Search Results

I feel I was "young" for a very long time. Now I feel - not so young anymore. Is it a vanity thing, or did I just get used to being the enthusiastic and naive young thing in my circle of friends and colleagues? (Disclaimer: this is from my perspective, as delusional as it may be. The blog is a bit of a personal rumination on what I'm noticing in myself of late - an internal shift in self-perception within a professional development context). For years I felt 2 steps behind my peers who generally seemed far more experienced and knowledgeable. I would invariably hold back on sharing my thoughts for fear of showing my ignorance. I lacked a background in many ELT basics, had no idea about SLA and was 100 miles away from contemplating any evidence-based research relating to my job - how do you even access such a thing...?! I'd find myself double checking before posting any simple Facebook comment that could be picked on by a far more erudite reader, sarcastically pointing out an innocent (ignorant) error, or even spelling mistake. Oh the shame of it! (Wasn't Facebook supposed to be for fun?!) Fast forward 20 years, I now know that I know stuff. And my confidence is growing with every opportunity I have to express what I think about what I have learned - what I continue to learn - about language learning and teaching; and I know what SLA is now! (Second Language Acquisition - it's really interesting, especially when you read the controversial things! Do you subscribe to Chomsky's input theory of language learning? Or find corpus linguistics has more to offer when grappling with understanding how we learn a language? This Twitter thread caught my attention recently: Do check the whole thread, especially the last comment - I certainly learnt at least 2 things from reading it: https://twitter.com/FocusCorpus/status/1652585151350579205?s=20) Since engaging with giving feedback (or as I prefer to think of it feedFORWARD) to our participants on the Distance Cert IBET, the knowledge I've gained over the past 23 years of teaching is coalescing for me. I don't profess to know "everything" (that's not humanly possible) and what I do "know" may be differently "known" by our TDCI participants. This, I feel very keenly, is an essential element to what I have learned: we all bring to the table our own perspectives based on experience and input and no one person can claim to know better than the other. Irrespective of how many years they may have under their belt. The concession is that, us slightly older folks who've been around the block and back again at least a couple of times (as opposed to the really old folks who've been around since dinosaur times!), have collected a lot of experiential knowledge. Perhaps more importantly, we've grown personally alongside our professional selves. I feel this is what gives some of us an edge when it comes to sharing what we know - we have a sense of how to share. And when not to share. As I type these wandering thoughts, I can almost hear indignant brain cells whirring: "What about all the older people who still haven't learned how to appropriately share their knowledge, and younger people who are brilliant feedforward-givers?" I appreciate the ageist undercurrents of what I'm suggesting here. Indulge me. I'm exploring some thoughts born of my (recently) lived experiences. Ultimately, what I'm getting at is, if you feel like I used to as a greenhorn teacher, keep at it. Keep going to training courses and conferences, engaging in social media exchanges (you soon learn to spot the trolls you need to stay clear of), reading books related to your areas of interest - and occasionally dip your toe into the more academic-ky ones. Remember to check in with yourself and acknowledge what and how much you are doing well - perhaps even better than you did this time last year. When with trusted colleagues, explore wild ideas about how to teach a certain type of learner, or lesson, or grammatical point. Then gradually, you'll have the confidence to speak up in other settings, safe in the knowledge that you do know what you're talking about. And if others disagree with what you say, that's OK. As long as they're not factually incorrect (yeah, I know, that's a moving target these days...), who are we to denigrate their point of view? We may not stay young and energetic forever, but we'll have earned every wrinkle and grey hair when we can stand up confidently - and respectfully - engage with others to share the knowledge and experience we've diligently gathered and acquired.

