C O N N E C T , G R O W , T H R I V E

A PEER-REVIEWED MAGAZINE FOR ENGLISH PROFESSIONALS VOLUME 40 NO. 1 SUMMER 2023

FOCUS:
Mental health

ISBN 9771660650003

ETAS J – linking the needs of English teachers and language professionals

ETAS ORGANIZATION
Don’t see your region or teaching area and would like to represent it?
Please contact Sharon Acton at national.coordinator@e-tas.ch to get involved!

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
PRESIDENT g Yuval Shomron g president@e-tas.ch
VICE PRESIDENT g Annette Leimer g vice.president@e-tas.ch
NATIONAL COORDINATOR g Sharon Acton g national.coordinator@e-tas.ch
NATIONAL EVENTS CHAIR g Sonja Vigneswaren g national.events@e-tas.ch
PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAIR g Rumana Yasin g public.relations@e-tas.ch
MEMBERSHIP CHAIR g Annette Leimer g membership@e-tas.ch
PUBLICATIONS CHAIR g Carol Waites g publications@e-tas.ch
SECRETARY g Sylvia Goetze g secretary@e-tas.ch
TREASURER g David Riley g treasurer@e-tas.ch

SIGs (Special Interest Groups) and SIG AMBASSADORS

Business English (BESIG) g Markus Jürgen Dietz g business@e-tas.ch
Drama & Literature (DL SIG) g Frank Wenzel and Samantha Riby g drama@e-tas.ch
Independent Teachers (IN T SIG) g Yuval Shomron g independent.teachers@e-tas.ch
Learning Technologies (L Tech SIG) g Erika Gonçalves Fauchère g learning-tech@e-tas.ch
Sustainability (S SIG) g Sylvia Goetze g sustainability@e-tas.ch
Testing (T SIG) g Laura Kennedy g testing@e-tas.ch
Young Learners & Teens (YL SIG) g Fabiane Lombardi g fabiane.lombardi@e-tas.ch

REGIONAL AMBASSADORS
BADEN g Neera Mallick g baden@e-tas.ch
BASEL g Guadalupe Salazar g basel@e-tas.ch
BERN/NEUCHÂTEL g Querida Long g bern@e-tas.ch
GENEVA g Agnes Huyton g geneva@e-tas.ch
ST. GALLEN/LIECHTENSTEIN/AUSTRIA g Matt Firth g st.gallen@e-tas.ch
TICINO g Nicole Jaks g ticino@e-tas.ch
VALAIS g Sonja Vigneswaren g valais@e-tas.ch
A PEER-REVIEWED MAGAZINE FOR ENGLISH PROFESSIONALS
VAUD/FRIBOURG g Sharon Acton g vaud@e-tas.ch
ZÜRICH g Gordon Dobson g zurich@e-tas.ch

ETAS JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS TEAM

Publications Chair g Carol Waites g publications@e-tas.ch
Editor-in-Chief g Matt Firth g editor@e-tas.ch
Online Content Coordinator g Patricia Daniels g occ@e-tas.ch
Newsletter Editor g Markus Jürgen Dietz, Barbara Althaus, and Pamela Gonzalez g newsletter@e-tas.ch
Resources Editor g Carol Waites (temporarily) g bookreview@e-tas.ch
ETAS JOURNAL EDITORIAL BOARD
Board members g Matt Firth, Carol Waites, Patricia Daniels, Markus Jürgen Dietz, Leanne Hayes, and team
Proofreading and editing team leader g Leanne Hayes
Proofreading and editing team g Christina Gomes, Prita Muthalali, Lee Shutler, and Guy Walker
PRODUCTION TEAM
Editor g Matt Firth
Deputy Editors g Carol Waites and Leanne Hayes
Graphic Design g Ron Sumners, Sumners Graphics g layout@e-tas.ch
Printer g Online Printers

ADVERTISING/SPONSORSHIP
Advertising/Sponsorship Coordinator g Alice Knöpfel g alice.knoepfel@e-tas.ch

SOCIAL MEDIA
Team leader g Rumana Yasin g rumana.yasin@e-tas.ch
Facebook/LinkedIn g Sirja Bessero g sirja.bessero@e-tas.ch
Instagram g Michele Kolloeffel Clark g michele.kolloefel@e-tas.ch
PUBLIC RELATIONS TEAM
Online Events g Rumana Yasin g online.events@e-tas.ch
TTT (Teacher Talking Time) Session host g Rumana Yasin
Online Pub Quiz Organizers g Madeleine Biber, Matt Firth, Sirja Bessero, and Sonja Vigneswaren g madeleine.biber@e-tas.ch

3 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

 contents
6 President’s message
7 From the Editor’s desk
8 Call for articles and reviews
10 ETAS news
11 Ask Alex

12 AT THE CHALKFACE
From face-to-face to online at a Japanese university:
The benefits and challenges of online learning for
Japanese university students • Pak Man Au

14 A CLASS ACT
Teen stress: A lesson plan on mental health • Lorenzo Sclocco

16 THE INTERVIEW
The joyful daily life of a primary and secondary level teacher
Interview with Rachael Harris • Leanne Hayes

Publisher: English Teachers Association, Switzerland

ETAS English Teachers Association, Switzerland, ADMINISTRATION
1200 Geneva Katie Hayoz
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ETAS_CH ETAS
Facebook: @ETASwitzerland 1200 Geneva
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/official-etas/ Tel: +41 79 623 3683 (Please leave a message.)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/etas.ch/ email: office@e-tas.ch
website: www.e-tas.ch
ISSN: 1660-6507
Price for non-members: CHF 20.– If you are a current member of ETAS and want to
Circulation: 1,000 join or change a SIG, you can do so by editing your
“Interests & Preferences” in your online account,
Advertisements: To place an advertisement in ETAS publications, or contact ETAS Administration. Email: office@e-tas.ch
please contact ETAS Administration, email: office@e-tas.ch (Please note that you need to have email access to join a SIG.)
© Each article in this issue is the property of ETAS Journal and its author(s) and may not be
printed without prior permission of this Journal and the author(s). Articles, letters, and
reviews are accepted on the basis of appropriateness and general interest to ETAS members. Moving? We’d like to move with you!
The ETAS Journal team reserves the right to edit or alter for reasons of style, clarity or brevity. Please let us have your new address BEFORE or right after
Opinions expressed by contributors to this Journal do not necessarily reflect the you move. Send an email to office@e-tas.ch or log in to
policies of ETAS or the opinion of the ETAS Executive Committee. www.e-tas.ch and change the address in your profile.
The publication of an advertisement does not constitute product or service
endorsement by ETAS.

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 4

20 The English spelling heritage • Benedicte Gravrand
22 Native-speakerism in English teaching and learning: A limited perception
of English continues to affect attitudes and practices in Switzerland
• Sylvia Goetze, Forugh Semadeni, and Karen Greaney

25 FOCUS • Mental health

26 Cold showers and ice baths to overcome teachers’ stresses • Dr Gabina Funegra
28 Harnessing the power of gratitude for better mental health and well-being for all ages
• Anna Stando
30 How honeymoons can become nightmares: The story of burnout • Hannah Holden
32 Imposter syndrome and how it holds you back as an ELT freelance teacher
• Rachael Roberts
34 Mental health in ELT: Action research and personal reflections • Phil Longwell
36 School phobia • Rachael Harris
38 Tango Zen • Chan Park
40 Things we have to accept • Erin O’Byrne

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
42 Introduction ETAS 39th Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM)
43 Adaptable exercises for student-chosen articles • Catherine Bartl Shultis
43 Adapting course materials: One for all and all for one? Pearson and the BBC introduce
Speakout 3rd edition and Pearson English Connect: A game changer! • Mary Schnueriger
44 Become proficient at editing and proofreading • Dr Carol Waites
45 Building rapport means building success • Urs Kalberer
46 Business writing: What can we do better? • Ian McMaster
46 Driving authentic communication through critical incidents • Alex Warren
46 Project-Based Service Learning in the ELT classroom • Sara Stevens
47 Teaching multilevel learners: Mixed ability or mixed blessing? • Anna Bennett
48 The pleasure of teaching: Round table discussion • Dorinda Maio-Phillips
48 Using digital tools to train career skills and promote student community
in tertiary education • Birte Horn
49 Using technology-enhanced learning activities to increase student engagement
and improve learning outcomes • Anna Bennett
50 Photos from the ETAS 39th Annual Conference and AGM

RESOURCES
52 Introduction to resources • Carol Waites
BOOK REVIEW
53 Oxford Discover Futures Level 1 Teacher Digital Pack • Dr Lesley June Fearn
DIGITAL TOOLS REVIEWS
54 Proofreading with PerfectIt • Leanne Hayes
55 Digital tools: Padlet and Wakelet • Dr Carol Waites
56 Linguahouse: Digital lessons and worksheets Index of advertisers
2 Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH
• Erika Gonçalves Fauchère 19 Cambridge English Languages
29 Bell Switzerland SA
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 56 Bell Switzerland SA
57 What is ChatGPT? • Dr Carol Waites 59 Swiss Exams

5 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

 S ID EN T’S
PRE
MES S AG E
When I studied for my first degree in education, I was
a little surprised to find that the syllabus included five
courses in psychology. Although I enjoyed these studies
and even aced them, I wondered at the time why, as
someone planning to become a music teacher, I would
need them. Back in the 70s, seeing a psychologist was
rare and even considered suspicious behaviour for
“normal” people. Today, however, it is not only
commonplace, but highly recommended. It is no different
than seeing a podiatrist or urologist. Now of course, over
40 years later, I understand that psychoanalysis is an
everyday task for bartenders, hairdressers, taxi drivers,
and yes, teachers.
Our position is not that of a professional adviser, but more one three of my adult students have had battles with cancer. One
of a listener, and an encourager. When I have an initial interview student who had just turned 40 started crying when her class
with a new student, I find myself using these skills as soon as began and said, “I won’t be here for the next few weeks. I have
the potential learner sits down. They tend to be grouped into breast cancer and need an immediate mastectomy.” Oh my!
two basic categories. The first might include the adjectives shy, What do you do with that? Fortunately, the other three ladies
scared, apprehensive, and unconfident. The second classification in this class of four, who had been study partners for a couple
may be robust, raring to go, happy, and even arrogant. Both of years, helped out with comfort and care. Obviously, I trashed
types will need grooming, pampering, and directing during the my lesson plans and let the open conversation take its own path.
education process. I can happily report that all three of those mentioned above are
now cancer free after various treatments functioned well.
It’s these new experiences that keep us on our toes, and if we
approach teaching properly, will cause our imaginative juices to Have I transitioned into a psychologist? No. My PhD is still in
flow, and hone our skills as people persons. When I taught music education. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “educate” as
to elementary students, the challenges I faced had more to do “to give intellectual, moral, and social instruction to someone”.
with physical problems and very temporary emotional milestones; This is quite a burden we’ve taken on. It also points to our need
albeit some statements threw me for a loop. Like, for instance, to be further educated ourselves and not apathetic about our
“I don’t feel like playing trumpet today. My parents are getting jobs. This is where ETAS can help, providing professional
divorced.” The teenagers would sometimes blurt out development, new methods, and pooled knowledge.
incomprehensible descriptions of issues concerning their boy-girl
The trust given to us by our students is a precious commodity,
relationships, often accompanied by tears. But I never said,
and we mustn’t take it for granted. Hopefully, we will not let them
“Sorry, I’m not the right address for this matter.” I listened, and
down when they need us. We don’t always have the answers,
when possible carefully and sparingly offered gentle advice.
but we can be ready with empathy. Solutions may be elusive,
I had some rather rewarding successes pointing 15-year-olds
but we can offer some options. There is at least a small
to having open talks with their parents.
chance that our advice may be a bit more sound than that of
As English teachers, we cover a wide range of subjects from the bartender, hairdresser, or taxi driver, as we get to know them
culture to creativity, sadness to celebration. I am privileged these at a deeper level.
days to teach small classes with a maximum of six students.
So I get to know them very well. It also means that they more
quickly open up to sharing personal stories and challenges.
For some reason, it seems that they see me as “Uncle Yuval”
as much as the master pedagogue. Just during the last year,

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 6

FROM TH E
S DESK:
EDITOR’
As teachers, we juggle lesson planning, curriculum
development, student assessment, and administrative
tasks while doing all we can to give engaging and
effective language classes. It's no surprise that our
mental health often takes a toll, and it's crucial to find
a balance between our professional responsibilities
and personal well-being.
I’m delighted that so many excellent teachers and
coaches have shared their experiences in dealing
with these challenges in this edition’s Focus, which
concentrates on mental health in ELT. The selection
is varied, and each article highlights mental health's
impact on teachers and students. By recognizing
and addressing these challenges, we can create a
nurturing and supportive environment that fosters
both language acquisition and overall well-being.
We each have our own individual style of teaching. And regardless
of our preferred pedagogical approach we will, to a greater or
lesser extent, bring something of ourselves into the classroom.
While I do my best to approach my work with a high level of
professionalism, I find that incorporating humour into my teaching
practice helps create an enjoyable classroom environment, and
this is to the benefit of my learners. While I’ve been trained to take
a student-centred approach, students are also interested in the
person behind the teacher. I find the occasional funny anecdote,
joke, or lighthearted exchange with my learners can help when the
pressures of work start to build up. By embracing humour, we can
create a positive atmosphere conducive to learning.
As ELT professionals, we must also recognize the importance
of building support networks. Colleagues, mentors, and
professional communities can provide valuable insights, advice,
and encouragement. Sharing experiences and challenges with
like-minded individuals fosters a sense of belonging and reminds
us that we are not alone in our struggles. This is one of the joys
of being part of ETAS, and for me personally one of the great
pleasures of being a part of our fantastic
– and ever-expanding – Publications Team.
Teachers are notorious for putting their
students' needs before their own.
However, we do all need some down time.
In discussing the challenges of the recent
pandemic with colleagues at the recent
ETAS conference, several teachers spoke
freely of the need for us to prioritize our own
mental health. This is clearly essential for
long-term well-being, and there’s only so far
we can push ourselves without something
giving. Engaging in self-care activities, such
as exercise, mindfulness, hobbies, and
spending time with loved ones, helps
recharge both our physical and emotional
batteries. By taking care of ourselves, we
create a more empathetic and resilient teaching community.
By addressing critical current issues in ELT with a focus on mental
health, we can create an environment where teachers thrive, and
students flourish. So let‘s embrace humour, cultivate support
networks, and prioritize self-care. Together, we can foster a
nurturing community that recognizes the well-being of all teachers
and learners. And let’s continue to give great classes while also
paying attention to our own mental health and happiness.
Matt
Postscript
In my editorial, I referenced our highly dedicated Publications
Team. After several years of excellent service, Hannah McCulloch
has now stepped down as Publications Chair following a move
out of ELT. Throughout her tenure, Hannah was committed to
fostering inclusivity and collaboration within the teaching
community. She firmly believed in providing a platform for diverse
voices and perspectives, and helped to make the ETAS Journal
a space where contributors from all backgrounds can contribute
and thrive. Carol Waites has now taken on the role, and we
couldn’t hope for a better replacement for Hannah. Carol’s keen
editorial eye, coupled with her profound practical experience in
training writing skills, make her the ideal candidate for this vital
role. Carol has also taken on the role of Deputy Editor, along
with Leanne Hayes, whose contribution to the Journal has
helped ensure the level of professionalism established by
Hannah and her predecessors.
If you would like to be a part of this great team of ELT
professionals, we are currently looking for a new Resources
Editor and someone to take on the Ask Alex column.
Please contact editor@e-tas.ch for more details.
7 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
 CALL FOR ARTICLES
AND REVIEWS
The ETAS Journal invites the submission of articles on various aspects of language teaching and methodology, lesson ideas,
surveys of teaching materials, and reports that address language issues in Switzerland or the surrounding countries. We also invite
submissions from presenters at the annual ETAS Conference and Professional Development Day for the new Conference Highlights
section, and welcome offers to review books, digital resources, and other teaching materials for the Resources section.

Please adhere to the following guidelines when submitting your work.

SUBMISSIONS
Please send all submissions described below in Word format by email attachment including a short biography,
a recent photo, and mailing address to: publications@e-tas.ch
The ETAS Journal reserves the right to make editing changes without prior consultation with the author(s).
Authors will be contacted regarding any major editing or revisions.
All contributors will receive one complimentary copy of the ETAS Journal.
The ETAS Journal and the author(s) hold the copyright to the articles published in the Journal.
Articles may not be reprinted without prior permission of ETAS Journal and the author(s).

Submissions may be:

A FULL-LENGTH ARTICLES
Conceptual, research-based, or theoretical arguments that bridge theory and practice in ELT.
Word count: 2,000 (maximum, including references).

B AT THE CHALKFACE
These articles are aimed at helping teachers do a better job – in and outside the classroom. They are descriptions of,
or reflections on, teaching techniques or activities, teaching methods, best practice, professional development,
and other useful information, including target audience, materials, resources, and procedures.
Word count: 1,500 (maximum, including references).

C CLASS ACT
These articles focus on practical teaching techniques and materials design.
They include sample materials, notes on teaching procedures, and recommended resources.
Word count: 2,000 (maximum, including references).

D IT WORKS FOR ME
Collections of short teaching ideas clustered around one particular theme. These would ideally include warmers, fillers,
activities that could be extended to form the basis of an entire lesson, possible variations (e.g. for teachers working online).
Where possible, please also include some activities that incorporate the learners’ mobile devices.
Word count: 2,000 (maximum, including references).

All submissions must include a 50-word abstract, a brief author biography and recent photo, and a postal address.
Articles should not include “commercial” text selling, promoting, or endorsing products or services.

ADDITIONAL SECTIONS IN THE JOURNAL

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
This section provides a selection of reports on sessions delivered at the last ETAS conference.
Word count: 500–800 words. Two-line biography of presenter. Please send your submission to publications@e-tas.ch

RESOURCES
We also welcome reviews of the latest books, artificial intelligence use, digital tools, and classroom and reference materials.
Word count: 500–800 words. Two-line biography of presenter. Please send your submission to publications@e-tas.ch
Please visit https://www.e-tas.ch/journal/guidelines/ for more information.

FORMAT: Submissions must be in Word format and sent as an email attachment.

• Size: A4 page size, portrait (vertical).
• Font: Arial, 12-point font, black, left justified.
• Spacing: 1.5 lines.
• Do not use columns, indents or frames.
• Do not use headers or footers.
• Tables and diagrams must be in Word format.
• Other illustrative material should be in black and white and sent separately by mail.
• Photographs must be in JPEG format.

REFERENCES
The ETAS Journal follows the APA 7th Edition Reference Style Guide. Sample formats for both in-text citations
and references are available online at: http://owll.massey.ac.nz/referencing/apa-interactive.php
In-text citations must be included in the reference list. Please see ETAS Journal issues published after 2011 for examples.

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 8

DEADLINES FOR UPCOMING JOURNALS
Winter 2023/2024: 11 September 2023 Conference Highlights
4 September 2023 all other contributions
Summer 2024: 18 March 2024

CALL FOR ARTI CLES

ETAS Journal: Winter 2023/2024

Focus: Employability skills
Contact: matt.firth@e-tas.ch
Deadline: 4 September 2023
Recent trends across all levels of education have seen an increased integration of employability skills across curricula. Many schools,
universities, and employers understand the importance of teaching soft skills to students and employees, and this trend has
profoundly impacted the EFL practice. Courses that once focused on English language skills now adopt a broader communication
skills in English approach. EFL teachers with a sound knowledge of the soft skills needed in the workplace can benefit from this trend,
and training courses often include the teaching of employability skills in their programmes. The Winter 2023 Focus will explore
employability skills, and we invite submissions on topics including, but not limited to:
• Training soft skills in English;
• How teachers and learners can best meet the demands of today’s workplace;
• The challenges involved in training soft skills to pre-service learners;
• Designing in-house training courses;
• Integrating ICT into employability skills training;
• The testing, assessment, and evaluation of employability skills;
• Employability skills for EFL teachers;
• Exploiting our skills outside the EFL classroom (e.g. writing articles, proofreading, advertising);
• Materials development;
• Teaching transferable skills;
• Helping students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills;
• Encouraging concepts such as professionalism, teamwork, collaboration, and other key skills in both our courses and
in our professional relationships with other teachers.
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
We also invite contributions from the ETAS Professional Development Day on 2 September 2023.
Please send your submission to publications@e-tas.ch
RESOURCES
We also welcome reviews of the latest books, artificial intelligence use, digital tools, and classroom and reference materials.
Please send your submission to publications@e-tas.ch

ETAS Journal: Summer 2024

Focus: English as a lingua franca
Contact: matt.firth@e-tas.ch
Deadline: 18 March 2024
English as a lingua franca (ELF) refers to the use of English as a common language for communication among speakers of different
first languages. While ELF can facilitate communication and understanding across linguistic and cultural boundaries, it also presents
challenges for English language teaching (ELT) practitioners.
One issue is the need to broaden the focus of ELT beyond L1 English proficiency in grammar and vocabulary to include intercultural
communication skills, such as sensitivity to different cultural norms and values. Another challenge is the need to teach varieties of
English that are appropriate for communication in global contexts, rather than focusing solely on teaching British or American English.
Furthermore, teachers need to be equipped with the necessary pedagogical strategies to help learners develop their ability to use
English as a lingua franca effectively, such as promoting strategies for negotiation and repair of communication breakdowns.
As ELT practitioners we must embrace these challenges to best prepare learners for effective communication in the globalized world.
The Summer 2024 Focus will explore the topic of English as a lingua franca in ELT, and we invite submissions on topics including,
but not limited to:
• The need to broaden the focus of ELT to include intercultural communication skills;
• The importance of teaching varieties of English appropriate for global contexts;
• The need for teachers to be equipped with pedagogical strategies for teaching ELF;
• The challenge of reconciling so-called native-like proficiency in grammar and vocabulary with effective communication
in ELF contexts;
• The importance of promoting strategies for negotiation and repair of communication breakdowns;
• The challenge of balancing the teaching of English as a lingua franca with the teaching of other languages;
• The need to take into account learners’ diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds;
• The importance of developing learners’ awareness of the social and cultural dimensions of communication;
• The challenge of finding appropriate teaching materials and resources for teaching ELF;
• The need for ongoing professional development for ELT practitioners to keep up with the latest developments
in ELF research and pedagogy.
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
We also invite contributions from the ETAS Annual Conference and AGM in February 2024.
Please send your submission to publications@e-tas.ch
RESOURCES
We also welcome reviews of the latest books, artificial intelligence use, digital tools, and classroom and reference materials.
Please send your submission to publications@e-tas.ch

9 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

 We are pleased to announce our 2023
ETAS Membership Initiative
1–30 June 2023

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 10

 If you have a question or
simply wish to find more information

Ask
on a topic that interests you, please send
your query to Alex. You are free to include
your name or request that the query be
published under a pseudonym. Send your
questions to: publications@e-tas.ch.
Please note that individual

ALEX ...
correspondence will
not be entered into.
Before making a decision, it may be helpful to speak with
someone you trust, such as a mentor or colleague, to get their
perspective on the situation. You could also consider discussing the
role with your employer to get a clearer understanding of what the job
entails and what support and training will be provided to help you
Dear Alex, succeed in the position.

A colleague of mine often makes unnecessary, indignant snipes in Ultimately, the decision to accept or decline the offer is yours. If you do
their emails to me. This is rather draining, especially when they cc decide to take on the role, remember that it’s OK to ask for help and
others in. So far I have simply ignored these. But it does get to me. support when you need it. You don’t have to do everything on your own,
What should I do? and there will be others who can help guide you through the transition.

— Drained in Berlin Alex

Dear Drained,
Dealing with a colleague who makes unnecessary snipes in emails
can be frustrating and stressful. Here are some steps you could
take to address the situation:
• Stay professional
When responding to emails, always remain professional and
courteous, even if your colleague’s tone is not. Avoid
responding in kind, as this could escalate the situation further.
• Consider the context
Sometimes the snipes may not be intentional, and it may be
worth considering if there is any context or history that may be
contributing to your colleague’s behaviour.
• Speak up
If the snipes are becoming a consistent issue, you may need to
address them directly with your colleague. You can schedule a
meeting with them and calmly explain how their tone is
affecting you and the team’s productivity. Use specific
examples to illustrate your point and be clear about what you
would like to see changed.
• If absolutely necessary, consider involving a manager
If you have tried addressing the issue directly with your
colleague and it has not improved, you may need to involve a
manager or HR representative. They can help mediate the
situation and work with both of you to find a resolution.
Above all, do remember to prioritize your own well-being and mental
health. If the situation is causing you significant distress, it may be
helpful to seek support from a friend, counsellor, or therapist.
Alex
Dear Alex,
I’ve been teaching business English at a private language school
in Basel for seven years. I’ve recently been asked to take on a
managerial role. It’s a great opportunity, but I’m not sure I can deal
with the responsibility. However, I do feel I have little choice but to
accept the post.
— Rock Hardplace, Basel
Dear Rock,
It sounds like you are facing a difficult decision. This sounds like a
great opportunity to advance your career, but you are naturally
feeling unsure about your ability to handle the new responsibilities.
It’s important to recognize that it’s normal to feel nervous about
taking on new challenges, especially when they involve a significant
change in your role. However, you should also consider whether
this opportunity aligns with your long-term goals and aspirations.
Dear Alex,
I could really benefit from some counselling. It would be especially
useful for me to discuss some issues I’m having at work, but I don’t
think I can afford a professional. What I really need is some friendly
advice. Someone to talk to.
— Unsure, Lucerne
Dear Unsure,
It’s great that you’re recognizing the value of counselling and taking
steps to prioritize your mental health. You’re right, professional
counselling can be expensive. However, there are options available to
you that may be more affordable – or even free. Here are some ideas:
1. Your employer
Many employers offer some sort of assistance programme as part
of their employee benefits package. This is a confidential service
that provides employees with access to a range of support
services, including counselling, for free or at a reduced cost.
2. Community mental health centres
Many communities have mental health centres that offer low-cost
or free counselling services. These centres are staffed by licensed
professionals who can help you with a wide range of mental health
issues.
3. Online counselling services
There are many online counselling services that offer affordable
options, such as sliding scale fees or reduced rates for low-income
individuals. Some examples include BetterHelp, Talkspace,
and 7 Cups.
4. Non-profit organizations
There are many non-profit organizations that offer counselling
services at little or no cost. An example is the Samaritans.
5. Support groups
Sometimes it can be helpful to talk to others who are going
through similar experiences. Support groups can provide a safe and
supportive environment where you can share your thoughts and
feelings with others who understand what you’re going through.
I hope these suggestions are helpful. I really would encourage you to
explore the options available to you. Remember, investing in your mental
health is always worth it.
Alex
Should you have a question or simply wish to find more information on a topic
that interests you, please send your query by email to: editor@e-tas.ch. If we
feel it would interest a spectrum of our readers, then we shall publish it along
with the response. You are free to include your name or request that the query
be published under a pseudonym. Please note that individual correspondence
will not be entered into.

