Conference Report: TESOL Spain 2025 (Burgos)

The TESOL Spain convention in Burgos featured insightful talks on topics like social justice in English language teaching, AI in pronunciation, and emotional well-being for teachers. The event fostered connections and inspiration, culminating in a warm community atmosphere and anticipation for next year’s convention in Sevilla.

A Term of ELT Events

The first in the series of planned posts on this rejuvenated blog is an overview of the last couple of months in ELT from my perspective, what’s being going on (and therefore, what’s been keeping me from posting!). Bilbao It feels like ‘Bridging the North’ has been a staple of the Spanish ELT event calendarContinue reading “A Term of ELT Events”

Conference Review: TESOL Spain 2024

I felt like I was returning home. I lived in Cáceres for three years from 2016-2019 and when I first arrived, I could barely say more in Spanish than request basic food staples and state that I didn’t eat meat (and that includes tuna; and no, not even jamón). So I was returning to myContinue reading “Conference Review: TESOL Spain 2024”

Key Takeaways: ‘Explicit English Teaching’ (Needham, 2023)

I was asked for my key takeaways from this read earlier in the summer. There is plenty more in the book which I throughly recommend to anyone interested in exploring ideas around explicit or direct instruction, but a very brief summary: Learning is very difficult to define, and even with established definitions from the literature,Continue reading “Key Takeaways: ‘Explicit English Teaching’ (Needham, 2023)”

Diploma in Academic Management

When I took my first course with IH OTTI, I didn’t imagine that I would end up pursuing the full diploma in Academic Management. I took the Observation and Feedback course because, despite having ten years experience in the classroom and a reasonable number of hours observing teaching and giving feedback as a DoS/Academic Manager,Continue reading “Diploma in Academic Management”

Empowering our Students Through Lexical Choice

This is an adapted version of the talk I gave at TEOSL Spain 2023. Be aware that I make reference to and give examples of vulgar language. I’ve been thinking a lot, lately, about one particular group that I teach. It’s a Cambridge Advanced exam prep group of eight teenagers varying in age from thirdContinue reading “Empowering our Students Through Lexical Choice”

Conference Review: TESOL Spain 2023

It had been three years since we last all met in Salamanca. We were hosted then by the beautiful university and spent the weekend learning from one another, socialising and discussing the big ideas of the moment. We were in a state of something like pre-lapsarian bliss: blissfully innocent of what was about to happenContinue reading “Conference Review: TESOL Spain 2023”

Conference Review: FECEI 2023

After a beautiful journey along winding roads, with snow on the ground and the late afternoon sunlight filtering through the fir trees, we arrived in Segovia around 6pm on Friday evening. Just enough time to relax before getting ready to attend the FECEI Premios Top IX Edición. The Premios, and Gala that follows, are aContinue reading “Conference Review: FECEI 2023”