How to English TEFL Podcast

Season 7, Episode 8 is packed with spontaneous teaching ideas, lesson lead-ins, online classroom routines, creative listening tasks, and the eternal TEFL struggle of being stuck indoors when the sun is shining. Gav and Em discuss how they start lessons, ways to avoid classroom monotony, using real-world materials in class, and the freedom TEFL teachers have to experiment and improvise. There’s also a brilliant live email-writing activity, an impromptu Jackie Chan listening lesson, favourite teaching websites, and a very important discussion about forks. Support the pod and fuel the tea and coffee fund at ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Resources:
Jackie Chan interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0IWSyc5AQQ
Wikipedia: https://www.wikipedia.org/
BBC learning: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/
Google images: https://images.google.com/
https://test-english.com/

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro and what’s coming up in this episode
02:07 – How Gav and Em start the first five minutes of a lesson
05:39 – Greeting students and avoiding classroom monotony
10:17 – Being stuck inside teaching when the weather is beautiful
14:03 – The creative freedom of TEFL teaching
16:01 – Gav’s spontaneous live email-writing lesson
21:59 – Em’s improvised Jackie Chan listening activity
26:01 – Favourite websites to use during lessons
29:19 – Safe searching, grammar websites, and online teaching tools
32:11 – “Put a fork in me, I’m done” and outro banter

In this episode, Gav and Em dive into the realities of teaching English as a foreign language. Exploring their strengths and weaknesses as teachers, how to handle distracted students, and the feelings of starting again with brand-new learners. They also discuss praise in the classroom, and give a well-deserved shout-out to a loyal listener and follower. Whether you're teaching, learning, or just curious about TEFL life, there’s plenty here to reflect on and laugh about. ☕ Support the pod: https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Timestamps
00:00 – Intro & episode overview
01:28 – Strengths and weaknesses as TEFL teachers
09:04 – Exploring teaching weaknesses (and honesty time)
20:21 – How to deal with distracted students
24:27 – Starting from scratch with new students
27:23 – Recognising student progress & using praise
32:10 – Listener shout-out & teaching reflections
33:11 – Outro & support the pod

Why do students really come to English classes, and what should teachers do about it? In this episode of the How to English TEFL Podcast, Gav and Em dig into the realities of the classroom: student motivation, managing turn‑taking, dealing with similar (or identical!) student names, and knowing when teachers should step back and let students do the talking. They also share: practical strategies for balancing TTT vs STT, how to handle awkward silences and dominant speakers, real examples of using AI in lesson planning, and a cautionary tale about why you should always check your materials before class… Grab a coffee (or tea), settle in, and join Gav and Em for an honest, practical conversation about what actually happens when you’re teaching English — and why it matters. ☕ Support the podcast: ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Quiz music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpSEdFEwCS0

Timestamps
00:00 – Welcome to How to English TEFL
01:50 – Why do students come to English classes?
05:24 – Different motivations in the same group
07:56 – When students have the same (or similar) names
10:14 – What to do when you say the wrong name
12:49 – Turn-taking: order, randomness, and balance
15:44 – Encouraging quieter students to speak
16:22 – Awkward silences and “no questions”
22:01 – When students ask the teacher questions
23:15 – TTT vs STT: how much should teachers talk?
26:18 – Using AI in lesson planning
30:34 – Why you should always check your materials

Welcome back to the show. I guess you're wondering what really goes on while teachers are teaching? In this episode of How to English TEFL Podcast, Gav and Em talk about the physical and mental tension of teaching, what happens when you leave a class and come back to find students speaking their own language, and why learners often answer a different question to the one you asked. They also discuss how to grow their podcast. Whether translation apps help or hinder language learning. And finish with a surprising deep dive into the words don and doff. Honest teaching talk, classroom realities, and plenty of reflection for teachers and learners alike. ☕ Support the podcast: https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpodTimestamps00:00 Introduction00:39 What teachers do while teaching05:23 Movement, posture & staying healthy10:53 Leaving the class and L1 switching17:24 Not answering the question22:08 Getting deep and technical26:11 Growing the podcast29:10 Translation apps in lessons35:36 Don vs doff (word origins)

Welcome back to How to English with Gav & Em! In this episode, they branch out into the rhythms of teaching life. From how long a lesson should be, to what really happens between classes, why students sometimes stare blankly at their stories, and how our increasingly dramatic hand gestures somehow hold it all together. Grab a cuppa, settle in, and if you’d like to support the show, you can always show your thanks at ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Timestamps

00:00 – Welcome to the 3rd, no 4th episode
00:52 – Who listens to this podcast?
01:43 – Ideal weekly teaching load
04:47 – What's a teaching hour?
05:02 – Small talk: essential or excessive?
09:01 – What teachers do between lessons
13:33 – Admin, notes & digital vs analog
16:24 – Giving grammar real context
22:54 – Why students don’t react to your stories
29:26 – The art of TEFL hand gestures & goodbye