podcast version of the video interview available here. If you have ever taught children, you may well have come across the ‘Let’s Go!‘ series, now on the third edition and a multimedia behemoth! I met with Barbara, one of the authors, at the ETJ Chubu Expo in October 2009 and she was [...]

ten blogs

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:34:14 +0000

I got tagged by Jason at the wonderful English Raven as a part of the “It’s worth taking a look at this blog” thing which is doing the rounds. It’s quite a timely initiative, with the ELT blogosphere a little bit tired and emotional recently. Nice to share the love again. Had I decided to [...]

Coming Soon….

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:57:53 +0000

I have three interviews scheduled for next month, and I am inviting questions. The first interview is at the PanSig conference in Osaka, with Kip Cates. Kip has been active in promoting global issues in language education for many years, and I am looking forward to talking about his work with the Asian Youth Forum, JALT, [...]

metaphors for teaching – the teacher as geisha

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:31:30 +0000

As a classic symbol of Japan, and a dying breed, the geisha is a skilled practitioner of her art. She is elegant, highly trained. Unfortunately, this is not the parallel I am going to draw between ‘Geisha’ and ‘Teacher’. Let’s skip ahead to the modern era. There are now said to be about 2000 professional [...]

what they don’t tell you about blogging

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:03:57 +0000

Too tired to write anything thought provoking or challenging today… the new semester has started and I am full of the joys of actually TEACHING.. meeting new students, putting into practice all the improvements I’ve been dreaming up over the last couple of months. I’ll tell you more when I get time, but for today, [...]

sakura

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:50:04 +0000

Cherry blossoms herald the new academic year in Japan. Like the tree itself, I get another year older. But the blossoms, like the students, are always new.

the collaborative lesson plan project – fork handles

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:06:54 +0000

To paraphrase David Letterman, the teacher switch has no off position. Everything is fair game… newspapers, in-flight magazines, menus, tv commercials… all squirrelled away with the thought “Hmmmm, I can use that!” I had just such a moment yesterday, meandering through youtube. But as I tucked it away, I had another thought… why not get [...]

an interview with jennifer jenkins (podcast)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:53:11 +0000

Download Here I talked to Professor Jennifer Jenkins about English as Lingua Franca, what it is and what it means to us as teachers. As usual, a google scholar search turns up quite a lot of good reading in this area, but I would recommend this short article as a good starting point. Barbara Seidlhofer’s [...]

what gives you the right to call yourself an english teacher?

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:04:30 +0000

Two days after I first arrived in Japan, on my first day of a week-long training period, I was awarded the title sensei. You are probably familiar with the word, which is usually loosely translated as teacher in English. In Japanese, it can be used to refer to any professional or expert in a particular field. [...]

an interview with angela buckingham (podcast)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 03:37:19 +0000

Download Here Angela is a texbook writer, teacher, teacher trainer and sometime commenter on this very blog! You can see her interview in video form here. If you like this podcast, please subscribe in iTunes, and write me a review! More are available in the archive – just click the ‘podcast’ tag below. I am [...]

comfortable shoes, no powerpoint, free coffee and a good plenary

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:36:28 +0000

(Teacher Development Series Number Two – Attendance of professional workshops, lectures and conferences) When I asked ‘How do you learn to teach?’ this was another of the popular choices, at about 20% of the popular vote. People love a good conference! As IATEFL is fast approaching, I thought it was an appropriate time to tackle [...]

looking for something to listen to? ELT interviews – podcast news

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:43:22 +0000

Trying to get the podcast versions of the interviews off the ground – there are now four available for download as mp3 audio files, either manually from this blog, or via the one-click iTunes subscription up in the top corner of the sidebar there. There will be more to follow, as I edit the audio files [...]

an interview with scott thornbury (podcast)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:05:11 +0000

An audio version of the video interview we did at the JALT conference in Shizuoka, Japan. Download Here LINKS Window-dressing vs. Cross-dressing in the EFL Sub-culture. (The article I referred to in the interview… revived by the magic of twitter) The New School- Online MA programme which Scott Thornbury (amongst others) is teaching on. Scott’s [...]