11 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

At the chalkface From face-to-face
to online at a
Japanese university:
The benefits and
challenges of online
learning for Japanese
university students
Abstract
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Japanese universities
had to adapt quickly to the sudden technological changes
required to continue teaching. In a country slow to change,
the sudden necessity of online teaching can provide future
opportunities in Japan’s tertiary sector.
Biography
Pak Man Au is a Canadian who has taught
English for seven years and is currently based
in Japan. As an assistant professor at Ehime
University he teaches courses in the general
English programme and takes part in faculty
meetings to discuss the curriculum. His
primary interests are teaching intercultural
awareness, business English, young learners,
and geography. Contact details: mandonau@gmail.com
Introduction
The emergence of Covid-19 was a paradigm shift for educators
worldwide. Though some educational institutions and private
tutors conducted online lessons before the pandemic, the sudden
societal changes brought online teaching to the forefront of all
educational sectors. With countries experiencing lockdowns,
stay-at-home orders, and school closures, many students around
the world had no choice but to attend classes virtually. As students
were prevented from coming on campus, students could not
socialize with their peers nor interact with their professors in a
more friendly atmosphere. At the same time, many educators had
to suddenly implement online classes due to the swift changes
that had occurred since early 2020. This was certainly my
experience, with universities across Japan suddenly switching to
remote learning, either synchronously (i.e. real-time online learning)
or asynchronously (i.e. self-paced) (Growth Engineering, 2022).
ETAS Journal 40/1
37/2 Summer 12
2023 2020
Spring/Summer 12
Pak Man Au
Though both means were used throughout Japan, synchronous
learning was more common. This article will describe my
experiences with synchronous online learning at a Japanese
university, including its inherent benefits and challenges.
The benefits
Though online learning is in its early stages in the education sector,
we have already gained some benefits from learning synchronously
through popular online communication tools such as Zoom, Google
Meet, and Microsoft Teams.
Students learning online can gain technical skills, especially with
the prevalence of new software on the market. Learning to use new
technologies in remote learning can be an essential component of
their skill set for their future career. In Japan, before the pandemic,
students and educators had little experience using personal
computers (Fitzpatrick, 2010). However, the pandemic forced them
to become familiar with using PCs in a brief period. In some cases,
they had only a few weeks to learn this skill before the beginning
of the semester!
Another benefit is that students save money and time commuting.
Students can use the time saved to focus more on their studies
and, at the same time, not worry about missing their bus or train
to and from the campus.
Some students prefer the increased privacy they can get from online
learning. In one of my English classes, some students felt more
comfortable reading out answers in English as they felt fewer eyes
were watching them compared to face-to-face (F2F) classes.
Maintaining face is integral to Japanese culture as “the Japanese
avoid situations when others can see them making a ‘mistake’, often
as simple as incorrect pronunciation” (Matsumoto, 2018). However,
it is unavoidable in some situations, such as in a F2F environment.
In online classes though, when mistakes are made, students feel
less of a burden due to the increased anonymity in a sea of faces
over online communication platforms.
An often overlooked benefit is the many complementary digital
tools that can be used simultaneously during an online class.
Students can share files and other media in real time with their
classmates and professors, and questions can be asked on the
spot. During one of my Q and A sessions during a class activity,
students who had difficulty with listening could type their question
and answer in the “chat” function, as a form of support, if others
had difficulty understanding them. This would not be available
in a F2F setting without some potential embarrassment.
Furthermore, I could sense that some students felt more relaxed
without the potential stressors of a F2F environment. The impact
of the pressure to keep up appearances and the strict classroom
rules often in place in Japanese educational institutions are
lessened by the relatively less formal atmosphere of online classes.
Most of all, students can easily communicate with other students
whom they might not have spoken with in a F2F setting.
For instance, online communication tools allow professors to
place students easily and more quickly in pairs or groups.
This would be more challenging in a F2F environment, especially
with larger class sizes.
Challenges
The usual method of teaching, whether in an elementary school
or a university lecture theatre, consists of an educator at the front
of the room lecturing to the class. Both the educators and students
can see each other and can observe body language, which is an
essential component of communication. Bambaeeroo and
Shokrpour (2017) note that people “use non-verbal behavior
in order to complete their interpersonal interaction; they rely on
non-verbal behavior to recognize when to speak, when to let
others speak, and how to speak”. With online learning, video
quality can often be a hindrance, so non-verbal cues may not be
identified correctly. This is in addition to potential audio problems.
On a technical front, both professors and students may have
trouble logging in, or there may be other problems with internet
connectivity. In my case, several students had problems with
their computer or internet connection, and they were unable to
participate in the online class smoothly due to constant
interruptions to their online status.
“
Another challenge posed by online learning is that, depending on
the type and size of the class, scrolling through a sea of faces on
a screen can be time-consuming. This would be less of an issue
for a lecture-only class, but for classes where student interaction
is necessary (i.e. communication classes), this can take up extra
time. This is something I experienced in a communication class
where students were expected to communicate with each
other for role-plays.
For pair work and group activities in so-called “breakout rooms”
within online communication digital tools, educators cannot view
References
Bambaeeroo, F., & Shokrpour, N. (2017, April). The impact of the teachers’ non-verbal communication on success in teaching.
Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism, 5(2). 51–59.
Cohen, S. (2020, September 20). A digital pivot at Japan’s universities: ‘A lot of us expected to have our worst semesters online’. The Japan Times.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2020/09/20/lifestyle/japanese-universities-online-coronavirus/
Fitzpatrick, M. (2010, July 13). Revealing Japan’s low-tech belly. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/10543126
Growth Engineering. (2022, February 23). Synchronous vs. asynchronous learning: What’s the difference?
https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/synchronous-vs-asynchronous-learning/
Matsumoto, K. (2018, May 2). Face is everything in Japan. Talk About Japan. https://talkaboutjapan.com/save-face-in-japanese-culture/
different pairs and groups simultaneously as they would in a F2F
setting. Instead, the educator must visit each group individually,
which takes time and is another challenge for communication-type
classes using synchronous learning.
Lastly, “the emergence of ‘Zoom fatigue’, or the drowsiness and
general malaise that emerge after long hours of screen-based
classes” (Cohen, 2020) is another challenge posed by
synchronous online learning. Sitting at a desk behind a computer
screen for hours rather than looking and moving around in a
classroom environment can also contribute to student apathy
during online learning.
Conclusion
A significant transition in the educational space occurred as soon
as the Covid-19 pandemic strengthened its grip on the world.
Especially in a country such as Japan, where old traditions are
still entrenched within society and change moves at a glacial
pace, abrupt changes are rarely seen. Many Japanese universities
suddenly implemented online learning to accommodate campus
closures, which was the norm from 2020 through 2022.
Although F2F classes at most Japanese universities have resumed
since the start of the 2022/23 academic year, the speed at which
online learning took effect in such a short period was surprising.
Online learning had been used sporadically in Japanese tertiary
education, but the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic changed
that situation. The past two years had many Japanese university
students switch to online learning, and at the same time, they
had to become accustomed to this technology quickly.
Now that more students and professors have experience in online
learning and teaching, more options are available for educational
institutions around Japan. In future pandemics or crises, having
another method available to teach students is of utmost
importance. Although technical issues may make synchronous
online learning challenging, the benefits of online learning can
be used to improve education within Japanese tertiary education.
As the technology becomes increasingly streamlined in the future,
new opportunities will arise to reduce reliance on F2F classes.
They can both be used together to complement each other, such
as in hybrid-style classes which were also used during the
pandemic, rather than just one or the other.
The impact of the pressure to
keep up appearances and the
strict classroom rules often in
place in Japanese educational
institutions are lessened by
the relatively less formal
“
atmosphere of online classes.
13 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
A CLASS ACT

Teen stress:
A lesson plan
on mental health
Abstract Lorenzo Sclocco
Developing a lesson around mental health is a stepping stone
towards making the students feel more comfortable sharing
their thoughts about this issue. This article presents a lesson
plan around the topic of mental health and teenagers in high
school, followed by functional language for giving opinions
and disagreeing tactfully.
The structure of the lesson
Biography By the end of the lesson, the students will be better able to
Lorenzo Sclocco is an ESL teacher based share their opinions and disagree tactfully when speaking
in Toronto, Canada. He has been teaching about mental health.
English (general, EAP, and business) at The lesson is aimed at adults in a general English class,
language schools, universities, and colleges level B2. The length of the lesson is 90 minutes; however,
since 2009. Being a language learner himself, the timing may vary.
he knows the difficulties that students
encounter when learning other languages. The lesson plan
Therefore, he focuses his classes on
What follows is the detailed scaffolding of the lesson.
communication skills and creates his own
Here you can find the lesson: Mental Health.
material. He is a two-time recipient of the
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DSvm_jsLUcw_EQYz
Excellence in Teaching Award at the University of Toronto
SyUjGh09RwNEks_C/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=11671493738792
School of Continuing Studies.
4326833&rtpof=true&sd=true

Why develop a lesson Or scan the QR code:

on mental health?
In some countries, people might not be able to speak freely
about mental health. I feel that the ESL classroom is one of the
best places where students might be able to share how they
feel about this topic.
As a teacher, I always strive to make my lessons more inclusive
and diverse. This is why I decided to create a lesson as an
introduction to the issue of mental health. Even though the video
for this lesson is about high school students, it serves as a
springboard to talk about what kind of stresses different audiences
are going through (e.g. newcomer mothers, international students,
internationally educated professionals, and so on).

ETAS Journal 40/1

37/2 Summer 14
2023 2020
Spring/Summer 12
Here you can find the video:
“ In some countries, people might not
be able to speak freely about mental
health. I feel that the ESL classroom
students might be able to share how
“Speaking Up on Teen Stress”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-qmaC1bVHI
Or scan the QR code:
Stage: Lead-in (10 minutes) [slides 1–3]
• Show the picture to the students (s/s) and elicit the
topic of the lesson (mental health).
• Tell the s/s to brainstorm what comes to mind when
they think of “mental health”.
• Ask them to share their word cloud and to choose one
interesting thing that they found about each other OR
if they had anything in common.
• Do whole class feedback.
Stage: Predictions (10 mins.) [slide 4]
• Show the s/s the title of the video
(“Speaking Up on Teen Stress”).
• Ask the s/s to make predictions based on the
two questions on the slide.
• Collect their answers as a whole class feedback.
Stage: Listening for gist (6 mins.) [slides 5–7]
• Tell the s/s that they’re going to watch an authentic article
(this will make them feel more motivated).
• Give the s/s a few seconds to read the questions.
• Ensure that they know they don’t need to understand
every word in the video.
• After the listening, ask the s/s to share what they wrote.
• Confirm the predictions and ask them to share if their
predictions were similar.
• Show the answers.
Stage: Discussion around the video (10 mins.) [slide 8]
• The s/s read the statements on the slide and decide
whether they agree or disagree. Give them one or two
minutes to gather their thoughts.
• Put the s/s in pairs or in threes and ask them to share
their thoughts.
• Monitor the s/s to see how they agree or disagree
(e.g. Do they sound too direct when they don’t share the
same views? How do they interrupt? How do they encourage
the other classmates to speak?).
• Give feedback.
is one of the best places where
“
they feel about this topic.
Stage: Functional language – part 1 (10 mins.) [slides 9–10]
• After giving feedback, show the s/s the chart.
• Ask them to think of one or two expressions for each category.
• Elicit one expression as an example (e.g. “Asking for an
opinion” – “How do you feel about it?”).
Stage: Functional language – part 2 (10 mins.) [slides 11–12]
• Tell the s/s they have to drag the boxes into the right category.
• Pick one as an example.
• Have the s/s do this individually OR in pairs.
• Make sure that they explain why they want to attribute
one expression to a specific category.
• Elicit the answers and do feedback.
• Show the answers as a written record.
Stage: Production – part 1 (20 mins.) [slides 13–14]
• Show the s/s the different kinds of audience.
• Tell them that they are going to pick ONE or TWO problems
and think of their solutions (depending on the time, either
one or two problems).
• Ask them to share the problems and solutions.
• Tell them that the communicative goal is to come
to an agreement.
• Monitor and provide feedback on content and language.
Stage: Production – part 2 (10 mins.) [slide 15]
• Tell the s/s they are going to do a second round.
• Ask them “Why are we doing this?”. Elicit the answer
“To become more comfortable at speaking more naturally
the second time around”.
• To do the recording, the s/s can either go to a different
classroom or to the lounge. If online, put the s/s in
breakout rooms and ask them to record their conversation.
• Ask them to send you the recording via email.
• Tell them you are going to give feedback on content
and language on their recording.
• Monitor the s/s and provide additional feedback.
Stage: Final discussion (10 mins.) [slide 16]
• Have the s/s discuss the questions based
on the video they watched.
• Provide feedback on content and language.
15 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
THE INTERVIEW
The joyful daily life of a primary and
secondary level teacher
Interview with Rachael Harris
Leanne Hayes
Biography
Rachael Harris is a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) and teacher of EFL,
literature, and media studies. She currently teaches primary and secondary level students
at Lycée Rodolphe Töpfferin in Geneva, Switzerland. She is the joint coordinator for the
International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) Inclusive
Practices and Special Educational Needs (IP&SEN) Special Interest Group (SIG) and has
published various materials in these fields. She is passionate about discovering how all
learners learn best.

Hi Rachael, thank you for taking the time to do this interview
for the ETAS Journal. To start with, can you share with our
readers a little about what led you to ELT in the first place,
and also tell us about your recent work?
Hello, it’s a pleasure. OK, so it all started when I went to France
over 30 years ago as part of the Erasmus exchange programme.
I wanted to stay there but my French was rubbish so I thought
about the types of jobs I could do there – English teacher came
up. As a result, I went back to London and did the CELTA
(or the CTEFLA as it was called at the time) and then came back
to France, working in various jobs in language schools. As I got
older, my students got younger and now I teach at a secondary
school (with a primary class) and have been at this school for
over 10 years.
What ages do you teach?
At the moment, I teach primary and secondary, and this year
my classes are aged 11 and 14, and I’m also doing the French
Baccalaureate, so the 17 and 18-year-olds. And with the French
Baccalaureate, it’s not ELT as such, it’s current affairs. So we
look at various topics, Brexit, the Commonwealth, etc. but
I teach in English.
What in particular do you like about teaching young learners?
The energy. The younger ones always have their hands up and are
asking questions. This is not so much the case with the older ones.
Also, and maybe it’s not modest to say, I think there’s the chance
to really make a difference. I mean that’s why I teach full stop.
For example, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had some of my
old students come back to visit me and we’ve gone out for coffee.
They said things like, “I remember when you said this when I was
12” and “I’m going to get married and I want you to be one of the
first people to know”. And it’s things like that that make you realize
that you do make a difference in their lives. And I think the main
thing I try to teach is that in language, or with anything, it’s OK
to make mistakes. Mistakes are proof that you are trying to do
your best. I just want them to learn to love languages. They’ll learn
English later. My main aim is not teaching them English as they’ll
have plenty of opportunities to pick it up elsewhere, but it’s to
give them the self-confidence to make mistakes and also the
strategies necessary to acquire new skills – then they can go
on and learn anything.
And the biggest challenges?
Oh, it’s exhausting! It’s tiring to be on form all the time. Just today
I did an activity with my students where they all wrote a problem
they had on a piece of paper and I wrote mine on the board. They
then had to go around with Post-its and give each other solutions.
The problem I wrote on the board was “marking”, and I have to say
it’s one of the banes of my life! Apart from the summer holidays,
I’ve always got a backlog of marking to do and it’s not the most
joyful thing. And it means that you’ve never finished. Having a
weekend off is pretty rare. But it goes with the job. I also start late
on Mondays and have time to go for a run so it is give and take.
I think if I worked my 40 hours during the week, I could probably
get most of it done. It’s my choice in a way.
How do you keep up your own motivation and energy
levels throughout the year?
Well, by doing other things and making sure that I have time.
For example, I will prioritize going out for a coffee with a friend
rather than marking because it’s important. But also, like I’ve
always said to my own children, I’m a great believer that you are
responsible for the mood you bring to a room. Especially as a
teacher. It can be easy if you’ve had a bad moment before the
class to come in grumpy and then all of a sudden the mood has
dropped in the class. Therefore, I really make an effort and
sometimes it’s “fake it till you make it”, but that’ll only last the
first 10 minutes. But it’s important to be really happy to see the
students, like starting with “how are you? I’m so pleased we’re
here, we’re going to do some fun stuff, let’s get going!” It gets
them in that mood, which then gets me in that mood. You see,
it is a sort of virtuous circle. Sometimes it is “fake it” though
– especially on a Friday afternoon!
How do you keep your lessons fresh and interesting?
I don’t know if I do! Maybe I don’t. OK, so part of the reason
I regularly create new lesson content is that I’m not organized
enough to keep all my previous activities and resources.

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37/2 Summer 16
2023 2020
Spring/Summer 12
So, I might use the same textbooks but then I’m obliged to come
up with new material. Continuing professional development (CPD)
is also very important to me. I read a lot of books for teachers,
watch webinars, or attend conferences like the last ETAS Annual
Conference, for example. It’s after those types of events that
I always come home with three or four things that can be used
during the week and by doing that sort of regularly, it renews
the stock a bit.
Do you have any particular sources you go to for inspiration?
Not particularly, but I’d say I find conferences the most useful.
It’s after a conference that I’ll be coming home on the train,
reading through my notes and thinking, “oh, I could do this or
I could do that.” So, it can be about changing or creating your
own ideas from what you’ve heard elsewhere.
Do you have a favourite lesson or activity that you do
with your students?
Perhaps not a favourite activity, but I like doing things that
encourage well-being or motivation as well as language.
For example, when we are practising the present perfect, one of
the things I like to do is a lesson on “brilliant me” where we write
four or five phrases on things we’ve done. For instance, it could
be something like, “I’ve run a marathon” or “I’ve achieved 20 out
of 20 in a test”. The students write a list of brilliant things they’ve
done and one of them should be false. I then take in the phrases
and read them out. They have to guess which student it is.
They like the fact it’s personalized and it also valorizes what
they’ve done. In an activity like that, therefore, they get to
practise the present perfect, but then they’re also adding
something for themselves.
Another example is the lesson that we did today. Everyone had
to write an agony aunt letter with a problem and then go around
with Post-its and stick solutions to the back of the letters. Through
that they were able to get answers to their problems, but also help
the others as well. They would say things like, “oh, who gave me
this idea?” which also prepared them for talking about it during
the break.
Looking back, what’s one piece of advice you wish
you had known earlier in your career when it comes
to teaching young learners?
So, classroom discipline wise is: always have something to do.
There’s that English expression of “the devil makes work for
idle hands” and kids who don’t have something to do can
indeed cause trouble. Therefore, even before the lesson,
I always try to have something on the board for them to do.
Get them to do things!
From a teacher well-being perspective, I would say that apart
from always making time to go for coffee with friends, to plan
downtime in your lessons as well. We don’t have to be constantly
on the stage and teach, teach, teach. Plan moments of downtime.
For example, with my agony aunt lesson today, I did very little.
They wrote their letters and then while they were working on that
“
I was just there wandering about helping with a bit of vocabulary.
As a result, that sort of preserved some of my energy and also
gave me a bit more energy for the rest of my day. So, I try not to
plan eight hours of full-on teaching lessons, but some sort of
easier things as well.
Could you tell us about your role as Special Educational
Needs Coordinator (SENCo) in a Swiss context?
OK, so as we are a private school that teaches the French
Baccalaureate, we don’t teach the Swiss system, but I’d
imagine there are similarities between the two.
At the beginning of the year, my role entails checking that
students who already have special educational needs in place
have an up-to-date dossier. For that, they have to go to an
educational psychologist and be evaluated, and then we get the
dossier, which explains what should be put into place for them.
The dossier will say something like, this student shows signs
of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and a “good”
dossier will also say therefore we should sit them at the front,
or we should do this, or we should do that. If the dossier doesn’t
give any recommendations, then from my experience I already
know some things that will help various students in various
situations, but each student is different. For example, not all my
students with ADHD need or want to sit at the front. They may
not work best at the front either. You also have the practical
problems – if you put all your students who have trouble
concentrating together at the front, they’re not going to help
each other either.
I then send out a document to the teachers of the students with
special educational needs which includes information on the
students’ individual needs and preferences. Therefore, per class,
there’s a whole dossier of which students work best with what
and which students need what. I also give out a document of
information concerning various learning differences. For example,
many students with dyslexia will find this useful and many
students with this will find this useful, etc. But again, each student
is different. We also have packs available for the parents on how
they can help their child learn at home and which also tell them
what we put into place.
For the exams, like the French Baccalaureate or Cambridge,
I also have to make sure measures are put into place for the
students. So, that might mean things like extra time, somebody
reading the questions to them, or having a larger print for
instance. It depends on the various needs of the students.
You mentioned that the suggestions may not suit every
student or that they won’t work in every situation.
Can you expand on this?
Yes, for example, I might suggest putting a student at the front
but perhaps a colleague won’t. It will depend on the size of their
classroom or even on the subject. It could be that the student is
really good at languages but finds maths more challenging and in
that case maybe just for the maths class it would be better if they
were at the front. I give out suggestions, but they’re just that.
Many teachers will say that they don’t know what to do with
students who have special educational needs, but they do know
what to do with individual students. A lot of the things that they
think will help a student are actually, without necessarily knowing
it, helping their special educational needs.
It also helps to ask the student, too. I will say to some of my
students, “I should be putting you at the front” and they’ll say,
“no, no, you’ll see that I’ll work fine here” and they do. I have a
student, for example, with autism spectrum disorder, although
My main aim is ... to give them
the self-confidence to make
mistakes and also the strategies “
necessary to acquire new skills
– then they can go on and
learn anything.
17 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
I hate the word “disorder”, and on his educational psychologist
form, it says he should be at the front, but he hates being with For anyone who’s looking to volunteer for ETAS or another
the others. As a compromise, he sits at the back to one side in organization, why would you say it’s worth their time?
a place where he can have his back against a cupboard and with
Because of the people they meet and the skills they will get
a wall on one side. He feels much more comfortable there,
and how it will make them feel, of course. But I think the most
so I leave him there.
important thing is that many people worry that they don’t have
We’re lucky at our school to have pretty small classes in general. time, they won’t be able to do it, that if they volunteer, they will
Even a class of 25 will be halved for most language lessons. suddenly become, I don’t know, Journal Editor, and have to
Therefore, my average class size is probably 13 and I do realize write a journal and they don’t know how to do it. I think it’s really
that when you’ve got a class of 35 kids, you can’t put them all at important to tell people that you can volunteer to join a team,
the front and they can’t all sit at the back so that would be and the team is there to help you. I know at the IP&SEN team, we
completely different. often have two people doing each role, which means that we have
an oldie and then the newbie joins and they work together. When
How did you come to take on the role as SENCo? the oldie leaves to go onto something else, the newbie can then
Did you need to do any additional training? help somebody else. And if you can’t do something, somebody in
the team can and will. I’ve had moments when my mum or my
Well, I was interested in it because I wanted to help all my
father-in-law were sick and I’ve just had to take a step back and
students and as my training and CPD is not just from France and
say, look, I won’t be doing anything for the next couple of months.
ELT, but also from Britain and British secondary schools, I realized
And that’s fine. I think people are worried when they volunteer
there was a definite gap in what we were doing for our students
for something that they won’t have enough time, but it’s not a
here compared to elsewhere. So, I did various CPD and I did a
full-time job and people shouldn’t think it is. And I think we can
brilliant online course with FutureLearn called Dyslexia and Foreign
all volunteer for something that interests us for a couple of years.
Language Teaching by Anne Margaret Smith and Judit Kormos,
It’s a great experience.
who’ve also written books on the subject. After that, I then went
on and did a British university course to become a SENCo.
And what’s next for you?
That was a one or two-year course I believe, and that was
especially useful. So, next is the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, which starts on
Monday 17 April with the pre-conference events, which each
Then, through various conferences and things like that, I became
special interest group is organizing. We (the IP&SEN SIG) are
involved with the IATEFL IP&SEN SIG. I joined this SIG when it
organizing a brilliant conference event together with the Leadership
was created in 2016, then I became part of the committee, and
and Management SIG, and we will be looking at mental health in
now I’m one of the joint coordinators. That really helps me with
ELT. We’ve got some brilliant speakers who are going to be talking
my work. Joining an association is a brilliant way of getting
about student mental health and teacher mental health – which are
firsthand access to all the resources and things like that.
equally important. And then we have the week of the conference
For example, as we are organizing webinars or CPD sessions
where there’ll be millions of brilliant things to see.
or book clubs on the subject, then obviously I’m joining the
book club, joining the webinar, etc. So, it’s brilliant! I’m also writing a book at the moment on learning strategies, so
that’s keeping my early mornings busy and I’m really enjoying
Despite your busy professional life, you’re an avid volunteer, that because I’m just learning so much and coming up with ideas
having volunteered for both ETAS and other organizations that I use in class. For example, sometimes I’ll be researching
and causes. Could you tell us something about this? something which will give me an idea for an activity. I can then
see whether the activity’s going to work or not by doing it in class.
For me, volunteering is a way of meeting brilliant people and
As a consequence it’s feeding my lessons and my activities in
making really good friends. Also learning new skills. Like in my
class too.
village, for example, I’ve organized races for 400 people. I can
get you a barbecue going for 200 people tomorrow! Amazing Thank you, Rachael, for sharing your insights. We are sure that
things like that which you get to organize and be part of. our readers will take away many useful ideas from this interview.
But mainly it’s the people you meet. And I suppose it’s a feeling
If you would like to volunteer for ETAS, get in touch with us. For open
you belong, simply, belonging to a great group. And again,
positions see https://www.e-tas.ch/get-involved/open-positions
coming back to what I said earlier about bringing the mood to the
or contact us with a query about other possibilities.
room – volunteers do that. And it’s part of the mood I want to be
part of. Also, I do feel that with anything you do you should try to
do it to its maximum – that’s one of the things that I bang onto
my students about too. In my case, when I became interested in
special educational needs, that made me want to study it and
then actually be it and then help others study it. It’s a way of just
taking an extra step in any direction really.

