improve your speaking skills: find a speaking partner

How can we improve our speaking when learning another language? 

Very formalised exercises can help, such as doing practical dictation with online texts and audio, which will help us focus on good spoken English.

There's a less controlled way to stimulate talk - and one would be using video podcasts for listening and to generate speaking.

And Robbie from EnglishHarmony suggests we talk to ourselves to increase fluency and self-confidence.

We can even try practising our English speaking with ChatGPT.

But we can find real people to talk to - and through the website 'Conversation Exchange' - finding a speaking partner online is pretty easy.

There are lots of apps and websites for language partners - but the question remains: How do you find consistent language exchange partners? And the answer tends to be: "Sadly you have to pay someone to be consistent."

However, there are ways to find a speaking partner...

The online teacher Katie has some very practical ideas on How to find a partner for speaking practice - and talking to another "non-native" at least gets you developing your fluency and confidence, as Katie says:

1. First, you should try asking all your friends if they are interested. It’s very likely that you have a friend who is learning English or maybe you can find a friend of a friend. This is probably the easiest way.

2. The second easiest way is perhaps to try social media. You can find other people who are looking for a partner on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit and many more. I have a Facebook group which you can join.

3. Don’t just look at social media pages for learning English. What are your other hobbies and interests? Join groups and follow pages related to your hobbies where the conversation is in English and join in!

And others have similar ideas - such as 9 Unexpected Places To Find Real-Life Language Partners by Fluent Language

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metaphors are easier to learn when put in context

The trouble with metaphors is that a lot gets lost in translation.

On the other hand, metaphor is everywhere - and is the stuff of language, whether it's the language of money... the language of religion... the language of love...

A lot of metaphors are also clichés - but, then, we all speak in clichés and as a language learner we want to know what people normally and regularly use. 

In the latest from Lexical Lab's regular blog by Hugh Dellar for teachers and students, we hear about Metaphors we live by: "a company is like a ship":

In their seminal 1980 book, Metaphors We Live By George Lakoff and Mark Johnson suggested that metaphors are a tool that allow us to use what we know about our physical and social environment to understand more – and to talk abut – abstract things like time, emotions, work and mental activity...

We could indeed go online and find lists of 25 metaphors about sailing and phrases and sayings that have a nautical origin - but, actually, having such language in an entertaining story-like piece means we are much more likely to understand it and so be able to remember it and use it!

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the lexical approach with the lexical lab

This blog is very keen on the lexical approach - which involves seeing language working in terms of chunking and which can really help us understand how to learn a language.

The excellent lexical lab has lots of online resources on offer - but the founders Hugh Dellar and Andrew Walkley also put on courses at their HQ: English Teacher Training in London - Upgrade Your Teaching Skills.

With more from their latest newsletter We made it through the longest month:

One of the things that has helped me get through this dreary days is looking forwards to brighter things to come – and I'm clearly not alone as we've already had our first few bookings for the TEACHING LEXICALLY course we'll be running in north London this summer. Over two weeks in July, we look at the theoretical view of language that underpins the lexical approach and then unpack the implications of this view for classroom practice.

And there's more in their newsletter, which looks further at the lexical approach and, following from that, the communicative approach:

Finally, here's an excellent overview of some of the most recent large-scale studies into the degree to which AI is helping or hindering education. A word of warning: it makes grim reading for the hardcore tech evangelists out there.

And here's a great video on the way Gen-Z online slang owes a huge debt to the linguistic creativity of Black America.

Oh, and here's a piece on the degree to which what are often thought of as 'Americanisms' have permeated everyday English here in the UK.

Finally, if you get a chance to watch this wonderful BBC drama, do so. It's based around a guy with chronic OCD who's opted to teach Philosophy in a prison. It's warm, human, hard-hitting, very funny and highly original.

Also, in light of the recent appalling events in Iran, this documentary about female singers inside the Islamic Republic seems particularly pertinent.

To finish, don't forget their great Blog.

Enjoy - as both teachers and learners of English!

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lexical lab online and online resources

The Lexical Lab platform is innovative, stimulating and full of useful up-to-date English:

Jay Doubleyou: Lexical Lab: learn languages with an online teacher through everyday english and common words, chunks, idioms, phrasal verbs, phrases and expressions used in spoken language

Their social media is also informative - from the founders Hugh Dellar and Andrew Walkley

They also offer an excellent Blog

You can sign up to their very entertaining Newsletter, which this month looks at 'No-vember'

November has flown by, to be honest, and I've been busy teaching online. With Lexical Lab, we've now only got one more week of our twelve-week term to go before we knock off, but we will be back early in 2025 with more, so do keep an eye on our website and make sure you follow us on Instagram too...

I’ve been writing the last webinar of the year which is on Saturday 6th December. We'll be discussing the nature of difficulty and challenge in the classroom – and why easier doesn't always mean better. You can sign up here.

PS: Here's my vote for the greatest Xmas song of all-time! Enjoy.

To finish on a more serious note, Two weeks ago, Ternopil was the site of a massive Russian terror attack. Earlier today they did an Instagram Live with Tetyana Ivanenko, a teacher based in the city talking about the situation there now, her roots in eastern Ukraine, how the war is affecting her teaching and her students, and much more besides:

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LIVES WITH UKRAINIAN TEACHERS: Tetyana Ivanenko - YouTube

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how good is grokipedia?