an interview with miles craven (podcast)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:31:08 +0000

An audio version of the video interview we did at JALT 2009 in Shizuoka, Japan. I first saw Miles speak a couple of years ago at another JALT event, and at the time was very impressed with his fair but candid assessment of writing and publishing in ELT. When I started this series he was [...]

i was looking back to see if she was looking back to see if he was looking back at me

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:55:34 +0000

(Teacher Development Series Number One – Classroom Observation ) This is the first in a series, inspired by this originally off-the-cuff, just-for-fun poll, looking at teacher development techniques the old-fashioned way… teacher development unplugged, if you like As much as I love my on-line Personal Learning Network, it is only a part of how manage [...]

george does the opposite

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:15:00 +0000

You may not be in such a slump as poor George Costanza, but why wait? The life of a teacher is characterized by peaks and troughs, by breakthroughs, epiphanies, bad days, difficult classes, critical incidents and culture bumps. But these things are GOOD things, because the worst thing that can possibly happen to a teacher is [...]

poll – how do you learn to teach?

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:35:52 +0000

(Testing the poll function here before I try it with a class) Are our Personal Learning Network’s becoming lopsided? Are we limiting ourselves by assuming all professional development needs to be technologically mediated? Are on-line networks better, worse, or just different to those we develop off-line? In the pre-internet world, which I know many of [...]

an interview with hayo reinders (computer games and language learning)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:38:16 +0000

An Interview With Hayo Reinders from darren elliott on Vimeo. I’m by no means a gamer*, but I was fascinated to hear Hayo address the question ‘Do computer games really contribute to language learning?’ as keynote speaker at the 4th International Wireless Ready Symposium in Nagoya, Japan. The answer? They can, but….. I meant to ask [...]

personal learning networks – the what, why and how

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:09:54 +0000

Personal Learning Networks – the what, why and how from darren elliott on Vimeo. A presentation at the 4th International Wireless Ready Symposium, Nagoya, February 19th 2010. A good starting point for twitter. I’ve made a list of ELT professionals and educational technologists worth following… there are many more out there too, but these might [...]

an interview with ritsuko nakata

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:24:08 +0000

An Interview with Ritsuko Nakata from darren elliott on Vimeo. Ritsuko Nakata has been involved in English education in Japan for many years, training and mentoring teachers of young learners, developing the MAT (model, action, talk) method, working on the multi-million selling Let’s Go! series, and (of course) teaching children. We discussed all these things [...]

books you should read part two – the lexical approach by michael lewis

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:34:25 +0000

A guest post by the mysterious Sputnik of The Tesla Coil, on A Book You Should Read. Number two in the series, then, is a little book about chunks….. ‘Most people would succeed in small things,’ observed Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ‘ if they were not troubled with great ambitions.’ This may certainly prove to be [...]

the uneven spread of technology

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:15:05 +0000

A serious question on twitter this week, which I couldn’t answer in 140 characters. So, here is the full answer. Don’t you just love being pigeon-holed? I’m a gen Xer, who grew up on three kinds of video – game, nasty and pop. Before me, the baby boomers. And after? Generation Y – the millennials. Students [...]

an interview with paul nation (podcast)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:54:33 +0000

This is an audio version of the video interview I did with Paul Nation last November. Please head over to iTunes and subscribe to catch future podcasts. Download Here

death by PLN – does the internet matter?