The Distance Cert IBET approach to delivering the Cert IBET is built on the principles of autonomy and self-directed learning. So of course, I went along to Sarah Mercer's talk on #IATEFL2023 Thursday. More than Sarah's highly engaging style of presenting on teacher-centered topics, I also got access to a report she and colleagues, Chris Farrell and Donald Freeman had written on behalf of OUP. More on the report at a later date - I'm still reading through and reflecting, but it includes a useful 7-step framework of the self-directed professional development process that I want to delve into more deeply. I know we ought to attend conference talks with one ear of criticality always open, but Sarah talks my kinda language (and I don't just mean English language!!). I admit, I went along for the enjoyment of having my views on professional development and human flourishing confirmed! So rather than a report on what Sarah said in the presentation, this is a reflection on how I feel about the points she covered in relation to my own professional (and personal) development. With her opening gambit, I felt a degree of surprise (shock?) to discover that professional development (PD) is often the butt of jokes among teachers. As an inveterate developer of my professional self - and when permitted, of others - I find it hard to imagine other people not taking it as seriously as me. But there you go. It seems that this may be due to a deficit approach to PD - a 'failing' teacher needs fixing, send them on a PD course. Or, if they're doing a really poor job, call in the school coach. (This I heard from a family member who reported that in her school, being sent for coaching was used as a remedial tool - something that goes against EVERYTHING I learned about coaching). The point about PD is that it has to be a choice - not foisted upon anyone. Development only works when it is sought out and actively engaged in by an individual. Equally, it shouldn't be used as an incentive, or as a substitute for a decent wage. (Also something I've come across working in companies: management has no budget left for a pay rise? No worries, send people on some PD course somewhere. Can't give that promotion your junior manager has been after for years? Send them to London on a 2 week language course. Whether they want to go or not!) Anyway, back to Sarah's talk... The focus was on self-directed professional development (SDPD) and the premise that this avenue offers an autonomous way to intentionally engage in our own PD. The caveat being that we should watch out for when PD is becoming a burden - are we doing another PD / SDPD course because we feel pressured into doing it? Do we have enough time and capacity to truly engage with the content, and reflect on the learning we are gaining from the course? Sarah's points about good PD recognising the teacher, being learner-centered and being principles-based rather than prescriptive made me review our aims at TDCI. I genuinely believe that our values and principles are very much in line with Sarah's here. Of course, the proof is in the learners' experiences and feedback. It's early days for us with the Distance Cert IBET self-directed course we offer; there's always room for improvement and we welcome any and all feedback from our participants. We want to provide a "satisfying and meaningful" PD experience for fellow teachers who put their trust in us to accompany them on their ongoing CPD journey. As Sarah maintains, professional development is not only for job improvement, it's also for life beyond teaching, a life that should be lived well. To download the OUP report Sarah referred to in the talk (it's free!), go to: www.oup.com/elt/expert/professional-development When I have finished reflecting on the report, I'll get back to you. There's lots of good stuff about SDPD worth sharing, so if you don't feel like reading the original, perhaps my summary / review will be worth a look! And if you want to explore more about what OUP offers for teacher PD, check out: www.oup.com/elt/professionaldevelopmentonline

BATNA, WATNA, HIT, ZOPA and More: Thinking About Teaching Negotiation Skills in Dublin The second of my talks focused on what knowledge and skills we need as teachers or trainers to effectively develop our trainees’ capabilities in negotiation. Negotiation is traditionally considered one of the “big six” functions of Business English along with presenting, telephoning, socialising, writing and engaging in meetings and for which key structures and lexis are required. Being an audience of English language teachers, there was little need to talk about the vocabulary and lexis so our focus was on how we can teach negotiating and what we need to know and teach beyond set language. After a brief introduction, the audience were, without preparation or warning, dropped into a border dispute negotiation which, while was not representative of how the task would be conducted in a real training room with time for the negotiators to prepare and so on, served to involve people and get them thinking about negotiation and its teaching. In a short, intensive lesson, a classic TTT (test, teach / train, test) approach for such tasks works well: - conduct and reflect on a negotiation - deliver input and conduct practice tasks - conduct and reflect on another negotiation allowing learners to apply the training We the moved on to talk about the knowledge that a teacher may lack but which is required to teach negotiating; this included: - acronyms such as BATNA, WATNA, HIT, WAP and ZOPA - tactics such as highball-lowball, brinksmanship and so that negotiators need to use (if they judge it the right course of action) and guard against. We concluded with the classic buyer-seller negotiation to allow the audience to test these approaches. This all seemed to be well-received by a positive audience who engaged well with the tasks, who were willing to try and the approaches and keep the atmosphere light and positive. ELT Ireland’s Annual Conference will return in February 2024. Michelle and I will be back representing Distance Cert. You can download the slides below: Teaching negotiation skills is one of the 40 units of The Distance Cert IBET. Find out more here: https://www.the-distance-cert-ibet.com/units-and-content

