Leo and Mike bring you a brand new mini-series called "The Three Essentials of Language Learning." In Part 1, they tackle the "first essential": exposure. When learning a foreign language, it is important to develop habits, but also to create an effective learning environment - not only inside the classroom but outside the classroom.

This episode will help you do that, and, specifically, they discuss:

• what exposure is and isn't

• how learners can expose themselves to language

• what kind of reading or listening you should do if you're a student

• is "less is more" or "more is more" more appropriate?

This is Episode 5 in our Corrective Feedback series in partnership with Carleton University. In this episode, Dr. García Mayo discusses:

• the Spanish EFL context

• recent studies revolving around language learning and the high school context in Spain

• the arguments for and against self-repair, recast, and implicit & explicit feedback

• why there is such a research gap with children

• teacher training and corrective feedback

• the role of research - and researchers - in classroom application

*This interview was conducted by Jean Charlebois and Sarah Langridge

This is Episode 4 in our Corrective Feedback series in partnership with Carleton University. In this episode, Dr. Yilmaz discusses:

• the interactionist approach

• explicit correction versus recast

• why direct feedback being more effective needs to be taken with a grain of salt

• computer versus face-to-face mediated feedback

• how to implement oral and written feedback

• how teachers can learn about corrective feedback research and apply it to their own contexts

*This interview was conducted by Heather Shugart, Aria Rubinoff, and Fereshteh Khaffai Azar.

Leo and Mike continue our mini series “What are Habits and the Science Behind Them.” In the third installment, they discuss:

• what habits are worth tracking

• how to respond when our habits and consistency breaks down

• methods for tracking habits and actually being consistent with it

• how to get a free subscription to tracking app Habitica!

If you are a learning a language, these episodes are for you!

Looking to develop effective language learning habits? Check out the LYE School of Learning for only $5/month.

This is Episode 3 in our Corrective Feedback series in partnership with Carleton University. In this episode, Dr. Rebecca Adams from the University of Memphis joins us.

In this episode, Dr. Adams highlights:

• the benefits of peer feedback when compared to teacher-provided feedback

• how to establish a conducive classroom environment for peer feedback to be most effective

• types of corrective feedback and their effectiveness

• whether students are actually hesitant to provide feedback to their peers

• if teachers should wait for peer feedback to occur naturally or if providing students with training is beneficial

• the connection between task-based language teaching and peer corrective feedback

*This interview was conducted by Marcel Zhang and Leo Liu.

This is Episode 2 in our Corrective Feedback series in partnership with Carleton University. This episode is a sit down with Dr. Hossein Nassaji.

Specifically in this episode, Dr. Nassaji tells us about:

• the roles corrective feedback plays in language learning

• how culture impacts feedback effectiveness

• the debate between immediate and delayed feedback

• written vs oral feedback and the efficacy of written feedback

• the what, when, why, and if of explicit & implicit feedback

• how teachers can learn about and implement corrective feedback in their classes

*This interview was conducted by Kelsey Ulrich-Verslycken and Lana Haj Hamid

This is the introductory episode to our Corrective Feedback series. Here, we invite Dr. Eva Kartchava - Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University, Canada - and Dr. Hossein Nassaji - Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Victoria, Canada - to help kick off the series.

In this episode, they help elucidate many questions the series aims to answer, some of which are:

• what is corrective feedback?

• how do you give CF?

• what is the purpose of CF?

• how many different types of CF are there?

• when should we provide CF?

Leo and Mike continue our mini series “What are Habits and the Science Behind Them.” In the second installment, they discuss:

• how long it takes to adopt a new habit

• the story behind that magic number & where it came from

• if that number is real or fabricated

• a study dedicated to discovering just how habits are formed

• what we can learn from all of this

If you are a learning a language, these episodes are for you!

Looking to develop effective language learning habits? Check out the LYE School of Learning for only $5/month.

Scott Thornbury joins Leo, Mike, and Andrew in studio. We delve into Scott's career journey, and he discusses:

• his career beginnings

• his early influences and the "mother goose approach"

• a paradigm shift away from drills and accuracy to a fluency-based, communicative approach

• views on teacher development

• his writing process and how nothing on the page in front of you is alright when there's a lot behind you

• Dogme and Leo Van Lier's influence on him

Leo and Mike introduce our new mini series on habits called “What are Habits and the Science Behind Them.” In the first episode, they talk about:

why most people fail to create good habits

• how long it takes to form a new habit

• a technique you can use to stick to a good habit and how to track your habits effectively

If you are a learning a language, these episodes are for you!