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:40:30 +0000

“Oh, it must be wonderful to be educated. What does it feel like?” “It’s like having an operation,” said Treece. “You don’t know you’ve had it until long after it’s over” (Eating People is Wrong – Malcom Bradbury) Isn’t that true? Aren’t the best learning experiences the ones which you have time to absorb, reflect [...]

one year

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:56:18 +0000

I wrote this for my first year university students, who are taking their final classes with me this week. But it struck me that it fits very well with the reflective / anticipatory turn-of-the-decade feeling in the ELT blogosphere at the moment, so I thought I’d post it. There are some exercises at the end, and if [...]

books you should read part one – english next by david graddol

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:30:39 +0000

Some eye-openers…. In 2003 an estimated 1500 Master’s programmes were offered in English in countries where English is not the first language. In 2005 about 20,000 American schoolchildren were receiving e-tutoring support from India. More than 60% of transnational companies see China as the most attractive location for R＆D A study in 2000 found that [...]

we wish you a merry christmas

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:16:15 +0000

we wish you a merry christmas from darren elliott on Vimeo.

which english? why your opinion is irrelevant

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:03:31 +0000

Wife and children abed, the teacher was scratching his way through a stack of conversation transcriptions that his students had handed in earlier that day. “Hi, how are you” began one. “So-so” was the reply. The teacher lifted his pen to strike through the unnatural phrase in blood red ink – after all, don’t we native [...]

“I want you to express your opinions freely (as long as they are the same as mine)”

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:16:06 +0000

Or “cultural diversity is a wonderful thing (within the framework of western liberal democracy)” Sara Hannam has just contributed yet another excellent post to the blogosphere, prompted by a horrific bit of teaching in the movie ‘Donnie Darko’. In this case, the teacher stifles the expression of a bright young man by sticking to her [...]

childhood as a longitudinal research study

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:15:51 +0000

The most important learning takes place outside the classroom. I don’t generally teach children, but my two most important students are still very small. When I first came to Japan ten years ago, I didn’t think this would happen. To your right, you will see my wife and two boys, all Japanese passport holders. If [...]

books you should read

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:37:30 +0000

Despite the pleasures of the blogosphere and the twitterverse, I generally prefer to take my literature in paper form. A cup of tea, a digestive biscuit and a good book. The quiet hush of the library and the musty aroma of slightly damp academics. The per-lunk of a freshly-minted journal as it drops through the [...]

an interview with miles craven

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:26:49 +0000

An Interview with Miles Craven from darren elliott on Vimeo. I first saw Miles speak a couple of years ago at another JALT event, and at the time was very impressed with his fair but candid assessment of writing and publishing in ELT. When I started this series he was one of the people I [...]

an interview with scott thornbury

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:37:17 +0000

An Interview with Scott Thornbury from darren elliott on Vimeo. Scott was giving a plenary at the Japan Association of Language Teachers national conference in Shizuoka this weekend, as well as a couple of presentations, but was kind enough to spare me half an hour or so for a chat. We talked a grammar, Vygotsky [...]

choosing the technology that works for you

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:59:49 +0000

A presentation at the Japan Association of Language Teachers conference in Shizuoka, 21/11/2009. Choosing the technology that works for you! from darren elliott on Vimeo. You can download a copy of the handout here. I’d love to hear your feedback on the presentation itself or, better, any of the technology you are using. How do you [...]

an interview with angela buckingham

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:43:41 +0000

An Interview with Angela Buckingham from darren elliott on Vimeo. Today I talked to textbook writer, teacher and teacher trainer Angela Buckingham about how she got into textbook writing, why the characters in her books are non-native speakers, the differences between certificate and diploma trainee teachers and working with asylum seekers in the UK Further [...]

culture and reading skills – can (should) we teach both?

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:48:08 +0000

In a previous post I mentioned an article I had read on ‘nativised’ reading materials – readings which are adapted to include local (and familiar) names, places and foods (for example) whilst retaining the vocabulary and grammar structures of the original. In the article, the researchers took a story based in New York and transplanted [...]

the illiterate teacher

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:47:38 +0000

I have a confession to make. My Japanese is pretty crappy. There, I’ve said it. I mean, I can read a menu. I can figure out what’s going on when I watch a movie or join a conversation about everyday topics. I can go shopping and get around. And in my defence, Japanese has three [...]

a gift from a flower to a garden＊

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:43:36 +0000

＊extra points if you can place the title I am a sucker for an analogy. Only this week I got contorted in a lengthy comparison of the plight of Southampton Football Club, starting the season on minus ten points but now powering up the third division, to a student who had missed the first few [...]