HOW GOOD IS WIKIPEDIA?

This is from a blog post from two years ago: Jay Doubleyou: Search results for wikipedia

Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet | WIRED [2020]

“Wikipedia Is Good for You!?” by James Purdy | Thematic Reading Anthology

Opinion | Science shows Wikipedia is the best part of the Internet - The Washington Post [2016]

Wikipedia is 20, and its reputation has never been higher | Economist

Is Wikipedia a good source? When to use the online encyclopedia – and when to avoid it [2023]

Is Wikipedia a good source? When to use the online encyclopedia – and when to avoid it

In some countries, students are told not to use it - but perhaps they need to learn how to use it instead:

Students are told not to use Wikipedia for research. But it’s a trustworthy source [2021]

5 Reasons to Actually Encourage Middle and High School Students to Use Wikipedia | Edutopia [2021]

What about today?

As this entry on the website says at Wikipedia: Don't cite Wikipedia on Wikipedia - Wikipedia:

Wikipedia is not an acceptable source for citations elsewhere on Wikipedia. As a user-generated source, it can be edited by anyone at any time, and any information it contains at a particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or simply incorrect.

This piece from this year from the website The Online Reputation and Wikipedia Blog asks Is Wikipedia Reliable in 2025:

Wikipedia is a great starting point for online research. It has a very good reputation and consistently ranks at the top of Google search results and has information on almost every topic. But is Wikipedia a reliable source? The answer as to whether it is trustworthy is both yes and no.

Sometimes, Wikipedia can be an accurate source of information. It is updated regularly and contains a wealth of knowledge from various sources (these are two of the main reasons it ranks so high in search). Articles that have many editors who are clearly experts and that include solid citations and references are usually quite reliable. Articles with less oversight tend to be less reliable.

Wikipedia is an open-source encyclopedia. This means anyone can edit its pages, which leads to wild inconsistencies across its pages. With 45,175,790 registered Wikipedia users, there is always the potential for bias or inaccuracies.

Therefore, when reading information on Wikipedia, it’s important to take the time to verify the accuracy of the information by looking for other sources that corroborate the facts.

So, Wikipedia is a good starting-off point.

But what about its 'politics'?

It's a long-standing point as to what might be the Ideological bias on Wikipedia - Wikipedia

One of the founders says it is biased: Wikipedia co-founder says online encyclopedia has been completely corrupted by woke ideology | Daily Mail Online

The other says not: Wikipedia is not woke, insists founder Jimmy Wales

On the right they say: How Wikipedia became Wokepedia - spiked

And on the left they say: Wikipedia’s Deep Ties to Big Tech | Institute for New Economic Thinking

Here's an excellent piece from the Manhattan Institute which says it's OK but could do better with regard to any political bias: Is Wikipedia Politically Biased?

And a piece from today's Le Monde very much looks at the current situation: Wikipedia, under fire from conservatives and shaken by AI:

Nearing its 25th anniversary, the online encyclopedia faces multiple challenges: accusations of 'woke' bias, threats to contributors, AI-generated content and declining readership. Despite these issues, Wikipedia remains resilient. But for how long?

Wikipedia is "controlled by far-left activists." "Stop donating to Wokepedia until they restore balance to their editing authority." "I will give them a billion dollars if they change their name to Dickipedia." These are just a few of the increasingly virulent messages posted online by Elon Musk, the world's richest man.

On October 27, Musk took things a step further by launching his own encyclopedia, Grokipedia, which he claimed would represent "truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." More than 885,000 articles, all generated by artificial intelligence (AI), make up what he called a site "10X better" than Wikipedia....

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES - AND ARE THEY ANY GOOD?

There are indeed other places to go, as detailed in this blog piece from 2021: Jay Doubleyou: alternative wikipedias

Although the best are probably here: 5 Terrifying Bastardizations of the Wikipedia Model | Cracked.com

Now we have Grokipedia. which according to it:  

Grokipedia is an open source, comprehensive collection of all knowledge.

And according to Grokipedia - Wikipedia:

Grokipedia is an AI-generated online encyclopedia developed by xAI. The site was launched on October 27, 2025, as version 0.1. Entries in Grokipedia are created and edited by the Grok large language model (LLM). Many articles are derived from Wikipedia, with some copied nearly verbatim at launch.

A problem seems to be its sources.

The Guardian [liberal/left] has said: In Grok we don’t trust: academics assess Elon Musk’s AI-powered encyclopedia | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian

“Chatroom contributions are given equal status with serious academic work,” Richard Evans, an expert on the Third Reich, told the Guardian, after being invited to test out Grokipedia. “AI just hoovers up everything.”

The problem, said David Larsson Heidenblad, the deputy director of the Lund Centre for the History of Knowledge in Sweden, was a clash of knowledge cultures.“We live in a moment where there is a growing belief that algorithmic aggregation is more trustworthy than human-to-human insight. The Silicon Valley mindset is very different from the traditional scholarly approach. Its knowledge culture is very iterative where making mistakes is a feature, not a bug. By contrast, the academic world is about building trust over time and scholarship over long periods during which the illusion that you know everything cracks. Those are real knowledge processes.”

