I am writing this editorial from a small house in Brazil with exotic birds flying around and monkeys playing in the trees outside. This time last week, I was running professional development (PD) sessions at Oxford University for teachers of English from over thirty different countries. I’m truly struck by this global profession.

The courses were themed and, depending on the tutor, covered: grammar; wellbeing; assessment; materials development; pronunciation; and international communication. Running the sessions required huge amounts of concentration because each participant had things to say and stories to tell. There was a teacher from Afghanistan who had been in hiding there until a few months ago when she was finally allowed to leave and is now living in London. Last year, MET featured an article raising awareness of over 100 teachers like her; it was very moving to see her in Oxford. A really happy ending. Also on the PD course, there was a teacher from Ukraine whose country is in the middle of a terrible war, yet she continues to do her job, teach her classes and produce brilliant teaching resources. Doing my own job so close to home – and without any challenging external issues – made me realise how fortunate I am. More of the participants will be featuring in this and future issues.

It was interesting to note that two of the major preoccupations of teachers are wellbeing and artificial intelligence, both subjects we have featured in issues already this year. The expectations of teachers from colleagues, learners, parents, institutions and other stakeholders continues to grow, yet this is rarely reflected in salary. It is already a demanding role, being watched as you work by whole classes, and sometimes by extra observers. On top of that, the administration linked to teaching grows each year, as does the pressure to achieve results. It is not surprising that some teachers can keep it up for only a short time. We need to find ways of keeping teachers in their jobs, as well as recruiting new ones, but, unfortunately, a little like nursing, there is an assumption that there will always be enough. It’s quite a gamble to treat the future of health and education in this way!

Artificial intelligence, or AI as it is known, is seen by many as the perfect solution to recruitment issues in many sectors. Although it is not really a threat to teachers, it is a new area we are going to have to be well informed about. Our learners can really benefit from it if they use it wisely. I am sure it will feature in most issues over the next couple of years.

For this issue, we took the theme of classroom management and, as I had just finished compiling the magazine for copyediting and design when I started my course, it was inevitable that I should observe my own ways of handling the class, the room and the equipment. In terms of rooms, it was a typical Oxford college with a wide range of teaching spaces. None of them was huge so most classes had to remain seated once installed around the table. This meant that monitoring was trickier and it was not that easy to listen in on pairs and groups as they worked together. It did mean, however, we could escape to the quad occasionally for larger, mingling activities. One warmer led by a teacher from Chile involved writing a short sentence about yourself on a paper airplane and then we all flew them; on picking them up we tried to work out whose airplane was whose! It was a great activity and a good example of where sometimes an activity starts to take more time than expected and the lesson goes off in a new direction. It was a valid change of plan to go outside and let this activity take up more time. If a senior academic had been passing, I might have struggled to justify it but we definitely never stepped on the grass so no college rules were broken.

In terms of the class itself, I am always conscious of not letting any students dominate but also aware that not everyone has something they want to say. Because all the courses are delivered in English, there is inevitably a range of confidence and accents – this means you have to be very careful not to emphasise the form over the content. Because of my role, I am more experienced in understanding this variety of Englishes than most of the participants – but it is equally important that everyone’s English is seen as being of equal importance. This is a delicate balancing trick for the trainer.

As far as the technology was concerned, I tried to avoid PowerPoint-induced boredom, but at the same time there has to be a record of the session for the participants to take away. I used Padlet as a repository for my resources and contributions from the class and this worked well. With a mix of theory and practice – probably 20–80% in favour of practice – we manged to find a good balance. Having two classes doing the same session each day meant I had immediate feedback from the first class as to how to amend the second! Always handy.

Now in Brazil, I switch from teacher to learner. I have a chance to practise my very basic Portuguese and acquire some new expressions and vocabulary. Thus far it is limited to fruit, vegetables and birds; but I have two more weeks to build on my beginner-level oral skills. Life-long learning is not a theory, it really does happen! Wherever you are, I hope you have enjoyed or are enjoying a break from teaching and come back with lots of new ides and the energy to try them out. When I leave Brazil I will remember the proverb I heard in Oxford last week: ‘I’m smiling with one eye and crying with the other.’ I’m leaving new friends I’ve made but happy to be back with my old friends and colleagues. I hope you feel the same about the end of the holidays. Have a great September and October!

Robert McLarty

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