Fluency isn’t a skill, it’s an identity, with Ola Kowalska | Advanced English Conversations for Listening Practice

In this episode of Hear You Go (E94), Ola and I have a conversation about a variety of topics that range from language to identity and womanhood, and to the future of English language teaching.

We explore the very taxing emotional labour carried by many teachers, the commodification of language learning, and thank goodness, the growing need and desire for more human approaches to teaching and learning English.

We also dig into:

• native speakerism and feelings of shame carried by many learners
• why many adult learners “know” English but struggle to speak it even after years of studying
• language coaching and alternative teaching approaches such as the lexical approach, dogme ELT, and TBLT (task-based language teaching)
• positive changes in ELT that champion inclusivity, neurodivergence, and representation
• and yes, even hope for change in an industry at a turning point

There’s a lot of information to digest in this episode. Be sure to stay to the end to hear Ola introduce her new project, Language is a Woman, a community exploring language through creativity, feminism, identity, and collective care.

Links you need:

You can find Ola here:

• Instagram: @language_isawoman

• Website: www.languageisawoman.com

Here is the link to Rachael Robert’s plenary that Ola mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzNo6Aj7i2A

Women in ELT book that Ola recommends: Women in ELT: The brain, language and power | Pavilion ELT 

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