Andrew Dudfield, the head of AI at Full Fact, a UK-based factchecking organisation, said: “We really have to consider whether an AI-generated encyclopedia – a facsimile of reality, run through a filter – is a better proposition than any of the previous things that we have. It doesn’t display the same transparency but it is asking for the same trust. It is not clear how far the human hand is involved, how far it is AI=generated and what content the AI was trained on. It is hard to place trust in something when you can’t see how those choices are made.”

The Financial Times says Elon Musk’s Grokipedia is a major own goal | Financial Times:

Musk, who has called Wikipedia, on which Grokipedia is modelled, “Wokepedia” and has described the site as “an extension of legacy media propaganda”, demonstrates a facile understanding of human knowledge. After all, even our best approximations of what is true are constantly shifting, as new facts and developments emerge, and as the values that shape our understanding change...

Go and have a poke around in it and you will see what I mean. You will find Tommy Robinson described as a “citizen journalist” in glowing terms in the very first sentence of his entry. You will see Elon Musk’s 20lb weight loss highlighted in his entry as if that were important information, and you will find out that can be attributed to intermittent fasting (rather than to Mounjaro). You will read Kremlin talking points in the first paragraph of the entry on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, like the idea that the former is “denazifying” the latter. You might also be somewhat mystified — given its purported role in propagating legacy media propaganda — to find that, often, “content is adapted from Wikipedia”.

Instead of setting up a serious challenger to Wikipedia, Musk has scored a major own goal. Grokipedia demonstrates that, while humans might be highly imperfect, biased and tribal beings, they are still better than AI at getting to the truth (even when a majority of them have “liberal” biases) and it shows that, in a world in which stores of trust are so depleted, in which it’s so hard to know what’s real and what is fake, a site like Wikipedia is more important than ever.

Even Grok, the xAI chatbot the new site is named after, told me that “while Grokipedia improves on specific Wikipedia flaws — like verbose, overly critical entries on conservative topics — its AI gatekeeping creates a centralised ‘Musk’s truth’ filter, lacking Wikipedia’s distributed checks”, and that “it trades one set of biases for another, often with less accountability.”

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generation alpha in the esl/esol/tefl classroom

Do we know what the Generation Alpha is all about?

We need to look out for the Gen Alpha Characteristics To Know For 2025:

They’re still in school, but don’t be fooled - Gen Alpha are already steering spending decisions, redefining what fun looks like, and making their presence felt across screens, stores, and society.

Born from 2010 onwards, they’re the world’s youngest generation, but they’ve got plenty to say. And thanks to over 20,000 kids across 18 global markets telling us exactly what’s on their minds, we’ve got a front-row seat to what they think, feel, and do.

But first we need to ask Generation Alpha: What Is It? Is It Real?

And then we can look at: What do Gen Z and Generation Alpha want from their education and beyond?

The E L Gazette tells us about Generation Alpha in the Classroom: New Approaches to Learning - looking at a new book just out:

Firstly, a few questions. Over their careers, how many generations of learners and their various attributes are language teachers expected to be able to understand and react to? How, when and why did Generation Z expire? Lastly, how is Generation Alpha (GA) different to the previous ones? These were just a few of my thoughts before I opened this title.

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how to write digital materials using ai for the english-language classroom

Twenty years ago, it was all about 'what are we going to do with the internet' as teachers?!

Using the internet 2 | TeachingEnglish | British Council

It then moved onto 'what are we going to do with digital'?

Teach with digital – using digital tools to improve writing - YouTube

And now it's all about 'what are we going to do with AI'?!

How to Create Quality English Materials for Teaching Online Using Generative AI

The latest E L Gazette looks at the issues:

Fabio Cerpelloni sits down with Billie Jago, a writer and teacher trainer specialising in digital learning materials and assessment resources.

From classroom to content: A teacher’s guide to materials writing - E L Gazette

And there are lots of materials online to help us create our own materials online:

AI in education: how to use AI tools in your classroom

An introduction to the use of generative AI tools in teaching | Centre for Teaching and Learning

5 AI Tools That Will Save You 10+ Hours a Week as a Teacher - YouTube

Using AI in Teaching - Tools for Course Creation - YouTube

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conspirituality

Some five years ago, we had a lot of things coming together: Covid conspiracy theories, and a proliferation of mis/disinformation and fake news.

We even saw the creation of a lunatic fringe in a sleepy ye Olde England...

This is a reflection of what is seen as the disturbing phenomenon known as Conspirituality:

a portmanteau neologism describing the overlap of conspiracy theories with spirituality, typically of New Age varieties

From the Journal of Contemporary Religion from 2011: 

It offers a broad politico-spiritual philosophy based on two core convictions, the first traditional to conspiracy theory, the second rooted in the New Age: 1) a secret group covertly controls, or is trying to control, the political and social order, and 2) humanity is undergoing a "paradigm shift" in consciousness. Proponents believe that the best strategy for dealing with the threat of a totalitarian "new world order" is to act in accordance with an awakened "new paradigm" worldview.[4]

There's a website with regular podcasts and blog pieces devoted to looking at conspirituality:

Investigating the intersection of conspiracy theories and spiritual influence to uncover cults, pseudoscience, and authoritarian extremism.

