Wayne Trotman

What a gem of a series these pocket handbooks continue to create. I’ve calculated that all sixteen would fit comfortably into a decent sized hold-all that could be carted off to even the most remote ELT posting. Having had the pleasure of reviewing several of them in the past decade, I think 66 Essentials of Lesson Design is the one I’d be most likely to take with me on a first posting; and the least likely I’d lend to a colleague. Why the latter?

As I personally find AI very disturbing, it’s a topic I notice I’ve been actively avoiding by, for example, skipping seminars on this area and keeping my review copy of Nicky Hockly’s title well out of sight. On reflection, though, what an eye-opener reading it turned out to be! In the introduction to the 30 brief but hugely informative chapters, Hockly – a highly-regarded IT for ELT specialist – explains how she first encountered AI as far back as the early 1980s when she was a student.

As this is a history of TEFLers and not a history of TEFL, it is certainly a first, and anyone who has ever taught English overseas will love it. Written in two parts, the first part of The Experience of Expatriate English Language Teaching outlines the everyday experiences of expat TEFLers as depicted in fiction, memoirs, biographies and autobiographies. The second covers the history of the ELT profession as reported by language tutors dating from Shakespearian times to the present.