“ From a teacher well-being perspective, I would

say that apart from always making time to go for
coffee with friends, to plan downtime in your
lessons as well. We don't have to be constantly
on the stage and teach, teach, teach.
“
ETAS Journal 40/1
37/2 Summer 18
2023 2020
Spring/Summer 12
19 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
The English
spelling heritage
Benedicte Gravrand
Abstract
This article provides a concise history of English spelling and
some background on the sources of its bizarre complications,
starring the ie/ei dichotomy.
Biography
Benedicte Gravrand is an EFL teacher
with more than eight years of experience
acquired in Geneva and Haute-Savoie (FR).
For the last three years, she has been
teaching young adult classes. She obtained
a degree in philosophy and the CELTA
in London. She has also been a financial
journalist and blogger for about 15 years.
English spelling is full of mysteries for native and non-native
speakers, so to understand it a little better, one must dive deep
into the history of the language. Here are a few elucidations
– and a brief introduction to Samuel Johnson.
The mystery of I before E
Why do we have words with “ei”, such as foreign, and words
with “ie” such as friend? The word’s pronunciation is often a
useful guide. Many words such as shield /i:/ will have “ie”, and
words such as feisty /ai/ and beige /ei/ sound like the e should
come before the i. But otherwise, the spelling will have
something to do with the origin of the word.
Friend is from Old English freond (brought by Anglo-Saxon
invaders from North Germany in the 5th century). Most, but
not all, words with the “ie” variation come from Old English.
Foreign is from Old French, which entered the English language
after the Norman conquest of 1066. At this time, it was spelt ferren,
foran, foreyne . Apparently, most words with the “ei” spelling are a
result of 17th-century revisions to try and distinguish between Old
English and Old French origin words. But quite a few words were
not included in these revisions so this is not a hard and fast rule.
It is simpler to remember that in about three-quarters of all
words where you could either have an “ie” or an “ei” pair,
the proper spelling is “ie”.
- The thief was up to a piece of brief mischief in the field,
according to the chief.
But don’t forget the numerous exceptions:
- I before E...
...except in a zeitgeist of feisty counterfeit protein
freight heists reining in weird deified beige beings…
Furthermore, the mnemonic rule of thumb “i before e, except
after c” (as in receive) is quite useless because of the sheer
number of exceptions. Indeed, “cie” words outnumber “cei”
ones by about three to one. It is best to just remember the words
with “cei” (receive, conceive, deceive (+ receipt, conceit, deceit),
perceive, and ceiling).
- The plan conceived by Jack was to deceive the King
into perceiving a ceiling so high that it would receive
the gods’ bounties.
ETAS Journal 40/1
37/2 Summer 20
2023 2020
Spring/Summer 12
A short history of English spelling
English spelling has never been systematically updated.
Among the top 10 major languages, English is the only one that
does not have a supervisory body that can create and enact
spelling changes – such as the Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung
(Council for German Orthography), or the Conseil supérieur de la
langue française.
As a result, there are many exceptions and ambiguities to the
rules of English spelling, which only partly holds to the alphabetic
principle (the idea that letters and letter patterns represent the
sounds of spoken language).
Modern English spelling developed from about 1350 onwards,
when, after three centuries of Norman French rule, English
gradually became the official language of England once again.
However, this English was very different from that which was
spoken before the Norman conquest as it included many words
derived from the French such as battle, beef, and button. English
spelling was then loosely based on the Chancery Standard, based
on the London dialects, with variations – and mistakes – from
different printers. Furthermore, many sounds changed between
the 15th and 17th centuries, but the spelling did not
change accordingly.
From the 16th century onwards, English scholars made various
attempts to standardize English spelling. Some of them linked
English words to their Graeco-Latin equivalents. They did this
by adding silent letters to make the real (or imagined) links more
obvious. So det became debt (to link it to Latin debitum), iland
became island (from Latin insula), ake became ache (from Greek
akhos), and so forth. This created yet more gaps between English
spelling and English pronunciation. William Shakespeare made a
lot of fun of those gaps in his play, Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Samuel Johnson
One of the main instigators of these 17th-century spelling
revisions was Samuel Johnson, an English writer who made
lasting contributions to the English language.
In 1746, a group of publishers approached Johnson with the
idea of creating a dictionary of the English language. He signed
a contract worth 1,500 guineas and claimed that he could finish
the project in three years. Indeed, he wanted to publish his English
dictionary faster than the Académie Française. However, it had
taken the Académie numerous scholars working for more than
40 years to complete the French dictionary – the first edition of
which was published in 1694. Florence’s academy had also taken
40 years to complete its own Italian dictionary.
Johnson ended up taking eight years and employing several
assistants, in his house, who took on the copying and mechanical
work. Meanwhile, Johnson’s wife got very sick, so these years
were difficult for him.
In the end, Johnson standardized English spelling into its
pre-current form in his Dictionary of the English Language,
published in 1755 (Johnson, 1755).
Fruitless attempts to reform
From the mid-17th century, printers were following general
principles of spelling, including Johnson’s.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, many publishers, authors, and
researchers proposed reforms for a more phonetic spelling,
but with limited success.
For example, Alexander Ellis, mathematician and philologist,
proposed in a book in 1848 that words be written as wurdz,
stationary as stá∫uneri, and scissors as sizerz.
Another example can be found in Melvil Dewey, the creator of
the Dewey Decimal System, who changed his first name from
Melville to Melvil and proposed that words such as vegetable
should be spelt vejetabl.
Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw tried to do away with
superfluous punctuation – from don’t to dont and from mustn’t
to mustnt – and left money in his will for whoever could come up
with an improved system of writing. Unfortunately, the conditions
in his will led to major disagreements and thus hindered the
development of a single new system.
Noah Webster had more recognition in America with An American
Dictionary of the English Language published in 1828, in which
he proposed numerous spelling changes. Some of these, such as
dropping the “u” from honour and mould, were accepted. Others,
such as masheen for machine, wimmen for women and ake for
ache, were not. (Merriam-Webster, n.d.-a)
In the meantime, in the 268 years since Samuel Johnson first
prescribed how words ought to be spelt, the pronunciation of
thousands of words has continued to change.
So now, as then, the English language contains many homonyms:
words that contain the same sound but have different spellings
(homophones), such as fear and peer; and words with the same
spelling but different sounds (homographs), such as thought,
tough, and plough. (Merriam-Webster, n.d.-b)
According to speech-language pathologist Nathaniel Swain,
many native students find English spelling very difficult:
“The rate of dyslexia in countries like Italy is half of what it is
in the US. Research suggests that this is because decoding
English is much harder than in a language with a more
consistent spelling system like Italian.” (Swain, 2015).
Conclusion
It is safe to say that English spelling is not phonetic. It has more
of a historic form, with bits of Old, Middle, and Modern English.
Many, following the path of George Bernard Shaw, would rather
the spelling of the English language be codified, normalized, and
phonetic, so it is easy to write and learn – for native and EFL
writers alike (Shaw, 1950). This fight is not over. Time will tell
which direction it goes.

The English Spelling Society, founded in 1908 (as the Simplified
Spelling Society) by philanthropists and educational reformers,
provides a forum whereby authors can submit their proposals for
peer review. It has lately proposed spellings like wensday, crum,
cof, distres, and milenium.
But simplification of spelling would stand in the way of heritage,
or what has been passed on from generation to generation.
In English spelling, etymology (the origin of words), and the
amalgamation of historical developments upon it trump
pragmatic simplification.

Christopher Upward, English orthographer and proponent of Changing the spelling would also imply complications such as
Cut Spelling, quoted Johnson in a handbook published by the having to learn two different kinds of spelling – the old one and
Simplified Spelling Society in 1996,”To change all would be the new one, reprint books, and confusion during the transition
too much, and to change one is nothing”. period among others.

References
English-language spelling reform. (2023, February 7). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English-language_spelling_reform&oldid=1137913311
The English Spelling Society. (n.d.-a). About us. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://www.spellingsociety.org/about-us
The English Spelling Society. (n.d.-b). A brief history of English spelling. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://www.spellingsociety.org/history#/page/1
I before E except after C. (2023, March 8). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=I_before_E_except_after_C&oldid=1143493973
Ingraham, C. (2017, June 28). The “i before e, except after c” rule is a giant lie. The Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/28/the-i-before-e-except-after-c-rule-is-a-giant-lie/
Johnson, S. (1755). A dictionary of the English Language (2nd ed.). J & P Knapton. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from the British Library,
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/samuel-johnsons-a-dictionary-of-the-english-language-1755
Johnson, S. (2023, March 19). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samuel_Johnson&oldid=1145544318
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.-a). Failed attempts to reform English spelling. Retrieved April 3, 2023,
from https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/spelling-suggestions-that-didnt-stick
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.-b). Homophones, homographs, and homonyms. Retrieved April 3, 2023,
from https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/homophones-vs-homographs-vs-homonyms
Shaw, G. B. (1950). The problem of a common language. Published with permission of the Society of Authors, on behalf of the Shaw estate. In N. W. Tune (Ed.), Spelling reform
anthology. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://www.spellingsociety.org/uploaded_books/a9spelling.pdf
Stack Exchange. (2015, June 10). Etymology of “ie” versus “ei” words. Retrieved April 3, 2023,
from https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/251479/etymology-of-ie-versus-ei-words
Swain, N. (2015, March 3). Why we’ll never be able to change the ridiculously complicated spelling system of the English language. Insider.
https://www.businessinsider.com/why-well-never-be-able-to-change-the-ridiculously-complicated-spelling-system-of-the-english-language-2015-3?r=US&IR=T
Upward, C. (1996). Cut spelling. A handbook to the simplification of written English by omission of redundant letters. The Simplified Spelling Society.
https://www.spellingsociety.org/uploaded_books/cs1intro.pdf
Webster, N. (1828). An American dictionary of the English language. S. Converse. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL23272419M/An_American_dictionary_of_the_English_language

21 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

Native-speakerism in
English teaching and learning:
A limited perception of English
continues to affect attitudes
and practices in Switzerland
Abstract
Although not traditionally considered a mental health issue,
a teacher’s socially constructed identity is certainly at the
core of their well-being. This article explores two myths of
native-speakerism and how it affects some teachers’
experiences in Switzerland.
Biography
Sylvia Goetze, Forugh Semadeni, and Karen Greaney are
qualified, experienced English teachers working in Switzerland.
This article grew from their research, experiences, and
conversations within ETAS (Teacher Talking Time in 2021 with
Erika Fauchère and panel discussion in September 2022 with
all of the above and Phil Schiller).
What is native-speakerism? Let’s consider that sexism and
racism revolve around superiority and privilege. Native-speakerism
is the idea that somehow native speakers (those born speaking
a language, as some dictionaries suggest – as if we were
born speaking!) are inherently better than non-native speakers
of a language.
Within English language teaching (ELT), native-speakerism
has been called an ideology which considers “so-called ‘native
speakers’ as the best models and teachers of English” (Holliday,
2005). This perspective suggests that not only are native speakers
somehow superior but that they are also naturally the best
teachers; a widely-perpetuated myth to this day. It is not difficult
to see why Holliday (2014) likens native-speakerism ideology
to a kind of racism.
This article questions native-speakerism without criticizing any
individual speaker. Its goal is to raise awareness about diversity,
inclusion, and privilege. So-called non-natives represent the
majority of our learners, yet the marginalization and discrimination
against non-native teachers and educators is an unfortunate
reality in ELT (Braine, 2013). Happily, there is an increasing
space within ELT for addressing such bias. Here we explore
native-speakerism in Switzerland through the two misconceptions
mentioned in Holliday’s quote above: first, that native speakers
are the best models of English and then that they are the best
teachers of English.
Myth 1: So-called native speakers
are the best models of English
According to one study, future teachers in Switzerland strongly
prefer so-called native English accents (Büchel, 2013). But what is
native? Historically (and even now in some course materials), the
ETAS Journal 40/1
37/2 Summer 22
2023 2020
Spring/Summer 12
Sylvia Goetze,
Forugh Semadeni,
and Karen Greaney
choice was between “British” and “American English”. Yet there are
countless varieties of English across regions, social classes, and age
groups, not to mention countries (see, e.g. Trudgill & Hannah, 2017).
The perception of some Englishes as historically more ”valid”, pure,
or standard (Kachru,1990) continues to this day in Switzerland, with
unqualified native speakers getting jobs that qualified non-native
speakers apply for (Krummenacher, 2019). Stories shared within
ETAS include teachers from Brazil, Ukraine, Nigeria, or Pakistan
turned down by Swiss language schools and centres on the basis
that such non-native speaker models are unsuitable for their
clientele. Even teachers from countries such as Australia, Ireland,
or South Africa – areas supposedly included in the idea of so-called
native – have, in the last year in Switzerland, been outright refused
by private school clientele. And yet, most English teachers in the
Swiss public school system are not L1 English speakers.
When we think about the best “models” of English, the first false
assumption is that students will be miraculously transformed or
forever contaminated by a teacher’s accent, pronunciation, or
vocabulary choice. If such transmission were accurate, all our
students would speak exactly as their teachers do – which is clearly
not the case. Students may, in fact, be more likely to imitate English
heard informally outside of the classroom, and such informal
language acquisition is important (see, e.g. Peters et al., 2019).
A second false assumption is that some Englishes are preferable to
others – this completely ignores the multiple ownership of English
(Kachru, 1990, p. 31) and the fact that English has become a global
language. It is also a language that is constantly changing, meaning
that learning from and with a variety of Englishes is essential for
intercultural communication.
What is important in a good model? Students need to feel confident
and relate to the language being learnt. It can thus be very helpful to
be exposed to someone who, like them, has also worked hard to
learn English. In fact, learning from and with diverse speakers of
English is essential in today’s world. Let us forget the historical
image of the Swiss person communicating with an English native
and instead be sure to “focus on English-speaking communities
wherever they are found” (Bruthiaux, 2003, p. 159) – and there are
indeed many such communities within Switzerland using English for
business purposes, in extended families, and in administration.
In addition, research shows that although many learners hope to
attain so-called native-like pronunciation, it is a difficult and often
unrealistic goal (e.g. Saito, 2021). Upholding a native model at all
costs propagates false hopes in our students, when we could be
spending our energy on encouraging clarity and communication,
as well as mutual understanding. Worldwide, it has long been
established that more English is used in communication between
L2 speakers than between L1 (so-called native) speakers (Crystal,
2003). In Switzerland, English is mostly used as an L2 or L3 – a
communication bridge between linguistic regions – rather than in
conversations with so-called natives (see Stephens, 2021 for a
general overview and access to official statistics). Students need
to know this, to experience English not as a “foreign” language but
as one that is alive and well both inside and outside of Switzerland.
Experiencing diverse models of English with motivating and
motivated teachers is ideal training for the world today, in which
diplomatic and intercultural skills are far more important than
attaining so-called native speaker proficiency (Corbett, 2022).
Myth 2: So-called native-speakers
are the best teachers of English
The idea that a so-called native speaker is necessarily a better
teacher is a huge conceptual leap. This terminology of “native”
vs “non-native” creates a dichotomy between otherwise qualified
professionals (Ruecker, 2011); a division which affects us all in the
Swiss (and international) ELT community, giving privilege to some
of us and creating discrimination for others.
Who should qualify as an ELT professional? We are a wide and
varied group, and there are indeed answers to this question which
are contextually dependent – with different degrees of importance
on academic expertise or practical experience, for example.
But being a native speaker is not an ELT qualification. Such a
false portrayal poses a difficulty not only to English language
administrators who must constantly seek suitable “native-English
speaking” teachers but also to students who assume that such
teachers are “better” since they are native speakers of the language
(Amin, 1997). And it is a disservice to teachers who may be made
to feel inferior or see themselves as imposters.
Krummenacher (2019) has called for organizations and teacher
associations to “take a stance” against inequality in English language
teaching, pointing out that native-speakerism is alive and well in
Switzerland. Within ETAS, increasing openness and awareness is
present, but we still see ads on the Job Board asking for “native
speakers” and we still hear Swiss teachers introduce themselves
at conferences with an apologetic “but I’m not a native speaker”.
Many experiences have been shared by our teachers about their
own and their colleagues’ job-related discrimination due to not being
considered to sound – or look – like “native speakers”. Arfaana* has
extensive experience in both business and English teaching, but due
to her nationality, she is turned down by private language schools
for employment in the large Swiss city she now calls home. Pierre*,
a public school teacher, is persistently asked why his English is so
good, and met with disbelief when it appears he is not a “real native
speaker”. Maggie* left her country of birth and found a job at a
language school as an English teacher – but it was on the condition
that she lie about her Iranian nationality and tell the learners that
she was, in fact, a native English speaker born in the US; something
which constantly made her feel guilty. Robin*, an American who
teaches in Switzerland, regularly faces questions and comments
because he does not fit the “white” image still associated with
English. We come full circle and see that Holliday’s comparison
to racism is not unfounded: teachers are still judged by their skin
colour, by their names and countries of origin, and by their accents
and L1, rather than their qualifications, experiences, and ability to
motivate and encourage learners.
How can we change things?
In the conversation that ETAS has begun, the key question
that has arisen is the following: “How can we change this?”
Perceptions of native-speakerism must begin within ourselves
and our association, so let’s agree on a few basic principles:
• Where a person is from has no inherent effect
on their teaching expertise
• A teacher’s name or origin should never prevent them
from being offered a position they are otherwise qualified for
• Physical appearance (including race) is not an ELT qualification
• Being born and raised in a so-called English-speaking
country is not an ELT qualification
Although many of us in the ETAS community are outsiders in
Switzerland, let’s remember that some teachers are more sharply
confronted with this reality more often than others, and that Swiss
teachers of English may also feel they are perceived as outsiders
in some English-speaking circles. Native-speakerism directly affects
the mental health of English teachers when they are made to feel
like imposters or second-class citizens due to inherent attributes
unrelated to their qualifications and experience. In today’s society,
teachers should not be defined “by what they are not (i.e. non-native)
[but] by…who they are and what they can do in the classroom”
(Matsumoto, 2018, p. 75). Let’s work together to make our
association and our workplaces safe spaces where teachers
and students alike feel valid and empowered, regardless of their
accent or country of origin.
*Names have been changed.
Do you have a story to share? A comment or question
to contribute? Advice to help teachers, schools,
institutions, and ETAS to avoid native-speaker bias?
Contribute to the next ETAS Journal article on this topic by
sending your thoughts to the Social and Environmental Justice
Ambassador (Sylvia Goetze) at sustainability@e-tas.ch

References
Amin, N. (1997). Race and the identity of the nonnative ESL teacher. TESOL Quarterly, 31, 580–583.
Braine, G. (Ed.). (2013). Non-native Educators in English language teaching. Routledge.
Bruthiaux, P. (2003). Squaring the circles: Issues in modeling English worldwide. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 13(2), 159–178.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1473-4192.00042
Büchel, L. (2013). Non-Native English speaker accents in Swiss elementary schools: A summary of pre-service teacher research. In Bayyurt, Y. & Akcan, S. (Eds.).
Proceedings of the fifth international conference of English as a lingua franca. Istanbul: Bogazici University Publications.
Accessed at https://phzh.ch/MAP_DataStore/55324/publications/non_native.pdf
Corbett, P. (2022). An intercultural approach to English language teaching. Multilingual Matters.
Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486999.
Holliday, A. (2005). The struggle to teach English as an international language. Oxford University Press.
Holliday, A. (2014). Native speakerism. Accessed at: https://adrianholliday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/nism-encyc16plain-submitted.pdf
Kachru, B. (1990). The alchemy of English: The spread, functions and models of non-native Englishes. Illinois Books.
Krummenacher, K. (2019). And don’t criticize what you can’t understand. IATEFL Voices 267: 12.
Matsumoto, Y. (2018). Teachers’ identities as ‘non-native’ speakers: Do they matter in English as a lingua franca interactions? In Yazan, B., & Rudolph, N. (Eds.).
Criticality, Teacher Identity, and (In)equity in English Language Teaching. Educational Linguistics, 35. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72920-6_4
Peters, E., Noreillie, A.-S., Heylen, K., Bulté, B., & Desmet, P. (2019). The impact of instruction and out-of-school exposure to foreign language input on learners’ vocabulary
knowledge in two languages. Language Learning, 69(3), 747–782. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12351
Ruecker, T. (2011). Challenging the native and non-native English speaker hierarchy in ELT: New directions from race theory. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 8(4),400–422.
Saito, K. (2021). What characterizes comprehensible and native-like pronunciation among English-as-a-second-language speakers? Meta-analyses of phonological, rater,
and instructional factors. TESOL Quarterly 55(3), 866–900. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3027
Stephens, T. (2021). English as a common language in Switzerland: A positive or a problem? Swissinfo 4 April.
Accessed at: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/english-as-a-common-language-in-switzerland—a-positive-or-a-problem-/46494332
Trudgill, P., & Hannah, J. (2017). International English: A guide to varieties of English around the world (6th ed.). Routledge.