And it's a book:

Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat (Audio Download): Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker, Matthew Remski, PublicAffairs: Amazon.co.uk: Audible Books & Originals

It asks questions, as in this interview in Rolling Stone magazine: What is Conspirituality? Here's How Wellness World Got Red-Pilled

Why Are So Many Popular Wellness Influencers Red-Pilled?

Derek Beres, co-author of 'Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracies Became a Health Threat,' talks the rise of misinfo in self-help spaces

EJ Dickson - June 13, 2023

A few years ago, around the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a perplexing shift in the wellness space. Yoga teachers, holistic healers, crystal sellers — people who had never posted anything remotely political, seemed, all of a sudden, to start posting about the dangers of 5G radiation, surgical masks, blood-drinking pedophiles, and “gender ideology.” And while a few major influencers in the space spoke out against this trend, it seemed as if more and more wellness figures were getting red-pilled by the day. 

This was the seed for the creation of Conspirituality, a podcast by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker about the intersection of the wellness space and (largely, right-wing) conspiracy theories. All three had a vested interest in investigating this topic: both Beres and Walker were involved in the yoga community for decades, while Remski was involved in several self-help groups that he later referred to as “cults.” And with the rise of the pandemic, with everyone and their mother seemingly posting baseless claims about Wayfair sex trafficking children and Covid vaccines killing young people, it was an opportune time for them to launch a podcast calling them out. (Editor’s note: the author of this article appeared on an episode of the Conspirituality podcast to discuss natural childbirth influencers.) 

Now, Beres, Remski, and Walker have coauthored a book: Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat, which documents the modern-day rise of wellness gurus and misinformation peddlers like Kelly Brogan and JP Sears while probing the age-old racist roots of practices like contemporary yoga. Rolling Stone caught up with Beres to discuss celebrity influencers (and who he finds the scariest), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s run for office, and Oprah’s surprising role in the misinfo space. 

What is Conspirituality? Here's How Wellness World Got Red-Pilled

And finally, concern is going mainstream, with this recent piece in the New World/European magazine on the sick age of conspirituality:

The sick age of conspirituality

Egged on by Trump and RFK Jr, a deadly blend of conspiracy theory and wellness woo-woo is going mainstream

Matthew d’Ancona 1 October 2025

Two crazy old guys talking nonsense about public health policy – right? Well, yes. Last week, Donald Trump, flanked by his health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, declared that pregnant women who take Tylenol (paracetamol) increase the vulnerability of their babies to autism: a lie.

The president claimed that the Amish, many of whom shun modern medications and vaccines, “have no autism”: another lie...

The sick age of conspirituality - The New World

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embracing digital creativity in the esl/esol/tefl classroom

We can worry about replacing teachers with AI - or we can 'embrace' the technology:

How teachers say they're embracing AI in the classroom - ABC News

AI in the Adult Classroom: how to embrace personalised learning without losing control

The latest E L Gazette looks at how we might do this:

Firstly, then: What’s the real issue? AI or the task itself?:

In this exclusive interview, Fabio Cerpelloni sits down with Sophia Mavridi, a digital learning consultant, teacher educator, and senior lecturer specialising in educational technology, to discuss the role of AI in language education. Drawing on her research and classroom experience, Sophia highlights the importance of critical engagement with AI tools, the need to educate teachers – not just students – about technology, and the challenges and opportunities that come with integrating AI meaningfully into teaching and learning.

And then: Using digital tools to spark conversation in the EFL world:

Creativity fuelled by digital technology is transforming how EFL students learn, adapt, and connect with new languages and cultures. Henry Huang, an EFL teacher and digital humanities researcher, explains why.

Creativity in the classroom goes beyond artistic expression. It also plays a vital role in helping students develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and adaptability which is especially important for learners navigating new languages and cultural settings. Task-based learning (TBL) and project-based learning (PBL), which emphasise real-world tasks and collaborative learning, naturally support creative thinking. While these approaches may be well-established in some education systems, others are still working to meaningfully integrate them within the constraints of traditional structures and exam-oriented priorities.

In countries where high-stakes exams strongly influence teaching, education often focuses more on test preparation than on creativity or communication. Since speaking skills are not always prioritised in national exams, traditional methods like rote memorisation and grammar translation tend to persist. Though creativity is widely acknowledged as the pinnacle of the learning process (as seen in Bloom’s Taxonomy), integrating it meaningfully into English education remains a work in progress in many classrooms.

In education systems where digital tools are increasingly present, technology plays a growing role in shaping the EFL learning experience. It opens up new ways to engage learners in multimodal, interactive tasks that foster both language development and creativity. Whether it’s students designing visual projects, collaborating on video assignments, or reinforcing vocabulary with gamified apps, technology can support a richer learning experience than traditional methods often allow.

