ESL Teacher Talk – ESL Podcasts for Teachers

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A new co-host, Clive, squares off with Mark about which is better teaching children or teaching adults. Mark prefers teaching children and has some suggestions for Clive’s problems in children’s classes. Then Clive, who prefers teaching adults, offers Mark some suggestions for Mark’s problems with adult classes.

Clive will be apearing on the show from time to time and we’re very glad to have him. In the first segment of the show we learn about Clive and what he’s doing in Italy. He runs www.eslpodcards.com and if you haven’t been by there yet, stop by and take a look around. Clive explains how to use the articles, listening and worksheets you can find in the Pocard lessons.

Game of the Week: True or False

This is a game that requires little to no preparation. It practices question formation as well as reasoning and being convincing in English. The game is described as practice for past simple but can be easily adapted to suit the present, present perfect, future and more. It’s up to your imagination. Have fun!

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Part one – Children’s classes: There’s a lot to think about when dealing with a new class. Ron and Mark offer you some advice and give you a few things to think about when the class is new, you the teacher are new or a new student is introduced into the class.

Game of the Week: the Yes No race

A nice warm-up activity and can be used to practice any yes-no question.

game to print www.eslteachertalk.com/games/yesnoraceprint.php
game with questions www.eslteachertalk.com/games/yes_no_questions.doc

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This first segment brings you a short interview with the new co-host Ron Molenda. We learn a little bit about Ron and what all this Season 2 nonsense is about. In the Just Talk section of the show, Ron tells us about living and working in Taiwan. You can get a feel for what to expect, good ways to find a job and what to be weary of when looking to work in Taiwan.

Game of the Week: Curiosity

An almost zero preparation game that practices question formation and continuing a conversation. This game is good for intermediate to advanced intermediate levels. It’s best with small groups but is explained in the show how it could be adapted for larger classes.

I’ve been talking with a few people and it looks like a team is getting ready to launch Season Two with me. My idea for this next run at it is to have a few different co-hosts to hopefully bring you regular shows and some variety.

There are quite a few ideas floating around and when I get a better feel for what you can expect, I’ll post a Season Two teaser.

New shows should be rolling out by late June.

Thanks for listening,

Mark

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There have been 30 shows over the past year, and this week’s show is the season finale. Mark and Eric go over why they created eslTeacherTalk. What they hope they have done to help other teachers and the future of this show.

Sorry, no game of the week this week.

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They’re everywhere and about everything, why not start your own. You have a lot of experiences and advice to pass on! Blog today! This week, Mark and Eric discuss the benefits of creating an ESL blog, how to get started and what you need to know.

Get a free blog here: www.blogger.com

Domain owners, get a template here: wordpress.org

Game of the Week: Down Pass

This is a relatively easy to prepare game that you can use to practice compound words or spelling. It is designed for larger classes but can be easily adapted to small groups. Have fun!

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This is a relatively easy to prepare game that you can use to practice compound words or spelling. It is designed for larger classes, but can be easily adapted to small groups. Have fun!

Listen to the show.

Devon Thagard, co-creator of SuperSimpleSongs, comes to the studio this week. He discusses his ESL experience and how he uses songs in class with young children. There are also some recommendations for music for young learners and a way to get a free set of SuperSimpleSong CDs.

Learn more: www.supersimplesongs.com

Visit devon’s blog at http://simplesongs.blogs.com

listen to some i-mixes of simple songs:

U.S. iTunes

iTunes Japan

Devon’s podcast: www.kodomoeikaiwa.podomatic.com

Game of the Week: RPS challenge

In 5 minutes practice any target language with students aged 5-100. All you need are some markers and students. It’s a great warm-up activity or review activity.

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In 5 minutes practice any target language with students aged 5-100. All you need are some markers and students. It’s a great warm-up activity or review activity.

Listen to the show.

This week we have Patrick Jackson, author of the Potato Pals series published through Oxford Press. He talks about his experiences getting the books to print, what potato pals are, why he created them and how he uses them in class.

You can read more about Patrick Jackson and the Potato Pals at http://potatopals.blogspot.com.  Visit the site and learn how you could win a free set of Potato Pals books.