Do your students understand the difference between doing something themselves and getting or having it done by somebody else?

In this episode of How to English TEFL Podcast, Gav and Em explore practical ways to teach the causative structure get or have something done. Gav demonstrates a visual compare-and-contrast activity using people repairing cars and cleaning offices. They also discuss how teachers can introduce related vocabulary naturally before encouraging students to personalise the grammar by talking about services in their own lives.

What happens when the student who holds a group together is absent? Em describes the “linchpin student” who keeps conversations moving, asks extra questions and helps create the atmosphere of a class. Gav and Em consider how changing the mix of learners can transform a group dynamic and give quieter students an opportunity to contribute more.

They also tackle a sensitive classroom question: which name should a teacher use when a learner has both an original name and an adopted English or Western name? Their practical conclusion is simple: listen to how the learner introduces themselves or ask directly which name they would prefer you to use.

Finally, Gav and Em demonstrate how experienced teachers adapt their speech and questions for different English levels. With lower-level learners, they slow down, keep the grammar focused and support unfamiliar vocabulary. With advanced learners, they speak more naturally, ask for detailed explanations and use follow-up questions to stretch vocabulary and grammar organically.

The Quiz of the Week asks whether Em and Gav clean, repair, decorate, bake and check things themselves—or get somebody else to do them.

Listen to the transcription with audio:
https://share.descript.com/view/L0Pmekz4ZbZ

If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Visit https://howtoenglishpod.com for practical teaching ideas and resources ready to use. And if you know somebody who would enjoy the podcast, please mention the show to them.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and housekeeping
02:15 The linchpin student in a group class
08:25 How to teach get or have something done
14:20 Which name should a teacher use?
17:41 Adapting teacher talk for different English levels
27:04 Quiz of the Week: do it yourself or get it done?
31:33 Outro

Check out this rerun of an earlier episode – now fully transcribed! Transcription with audio here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

How can English teachers explain prefixes clearly, experience classroom tasks from a learner’s perspective and correct memorable mistakes sensitively?

This week, we explore the prefix under- and compare words such as undercooked and uncooked, underqualified and disqualified, and underreport and misreport. These examples reveal how changing a prefix can completely alter a word’s meaning.

Em becomes a student by completing a challenging listening and note-taking task alongside her class. This raises some useful questions for teachers: Should learners hear a recording more than once? How much thinking time do they need before feedback? When should a detailed listening task be paused?

We discuss the value of attempting your own classroom activities, allowing silence after listening and using transcripts to examine unfamiliar language such as habitually late.

Gav then shares genuine learner errors from his recent lessons. We consider the differences between tall and high, bad and badly, hair and hairs, anybody and everybody, and do sport and make sport. We also explore why learners might say I feel myself happy, the responsible person or I’m looking for the TV.

In What Would Gav Do?, Em asks how a teacher could handle an unidentified student repeatedly yawning during an online lesson—and how to stop a talkative learner politely when the class has already run over time.

Finally, test your knowledge of Greek and Latin roots and prefixes in the Quiz of the Week, featuring auto, mono, micro and pan. Can you work out how these roots contribute to words including autoimmune, monogram, micromanagement and pandemonium?

Drawing on our everyday experience teaching English online and in the classroom, we share practical ideas, honest reactions and language explanations for teachers and learners.

📚 EXPLORE THE ARTICLES FROM S05E18

• How Can English Teachers Explain Prefixes Clearly?

• What Can Teachers Learn by Attempting Their Own Classroom Activities?

• How Many Times Should Students Hear a Listening Recording?

