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Paper-free education – what can possibly go wring?
I’m writing this at the end of a two-week author visit to Japan and Korea that has seen me do seventeen presentations of one kind or another. I started with a speech that no one could hear at the...
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Heads up – six bloggers you should be reading…
Hello! I’m not blogging as much as I would like to at the moment, but thankfully lots of other people are. Today I present for your edification six bloggers that I think deserve a wider audience. They...
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Pen and paper and Put Out The Lights
I was at the Wired In or Out conference at Yildiz Technical University Istanbul the first weekend of December. Işıl Boy, the organiser, was one of the Young Turks I featured in a blog earlier this...
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Forget about learners, let’s hear it for teachers!
This is a slide from one of the talks I’m currently giving. It’s called ‘Ten Quotations To Make You Think’. Vesna Novicic, a teacher who came to see the talk in Belgrade, posted the slide on Facebook....
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Going home, and out of my comfort zone
International House London, Stukeley Street, Covent Garden On Wednesday, I will be doing the first of three training workshops for the current teaching staff at International House London....
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Sirja Bessero on the nagging doubts of a non-native speaker teacher
This is the first guest post I’ve posted in quite a while. It’s been written by Sirja Bessero, an Estonian teacher of English living and working in Switzerland. I followed a link to her excellent blog...
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Taksim/Gezi from a foreigner’s perspective
A Russian colleague sent me this message that one of her students sent to her from Istanbul. They have given me permission to post it here. It gives an interesting view of the troubles from a...
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I can’t help it if all my Turkish friends are Çapulcuz…
First of all, thanks to Ece, who sent me this image. The reason for it should become clear in a moment. I think everyone who reads this blog will know about the ongoing events in Turkey, which started...
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Two notes for friends and colleagues in Indonesia…
I’d just like to draw attention to two things for teachers and educators based in Indonesia. 1 You And Me The six-level course which I co-wrote with my two colleagues Mary Tomalin and Jane Revell is...
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Should we talk about Global Issues in the ELT classroom? A Facebook debate
I’m very proud and excited to be kicking off the Global Issues SIG day (Friday 4th April, NOT the pre-conference SIG event) with this talk, and would like to include some thoughts from teachers who...
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Still standing
Hello to anyone reading my blog for the first time, and welcome back to those of you who have been here before. Thank you for showing up after the long break that I took from posting stuff here. So,...
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Time to hang up my boots?
Giving a talk to 1,200 people in Belgrade in November 2012. This is the biggest audience I have ever addressed. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I had a minor heart attack just after Christmas and...
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Before I pack it in – how did it all start?
The English Teaching Theatre group that toured Germany and the Netherlands in April 1989. R to L: Tara, John, Stuart, Michelle, me. For the past quarter-century, I have spent an awful lot of time on...
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Are two heads better than one?
This is the programme for an English UK North event, which is due to take place on 7th October. There are ten presentations, including a plenary, and all the named speakers are men. Unsurprisingly, it...
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What Albert Finney taught me about motivation ….
I wonder if all bloggers are obsessive about their stats. I freely admit that, since I started blogging again after a long break, I check the stats on my blog quite regularly. You can make your own...
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My first stage appearance ….
Salford Grammar School prefects: from left to right, Dave Starr, Dave Rimmer, Pete Britton and me Everyone has a story about the first time they had to stand up in front of people to sing, tap dance,...
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The English Teaching Theatre – how it nearly never started…
Ian McShane, Angela Carr and Lizzie Lewendon in the Astronauts sketch, sometime in the 1990s. This is a re-publishing of an old post that someone has asked to read. For some reason, the original...
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Old white males – what a nuisance!
This post is for people involved in English Language Teaching. If you aren’t, you’re welcome to read it because there might be one or two amusing observations, but probably best to move on, nothing to...
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Britain’s pyramids of talent
It’s a bit pants in the UK at the moment … What with Brexit and the general incompetence of the people supposedly in charge, Britain, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom – whatever...
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My first attempt at flash fiction
Kit de Waal Last September, I did a masterclass on flash fiction with Kit de Waal. Kit is a really excellent presenter, very down to earth and full of useful tips and ideas that she was generous...
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