TATL #39: "What To Look Forward To?"

Main Content: 

Emily and Roger talk about ways to deal with students' behaviors as the term finishes. Some students exhibit anxiety, while others go into 'begging-mode' asking for favors regarding grades. 

Emily shares a clever way to help minimize the stress caused by these students, all the while being fair to the other students who don't manifest these behaviors.

What Are You Listening To Now?

Emily is listening to the jazzy hip hop song 'Je La Soul' by Hocus Pocus

Link: https://youtu.be/ThOZA_h2QmY

Roger is listening to the very '80s song 'Voices Carry' by 'Till Tuesday.

Link: https://youtu.be/ZP9DbEIm7ns

As always, ask us anything, tell us anything at askingtatl@gmail.com

TATL #38: "Guest Podcaster" Michele Talks About Simulations

Main Content

Emily and Roger ask Michele, another English teacher, how she implements extended 'role-plays' in her class. She calls them 'simulations' and the idea for a longer role-play has some great advantages. Enjoy!

What's In My Bag? (WINB)

Michele shares what's in her bag and it looks wooden.

"Keva blocks"


TATL #37: 10 Ways Teachers Can Show Their Love To Their Students

Main Content: Emily and Roger talk about 10 ways teachers can show their love to their students. Here they are!

1. Give them Valentine's Day cards.

2. Bake for them.

3. Smile and make eye contact.

4. Ask: "Are you OK?" instead of "Why weren't you here yesterday?!"

5. Really listen to their questions.

6. Turn back homework graded in a timely matter.

7. Make lessons as interactive as possible.

8. Handle difficult students patiently and with grace.

9. Be genuine.

10. Do not play favorites in class.

Do YOU have a list? Do you have have a different way to show love to your students? Please send us an email at:


WTSHSUL "Ways That Students Have Shown Us Love"

Emily: Hello Kitty stuffed animal (with glasses).

Roger: A cool Frixion Multi-Pen by Pilot.

TATL #36: Misconceptions about CLT Part 6 "Dealing With the Resistance"

Main Content: Emily and Roger talked about 5 situations that relate to students' resisting a teacher's lessons. Particularly, when the teacher is using communicative activities. Here they are briefly:

Teacher's Mistakes:

1. The teacher is doing too much at once. The students are overwhelmed with the completely unfamiliar activities and lessons.

2. The teacher's way of giving instructions is confusions. Students have a hard time following the activities and lessons. Also, the overarching goals have not been explained well. 

3. The content chosen by the teacher is either too hard, too easy or the actual subject matter is too objectionable to the students.

Student's Mistakes:

4. The students don't trust the teacher. This is true for most things. Trust is the foundation of any relationship.

5. The students just don't care. Sometimes the teacher can do a great job and turn a few of these non-caring students but sometimes nothing can be done at the time to change what a student feels about the class.  

What Are You Listening To? (W.A.Y.L.T.)

Emily: DJ Nubjelis

Link: https://youtu.be/jfFTT3iz740

What's In My Bag? (WIMB?):

Roger: Instant Coffee Packs

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Maxim-Mocha-Gold-Korean-Instant/dp/B003VCULUS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_wlp_ahtaM.HAMFBYD_lm?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3NZZBXFDVN87P&coliid=I23IY38L7Z03XH

Comments, suggestions? Email us at: askingtatl@gmail.com

TATL #35: Misconceptions about CLT Part 5 "Correcting Errors Without Interrupting Fluency"

Main Content: Emily and Roger continue their 'continuation' of Error Correction in Communicative Language Teaching. This podcast focuses on the practical use of post it notes. One of the goals of CLT is not to interrupt the flow of language between participants. This helps develop fluency.

What's In My Bag? (WIMB?):

Emily: Sound Canceling Headphones. Blocks out all the noise or turn off the sound cancellation to still hear what's going on around you. Super comfortable. 

Link: https://www.bose.com/en_us/shop_all/headphones/headphones.html

Roger: Scissors. Yes...nice scissors that cut paper nicely.

Link: I bought them at this shop: mLovewell here's their URL http://www.mlovewell.com/shop

Tools to Live By URL http://www.toolstoliveby.com.tw/en/stationery/scissors-letter-opener/tools-to-liveby-scissors-6-5-black/

Comments, suggestions? Email us at: askingtatl@gmail.com

TATL #34: Misconceptions about CLT Part 4 "Error Correction"

Main Content: Emily and Roger continue their discussion on CLT. This time the focus is on 'focusing on pedagogy' and the important difference between "Oh Really?" and "Oh Yeah!".

What's In My Bag? (WIMB?):

Emily: "I don't like purses. So I use this kind of wallet to carry my credit cards, my pen, and my iPhone."


Roger: "I love these adhesive bookmark ribbons so I can find my place in my journal. I couldn't find the ones I bought while on an overseas trip, but these look to be the closest thing to it."

Link: http://a.co/7YhsvnY

Comments, suggestions? Email us at: askingtatl@gmail.com

TATL #33: Misconceptions about CLT Part 3 "Error Correction"

Main Content:

Roger and Emily continue to discuss about CLT focusing on Error Correction and Students' Emotional States. The challenge is to not only inform your students what the error correction ground rules are, but also be aware of each student's emotional capacity to be able to receive error correction. We need to operate with a framework that Emily and Roger begin to develop.

What on your movie list?

Emily: Plastic snack containers. Let's save the environment again. 

Roger: Canon 50mm 1.8 Fixed lens for Sony A6000 mirrorless system. "Constraint is freedom."

TATL #32: Misconceptions about CLT Part 2

Main Content:

Roger and Emily continue to discuss about CLT and misconceptions that new teachers have about it, particularly the idea that only teachers who are skilled at leading lessons without preparation can use CLT. Emily shares about how she overcame her own problems with planning CLT lessons.

What on your movie list?

Emily: Rogue One (Why is Ip Man a Jedi Master?!), Arrival (Linguistic teacher's geek out moment!), Fantastic Beasts (My love for HP), and Sing (The Voice in animation??) 

Roger: Rogue One, A Dog's Purpose, Fantastic Beasts et. al., Arrival, Dr. Strange

TATL #31: Misconceptions about CLT Part 1

Main Content:

Roger and Emily discuss about what CLT is and the struggle that new teachers experience when they attempt to implement CLT into their classroom. 

What's In My Bag? (WIMB?):

Emily: Cellphone Camera

Roger: Sony Alpha 6000