Can you provide a brief overview of your background and expertise?
I have been involved in ELT for the best part of 60 years, as a teacher and trainer. I have no special expertise. I simply listen to my learners and trainees, try to understand their needs, wants and interests, and try to adjust my teaching to what I pick up from them on a daily basis. Over the years, they have taught me more than most of the self-professed experts in our field. Every learner is different, every class is different and unpredictable and that’s the challenge that has kept me interested for so long.
What are the main takeaways or insights you aim to deliver during your talk, and how do you believe they will benefit the audience?
I don’t ‘deliver’ anything. I leave that to couriers and postmen/women. In facilitating my session, I will try to create a safe space for teacher-participants to exchange ideas and learn from each other, all within the thematic area of humanism in language teaching. If they leave the session feeling stimulated and questioning themselves about their own practices, the session will have reached its objective.
Can you recall a particularly memorable experience related to teaching or training that left a lasting impact on you?
There have been so many. However, the gradually developing realisation that there are so many people and organisations aspiring to control and influence in language teaching has been important to me. I have become healthily suspicious of attempts to put straitjackets on teachers and learners – textbooks and their publishers, exam boards, methodologists, academics with their theories, curriculum designers, to name the main ones, The richness and complexity of real language defies attempts by grammarians, lexicographers and phonologists to categorise everything neatly and tidily. This richness and diversity is what makes our work so challenging, but at the same time so fascinating.
Who or what has been a significant influence or inspiration in your professional journey?
Some people who have given me food for thought, notably Carl Rogers, Earl Stevick, A.S. Neill, John Holt, Mario Rinvolucri, Alan Maley, Patrick Early, Tony Wright and Brian Tomlinson, plus countless learners and trainees over the years. Everything I have picked up from readings, personal encounters and conference talks goes through an internal filter which helps me to make sense of ideas and to accommodate them – or not – within my own set of beliefs.
Do you have any passion projects or hobbies that contribute to your broader understanding of teaching/learning?
I need hobbies that put distance between them an professional things. However, the rhythm of walking, which I love, helps me to process personal and professional challenges. As to projects, I have been involved in scores of the over the years, and each has contributed in some way to my understanding. I learned long ago to keep the door of my brain and consciousness open, and this has been important to my development.
