Songs in Class — Why They Actually Work
1. What is the 'affective filter'? Krashen's term for the emotional barrier that blocks input when learners feel anxious or unsafe. Music lowers it.
Tag: teaching
Teaching with ADHD: What My Neurodivergent Brain Taught Me About Learning
Diagnosed with ADHD in my late thirties, I learnt that attention is not binary. What that taught me about structure, openness and hyperfocus in the English classroom, and what the research says.
The Stoic Teacher: Managing Outcomes You Cannot Control
Epictetus divided the world into what is up to us and what is not. What that distinction means for a teacher when a well-planned lesson falls flat, and a two-question ritual for before and after…
Why I Teach: The Philosophical Case for Language Education
There is a question I return to regularly, usually on the mornings before a difficult lesson: why do I do this? Not in the existential spiral sense, but as a genuine inquiry. Teaching English is…