23 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 24

FOCUS
Mental health in ELT
Welcome to our series of articles on mental health issues in
language teaching. As educators, we often focus so much on
the well-being of our students that we neglect our own mental
health. However, it is crucial that we take care of ourselves if
we want to be effective and successful teachers. In this Focus,
we will explore various mental health issues that language
teachers face and provide practical advice and resources to
promote well-being.
Cold showers and ice baths
to overcome teachers’ stresses
One technique that has gained popularity in recent years is the
use of cold showers and ice baths to reduce stress and improve
mental health. I take a cold shower every day, and recommend
them to everyone who’ll listen. I also try to be the first in our
local swimming lake – although up until April I do wear neoprene
gloves and socks. Cold therapy has been shown to increase
alertness and boost the immune system, and it can also reduce
inflammation and pain. We will examine one teacher’s
experience of the Wim Hof method, the science behind cold
therapy, and explore how teachers can incorporate it into
their lives.
Harnessing the power of gratitude for better
mental health and well-being for all ages
Gratitude is a powerful tool for promoting mental health and
well-being. When we focus on what we are thankful for, we
shift our attention away from negative thoughts and emotions.
We will explore various gratitude practices that language
teachers can use to reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance
overall well-being, and learn how a simple question can shift
our perspective and lead to a brighter day.
Burnout
Burnout is a common problem for language teachers, particularly
those who work in high-stress environments such as language
schools or intensive programmes. Through the moving story of
Rachel as she enters the profession full of zeal but ultimately
experiences burnout, we will examine the causes of burnout and
provide practical strategies for preventing and managing it.
Imposter syndrome
Many language teachers struggle with imposter syndrome,
the feeling that we are not good enough or do not deserve our
achievements. We will explore the impact of imposter syndrome
on mental health and provide strategies for overcoming it.
Matt Firth
School phobia
School phobia, also known as school refusal, is a condition
in which children experience intense anxiety or fear about
attending school. Language teachers may encounter students
with school phobia and need to know how to support them
effectively. We will examine the causes of school phobia and
provide strategies for managing it in the classroom.
Tango Zen for English teachers
Tango Zen is a unique form of mindfulness practice that
combines the physical and emotional elements of Argentine
tango with the mental focus of Zen meditation. We will explore
the benefits of Tango Zen for language teachers and their
students, including stress reduction, improved concentration,
and increased creativity.
Mental health in ELT:
Action research and personal reflections
This article covers some interesting research on mental health
issues in ELT informed by lived experience and personal
recollections during the pandemic. It discusses the concept
of resilience together with the impact of working conditions
on mental health.
Changing mindsets for a more
positive and productive working life
Finally, we will explore the importance of self-compassion
and why teachers should not be so hard on themselves.
Many teachers feel pressure to be perfect and may experience
feelings of guilt or shame when they make mistakes. We will
examine the impact of self-criticism on mental health and
provide strategies for cultivating self-compassion.
Mental health is a crucial issue that affects language teachers
of all ages and experience levels. By prioritizing our own
well-being, we can become more effective and fulfilled
educators. I hope that these articles will be informative,
engaging, and helpful for teachers in Switzerland and around
the world.
25 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
 Cold showers
and ice baths
to overcome
teachers’ stresses
Abstract
Teachers have always led busy stressful lives, no matter where
they teach. But recent events with the pandemic led many, like
Gabina, to lose their jobs. Combined with other stress factors
that come in life, this can result in burnout, with physical and
mental implications. This article explores the story of Gabina,
and her journey to become a Wim Hof Method (WHM)
practitioner and instructor. She discovered it at a low point in
her life, and uses it to overcome her stressful experiences. She
became an instructor to help others find the same peace and
mindfulness that cold water brings to her when done regularly.
Biography
Dr Gabina Funegra is originally from
Peru and has indigenous origins as her
parents were born in the Peruvian Andes.
She lives in Sydney, Australia, and has
recently conducted a Wim Hof workshop
in Geneva. She is a Spanish lecturer
and an accredited instructor of the
Wim Hof Method.
Gabina has always been attracted to cold
water – winter sunrise swims are her
favourite. She is also an Ashtanga yoga
practitioner integrated with meditation and
chanting. Ashtanga yoga is a style of yoga
popularized by K. Pattabhi Jois during the twentieth century
(Pattabhi Jois, 2022). All these activities have greatly helped her
through the difficult times in her life.
It was in one of these meditation sessions in 2017 that Gabina
heard about Wim Hof coming to Australia. At the time she didn’t
know who he was. People in the group were surprised, telling
her that he is as crazy as she was. This reputation grew from
her winter swims, often in the rain, followed by cold showers.
So, Gabina liked Hof even before she met him, as he was
demonstrating to the world that these “crazy” activities were good
for your health. She was therefore excited to attend the workshop.
Gabina investigated his background and found that WHM was
based on sound scientific research at Radboud university and
Wayne State University in the Netherlands and further afield
(see Hof, W. (n.d.) The science behind the Wim Hof method.)
She felt open to learning more.
At the time Gabina was working as a language lecturer at a
university in Sydney, doing a PhD, both of which she loved, and
renovating and fixing the damp in her house that was affecting
her health. But it was too overwhelming and she started to get
anxious, and stressed all the time, damaging her relationship
with her family and friends.
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 26
Dr Gabina Funegra
She developed rosacea, which is a skin condition causing
facial redness across her face with pimples. This affected her
self-confidence. She also had shingles in her leg, and the rash
was so painful that she couldn’t walk for a week.
Her swims and yoga were not working anymore. The doctor
prescribed her tablets for inflammation, but she didn’t buy
them as she is sensitive to any medicine.
This was the time her friend invited her to Hof’s workshop.
Workshop experience
Gabina was elated when she attended in 2017 her first workshop
with Hof and 600 other people. The breathing was so deep and
unique that she started shaking; she had the sensation of electricity
travelling along her arms and legs. Hof’s strong voice over Pink
Floyd music was powerful: “Breathe in, breathe out, inhale fully,
and let it go”. All the love for her family came back to her, and she
wanted to call them, hug them, and she felt emotional and relieved.
After the breathing was a beautiful transition to meditation. She had
previously found it difficult to meditate properly, as she always had
too many things in her mind. Now, she was happy that she was
able to achieve it again, as it was so important to her.
As previously mentioned, Gabina had always been attracted to cold
water, but she had never had the experience of immersing herself in
ice, so she felt no fear, but was excited and curious to discover the
ice bath. Immersing herself in the ice took her breath away at the
beginning. She realized that breathing and mindset was the key to
staying calm and relaxed, and her body started to adapt and enjoy
the feeling of the cold. A sensation of peace, peace in her soul,
peacefulness, something that she had been seeking for a long time.
It was like reaching the top of the highest mountain… .
Results
Gabina has been practising constantly since then. Her skin
condition on her face cleared up, and her leg recovered completely.
As her immune system was improving, she became more relaxed
and calm. Her family and friends noticed the difference and they
started being interested in the method, which inspired her to
become an instructor.
She did the 10-week course in 2019 and she enrolled in the Wim
Hof Academy to be an instructor in January 2020. She had planned
for a workshop and weekend in Amsterdam with Hof.
 “ Gabina has always been attracted
2020 was a year of unexpected changes. Gabina’s job started
fading out as universities Australia had experienced a negative
impact from the coronavirus, and she was frustrated that after years
of doctoral study, she couldn’t pass on to students the knowledge
of the research she had completed and the documentary she had
made about the Inca culture (Funegra, n.d.).
Her ticket to Amsterdam was cancelled, and she started getting
anxious again as the impact was also economic. The daily
breathing and cold showers, and the exposure to the cold helped
her with what was happening. She could feel that when she was
in the ice, nothing else matters, as you are surviving and you start
accepting reality, and are grateful for what you have. She could
see that her colleagues were getting depressed, anxious, but she
was coping very well due to her daily cold showers, breathing,
and weekly ice baths.
She thoroughly researched WHM as the science behind it
fascinates her. Some examples include:
• Brain over body – a study on the wilful regulation of autonomic
function during cold exposure (Muzik et al., 2018), and the
2018 YouTube video Brain over Body, Michigan Study, explain
how robust the method is.
• The Voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system
and attenuation of the innate immune response in humans
study conducted at the Radboud University Medical Center
to cold water – winter sunrise
swims are her favourite.
“
by Kox et al., 2014 demonstrates that “The human being is
capable of voluntarily influencing their autonomous nervous
system and immune response”.
• An interesting video, Influencing the Immune System, shows
how the method can influence the immune system, making us
more robust and able to defend ourselves against infection
and other conditions.
• The BBC did a video series with six episodes on WHM in
2022 called Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof. This brought WHM
to the general public, popularizing the method.
As she was delving further into her course, she realized that
WHM was giving her another path in her life, by becoming an
instructor, and being able to help people to find their own path.
She also realized the link to her ancestry with her PhD
research experiences.
Going for her fieldwork as part of her research degree with her
daughter to the town where her mother was born around 4,000
metres high in the Peruvian Andes, she observed that they let
their bodies adapt to the cold weather and even though they
have electricity, they don’t use heaters, as the manager of the
hotel told Gabina that using heaters will give them arthritis.
He said: “I can give you more blankets, but don’t worry, you
will get used to it”. After a few days, they adapted to the cold
weather, enjoyed the sun, embraced the rain, and admired the
moon and the stars. It was a beautiful experience to be so
close to the clouds and nature.
So, it is the same principle with WHM: just like her ancestors, the
method takes the same approach as they do. Our body can heal
itself, as Hof says: “Let the body do what it is capable of doing”.
WHM helps practitioners physically, emotionally, and mentally.
It is a journey of discovery in finding strength and calmness
for your mind, body, and soul.

References
BBC. (2022, April 12). Freeze the fear with Wim Hof. Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0c1ybdf
Funegra, G. (n.d.). https://www.gabinafunegra.com/
Hof, W. (2018, November 22). Wim Hof Method | “Brain over Body” Michigan Study. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YficBlvPwWQ
Hof, W. (2019, March 5). Influencing the Immune System | Wim Hof Method Science. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6jqaALpEFM
Kox, M., van Eijk, L. T., Zwaag, J., van den Wildenberg, J., Sweep, F. C., van der Hoeven, J. G., & Pickkers, P. (2014). Voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system
and attenuation of the innate immune response in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(20), 7379–7384.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1322174111
Muzik, O., Reilly, K. T., & Diwadkar, V. A. (2018). “Brain over body” – A study on the willful regulation of autonomic function during cold exposure. NeuroImage, 172, 632–641.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.01.067
Pattabhi Jois, K. (2022, November 2). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=K._Pattabhi_Jois&oldid=1119626726
Wim Hof Method. (n.d.). https://www.wimhofmethod.com/
Wim Hof Method. (n.d.). The science behind the Wim Hof method. Retrieved April 9, 2023 from https://www.wimhofmethod.com/science

27 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

Harnessing the
power of gratitude
for better mental
health and well-being
for all ages
Abstract
The article explores the concept of gratitude and its remarkable
benefits for mental health. You will learn how a simple question
can shift your perspective and make your day brighter. It also
includes a suggestion on how to help school children cultivate
a more grateful mindset.
Biography
Anna Stando is the creator of My Gratitude Challenge:
https://mygratitudechallenge.com/, a 28-day programme that
shows you how to practise gratitude to be happier, healthier,
and more resilient, even if your outer world is
in chaos. She’s also a frequent speaker and
workshop facilitator on the topics of the
impact of gratitude on mental health and
appreciation at work. She has a master’s
degree in Intercultural Communication from
the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands,
and she lives in Switzerland with her family.
If you would like to start practising gratitude
today, take Anna’s free quiz to receive two
personalized exercises and beautifully
designed cards with daily gratitude reminders:
www.mygratitudechallenge.com/quiz
“What is the best thing that happened today so far?”, my partner
asked me, and I paused briefly before sharing how much I had
enjoyed walking around Lake Blausee holding the tiny hands of
our toddlers, signing nursery rhymes, and looking at the
“big fishes” together.
This is a question that you will hear every single day in our home.
I first learnt about it when I was researching the topic of gratitude
in 2020. In an attempt to enjoy the little things in life – and despite
the pandemic and other devastating news from all around the
world – we decided to give it a go.
It felt awkward at first. After all, not every day is filled with
excursions to picture-perfect Swiss mountain lakes. Far from it
– most days are quite ordinary, and some are outright challenging.
Looking at the bright side is often harder than it sounds.
Complaining, on the other hand, comes naturally.
This is because of negativity bias.
Negativity bias means that we have the tendency to focus on the
negative and to ignore the positive. It means that our psychological
well-being is far more impacted by the bad than by the good and
that we remember it for longer and more intensively. We dwell on
the bad, but we quickly move on from the good. Furthermore, when
we do allow ourselves to fill our hearts with love, happiness, and
hope, we often worry that it is not going to last. So, we tone down
our feelings, afraid to jinx the happiness that we think we do not
deserve, especially in the face of so much suffering around us.
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 28
Anna Stando
This, however, is not doing anyone any good. You know that you
can’t pour from an empty cup. When we completely lose sight of
the good and go down the negativity spiral, we risk developing
debilitating anxiety and even depression. A regular gratitude
practice can help you to offset some of the negativity around you
and to bring more balance into your thoughts. Whereas gratitude
is not a magic pill that can fix everything and make all your
problems disappear, being able to feel genuine gratitude regardless
of the weather or your circumstances, is a useful tool in your
wellness toolbox.
According to Dr Robert Emmons, who is one of the leading
researchers on the topic of gratitude, gratitude has two stages:
acknowledging that there are good things in our lives, and
recognizing that other people and circumstances have contributed
at least partially to that goodness. Stage one requires us to become
mindful of what we have, stop taking it for granted, and learn to
cherish it. Stage two means accepting that we would not be where
we are today, and we would not have what we have if we did not
benefit from certain lucky circumstances or had the kind guidance
or support from others. Even though we have certainly put a lot of
effort into building our lives in a way that we wanted them to be,
none of us is truly 100 per cent self-made. Learning to live more
gratefully can therefore be a humbling journey.
When I teach about gratitude, I sometimes hear that it comes
dangerously close to toxic positivity. I believe, however, that
practising gratitude is not about putting your head in the sand
and pushing down the negative emotions. It is not about being
artificially “happy”, no matter what. To live a healthy life, we need
to work with our negative emotions as much as we need to ensure
that we experience enough positive ones. Committing to a regular
gratitude practice means, therefore, as little, and as much as
committing to keeping our negativity bias in check and to being
mindful of everything that makes us smile, laugh, or just feel
good old-fashioned contentment. It also means becoming skilled
at finding the silver linings in our hardships and learning to
take comfort in them, rather than dismissing them as “not
good enough”.
It takes practice, but it is worth the effort.
Studies show that people who are deliberate in noticing and
appreciating everything that is right in their lives benefit
psychologically and physically. They are healthier, happier, and
more fulfilled. They have better relationships, sleep better, and they
bounce back quicker from negative events. In particular, the many
benefits of keeping a gratitude diary (a notebook dedicated
exclusively to counting your blessings) have been established by
countless studies. Emmons (2008) reports that: “Adults who keep
gratitude journals on a regular basis exercise more regularly, report
fewer illness symptoms, feel better about their lives as a whole, and
are more optimistic about the future.”
Try it at home
The question: “What is the best thing that happened today
so far?” does not feel awkward to anyone in our family
“ The question: “What is the
best thing that happened today
so far?” does not feel awkward to
anyone in our family anymore.
“
anymore. In contrast, it is a great conversation starter with
our kids (even though they are still very young and not
grasping the concept completely), other family members,
and friends. How can you make this activity work for your students, your class,
Try it now. Pause reading this article and search for your and your school? What would you need to make this happen and how
answer. It might be something small, like that lovely cup of can you explain the purpose of this activity in a way that would help
coffee you are drinking right now, getting the ETAS Journal children to appreciate the good, find the silver linings in the bad, and
in your mailbox, a sweet card from one of your students, ultimately become more resilient? Tweak this activity or design your
gorgeous weather, or something much bigger like booking own to meet your students’ unique needs.
your summer holiday. Nothing is too small or too big to go Here are just a few first suggestions to practise gratitude. Experiment
on your gratitude list. with what works for you and leave behind what does not. There is no
Make it a habit to close your day on a positive note too, no one best way to do gratitude as long as you are genuine in giving
matter how hard it was. When you are in bed and ready to thanks and stick to your practice. And when you do, this simple yet
sleep, choose not to dwell on the annoyances from your day, powerful ritual can improve your mental health, increase your general
or worry about the future, but look back at all the little well-being, and change your life for the better. Enjoy!
moments of contentment and think about the many ways in
which others have shown you that they care about you and
your well-being. Give silent thanks, feel your body relax, and Reference
know that you are likely to sleep better too. Emmons, R. (2008). Thanks! How practicing gratitude can make you happier.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
If you want to level up your gratitude practice further, start a
gratitude diary. Commit to writing at least three things every
single day for a month and see where it takes you. If you
want to challenge yourself more, go for at least five, and on
especially hard days, stretch yourself to come up with 10
things. Write not only about the what but especially about
why it deserves an entry in your gratitude journal.
Even though the whole exercise might feel forced, and you
may feel disheartened, blue, or even grumpy when you start
writing, after just 15 minutes of focused gratitude, you are
guaranteed to feel lighter, calmer, and you may even catch
yourself smiling under your nose.

Take it to the classroom

How can you help your students to notice and cherish the
little things too?
One way is designing a big gratitude wall and encouraging
your pupils to write short notes about the best moments
of their week.
If you are working with younger kids, you can simply ask them
what they enjoyed the most that week, and instruct them to
make a drawing of it.
Invite the children to keep it related to school activities and
focus on experiences, and not objects. Explain how both big
occasions (e.g. highlights from a school excursion, making
costumes for the carnival, watching the school play, etc.) and
small everyday moments (e.g. a tasty dessert in the cafeteria
that day, splashing in the puddles during a break, seeing an
interesting insect in a biology class, etc.) can go on their board.
Before each school break, you can take a few minutes as
a class to read through those notes and relive the good
moments. It will not only help the students to look back with
gratitude at everything that has happened, but it will help them
to be excited about coming back after the holiday too. As a
bonus, it will give you wonderful insights into what they loved
the most and why. This can guide you in designing your
classes in a way that will excite and engage your students
even more in the future.

29 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

How honeymoons can become
nightmares: The story of burnout
Abstract
We follow Rachel as she enters the profession full of zeal
but ultimately experiences burnout. We look at how Rachel is
impacted by the challenges facing teachers today. Through her
story, we explore the stages of burnout,
look at early indicators, and consider
preventative and remedial measures
to support well-being (De Hert, 2020).
Biography
Hannah Holden has personal experience
of burnout and is now a burnout
specialist. She’s also a former
management consultant, as well as
a current gentle movement and
breathwork teacher. She helps individuals
experiencing burnout to rebuild their energy levels and get
clear on their choices so that they can get back to loving life.
You came to teaching to inspire and empower others through
education. Did your own experiences in the classroom motivate
you to become a teacher? Were you once high on the opportunity
to make a difference in the lives of your students? If that’s you,
read on.
1. Rachel’s honeymoon
Rachel remembers her early days when she would rave about her
work to anyone who would listen! She would wake up at night full
of ideas and inspiration to solve her students’ challenges. She
wanted everything to be perfect, her lessons, teaching materials,
and reports. She tried to be everything to everyone, there to
support her colleagues, managers, and students. She was happy
to go the extra mile because she wanted to show she had what it
took to be an amazing teacher.
The stages of burnout
Unfortunately for Rachel, those are all signs of a work honeymoon,
which is the first stage of burnout. In this phase, we over-invest
ourselves in our work and are so passionate about it that the lack
of boundaries is inconsequential. For those who maintain this
level of investment, stress begins to creep in. Over time this
progresses into chronic stress, and finally into burnout.
These are the stages of burnout.
What is burnout?
The World Health Organization (WHO) describes burnout as
“a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace
stress that has not been successfully managed” (WHO, 2019).
Some say that burnout can happen to anyone, which is true since
it’s a normal human response to chronic stress. However, the
key word is chronic; unlike lightning, burnout doesn’t strike
without warning!
Not everyone who experiences a honeymoon period at work goes
on to experience burnout: burnout is preventable and only occurs
when stress isn’t effectively managed. Burnout is not inevitable.
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 30
Hannah Holden
2. Exhilaration turned to stress and fatigue
Rachel continued to mark and prepare for lessons at home.
Her email notifications kept pinging throughout the evenings;
she felt she needed to respond quickly, to support her students,
and demonstrate to her peers that she was up to the job.
Occasionally she covered classes for other teachers, teaching
subjects beyond her comfort zone. She felt like a fraud, standing
at the front of the class talking about a topic she had only learnt
the night before!
At night she was tired but wired. She found it hard to fall asleep,
and would toss and turn in the night going over situations she
could have handled better.
The exhilaration she once felt turned into fatigue and she spent
much of her time at weekends watching her favourite Netflix
series. She did drag herself away from the sofa to go out for a run
sometimes but she often felt more depleted afterwards so, over
time, she did this less and less.
3. The years of chronic stress
Rachel was experiencing constant stress, and it continued for years.
She began to feel resentful about work encroaching on her personal
life; she stopped seeing her friends and quit the netball team.
In the classroom she snapped at her students and would berate
herself afterwards for not being more supportive and more in control
of her emotions. The tiredness meant she struggled to concentrate
during the day and her productivity dwindled. Her concentration
challenges made some tasks longer, so she felt an increasing need
to work evenings and weekends.
Due to financial pressures, the school had reduced the
administration team and introduced new digital systems for
teachers to use directly. They said it was to “make our work more
efficient”, but for Rachel, it meant learning how to use a system
that felt overwhelmingly technical. It also meant saying farewell
to her lunch buddy, Amelia, from the office when she was made
redundant; hence, Rachel began to feel isolated at work. She felt
that if she could simply take a week’s break and get ready for
next term, everything would all get back to being OK again.
Rachel began to feel generally under the weather. When the flu was
going around she seemed to get it worse than anyone else; it took
her weeks to get back on form. This only put her further behind
and made her more worried that she wasn’t hitting the mark.
One day she tripped and sprained her ankle. At first, it got better
quickly. But then the healing slowed, and the recovery dragged out
over weeks and months. She was getting regular headaches and
backaches; she thought this was because she wasn’t exercising
any more due to her ankle. What Rachel didn’t know was that
these are all symptoms of chronic stress.
4. Rachel didn’t know it but she was in burnout
Rachel tried to manage her workload, and she tried to talk to her
manager and colleagues, but everyone was in the same boat and
they seemed to be doing OK. With the staff cuts, administration
tasks fell to the teachers; there was less support than before.
A sense of despair began to creep in; she felt physically, mentally,
and emotionally exhausted. On weekends she stayed in bed most
of the day but never felt replenished. She skipped family events
because she didn’t feel up to putting on a brave face. The job she
once loved was draining her energy. She would think to herself
“Who is this Rachel?” and “Where’s the old Rachel gone?”.
Rachel hadn’t spoken to her friends in months, so she didn’t think
there was any point in contacting them. Her work colleagues all
seemed to be doing OK, so she worried that sharing how she felt
would be like saying “I’m not cut out for the job”. Rachel didn’t
know it, but she was in burnout.
Burnout is both preventable and recoverable. At any point along the
burnout journey, it’s possible to turn things around. When someone
has been building up their burnout for years, the solution isn’t
always quick to turn around but it is definitely possible.
Who is susceptible to burnout?
Burnout is a normal human response to chronic stress that isn’t
effectively managed, so in theory, it could happen to anyone.
However, there are some personality traits to look out for.
Perfectionism is a big one. People who hold themselves to high
standards, even when the workload increases. They feel like they’re
not “good enough” or “if I just do X, Y, and Z, I’ll be good enough”.
Wanting to be all things to all people, to be the go-to person
and always saying yes to everyone. This might include helping and
supporting students, colleagues, and management while ignoring
their own needs.
Lastly, people who experience burnout were often once high
achievers. They were often the shining stars of the team, but
their work style and successes aren’t sustainable. The stars
sometimes burn out.
So, what can be done about burnout
and what resources are available?
Burnout is an increasingly common issue, but the good news is
that the solutions are increasing too. Lots of information is
available for free.
We need to start with awareness because once you are aware,
you can act. By simply reading this article, you have raised your
awareness of the stages of burnout. Perhaps you know where you
are on the scale, and perhaps you can see where your colleagues
or friends are on the scale.
To further raise your awareness, Hannah recommends that you take
time to observe your unique responses to stress. What does it feel
like physically and emotionally for you? Do you withdraw? Do you
get frustrated? Do you feel tense in specific areas of your body?
Burnout always involves a level of dissociation from the body.
We are in our heads and not listening to what our body needs.
There are many ways to reconnect with our bodies. Breathwork,
gentle exercise, and mindfulness techniques are all powerful tools
for burnout recovery. Exercise is a powerful tool for stress relief in
the early stages. But if someone is experiencing burnout and
fatigue, gentle exercise may be the best place to start.
Mindfulness activities help with raising awareness. There are loads
of free meditation videos on YouTube and meditation apps which
are used by millions of people for stress management. You could
try mindful movement such as yoga, tai chi, or qigong. You can
try the free videos on YouTube or you could try an in-person class
local to you.
There are quick stress relief hacks which can be handy to know
how to use in those moments you experience stress rising.
Resources and references
World Health Organization. (2019). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International classification of diseases.
https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases
Brody, K. (2017, November 1). How yoga nidra can help you get more sleep. Yoga Journal. https://www.yogajournal.com/poses/your-brain-on-yoga-nidra/
De Hert, S. (2020). Burnout in healthcare workers: Prevalence, impact and preventative strategies. Journal of Local and Regional Anesthesia, 13, 171–183.
Holden, H. (n.d.-a). Access your instant calm. Hannah Holden. Retrieved April 6, 2023, from https://hannahholden.co.uk/instantcalm
Holden, H. (n.d.-b). Relax at your desk. Hannah Holden. Retrieved April 6, 2023, from https://hannahholden.co.uk/atdeskrelaxation
Holden, H. (2022–2023). Burnout isn’t necessary podcast. Hannah Holden. Retrieved April 6, 2023, from https://hannahholden.co.uk/podcast
These include physically shaking off the stress like animals do,
breath practices, and other techniques (Holden, n.d.-a).
Burnout leaves us depleted. Hannah recommends non-sleep deep
rest (NSDR ), also called yoga nidra, or yogic sleep. These guided
meditations take you through different brainwave states, like sleep
does, only much faster. Yoga nidra offers the benefits of deep rest
in accelerated timeframes (Brody, 2017). There are hundreds of
free videos on YouTube; search for NSDR or yoga nidra. Hannah
also has an at-desk version for when you need to relax at your desk
(Holden, n.d.-b).
The habits that get us into burnout will not get us back out! We need
to learn new skills like mindfulness and boundary setting to recover
from burnout. Then we need to turn those new skills into habits.
It takes commitment to establish new habits; we need to start small.
An essential ingredient in all burnout recovery is to be kind to
yourself. There will be days you do and days you don’t. Focus on
the long game not on today. It’s whether you’re keeping the habits
going in a month, six months, or more that matters, not the fact
that you slipped up today!
But what about Rachel?
Rachel left the school she was working at. She took time out to
rest and consider her next steps. She started yoga and mindfulness
and is now more in tune with her body.
Rachel loves to support and help everyone she meets but it cost her.
With the help of a friend, she learnt new techniques for how to
say no and set boundaries. Saying no has been a learning curve;
she said yes to a few things she did not want to do.
Now when she slips up, she’s gentle with herself and sees that
she is making progress.
Rachel’s physical and emotional health has improved too. She got
back in contact with friends. She improved her diet and stopped
eating while working. Her ankle recovered and she no longer feels
the general malaise. She didn’t tell the netball team about her
burnout, just about the ankle, and that handy excuse allowed her
to explain her absence and she rejoined the team. Now she’s back
to loving life, netball, and her new school. She’s job-sharing with
another teacher and this time she set boundaries around her work
and life. While there are still more administrative tasks than she’d
like, she makes herself and her well-being her priority and spends
her days off playing with her three-year-old niece.
A note from the author
Hannah hopes you found this information and Rachel’s story helpful.
Perhaps some of this resonates with you.
If you think you might not be OK, you are likely correct. Reach out to
friends, family, or colleagues. You could work with a burnout specialist
if you feel uncomfortable talking to people you know. Having a positive
relationship with whoever you work with is essential, so shop around
and find the right person and approach for you.
People experiencing burnout often feel like the only one who has
ever felt this way. Hannah reassures you that you are not alone.
Hannah has experienced burnout and even WHO now recognizes
it as an occupational phenomenon (WHO, 2019). There’s research,
books, and podcasts discussing burnout and people like Hannah
who specialize in addressing burnout. You are not alone!
If you want to know more about burnout you may enjoy the
Burnout isn’t necessary podcast (Holden, 2022–2023). And please
feel free to contact Hannah with any questions; she loves to chat
about these topics.
Remember, burnout isn’t necessary. It’s preventable, and recoverable.
31 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
 Rachael Roberts
Imposter syndrome
and how it holds you
back as an ELT
freelance teacher
Abstract
Based on my experience coaching freelance ELT professionals,
this article focuses on the different ways I have seen imposter
syndrome manifest itself and makes some practical suggestions
to help overcome it.
Biography
After 30 years in the ELT field, training as a
counsellor and as a coach, 14 years of
experience running my own business, and
heaps of training and coaching in business
development, organic marketing and social
media, copywriting, and more, I now work as
a business and mindset coach, empowering
freelance ELT professionals to earn more,
work less, and live more fully.
Imposter syndrome describes a kind of self-doubt, where you
question yourself and your achievements, despite knowing on
another level that you are actually capable. You worry that
people might “find you out” or discover that you aren’t actually
as good as they imagined.
If that sounds at all familiar, you aren’t alone. According to a 2020
review (Bravata et al., 2020), up to 82 per cent of people have
experienced it (and that’s just those willing to admit to it).
But imposter syndrome isn’t a syndrome at all, and it isn’t a set
of medical symptoms; experiencing it doesn’t mean there’s
anything wrong with you. It’s simply a way of describing a
psychological phenomenon that most people encounter at
some time. Clance and Imes (1978), who first identified it back
in the 1970s, referred to it not as a syndrome but as Imposter
Phenomenon (IP). Their work focused on IP in high-achieving
women, and the phenomenon has since been found to be more
common in women than men.
However, what Clance and Imes probably didn’t sufficiently take
into account at the time is that this almost certainly isn’t an
inbuilt characteristic of women but a result of systemic bias and
exclusion. If people tell and show you often enough that you
shouldn’t be doing something, or that you are less capable due to
your gender, you’ll start to believe it. And, of course, precisely the
same thing applies to other marginalized groups. Everyone feels
self-doubt, but not everyone has this constantly reinforced by the
world around them.
It’s also more common in “high-achieving” individuals, and, in my
experience, that tends to include freelancers, business owners,
and the self-employed.
Here are five ways I often see imposter syndrome manifest itself
with my clients.
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 32
1. Perfectionism
Imposter syndrome and perfectionism often go hand in hand.
This might be about trying to make sure that there are no little
cracks that might show and reveal to the world that you
aren’t perfect.
But trying to do everything perfectly is exhausting and can
often lead to burnout down the track. It also fundamentally
misunderstands the nature of creating and running a business,
which is all about trying things out and finding out what works
(and doesn’t).
You could see this as an extension of learning in general.
How often do you tell your students that it’s part of the process to
make mistakes and that you need to take risks to learn a language?
Are you taking your own advice when it comes to your business?
Perfectionism can also stop you from making any progress,
leaving you frozen and unable to take the first steps or endlessly
procrastinating to avoid getting anything wrong.
2. Fixed mindset
Again, you’re probably always telling your students that having to
make an effort to be able to do something is not a bad sign, but
when it comes to your business, maybe you’re telling yourself
something else.
What everyone else is doing looks so effortless that you feel sure
it’s because they’re just more “cut out” for business than you are.
You “should” be able to get clients more easily than this, and it’s
probably because you just aren’t that good.
It probably isn’t.
If you’re finding it hard to get consistent clients, it’s likely to be
because you are posting once or twice on social media and then
not having time or forgetting to do it again for weeks, or not doing
it again because you don’t want to be “annoying” or to “show off”.
We know that to learn an item of vocabulary it needs to be salient or
meaningful, ideally something that relates to us personally, and that
we need to come across this item in different contexts seven or
more times.
The same applies to your marketing messages.
3. Thinking you don’t know enough
Of course, you need to understand what you’re teaching and
have the relevant skills and experience. And there’s nothing wrong
at all with life-long learning, and it’s often a big part of what keeps
us motivated and engaged with our work.
 “ You don’t need to know everything;
you just need to know enough to
help your students or clients
achieve the results you have offered
them. Beyond that, it’s OK to admit
that you don’t know something and
to go and find it out if needed.
That’s true confidence; again, it’s
a great model for your students.
“
However, if you are constantly telling yourself, I’ll be ready when of it will really succeed. This is related to imposter syndrome
I’ve done this course or / learnt this thing, and it’s stopping you because each thing that you’re busy doing is a kind of shield to
from getting started or from talking enough about what it is hide behind.
that you have to offer. It’s almost certainly a result of
If you’ve recognized any of these ways that imposter syndrome can
imposter syndrome.
manifest itself, what can you do about it?
You don’t need to know everything; you just need to know enough You’ve actually already taken a vital first step – simply recognizing
to help your students or clients achieve the results you have what’s happening.
offered them. Beyond that, it’s OK to admit that you don’t know
something and to go and find it out if needed. That’s true These kinds of patterns are subconscious and pretty well ingrained.
confidence; again, it’s a great model for your students. They can be changed. The brain continues to be capable of rewiring
neural pathways into old age – but not if you don’t even realize
4. Not wanting to ask for help what’s happening.