Laura began her talk with a poll on menti.com asking the audience for two emotions they feel most often as teachers. Her talk then continued with an interesting point: that there is a wealth of consideration given to as well as research about learner emotions but very little given to the emotions of teachers. Emotions, as Laura said, help us to make sense of the world and are worth considering as, if we know what we feel, we can do something about it. Laura highlighted the significant amount of "emotional labour" put in by teachers. This is defined as the process of managing feelings in order to do your job. This includes: - Perceived emotions - How we act - Displaying inauthentic emotions - Expected emotions - Deep acting - Accepting Laura then went through a range of research on the subject. The results of Laura's menti.com survey can be viewed in the word cloud below:

Ciaran's talk entitled "How do You Meme?" was a real standout of the conference for me. It really challenged my understanding and enlightened me about how internet memes, perhaps not something traditionally thought of (at least by me) as a classroom task or language-learning tool, can be used for pedagogical purposes Ciaran tested our meme knowledge ("memetic proficiency") with a task in which we had to complete famous meme statements such as am"I may not always ...", "If you could ..." and so on. I was also introduced to the term "memetic language" and how language is used in memes. Memes, Ciaran stated, are cultural units of information, pass from individual or groups online and dominate online discourse regardless of language or culture.Ciaran highlighted how there are four types of meme: - Text-based memes made up of text alone with a specific format or layout. These could be "snowclones" in which a fragment of text can be changed (such as "Keep Calm and ..."). - Image macros, which are the most common form of meme, made up of an image with txt overlaying (such a the "jealous girlfriend" meme). - Reaction memes made up of two or more images with text; these tend to be taken from TV or film (such as the "woman shouting at cat" meme). - Videos / gifs which are very short extracts incorporating motion and, potentially, sound (such as the "triggered" gif). Ciaran made brilliant use of QR codes to engage us in tasks in which we produced our own memes using online meme generators. In terms of classroom tasks, memes are sociable and people want to share them - they make great warmers and practice for lexical chunks. In the fun atmosphere of Ciaran's session, I felt I could finally ask about a collocation I have been curious about for a while - the idea of a "dank meme" which Ciaran explained brilliantly. A great talk and thoroughly enjoyable experience due to, in no small part, the atmosphere created by the speaker.

Daniela Sora's talk gave us a wonderfully-concise 30-minute introduction to the subject of Design Thinking - ostensibly a way of producing products and services using empathy and problem-solving to improve the experience of users or customers. This was a subject I had only briefly come across before in passing so gained my interest in the conference programme. A glance in the room where Daniela would be speaking showed sticky notes set out on the seats so audience members knew there would be creative and meaningful activities. Design thinking, as Daniela explained, has five stages and I have provided a very conciser summary below: 1. Empathise: place yourself in the position of your end users, consider their needs and wants, think about why they want something. 2. Define: have a clear idea of the challenge and what you aim to achieve. 3. Ideate: brainstorm, mind map and using sticky notes to generate creative ideas. 4. Prototype: create draft and models as first versions of your idea. 5. Test: gather feedback from users and make improvements. Audience members responded well to these new ideas. This was a nice introduction to a deep and complex yet highly useful area that I look forward to learning about. This would easily justify a longer workshop.

