Should you get TEFL or TESOL certified? And if so, how do you choose a program that's actually worth your time and money?

In this episode, LJ tackles one of the most common questions from aspiring and current language teachers: whether certification is still relevant in 2025, given the rise of AI tools, online teaching platforms, and changing job markets. This isn't marketing hype or abstract career advice — it's an honest breakdown of what certification actually is (and isn't), who needs it and who doesn't, how to evaluate programs, and what certification can and can't do for your teaching career.

LJ covers the difference between TEFL, TESOL, and CELTA; the five critical questions to ask when choosing a program (hours, teaching practice, accreditation, online vs. in-person, reputation); and why teaching practice is the most important factor. The episode also addresses the changing industry landscape — AI tools, online platforms, and market competitiveness — and why good teaching remains deeply human work that technology can't replace.

This is for aspiring teachers considering certification, uncertified tutors wondering if it would make a difference, and certified teachers questioning whether they chose the right path.

You know comprehensible input matters. You've heard about input-driven learning. But when you sit down to find materials, you run into the same problems: textbook dialogues that feel hollow, graded readers with boring plots, news articles that are too advanced or too dry, and students with wildly different interests you can't possibly curate for individually.

In this episode, LJ tackles one of the most common implementation challenges for input-driven teaching: how to find or create input that's both comprehensible and compelling. Using The Three Filters framework (Accessible, Authentic, and Aligned), LJ shows teachers how to evaluate and curate input that actually connects with students' identities, interests, and goals. The episode then shifts to teaching students to curate input for themselves — building autonomy and making input engagement a sustainable, student-driven practice.

This is for teachers who believe in meaningful input but need practical strategies for making it work in real teaching contexts.

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Resources Mentioned

The Lesson Plans & Worksheet Library

A subscription resource with pre-curated lesson plan arcs, worksheets designed around student voice and identity, conversation frameworks, and curated resource lists organized by theme and level.

Available at: www.theimmersionstudio.com

Input Sources Mentioned in Episode:

• Graded content publishers (Extensive Reading Central, language-specific series)
• Slow-speed podcasts (News in Slow Spanish, Easy German, etc.)
• YouTube channels in target languages
• Streaming platforms with target language subtitles
• Language-specific social media accounts, blogs, and forums

Filter 1: Accessible

Students can engage with the material with appropriate scaffolding. Use the 80/20 rule: students should understand about 80% and be able to figure out the other 20%.

Filter 2: Authentic

The content reflects how people actually use the language in real life — real cultural context, emotional range, natural language use.

Filter 3: Aligned

The content connects to who students are and what they care about — their identity, interests, and goals.

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This week, try one of these approaches: use the Three Filters to evaluate your next input assignment, ask students what they're actually interested in, or assign them to find their own content and reflect on it. Just one. And see what happens.

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Website: www.theimmersionstudio.com

Instagram: @theimmersion.studio

For educators interested in The Fluent Framework approach and teaching resources, visit the site to explore lesson plans, worksheets, and subscribe to updates.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Teach Me, Too — the podcast for language educators who feel trapped between what they know works and what they're allowed to do.

In this first episode, LJ explores why emotional fluency — the ability to navigate frustration, vulnerability, and discomfort in language learning — is just as essential as linguistic fluency. Traditional curricula measure grammar accuracy and vocabulary retention, but they ignore the emotional reality of learning: the shame of making mistakes, the exhaustion of constant translation, the identity crisis of sounding inarticulate in a new language.

LJ offers five practical strategies for teaching emotional fluency alongside linguistic skills: normalizing struggle, building emotional vocabulary in the target language, creating low-stakes speaking opportunities, reframing mistakes as information, and teaching self-regulation. Through real teaching scenarios, this episode shows what emotional fluency pedagogy looks like in practice — and why it's foundational to helping students develop sustainable, confident fluency.

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The Lesson Plans & Worksheet Library

A subscription resource with lesson plan arcs, worksheets, conversation frameworks, and reflection prompts designed around The Fluent Framework.

Available at: www.theimmersionstudio.com

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This week, try one of these strategies: normalize struggle explicitly in your next class, teach one emotional vocabulary phrase, or reframe a student's mistake as information instead of correcting it immediately. Just one. And notice what happens.

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Website: www.theimmersionstudio.com

Instagram: @theimmersionstudio

For educators interested in The Fluent Framework approach and teaching resources, visit the site to explore lesson plans, worksheets, and subscribe to updates.