Two Teachers Talking™

Two Teachers Talking™

By Tony Silva and Charles WizEducation
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Two Teachers Talking™ episodes

  • 144. Year of the Tiger

    Treading carefully into 2022, we first look back at Episode 143 (Teaching While Black in Japan) and two years of COVID Era Teaching. We then pull out our cloudy crystal balls for a look at the future.

    1 hr 12 min
  • 143. Teaching While Black in Japan

    Three very special guests join us to discuss being a black educator in Japan: hiring (and leaving), student interaction, staff interaction, peer interaction, teaching materials, stereotypes of the English teacher…and, most importantly, how we can improve things.

    Avril Haye Matsui is an educator, activist, researcher, and Ph.D. candidate, studying the status and roles of black women in ELT. You can view one of her JALT presentations here: The Changing Face of ELT: Black Women in ELT, https://youtu.be/8nO3fLcq-OQ

    Rachel Patterson serves as the Assistant Academic Director and instructor at the Berlitz-ELS program at the Kindai University Faculty of International Studies. Her focus is on teacher training and development, study abroad, and formal assessment. She lives in Nara and spends her free time gardening, studying Japanese, and wood burning.

    Professional Development Through Language Conferences: https://bit.ly/PDTLC-RP

    Davina Robinson is an educator, narrator, and singer living in Osaka. Tony and Davina go waaaaay back. https://davinarobinson.com

    1 hr 18 min
  • 142. The Perfect Class

    We all dream about it. What’s yours look like? But, remember the old adage…be careful what you ask for. Make your list and let’s compare notes.

    1 hr 8 min
  • 141. “Does everybody understand? Are there any questions?”

    We know that Japanese students’ English comprehension is overrated, even by those of us who know that their listening comprehension is overrated. But that’s not it, or, at least all of it. Join us in a deep dive on impediments to understanding and how maybe, just maybe, we can make things better.

    Mentioned:

  • Grant Wiggins, Understanding By Design: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Design-Grant-Wiggins/dp/1416600353
  • Gary Larson, The Far Side Comic Strip, “What they hear”: https://desertdemocrat.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/gary-larson-far-side-cartoon-what-we-say-to-dogs-blah-blah-ginger.jpeg
    • 1 hr 6 min
  • 140. Pronunciation Part 2 and Machine Translation

    Thoughts and comments on teaching pronunciation and the interview with Prof. Alison Kitzman in Episode 139. Then, a brief discussion of how computer translation may require a reset on how English, or any foreign language, is taught.

    Mentioned:

  • My Cousin Vinny, Two Youths: https://youtu.be/NdCijCUj8w
  • Perfect English in an incomprehensible essay: http://tony-silva.com/download/badessayannotated.pdf
  • DeepL Translator: https://www.deepl.com/translator
  • English Language Statistics: http://tony-silva.com/eslefl/whyenglish.html
    • 1 hr 15 min
  • 139. Pronunciation - Part 1

    Prof. Alison Kitzman of Kindai University talks to us about the what, why, and how of teaching English pronunciation in Japan. Included free: cicadas and a very bad Eliza Dolittle impersonation.

    Mentioned:

  • Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Peter C. Brown: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Stick-Peter-C-Brown-ebook/dp/B00JQ3FN7M/ref=sr\_1\_1?dchild=1&keywords=make+it+stick&qid=1627252684&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
  • Stress in the Speech Stream, Dr. Wayne Dickerson: https://www.amazon.com/Stress-Speech-Stream-English-Teachers/dp/0252060962
  • “The ‘Cornfield Test’: A Study into the ‘Katakana Effect’,” Alison B. Kitzman
  • Lenneberg’s (1967) Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical\_period\_hypothesis
  • My Fair Lady: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My\_Fair\_Lady\_(film)
  • My Cousin Vinny: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My\_Cousin\_Vinny
    • 1 hr 9 min
  • 138. Undoable done well

    You know how you’re “supposed” to conduct and manage your classes, assignments, and grading. Sheer work volume—classes per week, students per class—often makes that ideal impossible. So, how do you get it all done and still maintain quality and sanity? With great difficulty and effort. And some tech.

    1 hr 19 min
  • 137. Odds and Sods
    Approaching mid-semester, an odds and sods SITREP. What can we learn and apply going forward this year, including a report from Tony on the world of retirement.
    Mentioned:
  • Compleat (sic) Lexical Tutor: https://www.lextutor.ca
    • 1 hr 8 min
  • 136. Collaboration
    Two heads, too many cooks...so, when does it make sense to sit down and hash things out and when is it better to just go it alone?
    Mentioned:
  • Modular Press - Charles' new textbook and materials publishing portal:
    • https://modularpress.org.
  • The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Fred Brooks:
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month.
  • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig:
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance.
    1 hr 1 min
  • 135. To face or not to face
    Maybe you don't know whether you'll be teaching online or in the classroom. Maybe you know. Maybe you think you know. If the past year has taught us anything, it's to be prepared for the unexpected. We try to help you cover all the bases. Good luck this year, folks.
    1 hr 5 min

About Two Teachers Talking™

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Teachers know that when classes are done, the beer has been poured, teachers gather around the table, and the talk turns to...teaching. Great (and not so great ideas) are tossed around, argued,…