Introducing the Fundamentals of Instructional Design at the ELT Ireland Conference On the weekend of 18th and 19th February, Michelle and I were back at ELT Ireland’s Annual Conference. This marked a welcome return for both of us: for Michelle, it was her second conference after her extremely well-received and inspiring plenary last year while, for me, it was my eighth having first spoken there at this event in 2016 and returning ever since. 2023’s Annual Conference did not disappoint with the mixture of good humour, creativity, impressive expertise and atmosphere that we have come to expect from these events. This year, I was delivering two talks; the first of these was entitled “From Teacher to Instructional Designer”. My intention being to provide an understanding of the key principles of Instructional Design in a 45-minute conference slot! Instructional Design appears as a complex business riddled with multi-stage processes, models and acronyms but the fundamental principle is all about a systematic approach to development that considers all stages of the developmental process. Firstly, I wished to know from the audience what they believed the session to be about. This elicited varied responses that demonstrated that those I attendance were highly open to what would evidently be new ideas, concepts and approaches. My answer to the same question was that the session is about a transition from teacher, suggestive of delivery and evaluation, to Instructional Designer capable of managing all stages of the learning process not only the delivery of prescribed materials such as coursebooks. The learning process in question here being represented in the most famous of Instructional Design models, ADDIE. While there are, of course, a plethora of models that summarise the essence of Instructional Design, this seemed a pragmatic place to start an introductory talk: · Analyse needs of the learners / course participants · Design goals, objectives and outcomes · Develop and / or select material and prepare for the delivery · Implement the develop and deliver the training · Evaluate the outcomes through recording and reporting attendance, feedback, test results and so on Needs analysis should be something useful to help a course designer meet (or, even better, exceed) the expectations of those attending a course and other stakeholders. We moved on to discuss what we can do as development professionals to analyse these needs. A quick group brainstorm covered a range of approaches from asking or observing people to using questionnaires or interviews, psychometric testing, monitoring of workplace metrics and more. It was highlighted how needs analysis is not just gathering data, it must be acted upon. Form this, we set our big-picture goal for the course, our specific future-focused objectives and our lists of outcomes for what learners can do once they leave the course. Next, comes the issue of preparation in the form of development and the actual delivery and implementation; being an audience of teachers, this was no problem at all – let us remember that this is what teachers do. While an audience of subject matter experts in any other field may have the subject knowledge but lack the competences to manage or deliver training in an engaging way (other than a “telling approach”), my audience in Dublin specialised in impactful, engaging delivery as education professionals. This took us to the final point about how we can evaluate the success of any developmental outcome and, as with needs analysis, the audience suggested multiple measures of this ranging from attendance to testing knowledge via multiple choice test, case study analysis, assessed presentations, reports and much more. I greatly enjoyed this talk and is a great experience for a conference speaker to have their own professional interests and passions reciprocated by such an audience who, as ever, were keen to know more, to learn from each other, to share their thoughts and ideas with me and each other, and to apply their own learning from the talks they attend. You can download the slides below: Interested in taking a course about Instructional Design? Take a look here: https://www.the-distance-cert-ibet.com/additonalcourses/certificate-in-instructional-design

Tuesday 18th April saw the start of IATEFL's 2023 Conference. After a challenging journey from York that morning, navigating my way to the auditorium, and getting my brain in gear during the obligatory welcome spiel, it was finally time for the first plenary of the conference: Evan Frendo looking for answers about English for the workplace . I have been using Evan's seminal book "How to Teach Business English" and its subsequent editions for many years. Indeed, his definition of "Business English" forms one of the many classic definitions we encourage our course participants to critique as part of our Distance Cert IBET course. The first time I had the opportunity to actually speak with Evan was in Gdansk, Poland, at BESIG's 2022 Conference; I greatly enjoyed his candor and enthusiasm for his field. As a speaker, Evan does not disappoint in what he delivers. Everything is supported with anecdotes or evidence and delivered with energy. Let us to turn to his content. Evan divided his talk into three parts: 1. What is English for the workplace? 2. What is the perspective from outside ELT? 3. So what? Answering this first question, Evan highlighted an interesting point: that we must differentiate between "users" of English and "learners" or English, the former working with the level they have. He illustrated this with examples from Maritime English in which various nationalities use English as a lingua franca. Evan also highlighted how any communication is context-specific and the jargon of a role or company will be known and acquired only by those within the organisation - a teacher cannot teach this for the simple reason they do not know it. He also referred to the idea of "language-brokering" in which another acts as an informal translator. Evan make a jump from the teaching approach to that of Instructional Design (though he did not use the term) and a critique of the approach in the ADDIE model. This, he stated was too "top-down" though Evan did not: - Offer a direct alternative or solution (though we could state that the "coaching" approach, one that is unstructured and responsive would be such a thing which he mentioned in passing) - Highlight that many teachers / trainers using a classic "teaching" approach might not focus on any form of Instructional Design, such as needs analysis or setting bespoke goals, objectives and outcomes - Express that, for other fields in which a trainer is the one with expertise, a structured approach, such as ADDIE (for information on ADDIE, click here), is essential Evan then moved on to talk about material and how this should be "curated". A nice idea for resources that are specific to an individual or company and something that should also be accompanied by bespoke materials responding to a client's need. Turning to the second question of "what is the perspective from outside ELT?", Evan illustrated different perspectives from various individuals and communications (rather than research). He made the point that there is a difference between what teachers focus on versus what those in an industry focus on. He then turned to testing which, he stated, should be occupational-specific. A standardised test does not tell you how well you can work or function. These tests judge English not how well someone can do their job in English. He cited negotiation as an example ; this is a good choice of example as negotiation is indeed a matter of more than just the right lexis but requires the right strategy, tactics and mindset. (Something I talked about at the recent ELT Ireland conference - read here). He highlighted a trend in HR where staff are expected to learn informally and on a micro-level. I remember the term, not used in the talk, "nimble learning" in which anyone can pick up information on an on-going basis, find opportunities for learning and acquire information as things change and develop. This is a good point and an interesting trend. Gamification can be part of this culture. The third and final part of Evan's talk asked us "so what?" and to consider the implications of what this means. How can Business English teachers remain relevant and understand how people learn in the workplace and how they work? New technologies will form part of this. Overall, this was a hugely interesting talk with a colourful speaker whose experience has shaped his approach and ideas. A great start to the conference and a lot to think about (and act upon). Evan's talk can viewed here. If you are interested to know more about teaching Business English, then our Distance Cert IBET could be for you. If you want to know more about Instructional Design, we offer a short course in that area as well for you to learn more about ADDIE and other structured approaches to learning and development and a course in gamification.

