teaching informal spoken language in the esl/esol/tefl classroom

Teaching a language in the classroom is perhaps the wrong place to do it: after all, students will be meeting and using the language OUTSIDE The classroom, where a lot might be very different!

A good thing to do in the classroom, though, is to look at the differences.

Here's a very good guide:

How To Teach Formal And Informal Language | EnglishClub

With a few activities here:

Formal and informal language games - UsingEnglish.com

Ultimately, it's about encouraging students to learn in that 'real environment':

Creating informal English learning opportunities – Reset Training and Support

To finish, here's a specific question based on the very English phase "and stuff like that": what informal spoken language should we be teaching and how can we do it?

The academic response is in Language issues — NATECLA volume 14 no 2

With more access, with some great ideas and practical input here:

Language Issues: The ESOL Journal: Ingenta Connect Table Of Contents

Language investigations - Teach Real English!

Specifically here:

‘and stuff like that’ informal spoken language, pp.148-155 in Best of Language issues: articles from the first 20 years of NATECLA's ESOL journal

Best of Language Issues : Articles from the First 20 Years of NATECLA's ESOL Journal (Best of Language Issues : Articles from the First 20 Years of NATECLA's ESOL Journal): Amazon.co.uk: Bhanot, Rakesh, Illes, Eva: 9781872972855: Books

Linguistics Research Digest: Spoken language and stuff like that

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how to get the shadowing technique right

This blog came across the 'shadowing technique' for the first time back in 2012:

Jay Doubleyou: speaking fluently

And that was from Julian Kitagawa/Northbrook:

Doing English with Julian Northbrook (PhD)

And he has posted some great videos on shadowing:

English Speaking Practice | How to improve your English Speaking and Fluency: SHADOWING - YouTube

Which is Better: Shadowing or Repeating? - YouTube

Here's an update from 2017 with a few other links:

Jay Doubleyou: the shadowing technique

And again from 2022:

Jay Doubleyou: shadowing

Here's a video, also from 2022, from another 'language expert', Hadar Shemesh

Do you use shadowing when practicing English? Shadowing is one of the best ways to improve your English speaking skills as it helps improve pronunciation, intonation, and vocabulary. It can also help you improve unconsciously things like rhythm, stress, grammar, and more. Sounds like fun, no? But, it can also be a WASTE OF TIME! Without proper guidance, it’s easy to fall into the trap of practicing it in an ineffective way! And then you won’t be seeing the results you COULD be seeing. 👉 If you’ve been using the shadowing technique for a while, in this episode you’ll discover the biggest mistake people make when shadowing, and also learn a bunch of other tips to optimize your practice 💪 👉 If you have no idea what shadowing is - this video is definitely for you as you’ll learn about one of the best practice techniques, and how to do it right! 🔥🔥I collected a list with all the best apps and resources for shadowing, for you! You can get it here http://bit.ly/shadowingEng

Shadowing Technique in English: are you wasting your time? - YouTube

With more of her very engaging videos here:

Accent's Way English with Hadar - YouTube

Here's another look - seeing which technique is better:

SHADOWING or REPEAT - Which is best? - YouTube

And here's a very good suggestion:

Shadowing has become popular with English learners. It's a method where you listen and repeat. You continue listening while you're speaking. The biggest problem I see with this method is that you can end up with issues with your pronunciation. You end up mumbling as you try to keep up with the natural audio. A good test is to record yourself while shadowing. If you sound good, continue doing it. If not... ... try this instead: 1. Listen to an English phrase. 2. Repeat the phrase and record your voice. 3. Compare your version with the original. 4. Make any changes you need to make. 5. Get long-term repetition

Shadowing: Can This Method Help You Speak English Fluently? - YouTube

Try these methods - focussing on your own pronunciation - and they should really help you speak both more fluently and with more confidence!

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the lazy teacher

'Lazy teachers' are considered to be a bad thing.

This is from a rather long blog piece:

If you’re going to take on the responsibility of educating, do it with vigor, focus, and commitment. Because if you can’t do that, the students, parents, and world at large won’t shed a tear when ChatGPT replaces you.

Lazy Teachers Are a Problem - by Justin Cottle

That's one, perhaps rather 'lazy', view...

Another view comes from a very popular book: 

Have you ever wondered what would happen in your classroom if you simply stopped teaching? Over the last few decades the demands of countless education initiatives, not to mention the pressures good teachers put on themselves, have seen so much teaching squeezed into our lessons, it must have squeezed out some of the learning. Maybe if we spent a little less time teaching and gave students a little more time to learn, things would be different. Maybe this would allow us more opportunities to build relationships with the class and develop that all-important rapport with the individuals who might just need us most.

The Lazy Teacher's Handbook – New Edition - Crown House Publishing

This is from the author Jim Smith's website:

It is known as the Lazy Way – a philosophy that shifts the emphasis from teaching to learning, as well as shifting the workload from the teacher to the students.

Lazy teacher

Here's a very useful list on how to be a lazy teacher:

10 Things I Learned About Teaching As A Lazy NQT

Here's a nice chatty introduction with some good tips:

It’s time to be The Lazy Teacher – Hardly Hamilton

And here are details of an online course:

Centre for Creative Quality Improvement · Assessment and the Art of Lazy Teaching · Centre for Creative Quality Improvement

Finally, this is from another long blog piece which should stimulate some more thinking about doing more with less:

In friendly conversation, people sometimes ask what I do. When I tell them one of the ways I earn income is by creating and selling lesson plans online, a common response goes something like, “Wow … that seems kind of lazy for the teachers to just buy lesson plans. I always thought that was part of their jobs… but I guess that’s cool you can earn money that way.”

In Defense of the Lazy Teacher - Feel Good Teaching

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the future is ai

Where are we going with artificial intelligence?

We can look at stories: 

Artificial intelligence is a recurrent theme in science fiction, whether utopian, emphasising the potential benefits, or dystopian, emphasising the dangers.

Artificial intelligence in fiction - Wikipedia

If you want to understand where technology is heading, science fiction is a good place to start.

Cell phones, tablets, drones, earbuds and more all once just existed in the imagination of fiction writers. Even words like ‘cyberspace’ and ‘credit card’ were first penned by them.

The most prevalent trope is AI turning against humanity, as depicted in Terminator, the Matrix, I, Robot, and many more. This trope usually treats AI and humanity as two distinct, separate forces.

What Science Fiction Gets Wrong About AI

However, there are books and films that are more nuanced:

BLADE RUNNER 2049 - Official Trailer - YouTube

Based on the work of PKD:

Philip K. Dick (Author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)

“Dick was a great philosophical writer who found science fiction the ideal form for the expression of his ideas.”

The Philip K Dick book I love most… | Philip K Dick | The Guardian

What about the very near future?

We can look at how ai is being used today:

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part one: the dangers of chatgpt

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part two: the dangers of deep fake imagery

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part three: china controlling ai

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part four: "integrating it into teaching, learning, and assessment will require careful consideration"

Jay Doubleyou: high-tech surveillance in the classroom: 'to capture every word, action, and interaction, for potential analysis'

And:

Rethink - Rethink: is big tech stealing your life? - BBC Sounds

DeepSeek's new AI chatbot and ChatGPT answer sensitive questions about China differently | AP News

What about some really weird thinking?

We can look at 'very near utopias':

Jay Doubleyou: pointless work, artificial intelligence and the universal basic income

Jay Doubleyou: the future of work: “capitalism will abolish laundry day” >>> or: “fully automated luxury communism”

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