podcast number one

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:41:37 +0000

the lives of teachers – introduction It’s three and a half minutes long, it’s a test, but let’s see how it works. You should be able to subscribe via itunes, but I’m not sure how frequent the content will be. Some audio versions of previous videos to follow though, along with a few new interviews [...]

urban legends and critical thinking

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:33:51 +0000

“Did you hear about that boy on the other side of town? No? Apparently, he was walking home from school quite late, it was getting dark, when he saw this woman standing on the corner. She was wearing a mask, you know, like she had a cold. As he walked past she was staring at [...]

six free online journals for language / technology oriented educators

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:19:14 +0000

I didn’t set out to rip off Lindsay Clandfield’s excellent blog gimmick, but it turned out that the number of free online journals I like is six! First up is elearn magazine, collecting papers on learning with technology (mainly) for educators in tertiary education. The journal has been going for a few years now, and still has [...]

an interview with paul nation

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:19:27 +0000

Paul Nation Interview from darren elliott on Vimeo. Paul Nation is a researcher, teacher and teacher trainer best known for his research into vocabulary learning and acquisition. This interview was conducted by Darren Elliott for www.livesofteachers.com He presented twice at the ETJ Chubu Expo on Sunday, and between presentations was kind enough to answer a [...]

an interview with barbara hoskins-sakamoto

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:53:42 +0000

Barbara Hoskins-Sakamoto Interview from darren elliott on Vimeo. Barbara is an EFL materials writer, teacher and teacher trainer working mainly with children in Japan. This interview was conducted for the lives of teachers website at http://www.livesofteachers.com/ If you have ever taught children, you may well have come across the ‘Let’s Go!‘ series, now on the [...]

what does it mean to know a word?

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:26:24 +0000

A vocabulary test in which the students merely have to vomit the words onto the page, and once purged walk away fresh with no memory of the incident, is no good to anyone. How can we ensure our students LEARN words, rather than just REMEMBER them. Learner Autonomy – Are students more likely to learn [...]

responsible racism – a guide for teachers

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:31:30 +0000

It would be crass and unfair to claim that “We are all racists”. But I do believe that we are all capable of making decisions based on our preconceptions of other peoples ethnicity or cultural background. Isn’t that just the same thing with a few five-dollar words thrown in? I’m not sure. Is there a [...]

the reluctant tweetist

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:54:49 +0000

I’m not sure where I sit in the whole digital native / digital immigrant scheme of things. I am old enough to remember my parents having a serious discussion about betamax and VHS video. And when the VHS arrived (my father would point to his prescience) it was linked to a ‘remote’ control by an [...]

do androids dream of electric test papers?

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:53:27 +0000

I came across this article recently, about artificially intelligent marking machines. Whilst not as terrifying as the corpse-eating battlebots which have also been in the news, my initial reaction was still one of distaste. But the more I thought about it, the more ambivalent I became. People like tests. Students like to have a piece [...]

freedom to read (?)

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:32:24 +0000

Extensive reading – reading for pleasure, reading widely, reading what one wants to read, reading at one’s current level of attainment. Does it actually work? You’ll be waiting a long time if you want conclusive proof of anything to do with learning languages, but the general consensus seems to be that it is a pretty [...]

the land of do as you please

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:14:43 +0000

Are all the debates about the best way to teach driven by the needs of individual teachers? For example, if a particular teacher can’t get out of bed in the morning, thinks youtube is an emergency plumbing service, and is fluent in the learners’ L1, what are the odds that the class instructions will be [...]

blogging on blogging

darrenrelliott@gmail.com (Darren Elliott - www.livesofteachers.com) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:44:29 +0000

It seems somewhat solipsistic to write my first post about other blogs I’ve kept, but I suppose to some extent all blogs are exercises in solopsism, so here goes nothing…. My first blog was an attempt to set up an online teacher development group. I tried far too hard with all the wrong things (using [...]