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language distance

In many ways, we can see why English is so different from other languages. It's a mixture of other languages and its grammar has been greatly simplified

It can be very interesting to compare English with, say, Chinese. Do you see any similarities with your langauge? Language differences: English - Chinese

From an English-speakers perspective, there are 'difficult' languages. How do these compare with yours Most Difficult Language To Learn

... And there are the 'easy' languages: Easiest Foreign Languages To Learn - Business Insider

This is what we can 'language distance' - and there is a useful guide from Gill Ragsdale on how language distance shapes fluency in the E L Gazette:

The ‘language distance’ between English and a language learner’s first language affects reading fluency, but not comprehension according to a study by Victor Kuperman at McMaster University, Canada. Gill Ragsdale reports.

Clearly it is easier for someone to learn a language that is more like their native language than one that is more distant: learning English is generally easier for Italian than for Japanese speakers. What is less clear is which processes in language learning are affected and how to quantify those effects.

Kuperman set out to clarify the effect of language distance on reading fluency and comprehension. Past studies have given mixed results, possibly because the focus has been on comprehension, which is relatively easy to measure.

Data for this study was taken from the Multilingual Eye-movement Corpus. This database has measures of reading fluency and comprehension from 1,105 students and staff from 24 universities having 18 distinct first languages.

For more, see: How does language distance affect reading fluency and comprehension in English as second language? by Victor Kuperman.

And: Linguistic distance - Wikipedia

Plus the discussions on Language distance in Europe : r/languagelearning

Working Groups | Townsend Center for the Humanities

Worldwide map or data for linguistic distance? - Linguistics Stack Exchange

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real-world language learning

LEARN ENGLISH IN THE UK! 

Now that the UK and Germany have committed to a school group travel arrangement after English UK secured visa-free travel for German school groups, there are now more opportunities for face-to-face learning in an English-speaking environment.

But how important is so-called real-world language learning?

LEARNING A LANGUAGE AS A LIFE-LEARNING SKILL:

A new campaign has been launched to make it a reality for young people:

The core message of the campaign is to create FOMO (fear of missing out) among young people, especially Gen Z. It positions language travel not merely as academic study, but as a transformative life experience. This includes making memories, building global friendships, and experiencing diverse cultures first-hand, directly contrasting with online-only learning. The strategy involves a global movement primarily on TikTok and Instagram, platforms where the target demographic is most active. The goal is to make language and educational travel a trending topic, drawing inspiration from successful destination campaigns.

The organisation ALTO is a global platform for leaders and decision makers within the language and educational travel industry - and ALTO launched its student social media campaign earlier in the year.

Here's more from the study travel industry, as ALTO launches its campaign:

Industry association ALTO has launched a new global social media campaign inviting students to share their experiences of studying abroad and inspire a new generation of language travellers. The ALTO #PassportToPeople campaign was described as a "a global call to celebrate real-life language and educational travel".

ALTO Where Leaders Meet said, “Aimed at encouraging language learning, international friendships, and meaningful cultural exchange, the campaign is designed to inspire a new generation to embrace the life-changing power of travel and studying abroad.”

The association is asking students to capture and share their personal moments, and to post brief, compelling videos or photos on TikTok or Instragram with the #PassportToPeople hashtag to “contribute to a collective story of connection, courage, and cultural discovery”.

REAL-WORLD LANGUAGE LEARNING:

The idea behind getting young people to the UK to learn English and getting them to personalise and directly share their learning experiences is that it's not only more fun but more effective to interact.

As one blogger says, real-life learning is about connecting language to the world:

As a passionate advocate for learner-centred language teaching approaches, I firmly believe that connecting language learning to real-world topics and contexts is the key to learner engagement and fostering life-long learning. If we can show our students how the language they are learning connects to their own everyday lives, and not only that, but also give them opportunities to discuss important topics that they care about, we are setting them on the path towards making English a natural part of their daily life.

The Oxford Uni Press agrees that it's all about bridging the gap - and how real-world connections make learning more meaningful - although this piece is about pushing a new book...

And interestingly, the 'unreal' world of AI is suggesting why real-world applications matter in language education

But to finish, here's another teaching blog looking at how to use real-life scenarios for language learning:

From birth, we naturally absorb the language around us, using it to express thoughts and interact with others. This process, called language acquisition, occurs in real-life situations where understanding is essential. Similarly, you can use real-life scenarios for language learning. Because, when learners engage with the language in authentic, meaningful contexts, it helps them understand and remember it better. This approach builds a stronger vocabulary and grammar foundation. Which helps you to transition from theoretical knowledge to practical, everyday use, making the language feel more intuitive. In this article, we’ll dive into how you can use real-life scenarios to learn a foreign language and boost your confidence while travelling or moving abroad. Let’s get started!

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what are the issues in the esl industry?

It's difficult to tell how the English as a Second Language market is going.

Some would say there is a growing demand for ESL teachers in the global market:

The English language training (ELT) market is anticipated to expand substantially in the years ahead, reaching a value of $107.93 billion by 2028. With the increasing prominence of English as the medium of international communication, businesses, governments, and educational institutions in non-English speaking countries are acknowledging the necessity of strong English language skills. Consequently, there is a huge increase in the demand for English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers worldwide.

However, others are saying that the Golden Age of ESL has ended:

There was a time when Japan and Taiwan paid very well for English teachers, with Korea and China taking over as economies shifted. In the middle east I worked with guys who started in the 60s and 70s in Africa, and also guys who moved into eastern Europe after the cold war. 