“I can do this on my own.” Independence is a great thing, but
not when it gets in the way of making progress and achieving
everything you’re capable of. Many people struggle on for
years, trying to work out why other people seem to be able to
successfully charge more, or secure more regular clients, when
a little help could make all the difference.
Sometimes this is about a feeling that they “should” be able to
do it alone and a belief that not being able to mean that they’re
inadequate. Sometimes it’s about a money mindset (which is a
whole other topic). Sometimes it’s about not wanting their
“failings” to be revealed to others.
It can hold people back from delegating to and learning from others.
But true competence is about working out when you can do
something alone and when you might need other resources or
knowledge, and understanding that this is how both we and
our business grows.
5. Not wanting to say no
This might be about getting pulled away from your business
because you are too busy doing things for other people. Teaching
is a caregiving profession, and naturally attracts people who want
to be kind to others, and make a difference. And there’s nothing
wrong with that. But it can also be a form of people-pleasing or
trying to avoid criticism by being such a “nice” person. It’s also
quite a good excuse for not taking action on your business,
preventing the risk of failure.
Sometimes it’s simply about not being focused enough and doing
everything that anyone asks you to or that occurs to you, in a
misguided attempt to make a success of things. This is misguided
because when your attention is that fractured, it’s likely that none
Every time you notice one of these patterns or spot these kinds
of thoughts, you have an opportunity to help that rewiring process
along. So, rather than beating yourself up for “still” feeling and
doing these things, just calmly notice and acknowledge it, and then
choose differently.
Sometimes people talk about using positive affirmations to replace
negative or unhelpful thoughts. I’m not entirely a fan of this because
I don’t think even our subconscious is stupid. So, for example, if we
catch the thought, “everyone else is much better at this than me”,
there’s little point in telling ourselves, “I am the most amazing
Business English trainer in Switzerland” (or wherever). Your brain
will simply think sarcastically, “Yeah, right.”
What can and does work, however, is to reframe the negative
statement into something more nuanced and realistic. Negative
thoughts tend to be very sweeping and black and white – it’s one
of the ways we can recognize them. So, we could reframe it as
“Some people are probably better and more experienced than me,
but lots of people aren’t as experienced as me, and I got a great
piece of feedback from a client last week, so I must be doing
something right.”
It can also help to keep a digital or cardboard folder with examples
of positive feedback or “wins”. When you feel a bit wobbly, go and
look at them to balance out your brain’s natural negative bias.
Generally, it helps to look after yourself well physically. When we’re
tired and stressed, it’s much easier for that negative and fearful part
of our brain to take over. Get outside each day for some exercise
and fresh air, eat a balanced diet, and avoid the massive energy
swings that can result from too many carbs. Rest.
And finally, surround yourself with people who will encourage you
and hold you up. Find a supportive community. You don’t have to
do this on your own.

References
Bravata, D. M., Watts, S. A., Keefer, A. L., Madhusudhan, D. K., Taylor, K. T., Clark, D. M., Nelson, R. S., Cokley, K. O., & Hagg, H. K. (2020).
Prevalence, predictors, and treatment of impostor syndrome: A systematic review. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(4), 1252–1275.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-05364-1
Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic interventions.
Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 15(3), 241–247.

33 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

 Phil Longwell
Mental health in ELT:
Action research and
personal reflections
Abstract
This article on mental health in ELT is informed by lived
experience and personal recollections. In addition, two pieces
of research published on the mental health of language
teachers, with one focusing on the impact of the global
pandemic, provide the framework for an article which includes
the concept of resilience and impact of
working conditions on mental health.
Biography
Phil Longwell is a study skills tutor at the
University of Central Lancashire in Preston,
UK. He has 15 years experience as an English
language teacher and, despite the recent role
change, continues to tutor students 1:1 and in
workshops on their use of academic English
for university assessments. For three years
(2017–20), he was part of the IATEFL Learning Technologies
Special Interest Group committee. He has presented widely on
the topic of mental health in ELT, was a Mind “Time To Change”
champion and is the current mentor on this topic for Globe
Communities of Practice from Transform ELT. His email address
is philiplongwell@gmail.com
Until I stood on a stage at Dragon’s Hall in Norwich on 8
September 2019, I had not given my personal account of my
history of struggles with mental health issues throughout my
English language teaching career. I had presented at the IATEFL
conference in Brighton in 2018. However, on that occasion, I only
briefly personalized the talk with my lived experience before
presenting some research I had carried out. The storytelling event
in Norwich was unscripted, more personal, and unlike anything
I had done before. As I stated then, and on many occasions
throughout my teaching career, I have had to decide whether
I stay in a new job or leave. I have struggled to fully understand
my own anxieties and an undiagnosed disorder. Nonetheless,
being able to pick myself up and learn from many career
disappointments has been key to carrying on. This article is,
therefore, about resilience and also about the global pandemic.
On resilience
Approximately two years before the pandemic, I recorded a
video about the resilience of language teachers as part of an
Electronic Village Online (EVO) course, inspired by an opening
plenary by Helen Waldron (Longwell, 2018). I referred to the song
“Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba – their most well-known track
(ChumbawambaVEVO, 2009). I went on to explain why the idea of
“getting knocked down, but getting back up again” has resonated
throughout my teaching career and still does to this day. I gave a
couple of examples, such as teaching on a preparatory programme
in Beijing (2009–10) and some cultural mistakes made in Riyadh
(2010–11). On both of those occasions, I did not go but stayed.
However, my resilience kicks in after a setback or when I switch
employers. In late 2017, I had just started a new contract with a
local authority teaching an ESOL class – but I was severely
underemployed and had a lot of spare time to carry out some
research. I was shocked and overwhelmed by the response
– but in a good way.
Mental health in ELT
The subsequent published research (Longwell, 2018a), in which
501 language teaching professionals, primarily teachers, around
the globe, had given some qualitative responses to a series of
questions, was inspired by my own lived experience. It informed
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 34
my first-ever conference presentation in Brighton (Longwell, 2018b).
I am not an “expert” on mental health in language teaching and
never will be. This is because I never rest on the past, and I am
always looking to learn from the experiences of others.
The global pandemic
The pandemic hit the UK, like most other countries, in early 2020.
In March of that year, with the first UK lockdown imminent, I wrote a
blog post about Covid-19 and its possible impact on mental health
and well-being (Longwell, 2020a). Later that year, I carried out some
further research into the impact of the pandemic and the restrictions
on language teachers worldwide. This research was published in
January 2021 and shared many times (Longwell, 2021). In this latter
exploration, I enquired as to what extent the lockdown and other
restrictions had impacted a teacher’s mental health, whether this
had exacerbated existing conditions or created new ones, and
whether being asked (by an employer) to teach in a physical
classroom, with social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand sanitizer,
had affected them in any way. It also explored coping mechanisms
and whether further lockdowns would mean the end of all work in
that teacher’s respective contexts. Furthermore, I drew on aspects
of positive psychology. This can be hugely beneficial, as an
individual can respond positively to adverse conditions as a way
of getting through. Relationships and Vitality (the R and V of the
PERMA+V model) (Smith, 2020) are there to maintain physical vitality
and energy management, which are essential for building resilience
and bouncing back through adversity and challenge. The complete
responses can be seen in Longwell, 2021.
However, broader employment context and systemic issues
cannot be ignored when it comes to writing about the impact of the
pandemic on teacher mental health. We should not divorce what
happens in our heads and the external working environment.
Working conditions
So, while a lot of well-being (including resilience) is down to the
individual, there must always be an acknowledgement that external
factors can cause poor mental health issues, including contractual
obligations. This was explored in some depth in both my research
pieces, and employers must be reminded that working conditions
are a huge stressor in ELT. Walsh (2019) wrote an article about
precarity in ELT, and this has frequently been referred to by myself
and others. The pandemic made this even more of an issue, with
language schools closing and additional burdens and expectations
being placed on staff to meet demand. The shift to online teaching
probably explored elsewhere in this [ETAS summer] issue, caused
tremendous anxiety for many. This was tentatively supported by an
extended investigation by Mavridi (2022) into the impact of the
pandemic in a report for the British Council, which garnered over
1,000 responses. Mavridi (2022) argued that:
feelings of insecurity generated by the institution as well as
unreasonable expectations regarding teachers’ performance,
technology provision and time … seems to have caused stress,
pressure and frustration in some of them. [Teachers] referred to
being closely monitored, either via recordings or entering the
virtual classes without notice. This seems to add an extra layer of
stress to how teachers felt. (p. 39)
Systemic issues are important for the individual, and the wider
context of where they work cannot be separated, just as mental
health is not something that happens solely within an individual
without external factors playing their part. However, Mercer
(cited in Longwell, 2021) also argued that:
all the research globally in any domain makes clear that it is
how an individual responds to external factors which leads to
the sense of wellbeing and so we need to address both of these
things – help people build resilience to cope and try to address
systemic factors. For many teachers globally, they may feel
unable to affect systemic change and so such discourse is
deeply disempowering. It is the psychology of the individual
in interplay with contextual variables that ultimately matters.
My later research gave a reasonably wide range of views on how
the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the mental health and well-being
of language teachers in 2020. Because viewpoints varied widely
and were drawn from responses from 49 different countries, each
with their own government responses to the pandemic, no overall
conclusions could be drawn beyond presenting what people had
to say about it.
Lockdown
What is reasonably clear is that a lockdown strategy mainly had
an adverse impact on individual mental health. While some general
anxieties were reduced by social distancing measures, face mask
wearing, and other strategies, the lack of relative freedoms to have
access to human contact caused many to suffer. That is before
we even mention the fatalities that many families experienced.
You either had a direct loss within your own family, or you knew
someone close that had experienced this. At the time of writing
(March 2023), the UK still has recorded one of the highest number
of cases (24,650,000) and the highest number of deaths (220,000)
in Europe if Russia is excluded, according to the Johns Hopkins
University (n.d.) Covid-19 dashboard.
Leading epidemiologist Professor Mark Woolhouse (2022), who sat
on high-level governmental advisory groups during the pandemic,
wrote about the huge mistake that was lockdown. It should have
been a quicker but more targeted approach, at least by the UK
government, he argues. The closing of schools was particularly
criticized for many reasons, including that younger people were
statistically far less likely to die from Covid-19. He argued that
greater protections for those who were vulnerable should have
been introduced earlier and stayed longer. A wholescale mass
lockdown for everyone impacted not only those with existing
mental health conditions, but it also created new ones, and the
effect on business and the economy was substantial. We are still
to have the full independent inquiry into the UK government’s
actions during 2020–21, but some decision-making, it seems, was
either too slow or over-reactionary. They got it right in the vaccine
rollout, which was relatively well orchestrated and delivered.
Of course, it was a global pandemic. So national governments had
their own responses, successes, and failures in dealing with this.
My later research looked at this globally, with 174 responses from
around the world (Longwell, 2021). At the time of writing, I do not
know if further research has been carried out.
Breakthrough
Back to the individual. Despite having an existing mental health
condition (generalized anxiety disorder) and an undiagnosed one
(panic disorder), I actually thrived during lockdown. Anxious people
were arguably already used to feeling anxiety about the world
around them. Knowing that significant measures were in place
to curb the spread of the virus, I built upon my experience of
working from home and trained teaching professionals and other
local authority employees how to use Zoom, Teams, and other
technologies to carry on delivering lessons. I became more
involved with the Teacher Training Videos website (Stannard, n.d.)
and putting on regular webinars with the IATEFL Learning
Technologies Special Interest Group (LTSIG), which led the way
in both the effective use of and critical takes on the use of
technology during periods of home working.
I gave a webinar on the use of breakout rooms at the end of a
summer pre-sessional course with the English Language Teaching
Centre in Sheffield, where all the students were taught remotely.
Whilst Zoom became the tool that skyrocketed during 2020, we
used Blackboard Collaborate, and I delivered a session for the
LTSIG called Getting Students to Collaborate in Breakout Rooms in
Remote Teaching (Longwell, 2020b).
Returning to my own post-pandemic experience. This has continued
with trying a variety of ways to cope, including mindfulness, getting
better at physical exercise, and focusing on sleep and dietary needs.
It has also involved drinking alcohol – something that was not possible
in Riyadh. Doing this would be a classic “coping mechanism” rather
than a positive way to handle adverse mental health. But it fits with
the “Tubthumping” lyric idea (ChumbawambaVEVO, 2009). However,
therapy has proved more fruitful and long-lasting. Counselling is OK
to a point, but most recently, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
has helped me a great deal more. My thinking patterns and, crucially,
unhelpful thinking styles have been exposed and challenged more
recently. Each person is different, and there is no easy solution for any
one teacher. It has worked for me, but everyone needs to experiment
and try out different, potential “solutions”. However, the most
significant single difference from employment pre-summer 2021 to
now is that I managed to land a secure full-time, permanent position
with a university. Having job security for me, as would be true for
many within ELT, means that I am no longer worried about the future.
I am not looking for the next contract every six months or so.
This underlying anxiety appears to have gone now.
In conclusion, the global pandemic has affected everyone and
everything. As I stated in my later research (Longwell, 2021), the future
of working environments would depend largely on local responses
to how governments and local authorities deal with any resurgence.
Fortunately, with the global rolling out of vaccinations and significantly
increased epidemiology knowledge about Covid-19, language
teachers can be resilient. No one had complete “2020 vision”; no
one could have expected the changes to all our lives. But in that
sense, we were all united in a common endeavour, a shared
experience, albeit played out in different ways. I do believe that
working conditions including job insecurity play a significant part in
adverse mental health issues for language teachers. I always have.
However, I do think that positive psychology, when understood
properly, can benefit the individual if applied correctly. I have used
this myself and gained strength from drawing upon my own
setbacks and the resilience to bounce back.
References
ChumbawambaVEVO. (2009, October 7). Chumbawamba Tubthumping. [Video]. Vevo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5uWRjFsGc
John Hopkins University. (n.d.). Covid-19 dashboard. Center for Systems Science
and Engineering. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
Longwell, P. (2018a, January 18). Resilience of English language teachers.
https://teacherphili.com/2018/01/18/resilience-of-english-language-teacher
Longwell, P. (2018b, April 11). Improving the mental health of English language
teachers – IATEFL – Brighton 2018. [Video]. Streaming Service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K65wh0dbzc
Longwell, P. (2019, September 21). True stories live: Should I stay or should I go? [Video].
Streaming Service. https://youtu.be/0BZxTZ5q-to
Longwell, P. (2020a, March 21). Covid-19: Mental health and wellbeing.
Teacher Phili. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from
https://teacherphili.com/2020/03/21/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing/
Longwell, P. (2020b, September 4). Getting students to collaborate in breakout rooms
in remote teaching. IATEFL LTSIG Webinar. [Video]. Streaming Service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o3l0u6Qpok
Longwell, P. (2021, January 4). The mental health of language teachers during and
post Covid-19. Teacher Phili. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from
https://teacherphili.com/2021/01/04/the-mental-health-of-language-teachers-
during-and-post-covid-19/
Mavridi, S. (2022). Language teaching experiences during Covid-19. British Council.
Open Access. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/case-studies-insights-and-
research/language-teaching-experiences-during-covid-19
Smith, N. (2020, December 14). PERMA-V framework. Davidson Institute.
https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-blog/perma-v-framework/
Stannard, R. (n.d.). Teacher Training Videos. TTV by Russell Stannard.
https://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/
Walsh, P. (2019, October 7). Precarity. ELT Journal, 73(4), 459–462. Retrieved April 21,
2023, from https://academic.oup.com/eltj/article/73/4/459/5582686
https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccz029
Woolhouse, M. (2022). The year the world went mad. Sandstone Press.
35 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
School phobia
Abstract
School phobia, also known as school refusal, affects up to 5 per
cent of children of school age, and while at first glance the idea
of a “phobia” in this domain may even sound slightly amusing,
its actual effects are heart-breaking. In this article, I talk about
some of the causes, and then make suggestions to help what
is the very difficult, often unsuccessful
process of returning to school.
Biography
Rachael Harris is a Special Educational
Needs Coordinator and teacher of EFL,
literature, and media studies. She currently
teaches primary and secondary level
students at Lycée Rodolphe Töpfferin
in Geneva, Switzerland. She is the joint
coordinator for the IATEFL Inclusive
Practices and Special Educational Needs
SIG and has published various materials in these fields. She is
passionate about discovering how all learners learn best.
Have you ever tried teaching a class in a room overlooking the
school gates, with a screaming, crying 12-year-old on their knees?
Next to them is their best (only?) friend, trying to coax, cajole, and
finally wrench them over the invisible line by their arm.
School phobia or school refusal as it’s also called, affects
between 2 to 5 per cent of all children. That may seem a small,
inconsequential number, but it means that in the school where
I teach, we can expect around 10 cases, and of course for those
concerned, it’s anything but inconsequential; it’s life-altering.
It occurs most with 5 to 7-year-olds or 10 to 11-year-olds
(Cleveland Clinic, 2022), and even up to 14-year-olds.
There’s no coincidence that these ages correspond to transition
periods. It affects both boys and girls equally, and there is a
higher occurrence with students with specific educational needs,
especially Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Simply put, school phobia can be defined as excessive school
absences that are not caused by physical illness. Australia counts
less than 80 per cent of school attendance as insufficient. That
may seem strict but it boils down to one day a week. Although
no definition is given in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) (APA, 2022), there is a
School Refusal Assessment Scale developed by Drs Kearney and
Silverman (Kearney, 2006). As well as absences, school phobia
results in excessive tardiness – it can be hard to get a child to
school on time when you have to factor in all the arguments,
threats, tears, panic attacks. There are also classes missed,
such as when the child goes to the nurse with a stomach ache,
no speech marks needed here; anxiety causes physical
symptoms that range from stomach ache, or headaches,
to weight loss or gain.
The difference with truancy is that the parents are aware of the
child’s whereabouts, but more importantly, the child wants to
attend school, and be like the other kids, but they just can’t bring
themselves to. Around 80 per cent of children with school phobia
also suffer from anxiety disorder.
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 36
Rachael Harris
There are three types of anxiety: separation anxiety, general anxiety,
and social anxiety. Symptoms include restlessness, being easily
tired, having difficulty concentrating, being irritable – with
unexpected flare-ups where the patient suddenly lashes out,
apparently without warning. They might also experience difficulty
sleeping, and muscle pains caused by tension.
The consequences of school phobia affect the lives of those
involved, both in the short and long term. Students have trouble
catching up on work they’ve missed. This leads to a vicious circle
whereby they’re worried about returning to school and being
behind, or getting bad results in tests because they weren’t there to
learn the material. When children are absent for a long time, their
friends move on, join or form other groups, and develop new
interests. Obviously, all the tantrums and begging develop into
family arguments, and no one is immune to the tension in the
household every morning: will they go to school or not?
Parents have the extra worry about job responsibilities, having to
arrive on time, and the difficulty in picking up a child who insists
on coming home in the middle of the afternoon. Another, often
overlooked, consequence for parents is the regard and judgement
of others; it seems all the other mums kiss their children goodbye
at the school gates and wave as they skip gleefully across the
playground, and you have a blubbering child attached to your thigh.
Of course, the consequences for the child themselves are
non-negligible; academic difficulties which can lead to trouble
getting a job or getting into university, difficulty interacting with
peers in social situations, and the accompanying loss of self-esteem.
Why do these children “suddenly” develop school phobia?
Often, it’s not sudden or could be predicted, such as changing
schools, classrooms, or teachers. It can be triggered by a negative
experience, such as bullying, but also being shouted at or punished
by a teacher. Some children want to stay at home more than they
want to avoid school, they may fear the separation from a parent
who is in hospital, or in the case of divorce, for example.
Sometimes, following a justified absence due to illness, the child
misses the attention of a carer at home, or maybe wants to stay
with visitors such as a grandparent who spoils them. The birth
of a sibling who gets to stay home and be loved by mum could
set off an episode too.
As mentioned above, bullying can be a reason. Signs to look out for
include a child wandering alone in the school playground at break
time, or hiding in the toilets, for example. Sleep disturbance and
unexpected weight loss or gain can be signs, as can unexplained
tears or aggression – especially after the child has spent time on
social media; cyberbullying means the child has
no respite from their tormentors, even when they are at home.
So, what are the solutions? Unless it is nipped in the bud,
it can have a long-lasting impact on the child and their siblings
(a student with an older sibling out of school is more likely to be
affected by school phobia in turn).
Firstly, moves to new schools should be thoroughly prepared;
have the child come and visit as much as possible. Can they do
a day’s trial in their new class? Our school invites the last class of
our “feeder” primary schools to an “integration day” in the spring
before the students join us, so they can get to know the location
and some of their future teachers. If there’s a summer camp, then
send your child for a week so they can get used to the place and
how things work there.
“ Social skills should be an integral
When my son started school in a nearby town, we practised
taking the bus there together, then I left him and his friend to
make their own way to the school and back from the bus stop,
on several occasions. The first time I actually followed them
secretly from a distance! Closer to the day the school can send
out welcome packs, with photos and maps, or a short video from
each teacher. If the parents agree, contact details can be swapped
so that children already have a class buddy they know on arrival
the first day.
As a general policy, it should be clear that bullying is not accepted,
in any form, and parents must contact the school quickly should
any other problem arise, so it can be dealt with in a firm and
friendly manner. In this way, the child feels they can trust the
school and its staff to keep them safe and happy. Social skills
should be an integral part of lessons; in my class, students pick
the name of another student out of a hat in the first week, and
they become the secret guardian angel of this student, being extra
helpful and giving them a small gift at the end of every term.
Competitions (such as pen spinning or bottle flipping) and clubs
help students meet like-minded friends; friendship benches in the
playground are also a good idea, and providing small comfortable
areas for students to read or chat quietly together helps, too.
Schools should remember that students with ASD have more
trouble reading social situations and should liaise with the family
regularly to check that the student is comfortable at school.
Both the school and the parents should make contact after a
couple of days of absence, even if the reason is clear (e.g. an
operation). The school must be very careful not to shame the
parent but to be supportive, perhaps putting them in contact with
parents in a similar position, if appropriate. If suitable, the teacher
or a classmate could visit the child at home, or at least pop in with
cards and messages from the whole class. It is important to put
into place a system so the student can easily catch up on
missed work with help from student tutors or teachers.
When it becomes clear there is a problem, the school should
organize a meeting with the child and parents, find out the family
situation; any changes at home such as separation, job loss,
illness, visitors, or anyone else in the family with anxiety; any
events or changes in school, dislike of upcoming activities
such as swimming, etc.
The next step is to put into place a “back-to-school plan” as
soon as possible. This will contain very small, manageable steps,
agreed by the child, and the rewards or consequences related to
these actions; for example, Monday – arrive at school by 9 a.m.
and sit in a minimum of two classes during the day; reward one
part of lessons; in my class, students
pick the name of another student
out of a hat in the first week, and
they become the secret guardian “
angel of this student, being extra
helpful and giving them a small
gift at the end of every term.
hour on their iPad in the evening. It is essential (albeit very hard)
for the parents to stick to the plan, and for the plan to keep the
child moving forward, not staying too long in one stage. If the
child is not able to stay in class all day, they should be allowed to
go to another room for, say, 30 minutes, or until the end of class,
before trying to rejoin.
The school can organize a secret sign so the student can leave the
classroom whenever they feel they need to. If the parent is called
to school, they should come and sit with the child in the nurse’s
office, for example, and help them to calm down, but not take
them out of school until home time. This is extremely difficult and
the parent will need the school’s support, not to mention a friendly
ear and a cup of tea!
Encouraging autonomy is essential in developing a child’s
self-esteem. This can be done in micro steps by letting a child
go to the shops alone, cook a meal, and do a load of washing.
Parents should make it clear that they believe in their child and
trust that they are capable of going back to school. When this
happens, they should make extra efforts to be on time for
pick-up, as well as ensure extra time to leave in the mornings,
and a cheerful, but rapid “goodbye” at the school gates.
A worried-looking parent who hangs around waiting to be
called back is definitely not what is needed in this situation.
Parents should also try and make their day sound as boring as
possible, suggesting that they won’t actually be at home to avoid
arousing a fear of missing out on fun cocooning with the parent
instead of being at school.
Parents and the school can also help the student develop
techniques to combat anxiety; breathing exercises, mindfulness,
using a stress ball, colouring, or other activities that encourage a
feeling of flow, exercise, and movement, etc.
Finally, any child suffering from anxiety should be encouraged to
seek professional help. Therapy should be Cognitive Behavioural
Therapy (CBT) and not just talking therapy, which has been shown
to be ineffective. School phobia is a long, complicated battle, and
while not all students get over it, with the right help, found quickly
enough, it can be beaten.

