Ok, I’ll be honest. My all-time favourite, laugh out loud, podcast has to be the Adam Buxton podcast, but sometimes I just feel a bit swotty and want to professionally develop whilst chopping vegetables or heading home from my latest adventure. Here are some entertaining and enlightening English language teaching and materials writing themed listens:
1. Accentricity. The Accentricity podcast wholeheartedly embraces and promotes the wonderfully inclusive world of English as a Lingua Franca. Sadie Ryan, a PhD Linguistics graduate from Glasgow University bridges the gap between academia and how people really use the language. Her engaging interviews with experts and language users explore a world of accents, prejudice, language acquisition and multilingualism.
2. The Editing Podcast. As a Materials Writer, this podcast has been endlessly helpful and inspiring. Denise Cowle and Louise Harnby simplify all there is to know about editing. Each episode is about 15 minutes long and feels like you’re just eavesdropping on Denise and Louise having an enthusiastic chat about editing over a coffee (and maybe a spoonful of Nutella). It’s a fun, friendly way to learn about formatting, grammar, punctuation and all the technical terms and jargon used in editing and writing.
3. The TEFL Training Institute podcast. These podcasts are also only 15 minutes long, and manage to squeeze a lot of learning into every precious second. Ross Thorburn interviews experts on just about every TEFL topic you can think of – Marek Kiczkowiak about Native Speakerism, David Crystal about the History of English, Russell Stannard about online teaching and my very own Diploma tutor, the fabulous Anne Carmichael about using Literature to teach Language.
4. The Actual Fluency Podcast. As I write this, there are close to 200 of these podcasts available to download. Each is aimed at anyone wanting to learn a language (not just English). Kris interviews guests on topics such as language learning techniques, theories and research. One episode that stuck in my mind was his interview with Anthony Metivier talking about Memory Palaces. Now there’s something I won’t forget!
These are just 4 of my favourites. Each an easy and entertaining way to stay informed. I’d love to hear recommendations for more. Which ones do you love? Which episodes have made themselves at home in your mind?
Since writing this post, I’ve been introduced to LOADS of other awesome podcasts. I’ve even appeared on episodes of Teachers Talk Radio, Sponge Chat and ESL Breakroom! Here are some additional recommendations for you to check out:
Sponge ELT – Interviews from ELT professionals sharing their inspiring ELT career journeys.
Teachers Talk Radio – Harry Waters, Graham Stanley and Jane Ritter all have TEFL/TESOL/ELT related podcasts. They’re all brilliant.
TESOLpop – These bitesized podcasts cover all sorts of useful topics.
ESL Breakroom by Business Class Learning Solutions – the podcast for business English professionals.
The LearnJam podcast – Adventures in Learning Design
You can catch me chatting about on these podcasts by visiting my Publications and Media page. Click the images below.
Check out my online courses! Click the laptop image.