Now, though, with online teaching fully arrived (if not living up to high standards), AI around the corner, markets saturated with more people willing to go overseas to escape hardships, and less jobs in most of the previously stong Asian markets, seems the end of an era.

And now, following on from the surge during the pandemic, some are talking about the death of ESL online teaching:

The final blow came in 2021, when China implemented a ban on online teaching and introduced stringent regulations governing private tutoring services.

However, that comment was from two years ago - and much interpretation of the ESL landscape is quite persona,

Here's a very lively discussion thread on the problem with the ESL industry, which starts like this:

The lifestyle is too good to be able to resettle at home. Nowhere else have I been able to work 25 hours a week (total), met so many outgoing and social people, travelled as much, and seen so many interesting things.

I went home during the pandemic and life just feels dull. I work full time but have less disposable cash. My friends are more restricted anddont say yes to life as much. And here the roads are safe but dull. I think I'm going to have to go back into the esl life. I swore I'd give it up at 30 but I'm just not prepared to give this lifestyle up.

Anyone else in the same boat and just feels life is dull living in your home nation?

Here's more from Reddit on your opinion on ESL trap.

To finish with another perspective on what happens in the classroom, here's a look at the intrinsic issues in the ESL industry

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translanguaging

The idea and practice of translanguaging is basically the practice of using two languages in the same lesson, which differs from many previous methods of bilingual education that tried to separate languages by class, time, or day

So, What Is Translanguaging and How Is It Used in the Classroom?

In translanguaging, students are able to think in multiple languages simultaneously and use their home language as a vehicle to learn academic English.

A student could be reading an article about the solar system in English, but in their brain, they are also thinking and making connections in Spanish. They might annotate in Spanish or first write down reading comprehension responses in Spanish and then figure out how to provide the responses in English, said Marrero-Colon.

It’s all about encouraging students to access their full linguistic repertoires, said Emily Phillips Galloway, an assistant professor at the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University.

From the perspective of the ESL/ESOL/EAL world, here's an answer to the question What is translanguaging?

Picture the scene: two students are sitting together, working intently on a handout. They have different first languages but some shared knowledge of the words and phrases of each other’s languages, so they are moving in and out of English to get their message across. Another two students are sitting together nearby. Both of them are Spanish speakers, but are very strong in English and often use it as their main language. At other times, as now, they blend Spanish and English together.

Are either of these examples of translanguaging? In both cases, yes. The young people are using resources from different languages together, with very little regard for what we might call the ‘boundaries’ of named languages such as ‘Spanish’ or ‘English’. They are using elements of each language together to communicate more effectively. This is translanguaging: it’s about using the all your language resources to communicate.

Finally, here's an academic piece looking at Translanguaging and emotionality of English as a second language (ESL) teachers:

Often there is a notable gap between expected emotions or ‘emotional rules’ in English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms and genuine emotions which results in ‘emotional labour’ for ESL teachers... The study revealed complex and conflicting teacher emotions around translanguaging including pride, comfort (related to feelings of safety), shame (related to linguistic inferiority complexes), guilt, and frustration.

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can you give me a lesson plan? ask ai!

Need a lesson plan?

For example:

"Can you give me a lesson plan for learner training for a b1 group of language learners?"

Ask ChatGPT:

ChatGPT

And ask Google Gemini:

Google Gemini

Here's a little more help:

Mastering ChatGPT for Lesson Planning - Toddle Learn

Eduaide.Ai: AI Created for Teachers

Free AI Tools for Teachers and Educators – Brisk Teaching

And there are always non-AI sources:

15 Sites With Free ESL Lesson Plans + How to Create Your Own!

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reflective practice in the esl/esol/tefl classroom

There are some helpful ways to get us to become better teachers:

We can learn from experience: Jay Doubleyou: kolb and experiential learning

We can reflect on and question why the we do things: Jay Doubleyou: learning theory: a short guide

We can go with the flow: Jay Doubleyou: dogme and emergent language pt 1

Much of this is about our own professional development: Reflective Practice - YouTube

Or, as Adrian Underhill says: 

See what’s going on, try something different, learn from it.

Pronunciation: Three practices to question, three practices to explore | Adrian Underhill's Pronunciation Site

With another example from him: Reflective teaching | Demand High ELT

Here he is at the IATEFL conference in 2012: 

This plenary talk looks at the connections between three fields – systems thinking, post-heroic leadership and learning at the organisational and individual level.

Plenary session by Adrian Underhill | TeachingEnglish | British Council

And this is from an article from Adrian, on reflective practice, action inquiry and deep values - from the IATEFL newsletter of summer 2007:

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE, ACTION, INQUIRY AND DEEP VALUES 

Introduction 

My aim is to encourage inquiring conversations of the kind “How, in my work, do I follow or contradict the values that are deeply important to me?” and to hold this question as a rigorous reflective practice in the midst of professional action. I suggest that this question can provide rich starting points for worthwhile professional reflection and inquiry, as well as a source of „passionate energy‟ for professional development. I shall say a little about where I am coming from, link that to reflective practice and action inquiry, and move on to the question of values as a starting point for inquiry...

