TEFLology Podcast: Episode 60: Young Learner Materials with the ‘Let’s Go’ Authors

(TEFLology Podcast)

I'm still playing catch-up with the TEFLology podcast.  This episode was from a couple weeks ago now.

You can listen to it here.

This episode was an interview with three author's of a children's textbook series.

Much of the interview focused on the life of the authors, or the changes in the publishing industry over time, and so it's not all immediately useful for the daily English teacher.

However, it's interesting for what it is.
I enjoyed the mini-biographies.  (It has a human interest element, and perhaps being a TEFL teacher, I take an interest in the lives of other TEFL teachers.)

Other Notes:
* At one point they mention how important it is to create materials that are easy to understand, so that it can be used by a wide-variety of teachers.
In my own case, I've discovered this is actually easier said than done.  When I try to share my own materials with other teachers, I often discover that many of them have no idea what to do with my worksheets.
It all makes sense to me in my own head, but it's not always clear to another person.

* I started creating an archive of my material a couple years back with the hope that this would cut down on my preparation time in the future.
Unfortunately, I've discovered that very little of it transfers smoothly from one class to another.  Worksheets that I designed with a particular set of learners in mind do not always transfer to another set of learners, and often I find I keep having to adapt my material, or re-write it entirely.
This is another point they mention in the interview.