Podcasts for ELT teachers

Anyone who’s followed my blog for a while knows I’m a fan of podcasts. I’ve occasionally written about ELT podcasts before, and have been meaning to collect together a list of them in one place for a while. The wait is finally over 🙂

To minimise the amount of editing I may need to do with this list in the future (I hope!) I’ve only linked to the website for each podcast, and from there you can find all of the links to follow it on podcast streaming services. I’ve included a brief summary of the type of content and typical episode lengths.

Please add a comment if you have any other English Language Teaching podcasts to add to the list, or if any of the links are broken.

*Disclaimer: I’m a co-presenter of one of these, and have popped up on various of them. No favouritism is intended!

(Last updated: 9th May 2022)

Developod

The podcast of the IATEFL TDSIG (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language Teacher Development Special Interest Group). A mix of interviews and discussions.

20-50 minutes

ELTchat podcast

Produced until 2014, but content is still relevant. Conversations following on from #ELTchat Twitter chats. The website lists the content, but you’ll need to Google for links to the episodes as the JavaScript no longer works. For example, on Apple.

10-45 minutes

ELTCPD

Lots of recent episodes (as I write this) have been connected to materials writing. Interview format

25-45 minutes

ESL talk

(Recommended by Tyson Seburn)

Each episode focuses on one main topic, with the podcast released in seasons. Discussion format

30-55 minutes

Expand Your Horizons

(Recommended by Stephanie Vogel)

Episodes are either interviews, or centred around practical tips. Summaries are available on their website

25-60 minutes

SLB Coop podcast

(Recommended by Peter Fenton)

Produced until 2017. Coursebooks, task-based language teaching, second-language acquisition, racism, precarity have all been covered

60-100 minutes

Sponge Chats

Wide-ranging conversations, often related to management and teacher training

45-65 minutes

Stand out in ELT! with Ola Kowalska

Here’s one that feels quite different. Ola talks about being a freelance teacher (ELTpreneur / teacherpreneur), discussing challenges, and providing lots of tips to make your teaching business as successful as it can be

30 minutes

Tea with BVP / Talkin L2 with BVP

(Recommended by Peter Fenton)

Produced until 2018. More academically focussed podcasts, looking at Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and language teaching

60 minutes

Teacher Talking Time

(Recommended by Peter Fenton)

A mix of interviews, and in-depth looks at specific topics in a conversational format

35-80 minutes

Teachers Talk Radio

(Recommended by Tyson Seburn)

Not just a podcast, but a whole talk radio station!

The TEFL Commute Podcast

‘A podcast for language teachers that isn’t about language teaching’

The team (including me) chat around various subjects, which may be more or less directly related to the classroom. There’s always an activity for your classroom at the end of the podcast, and sometimes others during the episode, depending on the topic.

20-60 minutes

Who’s Zooming Who? mini series, covering ideas for teaching online = 10-15 minutes

The TEFLology podcast

A range of different episode types. The numbered episodes include TEFL news, TEFL history (focussing on historical figures) and TEFL cultures (focussing on a key concept). There are also in-depth interviews, excerpts from John Fanselow’s Small Changes, Big Results book, and other ideas too.

40-60 minutes

Bonus extra: The TEFLology creators have published a book called Podcasting and Professional Development: A Guide for English Language Teachers [Amazon affiliate link] with the-round, which gives a useful introduction to creating your own podcasts.