“OK, let’s make this a little harder,” says Duo the Owl to us every day. We take a look at how some counter-intuitive practices can improve learning by tricking the brain to try harder. No, we’re not neurologists. But we have a podcast.

Charles talks with Nerida Rand to find out how a background in improvisation plays out in the classroom. Nerida was an exchange student in a Japanese high school in the 80’s and has been back in Japan as a teacher since 1997. She teaches in the Graduate School of International Social Sciences at Yokohama National University as well as being adjunct faculty at Keio SFC. When school’s out she’s acting, improvising, and translating plays.

We discuss the why, how, and what of music in the classroom - as well as music for the teacher.

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A bit tweaked at the end of the semester? I guess we were, too, so off we go on a lightning round session of time saving and emergency pull-stuff-out-of-your hat ideas.

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We talk about teaching reading and all the ingredients that get baked into that. Why, what kind, how…all of it. Correction: only 55% of web content is in English, not 75% as I stated in the podcast.

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It’s a new school year in Japan, and very likely, most of your classes are now again face to face, or, at least, mask to mask. Things are returning to “normal.” Or are they? What is the new normal? How have the last two years changed you, your students, your teaching, their learning, and our academic universes?

Another year begins. Instead of talking about how, we discuss some of the whys. Why teach English? Why teach foreign languages?

Tony and Charles talk about last months’ discussion with Professors George Truscott and Nathanael Rudolph on what’s involved in program coordination. Then, the discussion turns to Tony’s departure from Japan and his landing in Mexico.

Charles sits down with George Truscott and Nathanael Rudolph to discuss the art of Program Coordination. Approaches, philosophies, goals and outcomes, staff management, limitations, liabilities, and juggling all the balls.