New episode of TEFLology is online here.
I mentioned in my original review of TEFLology that although I believed the series as a whole was was excellent for professional development, judged on an episode by episode basis the result was mixed.
And, let's face it, this is to be expected. These guys have been doing a bi-weekly podcast for about 2 years now. Each podcast contains 3 segments.
If I were in their shoes, I think I could talk about maybe 3 TESOL related topics before all my areas of expertise were exhausted.
They're at episode 52 and still going strong. Plus their doing this in addition to full time jobs, completing a PHD program, and managing families. It puts me to shame!
But, yeah, all that being said, this wasn't the best episode. I got very little out of it for my own professional development.
The first section was the TEFLologists reflecting on their own development as interviewers. I can't imagine this is of any interest to anyone besides the TEFLologists themselves.
...Actually, I take that back. It's slightly interesting. After all, if you've been listening to the whole podcast (and I have) then you've listened to 24 interview episodes--some of them with some of the biggest names in the field. So after all that, it is, I guess, kind of interesting to hear about the how the TEFLologists themselves view the interviewing process.
The interviews come off as seeming so smooth and effortless that as a listener I never really stopped to think that there was actually a lot of thought put into the selection of the questions.
But I say that as someone who's listened to the whole podcast. I can't imagine anyone who's coming into TEFLology for the first time would get anything out of this episode.
Sidenote: The TEFLologists are slightly self-critical of their interview technique, but for my money, they've never done a bad interview. All 24 interview episodes have been really interesting to listen to.
The next section of the podcast was on transformation. The emphasis here again was on the personal stories of the TEFLologists, but it at least got the listener thinking about the subject.
The 3rd section was a preview of JALT 2016.
This offered a brief preview of some of the speakers who will be featured in later interviews.
Brief though it was I find these quick summaries useful. For someone like me who doesn't keep up very well with the literature in the field, this kind of name dropping on TEFLology at least keeps me somewhat in the loop.
So I guess I did get something out of this episode after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment