About this episode

Gav and Em discuss strategies for improving efficiency in English teaching, including when to correct student mistakes and common errors learners make.

How can English teachers make lessons more efficient? When should you correct a student’s mistakes? And what do you say when a learner responds, “But you understand me, though?” In this episode, Gav and Em explore practical TEFL and English teaching questions from the classroom. We discuss maximizing valuable teaching time, increasing student participation, lesson planning (and whether not planning could ever be more efficient!), and knowing when subtle language mistakes need to be challenged. We look at real examples of common English learner errors, including the important difference between “I’m not interested” and “I’m not interesting,” and discuss why small mistakes can completely change the meaning of a conversation. We also tackle direct translations and expressions that sound natural to learners but not necessarily to advanced English speakers, such as “My neck is stuck,” “I do Home Office,” and calling a mobile phone a “handy.” What should an English teacher do when they understand the learner perfectly, but someone outside the classroom might not? Finally, Gav and Em compare how they keep track of their teaching hours: Em’s decidedly analogue paper system versus Gav’s…

People in this episode

Hosts: Gav, Em

Topics covered

• lesson efficiency
• correcting mistakes
• student participation
• lesson planning
• common errors

Keywords

• TEFL
• English teaching
• student errors
• lesson planning
• language mistakes

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Google Sheets

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