CPD workshops for teachers

I used to offer workshops for teachers to improve the teaching of listening. The focus was on decoding, and on making the most of the recordings contained in textbooks. The workshops ranged from one hour to a week in length. You can see me giving a session here. And there is more information here.

Training for textbook authors

I offered workshops for textbook authors in how to exploit authentic recordings. Currently, there is a profession-wide failure to exploit the riches of the authentic recordings that are now the feature of many textbooks. There is a gap between what is conventionally taught about speech, and what actually happens in the sound substance of real-world recordings. Read more here.

Academic modules

I offered academic modules for MA level courses for applied linguists and teachers in training. (Nobody was interested). Currently, conventional phonology courses focus on the Careful Speech Model – a model of speech which focuses on clarity and intelligibility required for pronunciation – which is inappropriate (rubbish, actually) for teaching listening. My modules included the careful speech model, but also offer an antidote to it, the Spontaneous Speech Model – a model of speech which focuses on the messiness and unruliness of everyday speech. There is more information here.