I personally love using TED talks and videos in class with my students. Above all, for me: they can be great examples of authentic English as a Lingua Franca language use in action they help bring in examples of successful users of English, many of whom are ‘non-native speakers’ (just like our students) they allow …
Three Secrets to Help You Engage Your Students Using TED Talks Read More »
Personally, I’m a rather stubborn type sometimes. And just a tiny bit rebellious. Like to go a bit against the current. Or maybe driven. It depends how you look at it sometimes. To give you one example, this whole website is the result of this stubborn rebellious drive to promote professional equality for ‘native’ and …
Why rebellious stubbornness (sometimes) pays off Read More »
In February this year I had the pleasure to attend FECEI’s (The National Federation of Private Language Schools in Spain) annual conference in Madrid. For a while I’ve been really amazed with all the great work FECEI has been doing to promote equal opportunities in ELT, especially as far as ‘native’ and ‘non-native speakers’ are …
FECEI issues a statement against native speakerism Read More »
When we ask people in ELT, in particular the recruiters, why so many schools hire ‘native speakers’ only, one of the most common answers you will get is: market demand. In other words, the clients demand ‘native speakers’, and thus if the schools want to stay in business, they need to offer classes with ‘native …
Do you prefer a ‘native’ or a ‘non-native speaker’ teacher? – the wrong question to ask Read More »
You might have heard that Japan is a bit of a difficult market for ‘non-native speaker’ teachers. In fact, many of the jobs are explicitly advertised for ‘native speakers’ only. You shouldn’t get discouraged, though. Meet Nicholas… Nicholas Susatyo is originally from Indonesia, but he’s been working as an English teacher in Japan for several …
If you’re like me, and you like to bring in a variety of different accents and speakers to the classroom to supplement what you can find in class, then you’ve probably tried or wanted to try using TED talks. They’re engaging, motivating and can really help showcase the incredible diversity of the English language. But… …
A Skateboard With a Boost: TED Talk Lesson Plan by Lewis Lansford Read More »
You are probably familiar with the widespread preference for ‘native speakers’ in ELT job ads, especially as far as the private sector is concerned. However, this is just one manifestation of the ideology of native speakerism visible in our profession. And if we are serious about tackling it, we also need to look beyond the …
Recently, you might have seen me post quite a lot about English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) on this blog. So perhaps, you might be wondering: what’s the big deal about ELF? why does Marek want me to start teaching ELF? how the heck is it related to TEFL Equity’s fight against native speakerism? That’s …
Three reasons why you need to start teaching English as a Lingua Franca Read More »
A lot of the times course books feature a rather narrow range of recordings of standard ‘native speaker’ voices. Just to give you a few examples: Syrbe and Rose (2016) note that most characters presented in books are ‘native speakers’ (mostly either US or British) ‘Non-native speakers’ also tend to contribute much less in dialogues, …
How to motivate students using recordings of successful E(LF)nglish users Read More »
In 2011, I applied for a job with a well-known language school in Lisbon. I had all the right qualifications, the right experience and skills. Or so I thought. What I didn’t realise at the time was that I didn’t have the right mother tongue. I wasn’t a ‘native speaker’. So I was politely turned down. …
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