In designing an action experiment it helps to remember that there are essentially only three types: 

1. Do something different from what you usually do, and observe well;

2. Refrain from doing something you usually do, and observe well; 

3. Do what you usually do, while observing it both differently and better than usual. 

The designing and refining of action experiments is an iterative process; the question changes as we learn.

Summary 

I have suggested that looking for and experiencing contradictions between one‘s values, actions and outcomes can be a productive and rewarding activity that can provide a rich source of inspiration for worthwhile professional reflection and inquiry. Experiencing oneself as a living contradiction can also provide a source of energy to drive inquiry of this nature. I have offered a simple framework for those who would like to experiment with this in their practice, either to change circumstances to align actions with values, or to develop the values themselves

Editors’ Foreword

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using pronunciation in and out of the esl/esol/tefl classroom

Teachers tend to ignore pronunciation - so-called 'non-native' teachers who doubt their own pronunciation and so-called 'native' teachers who are just too sure.

Indeed, pronunciation is "the Cinderella of language teaching": Dalton - Some Techniques for Teaching Pronunciation (TESL/TEFL)

But good pronunciation is the most important thing in learning a language - otherwise nobody's going to understand you: Why Pronunciation Teaching Should Be the Number One Priority

Here's a good discussion to start off: Studying pronunciation is a waste of time. - Page 2 - EnglishClub ESL Forums And another: Why do some people have great pronunciation? Why do others struggle?<br/><br/>Are some people just born with it? While the rest are forever doomed to struggle with bad pronunciation? — Lingtuitive

How though are we going to work on our pronunciation?

For all types of teacher, there are some excellent resources online - which provide good solid models to give the students - who can use most of the same links for themselves.

• A list of very specific activities: Learn English Pronunciation Elocution Intonation - Learn English
• A focus on the sounds of English: HOME | sounds-of-english
• A good look at all the phonemes: Introduction to Teaching Pronunciation Workshop - Adrian Underhill (COMPLETE) - YouTube With more from the master: Adrian’s Pron Chart Blog | Practical discovery of English pronunciation
• A look at the most important phoneme: Jay Doubleyou: a curvaceous young phoneme called schwa...
• An excellent guide from BBC Learning English, both old: BBC Learning English | Pronunciation Tips and new: BBC Learning English - Learn English pronunciation
• Several guides to listening - to songs: Jay Doubleyou: listening to song lyrics will help your pronunciation and Jay Doubleyou: singing songs to learn english and Jay Doubleyou: using songs in the esl/esol/tefl classroom
• A focus on the importance of getting and using 'connected speech': Jay Doubleyou: connected speech and Jay Doubleyou: 'four ears' or 'four years'?
• Perhaps the most effective method: Jay Doubleyou: shadowing
• And another couple more directions: Jay Doubleyou: chunking and Jay Doubleyou: sound scripting and Jay Doubleyou: voice recognition apps to help learn english pronunciation

Finally, we need to feel confident in teaching and learning - and using the language: Jay Doubleyou: pronunciation: empowering educators to feel confident and prepared to teach pronunciation

To finish, though, here are some funny crazy things: it doesn't help that none of it makes any sense: Jay Doubleyou: english pronunciation is crazy or that it's all rather a babble: Jay Doubleyou: what english sounds like

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the good and the bad about duolingo - and the alternatives

If you're looking for something free and easy and convenient to learn a language, there's always Duolingo:

Jay Doubleyou: duolingo: free language-learning app

It works because it makes learning into a game:

Jay Doubleyou: gamification in learning

What works about it is that it focusses on input:

Jay Doubleyou: "focus more so on input & absorbing the language"

Which is what many say is the right approach:

Jay Doubleyou: to acquire a language you need lots of comprehensible input

But it's not perfect:

Jay Doubleyou: the limitations of language apps

You can make it part of a mix:

Jay Doubleyou: creating your own little online language course

Or you can improve it:

Jay Doubleyou: how to make duolingo work

Or you can simply walk away:

Duolingo Sucks, Now What?: A Guide

Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:

"I just want an identical experience to DL"

Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean

"I want a good audio-based app"

Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)

"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"

Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)

Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)

*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.

"I have a pretty neat library card"

Mango (Languages: So many and the endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)

Transparent Language: (Languages: THE MOST! Also the one that has the widest variety of African languages! Perhaps the most diverse in ESL and learning a foreign language not in English)

"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"

lingory

"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"

ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)

"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"

Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)

#EDIT: Added a great resource for ESL and African languages that weren't found elsewhere

Duolingo Sucks, Now What?: A Guide – @ruhua-langblr on Tumblr

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the grammar discovery approach to learning langugages

How do we teach and learn the grammar of a language?

The EL Gazette looks at a method :

In this article, teacher Joanna Buckle delves into the grammar discovery approach. But what is it and does it work?

One nineties development in English language teaching was the ‘grammar discovery’ approach. It’s now been around long enough to have been incorporated into a number of textbooks. In this method, students are given a set of examples of a particular grammar point, such as the present simple tense, and asked to extrapolate the rules for its use from the context. But how much theoretical backing does this approach have?

...

