Talking ELT

For quite a few years now, I have travelled to various countries of the world talking about language teaching, either on publisher-sponsored author tours, or as an invitee at various teaching conferences. As a result I have been lucky enough to make friends – and have colleagues – in places (for example) as far afield as Argentina and Austria, Japan and Colombia, Syria and Spain, Thailand and Turkey, Canada and Australia, Bangladesh and Taiwan, the USA and Greece. One of my main delights is working and networking with teachers on these visits and learning that despite the many differences between our specific situations, teachers all over the world have basically the same aspirations, share the same concerns, wrestle with the same sets of problems and rejoice in the same kind of success.