Blog posts in March 2017

Here we've got ideas, observations on ELT, including Mark's Pronunciation Blog and loads of conference and speaker reports...

Against Dogma: Peter Medgyes at TESOL Spain 2017

Posted by: 
Event date: 
Saturday, March 4, 2017 - 13:15
Against Dogma: Peter Medgyes at TESOL Spain 2017 - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/against-dogma-peter-medgyes-tesol-spain-2017

Peter Medgyes brought to TESOL Spain a quirky plenary which somehow managed to be poetic, theatrical and intellectual at the same time. The performance amused and enchanted the audience, myself included – I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, it left some puzzled as to what it was about. As one teacher commented to me, ‘What is ELF, and why is it important?’.

“The Customer is Always Right”? Silvana Richardson at TESOL Spain 2017

Posted by: 
Event date: 
Sunday, March 5, 2017 - 13:30
“The Customer is Always Right”? Silvana Richardson at TESOL Spain 2017 - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/%E2%80%9C-customer-always-right%E2%80%9D-silvana-richardson-tesol-spain-2017

TESOL Spain 2017 finished up with a compelling plenary from Silvana Richardson on native-speakerism and bias in ELT. She covered the topic from many angles, but out of all of them, I would just like to focus on one – the use of the phrase “native-speaker teachers” as a pull-factor in advertising language courses. Why has this come to be seen as a good thing - if indeed it has been?