• Tall or High? How to Teach Commonly Confused English Words

• Bad or Badly? A Practical Guide to Adjectives and Adverbs

• Hair or Hairs? Anybody or Everybody? How Context Changes English Grammar

📝 Full transcription:
https://share.descript.com/view/Nszlv2MiPYr

☕ Support the podcast:
https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

🌐 More episodes and practical teaching ideas:
https://howtoenglishpod.com

📖 REFERENCES

Two-syllable word stress:
https://pronuncian.com/2syllable-word-stress

Quiz of the Week:
https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=mte2otc2oqwroj

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and pronunciation corrections
05:35 What does the prefix under- mean?
09:18 Experiencing a listening task as a student
12:00 Thinking time, repeated listening and transcripts
15:17 Correcting memorable learner mistakes
25:11 What Would Gav Do? Yawning in online lessons
29:00 Ending a talkative student’s answer politely
32:00 Greek and Latin prefixes quiz
39:55 Final thoughts and outro

Check out this rerun of an earlier episode – now fully transcribed! Transcription with audio here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Words? Vocabulary? Phrases? Just what does it all mean? You know you can rely on Gav & Em to guide you to a better understanding of everything English. Take a journey with two knowledgeable educators as they spell out how to teach and learn words in this week's episode of How to English: Teach and learn with Gav & Em. Buy them a coffee here: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod⁠ And visit all the shows with transcriptions here: ⁠http://www.howtoenglishpod.com/

How can English teachers adapt textbook materials for different learners, lesson formats and time limits? And what can you do when students repeatedly mispronounce everyday words?

This week, Gav and Em share practical ideas drawn from their own online and classroom teaching. They explore common pronunciation problems involving TH sounds, silent letters, word stress and challenging words such as bush, opposite, choir, clothes and wander. Discover how rhymes, memorable sentences, visual prompts, repetition and pronunciation games can help learners recognise and correct their mistakes.

Em also tests Gav on a surprisingly confusing group of words beginning with “over”, including overview, oversee, oversight, overlook and overhear. Context and elicitation prove much more helpful than definitions alone.

The conversation then turns to adapting and personalising teaching materials. Gav and Em discuss transforming textbook exercises into collaborative speaking activities, making dense pages more engaging and controlling what online students see. They also consider how to tailor tasks for mixed-level classes, divide attention between learners and respond when a student suddenly has only 15 minutes available.

Finally, Quiz of the Week is not technically a quiz. Gav and Em try adaptable conversation questions that teachers can use to encourage speaking and help learners get to know one another.

If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Visit https://howtoenglishpod.com for previous episodes and practical teaching ideas and resources ready to use.

Transcription with audio:
https://share.descript.com/view/a6G7GNoJEMe

Resources

Questions to Ask Friends:
https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/questions-ask-friends

IPA converter used for the transcription:
https://tophonetics.com/

Chapters

00:00 Pronunciation, “over” words and adapting materials
01:00 Welcome and reflections from the classroom
02:22 Teaching difficult TH sounds
04:15 Correcting the pronunciation of bush
06:00 Using word groups, rhymes and memorable sentences
06:40 Teaching the stress in opposite
08:30 How can students pronounce choir?
10:00 Helping learners pronounce clothes
11:25 Practising W and V sounds
12:35 Making word stress visible
13:40 Games for practising silent letters
15:00 What do overview, oversee and oversight mean?
17:00 Overlook and overhear in context
19:00 Why should teachers adapt coursebook materials?
21:35 Turning textbook exercises into collaborative tasks
24:00 Adapting materials for online lessons
26:00 Focusing attention on part of a page
27:20 Adapting tasks for different learner levels
29:15 What if a student only has 15 minutes?
31:30 Managing a mixed-level class
35:35 Conversation questions for speaking practice
42:00 Closing the episode

Check out this rerun of an earlier episode – now fully transcribed! Transcription with audio here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Should English teachers speak naturally in class, or should they pronounce every word and expression carefully? Gav and Em explore how teachers can expose learners to authentic spoken English without making unfamiliar language unnecessarily difficult to understand.

Drawing on their everyday classroom experience, they discuss when to explain an idiom, when to write new language on the board or in the chat, and when learners should use context to work out the meaning. They also share a useful end-of-lesson technique that gives students another opportunity to ask about language they noticed.

Gav challenges Em to find hidden synonyms inside “kangaroo words” such as destruction, devilish and masculine. The pair then compare several easily confused words, including foundation, foundations, basement, cellar, basis and base.

Em demonstrates a fun science quiz that practises listening, speaking, present-simple facts and explaining ideas in your own words. You’ll also hear practical suggestions for helping a highly motivated new student choose suitable English books, podcasts, television programmes and homework.