I had long taken a dim view of social media in general - I use Facebook for news and was banned from Twitter. I have mocked Tik Tok (long referred to by me as "Tik Tw*t") and have no idea about Instagram but disparaged it as a vehicle for vanity. However, attending this year's IATEFL conference, I had resolved to be more open-minded about attending talks on subjects that were outside my area, experience or capability. With the above points in mind, I headed over to listen to Claire Bowes' talk on using social media in teaching. This was one of the highlights of the conference for me, and one of the best talks I attended. It was Claire's first ever IATEFL talk, and she did not fail to impress! She highlighted how social media is one of the main methods for English language learners to learn English. Tik Tok and Instagram are two key platforms for this. To "teach" someone using social media, Claire stated we must ask ourselves the question "what can I teach someone in one minute?". The key rules when creating social media content that Claire highlighted were very useful to hear: - Do not over do it - Manageable chunks - Reduce teacher talk time with no pre-amble, - Thumb-nail must tell the viewer what it is about and what they will learn - There is no need for clickbait - Pique their interest - Share knowledge and get to point - Be visual and use images and animation - Be super upbeat (to compete with those cute dog videos) - Pose a question Hardware and software are the major barriers to production but Claire believes that learners using social media do not look for quality video but quality content. This lead to the question: what do we need to get started? Claire's answer: just our phone. Professional equipment does not equate to engagement; viewers are concerned with content. For editing software, Claire recommends Canva, Capcut and Premiere Pro though the latter does need some expertise. Claire also did a great job of answering my question about using social media as part of running a business: it's a hook and a shop window. Distance Cert will soon be offering a Certificate in Teaching Using Social Media. To register your interest, email us at info@the-distance-cert-ibet.com.

After a heartfelt introduction by her close friend and colleague, Divya Madhavan started her talk "Lean on Me: Stories of Coaching, Mentoring and Teacher Resilience". It was a somewhat Ulysses-style walk through of her ideas and, later, the experiences and thoughts of four teachers Divya had interviewed for the purposes of this plenary talk. Divya started with a statement that coaching and mentoring are "metaphors for leaning on those around us" - essentially metaphors for a metaphor! Still, this is a nice idea. Divya invited us to reflect on what it means to be a teacher who supports and nurtures others. Coaching and mentoring are two roles a teacher can take. With reference to one of her regular activities with college students, Divya, called herself a "debating coach". She then went on to equate coaching to training and guiding. This interpretation caught my attention as a perspective that I personally, based on experience, disagree with. For me, coaching is a non-directive developmental intervention (as well as a leadership style) characterised by question and answer conversations oriented towards an agreed goal. A pure coaching methodology does not involve direct input, teaching, guidance or directive feedback. Which is actually what Divya demonstrated beautifully in the video clips she shared, of the interviews she conducted with the 4 teachers. One point she made with which I agree wholeheartedly, is that a coach does not need to be an expert. I noted she (wisely) distanced herself from professional coaches. On the topic of mentoring, I found we have a common view. Divya's definition of mentoring is closer to my own in that we both believe it relies on advice and expertise. As such, this becomes the more natural relationship teachers have with each other. I like her phrase "stories that resemble our own" as that is exactly what is needed for mentoring in any context to be effective. Another point Divya touched on, which surprised me in light of criticisms I have often seen leveled at our conference organising body, IATEFL; she highlighted the poor pay and conditions suffered by teachers around the world that is disproportionate to the education levels requirements for the role. A contentious topic, traditionally avoided by our hosts. Continuing with points Divya raised that resonated with me, - I paraphrase here - subject matter expertise does not equate to teaching or training ability. Divya went on to state that "going-the-extra-mile gestures are universal in the world of teaching", and she asked the question: who "shows up" for (i.e. supports) teachers in order to build their resilience? The 4 elements needed to develop resilience, according to Divya: - Trust (in a teacher's organisation, manager, colleagues) - Confidence (in oneself and one's teaching ability) - Courage - Perseverance Having laid the ground work, our plenary speaker presented a series of 4 interviews she had conducted with a range of (all women) teachers detailing stories of support. Reflecting through my own lens, some thoughts come to mind: 1. Despite strong understanding of mentoring (Divya is clearly an experienced and successful teacher educator and department manager), I felt this talk perpetuated many of the common misunderstandings of coaching that plague the industry. 2. Can we really be there for all of our colleagues all of the time? How practical, realistic or pragmatic is this? What are the consequences? We would all love, I am sure, to believe that we would step up when and where necessary, but this is not always possible. When we haven't stepped up, have we failed in some way? Overall, I have to say this was a lovely, warm and heartfelt talk that, despite some issues of definitions, gave us a good deal of food for thought. Divya's plenary talk can be viewed here.