The grammar discovery approach - E L Gazette

Here's a good explanation, plus an example:

The idea is that students will ‘discover’ the grammar through a series of steps (these might be tasks, language awareness activities, pictures, questions, etc) and will deduce both the form and the meaning from the context(s).

Grammar teaching: The discovery technique | Article | Onestopenglish

Here's an excellent piece giving real insights:

It can be difficult for language teachers to make learning grammar in a language classroom interesting and engaging for students. After all, these rules and rubrics need to be learnt, understood, memorised and then put into repeated practice. So how can teachers make learning key grammar concepts more interesting? This blog post examines the two main approaches to learning grammar (i.e deductive and inductive) and then focuses on the inductive approach (also known as guided discovery) in further detail.

Deductive vs. inductive grammar teaching

It is widely acknowledged that there are two main approaches to teaching grammar in any language. As outlined above, these are known as deductive and inductive approaches.

• A deductive approach is when the grammar rule is presented by the teacher and the student produces language based on that rule.
• An inductive approach is when the rule is inferred by the student through some form of guided discovery. (i.e the teacher provides the students with a way to discover the rules for themselves.)

Notably the former approach is clearly more teacher-centred. But it does allow language teachers to deliberately highlight the item for attention and can also allow more time for actually practising it in spoken or written form. Given that inductive approaches are more learner-centred, we’ll make that the focus for this blog post, although it is worth pointing out that these approaches are usually most beneficial for students who have a base knowledge of the language. It’s clearly easier to work things out for yourself if you already have some knowledge in a subject.

What is Guided discovery in grammar teaching?

According to the British Council: “Guided discovery, also known as an inductive approach, is a technique where a teacher provides examples of a language item and helps the learners to find the rules themselves.”

In detail, guided discovery is a way for language educators to encourage students to make their own explanations for grammar / language rules with the support and guidance of their teacher. It’s a powerful alternative to the traditional “chalk and talk” approach and aims to mimic the way most people naturally learn a language i.e by picking up the rules as their learning and experience grows.

...

How guided discovery could transform your grammar teaching

And here's a video showing how it can be done:

Work it out yourself - Helping students with grammar, with Chris Redston - YouTube

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podcasts on ukraine

There are places to go for the latest on Ukraine - all with very different perspectives:

RT - Breaking News, Russia News, World News and Video

Russia-Ukraine war | Today's latest from Al Jazeera

War in Ukraine - BBC News

There are also several podcasts - which give a wider perspective to the ongoing situation.

Here's a list from last year:

The week in audio: the best podcasts on the conflict in Ukraine | Podcasts | The Guardian

Here are a couple of lists from this year:

Best Russia and Ukraine podcasts: Our favourites from the region | openDemocracy

Best Ukraine Podcasts (2023)

Here are some of those:

Explaining Ukraine, hosted by Volodymyr Yermolenko, an analytics director at Internews Ukraine, and Tetyana Ogarkova, from the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre. Explaining Ukraine is part of the Ukraine World group, which tries to counter disinformation.

Explaining Ukraine | Podcast on Spotify

Featuring veteran BBC news correspondents including Gabriel Gatehouse and Victoria Derbyshire, plus expert insights, this BBC News Ukraine podcast uncovers and explains the latest events from the conflict.

BBC Sounds - Ukrainecast - Available Episodes

War in Ukraine is reshaping our world. Every weekday the Telegraph's top journalists analyse the invasion from all angles – military, humanitarian, political, economic, historical – and tell you what you need to know to stay updated.

Ukraine: The Latest podcast - "The idea the Russians have taken Bakhmut is hilarious".

When the shelling of Ukraine began a year ago, free-thinking Russians faced a fateful choice: lie low, resist or flee. Hundreds of thousands decided to leave. Because for them the war meant Russia itself had lost its meaning and its future. 
Now they have to rebuild their lives and their hopes for Russia from exile.
Can they get their country back? In this eight-part series, The Economist’s Arkady Ostrovsky travels across Europe and the Middle East to find out. The answer may hold the key to ending the war.

Next Year in Moscow | The Economist

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phrases which mean 'nothing will happen'

The British are very good at saying 'yes' when they mean 'no'.

Here's a nice list from the 'Very British Problems' website:

Phrases that mean nothing will happen:
Leave it with me
I’ll have a word
I’ll see what I can find
I’ll see what I can do
Consider it done!
I’ll make some calls
I’ll think about it
Certainly a possibility
Let’s come back to that
Good idea I’ll let you know!
We’ll see
I’ll check it out
Noted
Maybe
I’ll get back to you on that
Could do, could do…
I’ll take that on board
Let’s park that for now
It’s on my list
I’ll definitely keep it in mind
Watch this space!
Hold that thought
I’m doing it as we speak
Might see you down there
Text me the details
I’ll look into it
I certainly don’t rule it out

verybritishproblemsofficial | Twitter, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

(20) VeryBritishProblems on Twitter: "Phrases that mean nothing will happen: Leave it with me I’ll have a word I’ll see what I can find I’ll see what I can do Consider it done! I’ll make some calls I’ll think about it Certainly a possibility Let’s come back to that Good idea I’ll let you know! We’ll see I’ll…" / Twitter

With more here:

(20) VeryBritishProblems (@SoVeryBritish) / Twitter