For the 2-year anniversary of TTT, this episode was also broadcast live on the LYE Youtube channel, and in the first episode of 2021, they guys along with their guests discuss:

• why and how Teacher Talking Time came to fruition

• using podcasting as a tool for CPD

• using podcasting as an asset for classroom assessment

• Leo’s Master’s dissertation on podcasting in ELT

We also hear from some of our listeners on how they use podcasts for their development.

In the final Cult of Learning episode of 2020, Leo, Mike, and Andrew share their words of the year. From Zoom Fatigue to Cancel Culture to Social Distancing and Quarantine, our vocabularies grew enormously over the past 12 months.

What words were the most impactful this year? What relevance do they have? How did they come about?

The guys chat about this, reflect on living through a pandemic, and discuss how this year has taught us all a lot about learning.

If you are a learning a language, these episodes are for you!

As the year comes to an end, Mike, Leo, and Andrew sit down and reflect on the year that was in 2020. In a year unlike any other in our lifetime, many things happened. They discuss:

• takeaways from the top 5 most listened to Teacher Talking Time episodes of the year

• lessons learned in 2020 and reflecting on their 2019 goals

• what goal setting for next year looks like staring down a pandemic

Mike, Leo, and Andrew all cram into the digital studio for the first ever Cult of Learning episode with all three musketeers. The guys talk about conversations, why they can be difficult, reasons for them breaking down, and strategies to use to increase your conversation skills.

They also present a technique they've designed called the "4 A's: Mastering the Art of Conversation." The 4 A's are:

• ask

• answer

• add

• ask

Luke reflects on the Dogme movement, why it was viewed as controversial, where it is now, and if he still views it as controversial.

In much more detail, he tells us:

• his teaching beginnings and why it led him to a "teaching unplugged" approach (3:00)

• the first school he started - "Explore Your English" - and why it was idealistic (18:00)

• the genesis of Dogme and meeting Scott Thornbury (25:00)

• why presenting on Dogme at conferences was met with both excitement and contempt (40:00)

• the writing of "Teaching Unplugged" and why they didn't use the word "Dogme" (44:00)

• the 10 principles of Dogme and why they chose the 3 they did for their movement (55:00)

• his thoughts on progressive education and how we still need to do better (1:02:00)

Mike and Leo discuss "visualization" and how it can help you become a better language learner. It’s a wonderful technique, and this episode talks about:

• how important the mind is in language performance

• famous athletes who use this technique

• how we visualize all the time even if we don't do it on purpose

• why it's important to have realistic goals in your language learning

• strategies you can use to visualize your "future L2 self"

In this episode, Dr. Sato tells us:

• how he became a researcher (2:00)

• misconceptions on the purpose of second language research (12:00)

• what the "research-pedagogy" dialogue is and why it's important (18:00)

• why he believes teachers usually don't interact with research (30:00)

• what researchers need to do for their work to be more useful to teachers (34:00)

• why motivation cannot be the cause of learning (47:00)

• his study analyzing motivation and the "ideal self system" and its link to second language learning (52:00)

In this episode, Andrew joins Leo in studio and they discuss reasons for learning a new language, both good and bad. In the last segment, the guys talk about motivation vs discipline, and how to make language learning a habit and not a chore.

Why do you learn new languages? What habits have you developed along the way?

In this episode, Ana-Marija delves into:

• how her feeling of being "suspended in identity" led her to a career in ELT

• her work in Kosovo - what it was, why she went, and how it happened

• the challenges of re-constructing education in a post-war region

• how identity impacts language learning and teaching

• why she believes neutrality does not exist in education

• why teachers need to embrace tension and discomfort in their classrooms, and have tough, meaningful, and impactful discussions with their students that will impart social change

This is the last episode in our series on Setting Clear Language Goals. In this series, we discuss the seven “Cs” of goal setting. In Part 1 and II, we discussed the first 5. In Part II, we discuss the final two Cs.

The Sixth C: Character

• A good CHARACTER to guide us and keep us on a proper course.

The Seventh C: Capacity

• A capacity to enjoy the PROCESS along the way

• Playing the long game