Podcast #001; EFL Teaching, the pros and cons

Here is this weeks podcast; Podcast #001; EFL Teaching, the pros and cons

Charlie and I try to set the world to rights and justify our own behaviour...

To download directly as MP3 click here

Or click below to listen with the flash player;

Planned podcast topics

Below are a few of the topics we plan to talk about on the podcast. We hope that the subjects cover both technical and relational (ie work and fun) sides of the job.

We are only going to spend about 20 minutes talking about each one, so that gives you an idea of how large a subject we can handle at any one time.

If you have any ideas to add to the discussion or ideas for other shows please email me at podcasts@a2z-english.com

In addition, if you want to

Here we go...

WHAT?

The English teaher podcast is here! Well. almost....

After looking around for some time for an interesting, amusing and engaging discussion of the business I am involved in, I, James Taylor, Owner of the A2Z School of English in Manchester, have decided to start my own podcast. Let's face it;  most material out there about teaching English is either boring or facile. Well, I hope that I can avoid being either. The only outlets I have discovered which I enjoy reading are the tefltradesman and the EL Gazette.


I want to make a podcast with realistic and, hopefully, interesting discussion of what most people in this industry do, day in day out. Besides which, I think it will be fun. A little info;

WHO?

• My name is James Taylor, I own and run an English language school for adults in Manchester, north west England, called the A2Z School of English. It specialises in using the Callan Method, (which is a podcast in itself). I started the school about 3 years ago with my wife. I posess no English teaching qualifications, but I do have a degree (in theology) and I had taught Callan Method for about 3 years before I set up my own school. These days I spend most of my time doing management of the school rather than teaching. In fact I only teach about once every month when there is an absolute emergency, so, In order to get some technical/professional expertise ....

• On most shows the plan is for me to be accompanied by Charlie Davies (MA Tesol) who, apart from being the director of studies at A2Z, is also an expert teacher. Charlie is regularly involved in managing and developing other teachers and teaching lessons, particularly our Cambridge advanced class. I hope his involvement will make the shows at least half decent!
• From time to time we will be interviewing people, if you are interested please send your proposition to me at podcast@a2z-english.com

WHY?

• The aim is for the podcasts to be fornightly and to be part of the blog.
• The podcasts are supposed to be interesting, amusing and engaging.I can't promise this, but we will try! I particularly want to avoid the "My life is terrible" school of EFL moaning and instead talk about the things that make the job fun and interesting. No doubt there is a place for the miserable side of things, but I'm sure its all well dealt with elsewhere on the net.
  
• To make it interesting I aim to be devil's advocate to Charlie wherever possible. This will be particularly easy when I actually disagree with Charlie, but since we actually agree about a lot I might have to try hard now and then. Please don't assume that anything we say on the podcast is our real opinion! And don't try and sue us either, what you do as a result of listening to this podcast is your responsibility. Anything we say or do not say should not influence you in any way!
  
• We will also simply blog now and then, and we are interested in hearing from whoever reads our stuff.
• Whenevery possible we will try to interview other people so that we get some fresh life in on the podcast, if you are interested in taking part in such a show please email me at podcast@a2z-english.com
• I'm going to ad google adverts to the site to make a little money if I can, but I don't think it will be any more than about £15 per year! Still, enough to buy Charlie a methodology book : )
  

I've been particularly inspired by three podcasts I listen to regularly, all of them business based. Mind your own business, the Small Business podcast and Business ears are all worth a listen if you want to know about the practicalities of running your own business. I happen to think they are all excellent podcasts too! My definition of an excellent podcast is one that makes a subject sound interesting even if you have no prior interest in the subject and yet at the same time interests those who are more knowledgeable about the subject.

Ok, off to make our first podcasts.