It's February in the conference calendar which means off to Dublin for the annual ELT Ireland conference. Ben and I have the opportunity to meet up in person for all things TDCI-related; AND we get to head off to Griffith College to spend the weekend with ELT colleagues from around the island of Ireland - and beyond. This is an ideal conference from which to launch our new website feature - the TDCI Blog! Maybe a little late to the bloggers party, there are so many great conference bloggers 'out there' who have been sharing their highlights both live, in-situ and retrospectively for years. In the spirit of reflexive practice, Ben and I are going to follow suit - reflecting on what we see, hear and learn at conferences we attend, and channeling back to fellow TDCI students (past, present, future) and anyone else interested in following us on our adventures. We'll aim to follow the K.I.S.S. principle and keep our musing short and simple. Most importantly, we'll aim to reflect critically on what we can take away from the talks we attend and plough what we learn back into what we develop here on The Distance Cert IBET programme. Watch this space - and feel free to comment with your own thoughts and reflections.

The weekend of February 18th and 19th saw Ben and I in Dublin for the annual ELT Ireland conference. Having attended last year (I'd been invited to deliver the opening plenary, read more here: https://www.elt-ireland.com/event-speaker-slides) I was very much looking forward to a return visit this year. And I was not disappointed. The Guinnes was as sublime as ever, the company as warm and jovial, and the weather was even better! The talk I delivered after lunch on the Saturday gave nod to the conference theme of Back to A Future - I spoke about what I've learned from a recent past experience that will be ploughed back into my future teaching practice. It was a talk covering 3 + 1 learning points: My intention was to share how I deepened my communications skills knowledge by exploring the more academic and theoretical side of our field. Knowing about different communication theories not only gave me more credibility in the new academic content course I had developed, it rounded out what I already knew about how we communicate; the knowledge gave my content substance and gave me confidence. But this new found sense of confidence took a knock when the content moved into less familiar territory. Despite creating what I felt was a varied, interesting and challenging course in the 4th semester (of 6 semesters in total), some students honed in on where the course lacked depth and robustness. They picked up on my lack of expert knowledge of information technology and that I was using a very loose, Socratic approach as opposed to, what I assume, they are used to in other content courses, like law or economics: the lecturer comes from that field with an intimate deep knowledge AND practical experience of how it all works. I do not have such competencies in the field of communication and technology in business! At least, I thought that was the problem. However, another student gave feedback that suggested I had done a good job. Who knows against what criteria each student evaluates and judges their teachers. One thing for sure - and learning point 3 - as a language teacher, I know how the English language works and where the pitfalls and problems lie. So even when our task is not language focused, we can certainly help coach students / learners on how better or more accurately they can express themselves. Finally, the bonus learning from the experience I shared in the talk, was that we can leverage other people's expertise. I realised that, with online teaching, experts could be "Zoomed" in to give mini-lectures or presentations to the students. I was lucky to have 3 different people in my network who were happy to share their stories and / or expertise in a Zoom room with my students. This took the pressure off me and went down really well with the students. A win-win for all. The stories I shared seemed to go down well with the colleagues in Dublin; we had some exchanges during the session, a few giggles and the atmosphere was energising for me at least! I'm looking forward to going back to ELT Ireland again next February for the 10th anniversary conference. It's bound to be a good Craic!! Feel free to download the presentation slide deck.