Throughout the episode, Gav and Em secretly compete to include idioms naturally in their conversation. Could you adapt their “hide the idiom” challenge for your own English lesson?

If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Visit https://howtoenglishpod.com for practical teaching ideas and resources ready to use.

Transcript with audio:
https://share.descript.com/view/8AA0N3Jd2qg

Chapters

00:00 Should teachers speak clearly or naturally?
02:56 Helping learners understand natural speech and idioms
05:17 Chair backs and unusual furniture vocabulary
06:43 Kangaroo words and hidden synonyms
11:55 How to play Hide the Idiom
13:41 Foundation, basement or cellar?
19:35 A science quiz for English learners
25:17 Explaining facts in your own words
26:42 Supporting highly motivated new students
29:27 Idiom answers and explanations
33:43 Final thoughts and outro

Check out this rerun of an earlier episode – now fully transcribed! Transcription with audio here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://share.descript.com/view/HpRsaf08rOM⁠ Buy Gav & Em a coffee here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod⁠⁠

How can teachers manage mixed-level English classes, introduce specialist vocabulary and give instructions that prepare learners for a task?

In this episode of How to English TEFL Podcast, Gav and Em explore why an official English level may not reflect a learner’s ability across speaking, listening, reading and writing. They discuss monitoring new groups, recognising individual strengths and adapting lessons when students have been placed at different levels.

Em demonstrates how she would turn a food-vocabulary worksheet into a complete classroom activity. She begins with open questions, elicits what learners already know, reveals the material gradually, clarifies unfamiliar vocabulary and builds towards personalised language production.

What should a teacher say when a learner insists that their language has an exact word that English does not? Gav and Em consider collective nouns and specialist vocabulary connected to chairs, flowers and drainage systems—and explain why teachers should be comfortable admitting when they do not know a technical term.

They also reconsider the familiar question “Do you speak English?” Is it too broad or potentially embarrassing? Would it be clearer and kinder to ask the specific question you actually need answered?

Finally, Quiz of the Week explores unusual words about words, including loanwords, tmesis, eggcorns, oxymorons, weasel words, euphemisms, dysphemisms, synecdoche, zeugma, snowclones and kangaroo words. Abso-freakin’-lutely!

📚 FREE ARTICLES CONNECTED TO S05E15

How to Teach Collective Nouns Without Turning Them into a Memory Test:
https://howtoenglishpod.wordpress.com/how-to-teach-collective-nouns-without-turning-them-into-a-memory-test-s05e15/

What Should a Teacher Say When English Has No Exact Word?
https://howtoenglishpod.wordpress.com/what-should-a-teacher-say-when-english-has-no-exact-word-s05e15/

How to Teach Specialist Vocabulary When the Student Knows More Than You:
https://howtoenglishpod.wordpress.com/how-to-teach-specialist-vocabulary-when-the-student-knows-more-than-you-s05e15/

How to Manage a Mixed-Level English Class When Skills Do Not Match:
https://howtoenglishpod.wordpress.com/how-to-manage-a-mixed-level-english-class-when-skills-do-not-match-s05e15/

How to Set Up a Spontaneous Classroom Task Clearly:
https://howtoenglishpod.wordpress.com/how-to-manage-a-mixed-level-english-class-when-skills-do-not-match-s05e15-2/

Is “Do You Speak English?” Too Broad a Question?
https://howtoenglishpod.wordpress.com/is-do-you-speak-english-too-broad-a-question-s05e15/

For more practical teaching ideas and classroom resources:
https://howtoenglishpod.com

If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks:
https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and podcast updates
04:17 When students say “We have a word for that”
11:47 Managing mixed-level English classes
15:19 How to set up a vocabulary task
23:37 Should we ask “Do you speak English?”
27:24 Quiz of the Week: unusual words about words
41:43 Final thoughts and outro

Books, articles, Instagram quotes, what do you read? In this episode, Gav & Em delve into the world of words. Hear them discuss a wide range of materials and suggest ways both the student and the teacher can approach reading in and outside the classroom. Enjoy this week's episode of How to English: Teach and Learn with Gav & Em. Buy them a coffee here: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod⁠ And visit all the shows with transcriptions here: ⁠http://www.howtoenglishpod.com/