Suggested reading
Harris, K. (2021). Life skills for teens: How to cook, clean, manage money, fix your car, perform first aid, and just about everything in between. Spotlight Media.
Higgins, J. (2022). Teen girl’s survival guide: How to make friends, build confidence, avoid peer pressure, overcome challenges, prepare for your future,
and just about everything in between. Canyon Press.
Lovegrove, E., (2020). Autism, bullying and me: The really useful stuff you need to know about coping brilliantly with bullying.
Jessica Kingsley Publishers.Smith, A.M. (2020). Activities for inclusive language teaching. DELTA Publishing.
Whitson, S. (2014). 8 keys to end bullying: Strategies for parents & schools. Norton Professional Books.
Williams, M., Puchta, H., & Mercer, S. (2021). Psychology in practice. Helbling.

References
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
Cleveland Clinic. (2022). Scolionophobia (Fear of school). https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23982-scolionophobia-fear-of-school
Garfi, J. (2018). Overcoming school refusal: A practical guide for teachers, counsellors, caseworkers and parents. Australian Academic Press.
Kearney, C.A. (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis of the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised: Child and parent versions.
Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 28(3), 139–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-005-9005-6

37 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

Tango Zen
Abstract
This article discusses the benefits of Tango Zen for English
teachers, a unique form of mindfulness practice that combines
elements of Argentine tango with Zen meditation techniques.
The article explores the physical, mental, and social benefits of
Tango Zen and the practice itself, including breathing exercises,
body awareness, and movement or walking dance meditation.
Providing practical tips for incorporating Tango Zen into a busy
workday, it includes personal reflections and testimonials from
individuals in various professions. Finally, the article proposes
resources for further learning and practice, such as the book
Tango Zen: Walking Dance Meditation, Park (2005) and the
Tango Zen website.
Biography
Chan Park is a CELTA-qualified teacher,
engineer, and tango dance instructor with
expertise in many fields, including university
training in science and engineering, 19 years
of engineering experience at NASA, patent law
practice, and research on renewable energy
sources, energy storage systems, and smart
grid. He lived in Buenos Aires for four years,
immersing himself in the traditional Argentinean
tango culture. He is today recognized as a
dancer and teacher in tango communities
worldwide. In Buenos Aires, he directed and produced a
documentary film called Tango Your Life. For years he has
held Tango Zen workshops in more than 22 countries.
Cultivating mindfulness and
presence through Tango Zen
An English teacher’s job can be demanding and stressful at times.
Between lesson planning, grading papers, and managing
classroom dynamics, finding time for self-care and stress relief
can be difficult. That’s where Tango Zen comes in.
Tango Zen is a unique form of mindfulness practice that combines
elements of Argentine tango with Zen meditation techniques and
offers physical, mental, and social benefits if done regularly. In this
article, we’ll explore the benefits of Tango Zen for English teachers
and provide practical tips for incorporating it into your daily routine.
The benefits of Tango Zen
for English teachers
Physical benefits
One of the most obvious benefits of practising Tango Zen is the
physical exercise it provides. Argentine tango is a dance form that
involves close physical contact between partners and requires a
certain level of fitness and flexibility. Regular practice can improve
posture, balance, and coordination, and help prevent common
physical ailments such as back pain and muscle stiffness.
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 38
Chan Park
Mental benefits
Tango Zen is also known for its mental benefits. It heightens
mindfulness and presence, enhancing awareness of your thoughts
and emotions. This awareness can lead to greater self-
understanding and better emotional regulation, both of which can
be beneficial in a high-stress job like teaching.
Social benefits
Perhaps one of the singularities of this walking dance meditation is
its emphasis on social connection. Typically practised in pairs,
Tango Zen builds upon the social dimension through connection
and communication between partners, developing your ability to
connect with others and build meaningful relationships on and off
the dance floor.
The practice of Tango Zen
A relatively new form of mindfulness practice, Tango Zen combines
elements of Argentine tango with Zen meditation techniques. Chan
Park, a former NASA engineer and English communication coach,
now an internationally renowned tango instructor, developed this
new meditation art form. Park recognized the potential for
combining the two practices into Tango Zen to help individuals
cultivate mindfulness, presence, and emotional awareness.
Tango Zen involves a series of exercises and techniques that
include breathing, body awareness, and movement meditation.
The goal is to be aware of the present moment and connect with
yourself and your partner on a deeper level.
One of the key elements of Tango Zen is focusing on connection
with a partner. Practitioners learn to communicate through
movement and develop a sense of trust and mutual respect.
However, Tango Zen can also be practised alone, focusing on
the inner experience of the movements and meditation.
The importance of mindfulness and presence in Tango Zen
cannot be overstated. Being fully present in the moment lets Zen
dancers shed distractions and tensions while connecting with their
bodies and minds. This creates a sense of relaxation, inner calm,
and focus.
Incorporating Tango Zen into your
daily life as an English teacher
As an English teacher, it can be challenging to find time for
self-care and stress relief in a busy workday. However, integrating
Tango Zen into your daily routine can be a powerful tool for
sustaining well-being, whether you practise alone or with a partner.
A. For individuals: here are some practical tips for
incorporating Tango Zen into your daily life:
1. Practise breathing exercises or a short movement meditation
for a few minutes every day.
 2. Use Tango Zen movements to stretch and release tension
between lessons or during breaks.
3. Create a Tango Zen practice space at home or in the
classroom. This can be as simple as clearing a small
area and playing some music.
Examples of Tango Zen practice during a busy workday include
focusing on your breathing for a few minutes before a lesson,
using a Tango Zen movement to release tension in your shoulders
at coffee breaks, or practising a short Tango Zen meditation
during your lunch break.
B. For couples: If you have a partner who is also interested in
Tango Zen, you can practise together to deepen your
connection and enhance your mindfulness. Here are some
Tango Zen exercises for pairs:
1. Dancing: tango is a dance form that engages close physical
contact and deep communication between partners. By dancing
together mindfully, partners can cultivate presence and awareness
of each other’s movements and emotions.
2. Hugging: Tango Zen emphasizes the importance of physical
touch and connection. Hugging your partner mindfully can
promote feelings of safety, comfort, and intimacy.
3. Walking mindfully with your partner can enhance your
communication and deepen your connection. Try walking in sync
while focusing on each other’s movements and breathing.
4. All combined: couples can also combine dancing, hugging,
and walking to create a dynamic and holistic Tango Zen practice.
Incorporating Tango Zen into your daily life as an individual
or couple can have numerous physical and mental health
benefits besides being a fun and engaging means of self-care
and stress relief.
Some instances of Tango Zen practice with a partner during a busy
workday include taking a few minutes to dance and focus on your
breathing before a lesson, using a Tango Zen movement to release
tension in your shoulders while hugging, or doing quick Tango Zen
meditation while walking together during your lunch break.
Tips for teaching Tango Zen in the classroom
English teachers may also integrate Tango Zen into their
curriculum. Here are some tips for teaching Tango Zen in the
classroom:
1. Start with the basics: by teaching students the fundamental
Tango Zen movements, such as the embrace, walking,
and pivots.
2. Practise mindfulness: encourage students to practise
mindfulness and presence as they dance, to help gain
awareness of their bodies and emotions.
3. Build communication skills: Tango Zen requires
communication and connection between partners.
Encourage students to interact with each other through
movement, while developing trust and respect.
4. Create a safe and inclusive environment for all students
to feel comfortable and welcome.
5. Above all, have fun! Tango Zen is a joyful and engaging
practice that can help students develop physical, mental,
and social skills.
Personal reflections and testimonials
Besides English teachers, Tango Zen has benefited countless
people in a variety of professions. Here are some personal stories
and testimonials from those who have experienced the benefits of
Tango Zen:
• “I started practising Tango Zen when I was going through a
difficult time in my life. It helped me to connect with my body
and find a sense of calm and inner strength that I didn’t
know was possible.” – Erika, accountant, New York, NY, USA
“ Through the practice of
Tango Zen, teachers can
cultivate mindfulness
and presence.
“
• “As a Tango Zen student, you find yourself absorbing what is
being taught, naturally, and that elusive Zen-like state appears
ever more frequently as you gain clarity from your experiences,
quite naturally, with Chan’s gentle and clear guidance.”
– Beat, physics professor, Rostock, Germany
• “Tango Zen can be especially beneficial for English teachers,
who often spend their days communicating with others.
It teaches you to be more present and mindful in your
interactions, which can lead to a more positive and
productive classroom environment.”
– Silvia, Tango Zen teacher, Rome, Italy
• “Tango Zen is so much more than dance instruction – it is up
there, for me, with guided meditation, mindfulness, or a form
of hypnosis, at its best.” – Ria, HR manager, London, UK
Tango Zen offers English teachers a unique and engaging form of
self-care and stress relief, especially in the wake of the pandemic,
where teachers may be facing new challenges and pressures in
their work. Through the practice of Tango Zen, teachers can
cultivate mindfulness and presence, positively impacting their
personal and professional lives.
The history and origins of Tango Zen demonstrate its long-standing
ability to promote well-being and connection, and the dance
meditation techniques emphasize the importance of mindfulness
and presence.
Moreover, as Tango Zen can be practised both in pairs and
individually, it is accessible to all English teachers regardless of
their relationship status.
Incorporating the practice into your daily life and even busy
workdays is easy. Whether it’s a few minutes of deep breathing or
movement breaks throughout the day, the benefits of Tango Zen
are universally accessible.
Personal stories and testimonials from practitioners and
professionals highlight the multiple benefits of Tango Zen, from
increased focus and creativity to improved mental and emotional
well-being. With ease of access to resources and classes, English
teachers can readily start their own Tango Zen practice.
In essence, Tango Zen is an accessible, engaging, and impactful
way for English teachers to prioritize their mental and emotional
well-being. By incorporating the practice into their daily routines,
teachers can improve their overall quality of life and better
navigate the stresses and challenges of their work. We encourage
all English teachers to try out Tango Zen and experience the many
benefits for themselves.
Resources for further learning and practice
Check Tango Zen online classes and workshops in your area.
Arrange private Tango Zen sessions.
To learn more about Tango Zen, check out the following resources:
• Book and eBook
Park, C. (2005). Tango Zen: Walking dance meditation. Tango Zen House.
Download the eBook: Park, C. Simple ways to start Tango Zen.
https://www.tangozen.com/download-ebook
• Film
Watch the documentary film on YouTube.
Park, C. (Director). (March 15, 2021). Tango your life. [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCoRXod0eOQ
• Website
Visit the Tango Zen website. www.TangoZen.com
39 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
Things we
have to
accept
Abstract
Teachers are very hard on themselves. Most of that pressure
comes from within, as we want to do our best for our students.
But at what cost?
In this article, Erin delivers some plain truths about the job.
She also gives some advice and asks teachers to consider the
reflection questions in order to start the process of changing
mindsets for a more positive and productive working life.
Biography
Erin O’Byrne is a teacher, teacher trainer
and creator, host, and producer of
Everything EFL Podcast. During her years
as a teacher trainer, she realized that no
matter who they are teaching, teachers all
have the same worries, issues, and things
that overwhelm them. She is passionate
about helping teachers avoid burnout by
making lesson planning easier and
providing moral support.
During her years of experience as a trainer, Erin has found that
pretty much all teacher training and development centres around
methodology and practical class activities. She asked herself:
where is the focus on the teachers? What do THEY need? She
started asking her teachers and followers about their attitude to
their vocation. Here are some of the statements that came up time
and time again. Ask yourself if you have ever felt any of these:
• I sometimes feel burnt out or overwhelmed
• I have high expectations of myself
• I am under pressure to get students to pass exams
• I deliver a lot of content, and my students are expected to
learn and in turn produce language accurately and naturally
• I spend a lot of time planning
• I try to plan and deliver perfect or outstanding lessons
• Some of my students have unrealistic expectations
• I often go home thinking about a particular student or class
It all sounds bleak, but this is a reality for many, if not
most, teachers. However, a lot of the same teachers also said
the following:
• I have a love of the English language
• I have a love of teaching
But their earlier statements suggest that some of the love has
gone out of teaching.
As teachers, we can be hard on ourselves, and we have to change
our mindset. We just have to accept some things because there
are things we cannot change.
Erin attempts to break down a few brutal truths and offer some
insight and reflection. This is to show that “you are not alone”.
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 40
Erin O’Byrne
1. You are not a perfect teacher
There, she said it. It’s an impossible notion, yet we constantly
strive to deliver these mythical, perfect lessons.
Erin’s first piece of advice is: stop trying. This doesn’t mean
giving up completely: just stop trying to be perfect. The pressure
you are putting yourself under is unreasonable and unrealistic.
What’s wrong with a good, solid, or great lesson?
Meticulous planning down to the last minute can lead to
burnout, which leads to creative burnout. This is when planning
becomes a chore.
Trust in the skills you have and try to give a good quality
lesson – no more, no less.
Reflection questions:
• How long do I spend planning?
• What’s the worst thing that will happen if I plan less?
• How much pressure am I putting on myself?
• Are my expectations of myself realistic? Is it stressing me out?
If so, what’s the next step?
2. You will not reach every
student immediately
Building community and trust are imperative. This is a process,
and not all students respond straightaway. One teacher told Erin
last year, “But I don’t have time”. If you feel the same, consider
this: I’m spending X months with these individuals; maybe some
content needs to be sacrificed to build relationships.
Erin’s advice is to get to know your students and let them get to
know each other. The difference it will make to the class
atmosphere and your stress levels is priceless.
She asks you to please remember this: do not beat yourself up if
student X is a little unresponsive in the first month or so. As long
as you are trying to build relationships, that is enough. Give it time.
Reflection questions:
• Do I have a good relationship with my students?
Could it be better?
• Is time one of the reasons I haven’t spent enough time on it?
How can I make time in class?
• Can your students share something of themselves, and how
much of yourself are you willing to share with your students?

3. Learning is a process
and it takes time
How many times have your students “learnt” the present perfect,
and they still cannot produce it when they need to? It is important
to remember that language learning is a process of information,
“ We constantly strive to deliver
repetition, review, reflection, and exposure to the language
over time.
Maybe some tough decisions have to be made: if the syllabus is
a little too dense, choose quality over quantity. Perhaps that lesson
about reported speech can be sacrificed in order to make space
for a review of the present perfect?
Ask yourself, which is better?: teaching a few things well or
student cognitive overload? The latter can lead to stress and
anxiety, which causes the brain to shut down, and no meaningful
learning will take place.
Reflection questions:
• Are you having a hard time doing everything on the syllabus?
• Do you feel you’re delivering quantity over quality?
Is it stressing you out? Is it stressing your students out?
• Is there anything you can sacrifice to ease your students’
cognitive load?
4. You will always spend too
much time planning
This is true, especially if you are a new teacher.
Can you use “dead time” in class to sketch out next week’s plan or
mark some work? Can you plan on your commute? It is surprising
how much these snippets of time can help. You should also trust
your skills. Many teachers react with surprise when Erin says this,
as they’ve never considered it. Leave some time and space in your
lessons to react to what is happening in class and trust your skills
enough to go with the flow.
If you are not convinced and still want to deliver these mythical
outstanding, perfect lessons, accept that you will spend a
considerable amount of your free (and very often unpaid) time on it.
Ask yourself: is it worth it? See reflection questions after point 1.
5. Some students just aren’t into it
Most students already engaged with the language get hooked
incidentally due to their outside interests. Others, unfortunately,
do not see the point of learning English or are not interested.
We can encourage them to watch TikTok or listen to songs, but
getting your students’ peers to talk about things they have read
and watched is more effective. Can you create time and space in
your class for students to chat about the real-world English things
they’ve watched, read, played, and so on?
You cannot force it: all you can do is try, and that is enough.
Reflection questions:
• Which students do not have an interest? Why not?
• Which ones do? Can you pair them up?
• Could you ask the uninterested students if they have a favourite
song, for example, and would they like to talk about it in class
before we all listen to it?
• Could you give the less engaged students small challenges
to achieve every week to boost that feeling of achievement
and motivation?
6. Grammar is boring. Rules do
not work for everyone
Some might not agree, but Erin refers you back to the comment
about learning the present perfect over and over.
However, we cling to these rules, as do our students. They are a
security blanket, a safety net; we find comfort in rules.
“
these mythical, perfect lessons.
Erin’s advice here is: narrow your focus to avoid overwhelming
your students. Focus on common or institutionalized phrases
connected to that grammar point, for example:
Have you seen my _______?
I’ve never _______ before
It’s the _______ _______ I’ve ever _______
The idea behind this goes back to not only lessening content and
cognitive load but also giving your students what they actually
need, will use and hear every day in an English-speaking context.
So next time you practise “have you ever...?”, resist the temptation
to practise all the irregular past participles and think about which
five to six verbs are most commonly used with this structure.
Reflection questions:
• How do your students react when you do grammar?
• Would you like to change the way you approach
grammar yourself?
• Are you interested in the lexical approach?
Would you like to know more?
7. Some students won’t, don’t,
or can’t speak
This is easier said than done, but Erin asks us to please not get
frustrated: firstly, ask yourself where this reluctance is coming
from. Is it cultural? The fear of judgement?
Your job as a teacher is to make your students feel safe and
comfortable. It may be beneficial to tell them explicitly that a
natural part of the learning process is making mistakes.
Could you use your language learning experience with your
students? Think about a time that you felt you failed or messed up.
How did you feel? What did you do next? These personal stories
and willingness to open up to your student will make you more
relatable. A little vulnerability and common ground can go a long
way to forming those all-important connections.
Reflection questions:
• Are some students reluctant to speak? Can you find out why?
• How can you build trust with them?
• How can you build their confidence?
• Who can they work with?
• Do you do any mindset, mindfulness, or confidence-building
in class? How could you incorporate that into your lessons?
8. There is no one-size-fits-all
lesson plan or methodology
No matter what you plan, some students will inevitably struggle
or find it boring.
The beauty of teaching, though, is that you do not have to stick
to one way of doing things: it is not like choosing a football team
you have to support for life. It is more like a mezze platter, from
which you can pick and choose, and never have the same
combination of flavours twice.
The key is, as mentioned before, building relationships so you
know what your students will respond to. The better you know
them, the better choices you will make, and you may find that
they will also be more willing to do the boring stuff in class, and
do homework with less reluctance. Then try to make the language
taught relevant and relatable to your students’ lives. See reflection
questions after point 2.
This article will not solve all your problems, but hopefully, it will get
the ball rolling on how you approach your planning and teaching.
Everything is a process, and make one small change at a time.
Reflect, try something new, and see the difference.
41 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
Conference Highlights
Conference Highlights provides a selection of reports on sessions delivered at
the last ETAS conference. For those who were unable to attend, we hope it gives
you an idea of ETAS conferences and the brilliant variety of sessions offered.

ETAS 39th Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM)

Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 January 2023
For the first time since 2020, the ETAS Annual Conference and AGM took place in
person again at the Kantonsschule Solothurn. The event proved to be a resounding
success, with English teaching professionals coming from Switzerland and further
afield to attend. Over the course of two days, attendees had the opportunity to
learn, connect with others, and enjoy themselves, with four plenary talks and a
range of workshops on offer. The Saturday evening dinner and karaoke night also
provided a welcome opportunity to unwind and have fun!
The Mayor of Solothurn, Stefanie Imgold, officially opened the conference and the
event’s theme, “The vast field of language education”, included topics that went
beyond classroom teaching. The event provided valuable insights into important
career decisions for teachers, particularly those who are self-employed. Workshops
covered digital tools, teaching multilevel learners, using reflective journalling in the
classroom, and more. There were also sessions on editing and proofreading,
writing skills, and getting published as an author. Networking and marketing-based
topics for self-employed individuals were also included, making the conference
an excellent opportunity to enhance professional growth.
The conference also featured a dynamic AGM, giving members a chance to vote
on new Executive Committee nominations and other AGM agenda items.
Here is some of the feedback we received from attendees:

“ It was both fun and informative.”

“ Was a great atmosphere and I loved seeing everyone in person.

Especially enjoyed the Saturday dinner and karaoke.”

“ It was great fun to be in-person, meeting a range of different

people, not just teachers.”

“ As always, a great pleasure to meet like-minded people.

The perfect moment to get motivated, learn, network,
and have a fantastic, worthwhile day.
Already looking forward to the next one!”

“ Another conference to remember! What I love the most about

these ETAS events is that I always get great surprises from the
workshops, and one of them was extremely helpful in my
classes this semester. I can’t thank ETAS enough!”

Thank you once again to the associate members, sponsors, book exhibitors,
and volunteers for your support in making this conference possible. To our ETAS
members – thank you for being a part of this wonderful community.

