Saturday 10 June 2017

Review of ELT podcasts part 3


When I started reviewing ELT podcasts there were hardly any. Now we find ourselves drowning in them! At present I count more than 10 ELT specific podcast. However, over half seem to have fallen to the wayside. Elliott's very good 'lives of teachers' podcast has very sporadic output these days. As does 'Masters of TESOL' which started strong and has since faded. The only three podcast that I have reviewed still regularly producing output are TEFLology, the TEFL show and the TEFL commute. Clearly the secret is having TEFL in your name somewhere. 

In my last review I had a wish list asking for, among other things, 'a podcast with a female host' and what do you know, three come along at once. 


1. One stop English podcast 

This podcast has only just started and is 8 episodes in but has made quite a nice start. Already the show has featured a debunking of learning styles, as well as featuring my former presentation partner Nicola Prentis, in the same episode. They have a 'guest teacher' slot, which is a nice idea and have so far featured, among others, the wonderful Natalia Guerreiro (who I cannot convince to write a guest blog post). In only 8 episodes they have had as guests, Hugh Dellar and Andrew Wakley, Adrian Underhill, Silvana Richardson and Scott Thornbury. This is quite a solid podcast, not too heavy and even including some practical teaching advice. It's a pleasant addition to the pod-o-sphere and it will be interesting to see how it develops. 



Tea with BVP has everything I have ever asked for in a podcast. It has a well established academic (Bill Van Patten) talking about language teaching research. It has veryhigh production value. It also has a NNS female host. The main host is also a bilingual Spanish speaker so we get insight into MFL. It also provides a fascinating window into the American ELT scene (lost since the minimal pair podcast disappeared). With all this going for it, why don't I love Tea with BVP more? I puzzled over this issue and it seems to me there are a few things which stop me enjoying this show more. 

Firstly, it's not a podcast. Sure, it is released in podcast form but it is recorded as a radio show and a radio show it is. There are phone ins, there are awkward pauses when no one phones in, there are some quite 'chatty' sections and so on. Secondly, it's very strongly wedded to a certain ideological position. I've listened to the whole 4(?) series and haven't yet been able to work out what this position is. It seems to be something along the lines of 'Krashen and Chomsky are right about everything' (I jest, but only a bit). 

One of the frustrating things about the show for me is that ideas about teaching are presented as settled science. That is, that doing X or Y is the only way students will acquire language and that language is acquired through method Z. There is nothing wrong with having a position and arguing from that position per se, I just wonder if say Long, or Ellis, would agree with BVP's take on language teaching. As a teacher with scant knowledge of the research discussed it's hard to know what to think. 

The certainty with which certain views were espoused looked a little less convincing when, in a recent episode BVP gave some credence to the idea of learning styles. In the following episode he responded to listener who had written in to challenge him on this (not me, I promise) and his response was a little disappointing. Rather than say 'yes, I got it wrong, learning styles aren't real.' he stated that individual differences don't matter much in learning languages. 

Early on I wrote to the show and asked them if they would detail alternate views to the one espoused. I was hoping to find out what their position would be defined as and what other researchers think. The show is usually very good at responding to people's questions on twitter and the like. They thanked me for my email but unfortunately this hasn't happened yet.

Thirdly, related to the last point, they favour a teaching methodology called TPRS which I had never heard of. I kept thinking it was a mutant variant of TPR, but no, it's something completely different. There are also frequent references to ACTFL which again, I had never heard of. But, it is interesting to learn that despite doing essentially the same job as these people, we seem to inhabit complete different worlds. TEA with BVP is a high quality podcast, but, for a British ELT teacher not familiar with the world of ACTFL, it can be a frustrating listen a times. 






This is a new and quite interesting little podcast. What I particularly like about it is that it seems to be set in China. The TEFL scene can be dominated by Spain/UK based teachers and so it's quite interesting to get a podcast from somewhere else. The hosts are a Ross Thorburn, a British guy and  Tracy Yu, a Chinese woman

There are about 24 episodes now and it's been around for less than a year, so the output is pretty high. The episodes are also really short at around 15 minutes each time. They generally tackle very general interest, practical issues like, monitoring, autonomy and materials. The format is usually the hosts (and perhaps a guest) reflecting on these topics. In that sense it's similar to other TEFL podcasts, but the Chinese perspective is interesting. 


So that's it! If you hear about a TEFL podcast (oh gawd, not another one!) please let me know. 


Other reviews of podcasts 

part 1

Part 2


 



6 comments:

  1. Thanks for this, Russ. I'm a new subscriber, so this prompted me to look back at your first two podcast reviews. I listen to most of the podcasts you've covered but had never heard of 'the lives of teachers'. I'm looking forward to checking that out.

    It doesn't sound like you're keen on a fourth podcast review post, but one I listen to that I haven't seen here is 'elt upgraders' (http://eltupgraders.buzzsprout.com/). They're on iTunes.

    Cheers.

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    1. Thanks for this! Do you know if it's on Itunes? I'll add it to the list :)

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  3. I can confirm that the lives of teachers podcast is dead. However, the interviews are all archived in video format on my new website, and I will continue to record more when I feel like it. In fact, I have a couple of new ones scheduled for August.

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    1. Ah, what a shame!
      But it's nice to know that it lives on!

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