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 42

Adaptable exercises for
student-chosen articles
Catherine Bartl Shultis
Biography
Catherine Bartl Shultis (BA Anthropology,
MA ELT) is Swiss-Canadian, has lived
in Basel for 25 years, and teaches
technical English at the University
of Applied Sciences and Arts
Northwestern Switzerland.
My students are future engineers and architects, have mixed levels
(A2–B2), and are spatial thinkers, which means they are usually not
foreign language enthusiasts. So, how can I spark their interest in
our obligatory English lessons?
One way I have found is through the technical article assignment
which I have been using and refining for the last 10 years. Over the
course of one semester (15 weeks), the students develop skills
and strategies in communicative language activities (reception,
production, interaction, and mediation) which they can use
immediately in the English lessons, but also in other classes
and in the future.
The assignment consists of three parts. The students choose a
short, written, recently published article from their field of studies.
This is used as the basis for all three parts. For homework, they
first analyse the article using 11 questions which focus on
vocabulary, reading skills, text structure, and meta-cognition.
The next step is the in-class poster discussion, which takes two
45-minute lessons. In the first lesson, they have 30 minutes to
create an A3 poster which highlights what they consider significant
about their article. In the second lesson, they circulate and discuss
each other’s posters. Finally, and again for homework, they create
a short, written summary of their articles. Through these three
activities, the students engage deeply with their article.
The feedback from the students is always very positive. First, they
feel empowered because they choose the article, and it has a topic
which interests them profoundly. Secondly, they, but especially the
weaker students, gain confidence because they have understood
and explained a real-world article targeted at professionals in their
field. It is not a simplified article from an intermediate-level
textbook. In addition, they learn transferrable skills. These are soft
skills, like research and time management, as well as academic
skills. And finally, of course, they learn technical vocabulary, which
is both interesting and useful.
There are both drawbacks and advantages for the teacher.
Setting the assignment involves a great deal of explanation
(and repetition of explanations) by the teacher. However, if the
assignment is repeated in subsequent semesters, it becomes
much easier to set up. The deadlines for submission of the
analysis and the summary must be set at the beginning of the
semester, and the turn-around time for marking can be tight.
But, because the students choose their own articles, the
assignment can be used with any class, regardless of subject.
And a final benefit is that the teacher is exposed to articles and
ideas that they might not have found on their own. I personally
learn a great deal from the assignment and, as a bonus, am
handed materials that I can use in my classes.
I feel that this assignment is a balanced mix of teacher-led and
student-centred activities which benefits both student and teacher.
Please feel free to contact me (catherine.shultis@fhnw.ch) if you
would like a copy of the assignment.
Reference
Scott, M., Carioni, L., Zanatta, M., Bayer, E., & Quintanilha, T. (1984).
Using a ‘Standard exercise’ in teaching reading comprehension.
ELT Journal, 38(2), 114–120. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/38.2.114
Adapting course materials:
One for all and all for one?
Pearson and the BBC introduce
Speakout 3rd edition and Pearson
English Connect: A game changer!
Mary Schnueriger
Biography
Mary Schnueriger is both a teacher and
teacher trainer, in the field since 1987.
Her teaching style is inspired by practical
experience as both a student and as a
teacher. She has a unique take on what
worked, what didn’t, and what made
people go hmmm? She’s taught around
the world and loves trying new things, changing them around, and
inspiring herself and others to find joy in their lessons and their
learning. Because if you are bored, so are your students.
Nay, teachers are not sword wielding musketeers! Students are
unique, as are teachers. Teachers were encouraged to celebrate
their individualities, and workshop activities and materials to fete
their unique styles of teaching and learning. One way of doing
this is by using “How to …” lessons (how to develop an argument,
how to speculate, how to express emotions) and future skills
boxes which both bring real-world strategies into the lesson while
embedding employability and personal growth into learning.
Independent mediation lessons such as “Mediation skills” enable
learners to make group decisions, which further develop their soft
skills and employability. Pearson’s “Speak anywhere” interactive
speaking practice activities give learners freer practice, as they
can do these activities on their own, outside the classroom,
and receive feedback on their performance within the activity.
Hmmm, speak anywhere?
And boy did those present have a blast! They debated the use
of stones in baking, they learnt a technique to get students’
attention: CLAP, CLAP……..BOOM! And they had so much fun
playing around with the game-changing platform, Pearson English
Connect, which allows students to “Speak anywhere” and focus
their learning on tailored “How to …” lessons, and the importance
of “being yourself in English”. What about the future? Mary looked
at the role of virtual reality and artificial intelligence as tools to help
teachers tailor their lessons and help their students develop their
skills and language in:
• Critical thinking and creativity
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Self-management
• Social responsibility
• Leadership
These are the skills teachers all need in order to thrive today and
tomorrow. Speakout 3rd edition, on the game-changing platform
Pearson English Connect, helps everyone teach and learn for now
and many tomorrows.
“ Teachers were encouraged to
celebrate their individualities, and
workshop activities and materials
to fete their unique styles of
teaching and learning.
“
43 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
 Conference Highlights
Become proficient at
editing and proofreading
Dr Carol Waites

Biography
Dr Carol Waites has taught writing skills
to international staff in Geneva for over
20 years. She is a qualified proofreader
and editor, as well as Publications
Chair for ETAS.
“ This field is particularly suited
In this workshop, Carol looked at the
tasks and challenges faced by proofreaders and editors, or copy
editors. This field is particularly suited to English teachers, as they
already have many of the skills that are desirable as a proofreader
or editor. Carol gave advice from experience. Below are the main
topics she dealt with.
The main topics a proofreader needs to focus on include:
conformity to house style, and accuracy and consistency in
grammar, spelling, punctuation, use of numbers, date and time,
abbreviations, and capitalization.
As an editor, you need to ensure the text reads smoothly and
fluently. Any awkward phrasing needs to be rewritten. The style
needs to be suitable for the audience, using an appropriate tone
and register.
Usually, you would edit the text before proofreading it, which
tends to come at the final stage. But Carol likes to mix the two
while examining a text. She can’t help noticing inconsistencies,
so she tends to fix those so she can then consider the flow.
to English teachers, as they
already have many of the skills
that are desirable as a
proofreader or editor.
“
Carol’s toolbox includes a punctuation guide in Grammarbook, the
Editor’s Manual, the APA guide 7th edition, and the Guardian style
guide. The Merriam-Webster dictionary is a mine of information.
It is US spelling, but the grammar information and word formation
is the same as British English bar a few exceptions.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Catching errors, typos, and inconsistencies is critical in
proofreading. AI tools are getting smarter and smarter. Grammarly
or ProWritingAid are free. If you are serious about proofreading,
you should subscribe to PerfectIt, which has a reasonable annual
fee. It checks consistency in documents.
Style sheet
Next we need to start a style sheet. This is to keep a running
record of decisions we make, so as to be consistent in our
approach. Consistency is one of the key factors in proofreading.

Toolbox Editing points to check

Your toolbox should consist of suitable reference guides for the Here are some style points to check to ensure the text is clear, a
text you are proofreading. suitable style, and easy to read.
If Carol is proofreading for the United Nations, then she needs to • Be concise
access (links are in Carol’s toolbox below): • Keep It Short and Simple (KISS) – Short words, short
• The United Nations Editorial Manual Online to check the rules sentences, short paragraphs
of abbreviations, capitalization, numbers, dates, and time. • Be consistent (structure, commas, terms)
• For spelling she needs to check the Oxford dictionary. • Be action-oriented
The first spelling is the one to use, unless it is in the exception • Be appropriate
list of the Editorial Manual.
• The United Nations Terminology Base (UNTERM) to check You can read further about these in guides such as How to Write
country names and other facts about countries. Clearly by the European Commission.

In addition, she will always have her own trusty toolkit with her for In conclusion, these are some of the questions facing proofreaders
questions she may have while proofreading. Of course, she has to and editors. Bear in mind the purpose and audience to make the
check that the solution she finds isn’t trumped by the style guide. text professional and easily read. Check the facts and references,
But many general points are not included in the style guide. and make sure the links work.

Carol’s toolbox
The Editor’s Manual. https://editorsmanual.com/
Grammarbook. https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation_rules.asp
Grammarly. https://app.grammarly.com/
The Guardian Style Guide. https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-a
How to Write Clearly. European Commission. Retrieved April 4, 2023, from
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/bb87884e-4cb6-4985-b796-70784ee181ce/language-en
The Merriam-Webster dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/
Oxford dictionary. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/
PerfectIt. https://intelligentediting.com/
ProWritingAid. https://prowritingaid.com/
Spelling list for the United Nations.
https://www.un.org/dgacm/sites/www.un.org.dgacm/files/Documents_Editorial_manual/spell_print.pdf
Stylesheet on Carol’s Padlet. https://padlet.com/ckwaites/housestyle
The United Nations Editorial Manual Online. https://www.un.org/dgacm/en/content/editorial-manual
The United Nations Terminology Base (UNTERM). https://unterm.un.org/unterm2/en/

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 44

Building rapport means
building success
Urs Kalberer

Biography
Urs Kalberer has been teaching A good relationship is the OUTCOME of a process. This process
teenagers in state schools for more involves empathy (e.g. read their body language, appreciate their
than 30 years. He holds a Master in hobbies, smile), respect (e.g. learn how to pronounce their names,
English Language Teaching. say hi), trust (e.g. be approachable, personalize content) and
responsiveness (e.g. deal with disruptions effectively, don’t hide
behind your computer).
Rapport in language learning refers to
the relationship between the teacher and
Practice activity 2: People Bingo
the learners. Teachers try to build good rapport with the learners
to produce an environment that will help learning. The importance This activity can be used with new classes. Every student writes
of the teacher-learner relationship has been well-documented in their first name on the board. Depending on the size of the class,
research. Knowing how to create rapport is thus a key quality for the grid may consist of four or nine squares.
every successful teacher.
Rapport is especially important for language teachers.
Communicative language teaching involves authentic exchanges,
and these depend on minimal anxiety, which is a feature of quality
relationships. Furthermore, good rapport leads to higher job
satisfaction and less burnout in teachers. It is a virtuous circle:
teacher well-being causes student well-being, which leads to
higher teacher well-being.

Practice activity 1
The teacher reads out 10–15 statements and students move
in and out of a circle on the floor. Example statements:
Grid of nine squares for classes of around 20 students.
• I am left-handed
• I watch Netflix
1. The students copy the grid and fill it with names of
• I play computer games
students they don’t know yet.
• I am a vegetarian
• … 2. When everyone has a full grid, the learners walk around
the room, find their people, chat, and take notes
Building good rapport is often a matter of personalities, and about each person.
many teachers will have an excellent rapport with one class and
3. Then the teacher randomly calls out names from the
a bad rapport with another, for no clear reason. It is worthwhile
board – students cross out a name if they have it on their
to ask ourselves some questions on our teaching based on
own grid. For each name, ask the class to indicate who
our experience.
the person is and tell you some things about the person.
Reflective questions: 4. The first one to have crossed out all the names on their
• Can I influence the fact that a class is good or bad? grid is the winner and shouts “Bingo”!
• Should teachers make a clear distinction between
their private and professional lives?
• Can strict teachers also have a good rapport with their classes? References
Roffey, S. (2011). Changing behaviour in schools. Sage.
Strategies for creating rapport
Gkonou, C., & Mercer, S. (2017). Understanding emotional and social intelligence
Verbal strategies Non-verbal strategies among English language teachers. British Council.
Gkonou, C., Dewaele, J. M., & King, J. (2020). The emotional rollercoaster of
Personalization (learning Eye contact. language teaching. Multilingual Matters.
names, personal interests).
Mercer, S., & Gregersen, T. (2020). Teacher wellbeing. Oxford University Press.
Appropriate self-disclosure. Gesturing.
Mercer, S., & Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Engaging language learners in contemporary
Use of learners Varied vocal features classrooms. Cambridge University Press.
first language. (pitch, volume, pauses).
Humour. Relaxed, open body position.
Having conversations Smiling.

“
outside of class.
It is a virtuous circle:
teacher well-being causes
student well-being, which leads
to higher teacher well-being.
“
45 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
 Conference Highlights
Business writing:
What can we do better?
Ian McMaster
Biography
Ian McMaster is a business communication
consultant, author, and journalist. He was
editor-in-chief of Business Spotlight
magazine from 2001 until 2021 and is a
former coordinator of Business English
Special Interest Group (BESIG) of IATEFL.
The aim of this workshop was to discuss ideas for helping learners
to improve their writing skills by going back to the basic principles
of good writing.
To get participants warmed up, they were asked to choose from
one of the following genres, without knowing why: action, comedy,
drama, fantasy, horror, mystery, romance, thriller. They were then
asked to describe in writing their day so far, in around 100 words
and in the genre they had chosen.
A number of participants volunteered to read their stories aloud.
Horror seemed to be the most popular genre. This low-pressure
entertaining activity could easily be used with learners.
We then moved on to a discussion and brainstorming of what
makes good texts. Here are four of the criteria we collected:
• Easy to read in one go, without having to go back to read
part or all of the text again.
• Easy for the reader to understand what the writer is saying
and why.
• Entertaining/enjoyable/stimulating for the reader.
• Clear to the reader whether they should take any action.
We also looked at George Orwell’s famous principles of
good writing, published in the essay Politics and the English
Language in 1946:
• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech
which you are used to seeing in print.
• Never use a long word where a short one will do.
• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
• Never use the passive where you can use the active.
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon
word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything
outright barbarous.
I then presented the five main problems I had seen with texts
submitted to Spotlight and Business Spotlight magazines over
a period of nearly 30 years:
• The texts are too long.
• The sentences are too long.
• The text structure is not logical.
• The message is unclear.
• Knowledge is assumed but not explained.
Having discussed these principles and problems, participants were
asked to edit each other’s “genre stories” from the start of the
workshop. Their task, which learners could also be asked to do, was
to cut the texts by around 20 per cent without losing either the genre
or any important content. The lesson from this activity is that almost
any text can be cut and will be improved rather than worsened.
Finally, we looked at some tips to help students (or anybody else)
to improve their texts:
• Read them out loud (really out loud, not just to yourself).
• Get someone else to read them to see if the message is clear.
• Get someone else to edit them.
Reference
Orwell, G. (1946). Politics and the English language. Horizon, April 1946.
https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-
other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 46
Driving authentic
communication through
critical incidents
Alex Warren
Biography
Alex is a DELTA-trained teacher
trainer with over 19 years of experience
working in ELT as a teacher, teacher
trainer, and academic director.
He is currently the Senior ELT
Academic Consultant for National
Geographic Learning.
Getting all students involved and speaking in class can often
be a challenge for teachers, no matter how much we tailor the
lessons or personalize them to our students’ needs and interests.
But what if there was a way we could pique their interest and
draw them in?
We might achieve this by using critical incidents – examples of
cultural clash events where unexpected behaviour can occur.
First introduced in the early 1950s by American psychologist
John Flanagan as a way of developing cross-cultural awareness,
critical incidents can be used in the classroom to develop
students’ cultural awareness, facilitate authentic speaking
opportunities, motivate students, and provide a springboard for
not only language input but intercultural communication skills
training too. This last point is all the more relevant given the
context in which English is used on a global scale. There are
an estimated 2.3 billion English users, of which 1.85 billion use
English as a second (or third) language, meaning students’
interactions in English will most likely be with other non-native
speakers. Therefore, language learners need to be prepared for
the intercultural landscape in which they will be using English,
and this is something that language teachers should look to
include in their lessons whenever possible.
By bringing critical incidents into the classroom through reading
or listening input, as done by National Geographic Learning in
their Voices series, students have the opportunity to analyse
these incidents, talk about what they would do and how they
would handle the situation, thus creating an authentic discussion.
This then provides opportunities for language work and can act as
a springboard for roleplaying similar scenarios. Ultimately, critical
incidents provide great input for skill-based lessons, so why
wouldn’t you use them?
Project-Based Service
Learning in the
ELT classroom
Sara Stevens
Biography
Sara Stevens is the ELT Consultant in
Switzerland at Oxford University Press
(OUP). She holds a BA in History of
Art from the University of California,
Berkeley, and a MS degree in Family
and Consumer Sciences (Apparel
Merchandising) from California State
University, Northridge, where she wrote her thesis on
Project-Based Service Learning for Apparel Design students.
Participants learnt the pedagogical framework of Project-Based
Service Learning based on scholarly findings and then applied it
to their own ELT classrooms. First, they were introduced to the
wide range of benefits for students, schools, and communities
offered by this strategy: increased engagement, stronger
connections to issues of importance, and a sense of ownership
of course materials, for example. Then, participants reviewed
why these projects must be participatory, student-driven, and
provide value to the community partner while considering how
to empirically evaluate their successes.
Sara also emphasized the role reflection and collaboration
play when developing, implementing, and assessing projects.
The ideas from participants for potential projects were inspiring
and wide-ranging. One group aimed to have students create a
city guide in English and present it to the tourism board, while
another thought to promote cross-generation learning between a
primary school and elder care facility through songs in English.
As we know, project and skills-based learning is central to
instilling 21st century skills in our classrooms so that students are
prepared to face an interconnected and increasingly complex
world with empathy and multiple intelligences. At OUP, they are
committed to providing educators with materials that empower
learners now and in the future. Their newest secondary title,
Harmonize, features scaffolded project-based learning as well
as meaningful topics, research, and integrated language learning
skills. Key features include a project log, culture360 immersive
images (see https://culture360.asef.org/) to connect students
to cultural literacy, and life skills sections. You can learn more
about Harmonize and all other titles here on our website.
Or, you can reach out to the workshop leader Sara Stevens at
sara.stevens@oup.com to learn more.
Overall, the workshop was a dynamic experience for participants,
and hopefully the fantastic ideas generated from their time
together can be put into practice!
Teaching multilevel
learners: Mixed ability
or mixed blessing?
Anna Bennett
Biography
Anna Bennett is an experienced teacher
and teacher trainer. She is currently Head
of Product Support (English Language)
for Trinity College London Italy.
Her main interests are how to implement
technology-enhanced teaching to enrich
the learning-teaching experience, and
identifying how technology can really add
value to language teaching and learning.
In this workshop, Anna started off by defining what we mean by
a mixed-ability class. The participants brainstormed together all
the different factors that come into play when we try to come up
with a definition for a class where there are students of different
levels of ability, knowledge, and skill. The participants identified
the fact that these classes are usually composed of students with
different academic backgrounds, learning styles, interests, and
motivation levels, and may also include students with special
educational needs or disabilities. The workshop participants also
discussed the fact that in a mixed-ability class, the teacher faces
the challenge of meeting the diverse needs and preferences of all
students while ensuring that each student makes progress and
achieves their learning goals.
Furthermore, the participants considered the dangers of teaching
through a one-size-fits-all lens, where teachers use a single
teaching style, method, or curriculum for all students, regardless
of their individual learning styles, abilities, and needs. Students
have unique learning styles, abilities, and needs, which mean that
if teachers use a one-size-fits-all approach, they fail to take these
differences into account. This can lead to students becoming
disengaged, frustrated, or falling behind. When teachers use a
one-size-fits-all approach, they often teach to the middle of the
class, which means that high-achieving students may not be
challenged enough, while low-achieving students may struggle
to keep up.
Teaching through a one-size-fits-all lens can also stifle creativity
and innovation in both teachers and students. When teachers are
limited to a specific teaching style or curriculum, they may feel less
motivated to find creative ways to engage their students.
Therefore, participants considered the importance of tailoring
activities to students’ needs in order to maximize student success.
They did this by defining differentiation, and the following four
elements of differentiation were presented: content; process;
product; and learning environment.
Content
This is what the student needs to learn or how the student will get
access to the information.
Process
These are the activities in which the student engages in order to
make sense of or master the content.
Product
These include culminating projects that ask students to apply and
extend what they have learnt.
Learning environment
This is the way the classroom works and feels.
Before presenting the concept of tiered learning activities,
participants tried out a differentiated listening activity where the
task had been tiered. Participants were divided into three groups
and did the activity without knowing that the other groups were
doing the task in a different way, since the listening text was the
same for everyone. This highlighted how the task can be made
doable for everyone, by simply modifying a listening task with
scaffolding or an extra challenge.
In tiered learning activities, students are grouped according to
their level of readiness, interest, or learning style. They are then
provided with learning tasks that match their level of ability.
The benefits of tiered learning activities include engaging students
at their appropriate level of challenge, providing a scaffolded
approach that builds confidence and skills, and allowing for
individualized learning experiences that cater for diverse learners.
Additionally, they can promote collaborative learning and can help
to create a more inclusive classroom environment.
By implementing differentiated instruction, teachers can create
a more inclusive and equitable learning environment that supports
the success of all students. Anna closed the workshop on the
note of how differentiation can also help with exam preparation
and assessment by allowing learners to better understand and
retain information; thereby helping them to prepare to perform
at their best.
Dare to differentiate!
47 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
 Conference Highlights
The pleasure of teaching:
Round table discussion
Dorinda Maio-Phillips
Biography
Originally from London, England,
Dorinda came to Geneva in 1968 and
never looked back. After many years
working in industry, she then decided
to teach children at home when the
Cambridge YLE exams came out.
Now officially retired, Dorinda still has
a few students and a lively coffee club for
those who want a conversation class.
This session was for independent teachers: some freelance and
others working with just a few students at home. In these
circumstances, one doesn’t always have a computer available or,
more importantly, some of our students see their English lesson as
a time to relax and enjoy an hour away from their screens. We
independents can offer that.
This was a round table where everybody was invited to contribute
to the discussion, which was divided into three parts:
The pleasure of researching your subject
The pleasure of sharing books
The pleasure of being a word sleuth
Articles, videos, templates, pictures, etc. from the internet
immediately sprang to mind but further discussion revealed that
many teachers use pictures from ordinary books and course
books to introduce their topic.
Research done together with students is rewarding for both
teacher and student.
In-company teachers like to speak to the employers as well,
to find out what their expectations are.
To this, Dorinda added her own favourite, which is finding
someone who knows more about the subject than she does,
and having a discussion with them.
When it comes to sharing books, many of us have a small library
of “readers” for our students to choose from. Reading material is
also readily available on the BBC website. An interesting idea is
to make two booklists: “books I have read” and “books I would
like to read” to discuss with students.
Dorinda tries to include a mention of a book in any topic that
she happens to be teaching – the opening lines of some books
can be quite dramatic and participants at this session had fun
working out which book matched certain quotations which she
had distributed as they arrived.
The last question was “is it important to be a word sleuth?”
Most participants agreed that the origin of a word is important,
not only to understand its meaning but also to relate it (or not!)
to the student’s first language. It was also pointed out by
non-English-first-language teachers that a knowledge of Latin
can be useful in this respect.
A lively discussion about ChatGPT arose as it can save teachers
a lot of time. However, Dorinda decided to leave comments on
this to somebody more knowledgeable than she is, although
she was convinced by the arguments that it can be useful.
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 48
Using digital tools to train
career skills and promote
student community in
tertiary education
Birte Horn
Biography
Birte Horn has been teaching English
for academic and specific purposes
at STEM-focused universities of applied
sciences in Germany for 20 years.
Her main interests are business
English, intercultural communication,
and future skills.
Working in tertiary education, we are tasked with preparing our
students for a global and digital workplace. However, with
technological, social, and environmental changes happening at
breakneck speed, we might not even be able to fathom the type
of jobs that today’s students will hold ten years from now.
Consequently, teaching needs to emphasize interdisciplinary
career skills, such as communication, creativity, or teamwork.
Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic has been rather detrimental to
the development of these skills. Communication, especially, has
markedly suffered. Being online, students were comparatively
speaking, more inhibited when interacting with teachers and fellow
classmates than when they were in the physical classroom. Even
now, after returning to campus, there is still a certain awkwardness
in many students when engaging with teachers and peers.
To encourage active participation and create a sustainable learning
environment, the use of digital tools surged during the pandemic
and they are here to stay. Commonplace internal learning
management systems, such as Moodle, were extended using
digital pinboards or whiteboards, e.g. Padlet or Miro; and using
instruments such as Kahoot! for review quizzes became more
popular than ever. While crucial during the pandemic, these tools
continue to offer wonderful opportunities to train career skills and
promote student community.
To give an example, Birte presented a project that served as the
background for her workshop. It was carried out with engineering
students at a German university of applied sciences. In small
teams, they were tasked with creating an engaging (and fun) online
activity for their classmates, using a digital tool of their choice.
Each team chose a leader who was responsible for communicating
with the teacher and delivering the group’s results. The students
had to give regular progress reports. If they were unable to attend,
they had to officially excuse themselves from the session. After
nine weeks, each team presented its planned activity to the class
and received feedback from the teacher and peers.
In the next step, each team had to dispatch one team member
(not necessarily the leader) to a class team whose task it was to
consolidate all activities into a 12-week implementation plan. This
class team needed to reach an agreement on the arrangement of
activities. Furthermore, they had to explain the reasoning for their
choices in a follow-up presentation conducted three weeks later
by two representatives.
All documentation for the project, i.e. team organization, choice of
tools, presentations, etc. was prepared and collected on a virtual
whiteboard (Conceptboard). Throughout the project, students
practised a variety of career skills such as communication,
creativity, problem-solving, time management, organization,
responsibility, leadership, and teamwork. Student community was
promoted through their efforts in smaller and larger teams as well
as the activities that were implemented the following semester.
Giving the students autonomy to use digital tools in such a project
has proven to be highly effective for training interdisciplinary skills
and strengthening student community.
Using technology-enhanced
learning activities to increase
student engagement and
improve learning outcomes
Anna Bennett

Biography
Anna Bennett is an experienced teacher and “
teacher trainer. She is currently Head of Product
Support (English Language) for Trinity College
London Italy. Her main interests are how to
Technology can help teachers
to differentiate instruction and
to personalize learning for
individual students.
“
implement technology-enhanced teaching to
enrich the learning-teaching experience, and
identifying how technology can really add
value to language teaching and learning.

The integration of technology in the classroom has become increasingly

important in recent years. It offers numerous benefits for both teachers and
students, from making lessons more engaging and interactive, and enhancing
communication and collaboration, to supporting skills development in a
variety of areas. In this workshop Anna explored the importance of integrating
technology into the classroom as a support for both teachers and students,
and as a way to develop skills.
Technology also supports communication and collaboration between students
and teachers. With the help of online platforms, such as Padlet or Google
Docs, students can work together on projects, share ideas, and provide
feedback to one another. Teachers can also use these platforms to
communicate with their students outside of class, and to provide additional
resources and support.
Crucially, technology can help teachers to differentiate instruction and to
personalize learning for individual students. With the use of educational
software, teachers can adapt their lessons to meet the diverse needs and
abilities of their students. For example, they can provide differentiated
instruction to students who are struggling with certain concepts, or provide
enriching activities for high achievers.
Different types of technology can be used to support the development of
different skills. For communicative activities, Padlet is a great platform for
creating collaborative online bulletin boards where students can share ideas,
links, images, and videos. This can help facilitate communication and
collaboration among students, as well as between students and teachers.
In this workshop, participants discussed the types of tasks that would allow
students to build their fluency and confidence through collaboration on Padlet.
For all four skills, live worksheets are a valuable resource for teachers. These
worksheets allow students to practise listening, speaking, reading, and writing
in a variety of contexts, and can be adapted to meet the needs of different
learners. For example, teachers can create interactive exercises that provide
immediate feedback or allow students to self-check their work. With some very
simple commands, this website allows teachers to transform a simple PDF
document into an engaging, interactive learning experience.
Anna also looked at Google Docs for reading and collaborative writing since
it allows students to collaborate on written assignments in real time. This can
help promote communication and collaboration between students, as well as
provide opportunities for peer feedback and review.
The activities presented also highlighted how technology can be useful in
exam preparation by providing students with access to a range of resources
and study materials, educational apps, and multimedia resources that can
help them review and reinforce key concepts. By providing students with
opportunities to collaborate and receive feedback from peers and teachers,
technology also allows students to track their progress and identify areas they
need to focus on. Finally, it adds an element of fun to learning and makes it
more enjoyable.

49 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

 ETAS
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
AND ANNUAL GENERAL
MEETING (AGM)
Saturday 28 and Sunday 29
January 2023

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 50

51 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
 RESOURCES

Carol Waites
Today’s teachers avail themselves of a range of resources, in
addition to or instead of the traditional textbooks. This section
will continue to include book reviews and will also address Carol Waites is the Resources
digital tools, resources, and platforms that we all love and use. Editor and Publications Chair.
She welcomes any
We have been hearing about ChatGPT, which is already suggestions and submissions
released, and Google Bard, which is becoming available, for the section. Please write to:
among others. These artificial intelligence (AI) tools, which carol.waites@e-tas.com
are chatbots, are welcomed by some and feared by others.
They are designed to interact with people through natural
language models and machine learning. Although AI has been Digital Tool Review Guidelines.
around for a while it is currently getting more prominence in https://www.e-tas.ch/journal/guidelines
the news as it is more widely available. Other AI tools include
image generators, such as DALL•E and Midjourney.
Resources
We have a myriad of online platforms offering tantalizing free
titbits hoping to draw us into a subscription. To name a few, Bard. https://bard.google.com
Peacheypublications Teachers’ Classroom App, ChatGPT. https://chat.openai.com/chat
onestopenglish.com and Linguahouse. DALL•E. https://openai.com/product/dall-e-2
Some of these are sufficient to replace the textbook completely, Image generators. The Best AI Image Generators in 2023.
particularly for independent teachers or private classes. https://petapixel.com/best-ai-image-generators
Students can also access the materials on their phones or other Linguahouse. linguahouse.com
digital devices, saving paper and other physical resources. Midjourney. https://www.midjourney.com/home
In that spirit, we have decided to broaden our reviews to include onestopenglish.com. https://www.onestopenglish.com
AI, digital tools, and platforms. We welcome contributions. Peacheypublications Teachers’ Classroom App.
See the website for guidelines. https://peacheypublications.com/the-teachers-classroom-app

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 52

 RESOURCES
BOOK REVIEW

Oxford Discover Futures

Level 1 Teacher Digital Pack
Ben Wetz, Jane Wildman, and Fiona Beddall (Students’ book);
Janet Hardy-Gould and Alex Paramour (Workbook);
Oxford, UK.
Oxford University Press (2019)
Online
ISBN: 78019475790 4
Students’ book: 151 pages, paperback

Introduction
Oxford Discover Futures Level 1 Teacher Digital Pack provides
teachers of English as a foreign or second language with a
flexible tool that accompanies a printed coursebook for teenagers
at the A2 level. It is the first of six coursebooks characterized
by an inquiry-based perspective that can encourage a
learner-centred teaching approach. Exciting topics are
presented through videos, podcasts, and texts. Project-based
language learning is used to incite collaboration among learners
(Bromley, 2016). This review will consider the contents, structure,
methodology, skills, and technology of the Digital Pack from
teachers’ and students’ perspectives.
Contents and structure
Oxford Discover Futures Level 1 Digital Pack comprises two
eBooks, referred to as “Classroom Presentation Tools”. The first
one mirrors the students’ print book containing both the student
book and the workbook, while the second eBook is for the
teacher because it allows switching between the student book
and workbook on the relevant pages. The course is divided into
ten units, each with a different theme to suit teenagers’ interests.
The student book authors, Wetz, Wildman, and Beddall, have
identified topics likely to resonate with a broad audience.
For example, how teenagers spend their time in other parts of
the world, competitions, danger, waste, health, intelligence, and
other thought-provoking topics for teenagers. Moreover, the book
offers a wealth of material with colourful images so teachers can
choose the most relevant topics for their learners’ social and
cultural contexts. A project is also suggested after every two
units, five in total, that support collaborative activities, such as
surveys, posters, presentations, and debates.
Methodology and skills
As an inquiry-based textbook, Oxford Discover Futures Level 1
prioritizes communication and language skills. There are fewer
grammar-rule descriptions than in other, more traditional
coursebooks, as syntax is constructed through practice and
motivating topics. For example, unit one talks about the value
of time to practise frequency adverbs and present tenses, unit
two focuses on memory and past tenses, and so on. The four
language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking are
supported through a mixture of structured and unstructured
exercises that can be done collaboratively. There are enough
activities for teachers to choose from, allowing them to select the
ones most suitable for their learners based on their interests and
levels. Two videos complement each unit. The first one, Factflix,
introduces the unit theme, while the second one, Reflect, sums
up and closes the unit with motivating facts. The two Digital Pack
eBooks are presented as Classroom Presentation Tools. There
are eight interactive symbols: Pens, Extra Material, Audio, Audio
Scripts, Answer Notes, Video, Interactive Activities, and Games.
Although it was sometimes difficult to locate all the tools, such as
the one for Games, both eBooks were rich in interactive activities
that are presumably the same for the students’ online material.
In addition to the Classroom Presentation Tools, the toolbar
offers various other options such as bookmarks, display answers,
page organization, and switch books.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Oxford Discover Futures Level 1 Teacher Digital
Pack offers some valuable advantages for teachers wishing to
adopt a more learner-centred approach while maintaining the
standards provided by a structured coursebook. The Classroom
Presentation Tools are well designed, easy to use and can
facilitate classroom organization for technology-proficient teachers.
Likewise, the videos introducing and concluding the units will help
draw attention to the topic theme, and the projects can strengthen
learner autonomy. On the other hand, this coursebook might not
appeal to all teachers (or learners). For example, the lack of
grammar-rule descriptions might not be suitable for teachers
favouring teacher-led approaches (Hung, 2001). Furthermore,
although it is advertised as being at A1 level, some activities could
be challenging for learners who are not used to communicative
practices. However, on the whole, it provides a wide selection
of contemporary topics and methods that can enhance the
curricula, support teachers, and motivate learners.
Review by Dr Lesley June Fearn
The Open University. Milton Keynes, UK

References
Bromley, M. (2016). Project-based learning. SecEd, 13(8), 1–5. https://doi: 10.12968/sece.2016.13.8
Hung, D. (2001). Theories of learning and computer-mediated instructional technologies. Educational Media International, 38(4), 281–287.
https://doi: 10.1080/09523980110105114

53 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023


Proofreading with PerfectIt
As an English teacher, have you ever been asked to proofread
someone’s book, thesis, or dissertation? If so, you know how
time-consuming it can be to ensure that consistency is maintained
throughout the document, in addition to checking spelling,
grammar, and punctuation. Consistency checking is where
PerfectIt shines. In this article, I will explain what PerfectIt does,
my experience using it, and some of its benefits and limitations.
Note that I use a PC (Windows 10) and have the Windows
version of PerfectIt 5 in Microsoft Word 2021.
About PerfectIt
Designed by Intelligent Editing, PerfectIt is software to help writers
and editors proofread and edit documents. It works as an add-in
for Microsoft Word, performing a range of consistency checks on
areas such as capitalization, hyphenation, dashes, spelling,
abbreviations, lists, and more.
Several styles are available in the software, including American
Legal Style, Australian Government Style, European Union Style,
Government Publishing Office style, United Nations style, and
others. You can also create your own customized style sheets,
either from scratch or based on one of the inbuilt ones. You can
choose between Australian, Canadian, US, or UK spelling.
How I used it
I recently used PerfectIt to assist with proofreading a novel
manuscript. Before I began reading the manuscript, I first ran the
software to get a quick overview of potential issues. I then
proofread the manuscript manually and then ran PerfectIt once
again to ensure no new inconsistencies had appeared during the
manual proofreading phase.
Benefits
PerfectIt flagged many issues in the manuscript, such as places
where brackets and quotes were left open or where abbreviations
appeared before they were first defined. There were also many
instances where phrases were hyphenated, capitalized, or spelt
inconsistently, e.g. wellbeing vs well-being, email vs e-mail, the
internet vs the Internet, etc. In these examples, both variations are
accepted spellings depending on which dictionary you are using.
Therefore, a spell checker wouldn’t necessarily flag either one as
incorrect, but PerfectIt would pick up that both versions have
been used within the same document and also show the number
of times they are used and exactly where they occur. The user
can then review the words in context before deciding whether to
accept or reject suggestions based on their style preferences.
Resources
Grammarly. https://www.grammarly.com
Microsoft Editor. https://www.microsoft.com/en-ww/microsoft-365/microsoft-editor
PerfectIt. https://intelligentediting.com
ProWritingAid. https://prowritingaid.com
ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 54
RESOURCES
DIGITAL TOOLS
Leaving these checks to PerfectIt saved me a lot of time and
meant I could immediately start tidying up the manuscript,
adding comments, and begin creating a customized style sheet
(within the software). It also enabled me to focus more on the
meaning of the content without being distracted by these
repetitive mechanical errors.
At the end of running the checks, there is also an excellent final
tidy-up feature, where you can fix up other issues like converting
multiple spaces to one, removing spaces before punctuation,
updating a table of contents, etc.
The user can also run a variety of reports. Another handy feature
is the “summary of changes” report, which outputs all the issues
found using PerfectIt and the changes made. After running this,
I could use parts of the report to form a summary of tailored
proofreading feedback for the author.
Video tutorials and FAQs are available on PerfectIt’s website for
support in using the software, as well as user guides. There is
also a straightforward process for contacting customer support.
Limitations
PerfectIt does not replace a human editor, and there are limitations
in what it can do. For instance, it didn’t identify that the author had
used “grade” throughout the entire book apart from one instance
where “year” was written or that “Union Road” became “Union
Street” in another place in the book.
Other drawbacks are that PerfectIt only works on file formats
that can be opened in Microsoft Word, and does not check for
spelling errors and grammar mistakes (it only identifies spelling
inconsistencies and preferences). It also does not offer
suggestions to improve the written content’s conciseness, clarity,
or readability. For these types of refinements, Microsoft Editor,
Grammarly, or ProWritingAid would likely be better options.
Cost
PerfectIt requires a paid annual subscription, but you can sign up
for a free 14-day trial without needing to enter credit card details.
Summary
Overall, I find PerfectIt worth the subscription cost because it helps
me work faster and more efficiently. Automating repetitive and
time-consuming tasks like ensuring the manuscript is consistent
allows me to focus more on the author’s meaning. This gives me
more confidence that the manuscript is well-polished and that I’m
providing the best service possible to the author.
Review by Leanne Hayes, Publications Team, ETAS
 RESOURCES
DIGITAL TOOLS

Digital tools: Padlet and Wakelet

Name of tools: Padlet and alternative completely free one: Wakelet
In this article, I will describe the three main uses I have had
for Padlet, and subsequently why I turned to Wakelet.
These tools are great ways to organize and share your links,
materials, files and other resources in a visually appealing way.
For my purposes, as a teacher, researcher, and general avid
collector of links and resources, this method is ideal, and Jamil,
the creator of Wakelet, seems to concur, which is why he
states that he created it.
These tools can be used collaboratively or not. They can be public
or private, and you can change the settings whenever you want.
Above all, they are visual and allow you to provide links, images,
videos, audio files, documents and pdfs. They are also versatile,
and teachers can use them to engage with students in real time,
collaborate with colleagues, and share information in a visually
appealing and organized manner.
As a long-term user of Padlet, I have used it in collaborative ways
when teaching a class, and as a visual reference storage facility
for my purposes and those of my students.
I started using Padlet to collect references for my students.
By clicking on the image, it takes them to the website. I then used
it to upload my presentation at a conference, where I could also
include all the references I had presented, all on one wall.
See below for an example from my last conference presentation
at ETAS in Solothurn, January 2023.
After compiling 93 padlets, I discovered they had changed the
rules, and you are only allowed three free ones. I searched for an
alternative in case I lost mine, and found Wakelet. So far, I have
been allowed to keep my original ones.
Cost
Padlet: three free padlets that you can make and remake.
Subscription for more than three padlets.
Wakelet: free for individual teachers. You can also import your
students so they can have their own Wakelet accounts. Their
website states, “We’ve seen tons of creative ways to use Wakelet
with your students. This includes digital portfolios, exit tickets,
and homework assignments! Wakelet empowers students to get
creative, collaborate and become leading digital citizens!”
I have seen teachers use Padlet for many purposes, and I have
experimented too. You can use it collaboratively, with participants
adding their own contributions.
You can make them public or private, you can give access to
people to contribute, or you can make them read-only. You can
change the wallpaper, change the theme, update the links, and
all in an easy way to manage.
Collaborative example
Student description: C1 level, adults with specialist fields
I have used it in a step-by-step approach to giving presentations,
where I create a Padlet for that class, changing the settings to public.
Then students create and add to their post over the term, all on the
same Padlet. Other students can get ideas and ensure that
presentation topics are not duplicated.
Step 1: They choose and post their title and theme on the
class Padlet.
Step 2: They provide links to two sources they will use to research
their theme (preferably one newspaper or academic article and one
YouTube video).
Step 3: They post an abstract.
In the meantime, they prepare their presentation and have a
coaching session with me. This doesn’t appear on the Padlet.
Step 4: They give their presentation and post it on the class Padlet.
By beaming up the Padlet when they come into class, you can show
what their classmates are planning. This encourages latecomers
also to post so they don’t feel left out. It also provides an interesting
natural discussion as an icebreaker.
Visual presentation of references
I use both Padlet and Wakelet to display my references for
my courses. It is a visual reference list. This is my most popular
and useful use of Padlet and Wakelet.
See the reference list for an example of one on Dictionaries.
A collaborative greeting card
We all put our visual and textual messages on the card.
It can be done virtually with the link.
In conclusion, while Padlet is the one I use the most, the closest
free equivalent I have found is Wakelet. I note that the review
(see Rigorous Themes blog below) I chose online agrees with me.
In this review, you will find other similar tools.
“Wakelet in 5 minutes” (see YouTube reference below) is a five-minute
YouTube explanation of how to make a Wakelet collection.
If you have used Padlet or Wakelet for a different purpose, we would
love to hear from you. Write to us at: carol.waites@e-tas.ch
Review by Dr Carol Waites, Publications Chair, ETAS

Resources
Dictionaries Padlet. https://padlet.com/ckwaites/dictionary-resources-72o5my8s82r1
Digital citizens – Unpacking Digital Citizenship. https://blog.wakelet.com/2022/02/21/unpacking-digital-citizenship/
Digital portfolios – The Power of Digital Portfolios. https://blog.wakelet.com/2021/06/28/the-power-of-digital-portfolios/
Jamil, creator of Wakelet. https://about.wakelet.com/
Padlet. https://padlet.com/
Rigorous Themes review of best alternatives to Padlet. https://rigorousthemes.com/blog/best-padlet-alternatives/#1_Wakelet
Visual reference list Padlet including Carol Waites’ conference presentation at ETAS, Solothurn, 2023. https://padlet.com/ckwaites/editing-and-proofreading-vmdiwky7crat
Wakelet. https://wakelet.com/
Wakelet in 5 minutes. https://youtu.be/VRlT3XCtUGo

55 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023

 RESOURCES
DIGITAL TOOLS

Digital lessons and worksheets: Linguahouse

As an ESP/EAP teacher, I’ve been using Linguahouse for a few
years now, and I have to say, it’s been really useful. The platform
has plenty of teaching resources, including lesson plans,
worksheets, and reading and listening exercises. What’s great
is that the materials are all designed to cater to different levels
of proficiency, so it’s easy to find something that’s just right for
your students. I particularly like the reading lessons as the texts
used come from different types of authentic material, with
up-to-date themes and discussions. Another advantage is that
you can look for worksheets and save them into specific folders,
so that you can easily find them on the website without having
to save all the files on your computer.
However, one thing to keep in mind is the cost. While some
resources are available for free, the more comprehensive
materials and features require a membership fee. But I’ve found
that the quality of the resources on Linguahouse makes it worth
the investment, especially when using the worksheets on a
regular basis. The videos and reading materials are from
authentic sources, such as TED.com.
One minor issue I’ve run into is that some of the materials can
be a bit too general. While they’re great for teaching English as a
foreign language, I’ve found that I sometimes need to customize
them to better suit the needs of my specific students. But overall,
the materials have been a huge time-saver for me, and they’ve
allowed me to focus on what really matters – engaging my
students and helping them learn.
Finally, I should mention that everything on Linguahouse is also
digital. I personally use the paper version, but students have
the possibility of scanning a QR code and having the activities
on their mobile phones.
Overall, I would definitely recommend Linguahouse to other English
language teachers. It’s a great resource that can save you time,
help you engage your students, and support your teaching practice.
Just keep in mind that there’s a cost involved, and you may need
to customize some of the materials to fit your specific needs.
Review by Erika Gonçalves Fauchère
Learning Technologies SIG coordinator, ETAS

Resources
Linguahouse. https://www.linguahouse.com/en-GB
TED. https://www.ted.com/

“ What's great is that the

materials are all designed
to cater to different levels
of proficiency, so it's easy
to find something that's just
“
right for your students.

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 56


Artificial Intelligence
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool made by
OpenAI that allows you to have human-like conversations
with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.
What is OpenAI? According to Wikipedia, OpenAI is
an American artificial intelligence research laboratory.
OpenAI conducts AI research with the declared intention
of promoting and developing a friendly AI.
You can ask ChatGPT to help with all sorts of tasks, like:
• Answering simple, Google-style questions
• Generating code
• Writing assignments and essays
• Writing copy
• Writing creative stories
• Writing motivation letters for jobs
OpenAI also released DALL•E 2, a popular AI art generator,
and Whisper, an automatic speech recognition system.
How can I use ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is currently free since it’s being used for research
purposes by OpenAI.
This tool is all the rage with discussions in academic contexts,
among others. In academia, the old problem of plagiarism is
making professors think of how to identify it and prevent it. It is
making them rethink their assessment and teaching methods.
Noam Chomsky stated that it’s “basically high-tech plagiarism”
and “a way of avoiding learning.” He further claims that at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he lectures,
students weren’t interested in ChatGPT as the subject matter
was so fascinating. He suggested we should reconsider our
teaching methods and content.
And we see many warnings of the lack of reliability with what
ChatGPT produces, as it is also capable of inventing.
In business contexts, companies will expect it to be a tool in
the toolbox to make you more efficient. Jasper Chat is one
such AI tool. This is an argument to support teaching students
how to use and harness AI tools in their professional lives.
Jasper Chat is built for business use cases such as marketing,
sales, and more. But both Jasper Chat and ChatGPT interfaces
offer a way to make AI much more accessible to the audiences
they serve.
RESOURCES
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
OpenAI has made significant progress, but it still needs to be
refined to make it practical and usable for everyday businesses.
It replicates an engine that will generate human language thought
in generic written form, while Jasper tailors the language to
specific use cases.
But beware of the careless use of ChatGPT. If you ask it to write
an assignment on a topic you are well versed in, the results are
not very satisfying, nor do they answer the question sufficiently.
Teachers report that those using it are not passing their
assignments, as ChatGPT often gives vague, generic style texts.
In addition, students may get the same result for the same
assignment question. But it will only be a short time before these
problems are ironed out. Thus, we need to reflect more on how
to gauge their knowledge and ability to use AI as a tool and
critically evaluate it.
Like many teachers, Carol has experimented with ChatGPT,
asking it to produce a lesson at B2 level on the topic of sustainable
buildings, complete with a vocabulary list, comprehension
questions and an answer key. It did it in a matter of seconds.
The text and questions were workable but needed more oomph,
such as an AI image, perhaps. They looked nowhere near as
sophisticated as the worksheets produced by Linguahouse, for
example. So, the teacher would have to put in work to make a
template. The text was rather bland, but so was Carol’s instruction!
Another fun task Carol set ChatGPT was to write an intercultural
love story, followed by a poem. The love story was easy to read
and quite well written. It could have passed as a love story in a
light magazine. The poem was somewhat repetitive and not
interesting. Test it out yourself!
Then Carol was tasked with writing a poem for a writers’
workshop, which caused her a headache, as she is not a poet
by any stretch of the imagination.
My poem compared to ChatGPT’s poem
After writing her own poem, Carol asked ChatGPT to write
a poem about United Nations writing style.
Poem by Carol Waites
Accompanied by The Times They Are A-Changin, by Bob Dylan
United Nations writing style is a-changin
What is UN writing style, they cry?
Well, you see, UN writing is normal writing jazzed up,
Up to the hilt and stuffed with pomposity,
Full of jargon, legalese, gobbledygook, and verbosity,
The more obscure, the merrier!
Hide behind prose; how well can you obscure the message?
That is UN style!
Or hopefully was UN style, now writers follow Carol’s writing tips.
Now they are turning the page.
Today’s UN writing is a-changin,
Changing for the better finally!
After I spent decades talking to the hard of hearing
and with short sight,
They are finally seeing the light.
Why? Screens, emails, and text messaging have shown
them the way.
57 ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023
 RESOURCES
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI generated poem by ChatGPT

Prompt: Write a poem about United Nations English
being pompous, wordy, and passive in the past and
now needing to be modern and internet friendly.

United Nations English was once quite pompous,

Wordy and passive, it seemed quite anomalous.
But times have changed, and now we must adapt,
To be modern and internet friendly, we must make a pact.
Gone are the days of verbose and flowery speech,
Now we must be concise and use less leech.
On the internet, attention spans are short,
We must make our message clear, and not distort.
So let us bid farewell to language that’s old,
And embrace a style that’s bold and uncontrolled.
United Nations English, it’s time to reinvent,
To be relevant and effective, let’s not repent.

Which do you prefer? Mine or ChatGPT’s?

Teaching ourselves and our students to use these tools to
increase our efficiency or to brainstorm ideas is a good way
to start. They have been around for a while now so our
students are probably already using them.

So, what’s your favourite way to use ChatGPT?

Send your examples to the author: carol.waites@e-tas.ch

Review by Dr Carol Waites, Publications Chair, ETAS

Acknowledgement
Jane Cadieux, editor of Courier, the magazine of the
American International Women’s Club in Geneva,
gave a workshop on AI, for which I produced the poems
and we researched the AI images. I would like to thank
her for permission to reproduce them here.
https://www.aiwcgeneva.org/Publications

Resources
DALL•E 2. https://openai.com/product/dall-e-2
Dylan, B. “The Times They Are A-Changin’” by Bob Dylan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90WD_ats6eE
ChatGPT. http://chat.openai.com/
Chomsky, N. (2023). Noam Chomsky on ChatGPT. https://www.openculture.com/2023/02/noam-chomsky-on-chatgpt.html
Jasper AI art generator. https://www.jasper.ai/art
Jasper Chat. https://www.jasper.ai/blog/what-is-chatgpt
Linguahouse. linguahouse.com
OpenAI. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=OpenAI&oldid=1148191600
Waites, C. (n.d.). Carol’s writing tips: https://professionalwritingtips.weebly.com/
Whisper. https://openai.com/research/whisper

ETAS Journal 40/1 Summer 2023 58

2023 ETAS
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT DAY
ELT from A to Z – with a focus
on English for Specific Purposes

Saturday 2 September 2023

International School of Berne

Registration opens on 1 July 2023!