Charlie Ellis

Charlie is a researcher and EFL teacher who writes on culture, politics, sport and specialty coffee. He has published several academic articles on political ideology and culture. His current projects include examining the thought of the political theorist and essayist Bernard Crick, and work on the rich cultural life of the Scottish artist and promoter of the visual and performing arts Richard Demarco. Email: [email protected]

Fringe benefits: using an arts festival as a resource

Charlie Ellis explains how the Edinburgh Fringe Festival provided him with resources and inspiration for his teaching, and suggests how you can add a Fringe flavour to your lessons.

Oblique strategies: finding inspiration from cards

Charlie Ellis uses the ‘Oblique strategies’ cards developed by Brian Eno to provide inspiration for his teaching – and develops his own set of cards which can be used at random.

In defence of politics: tackling a taboo subject

Charlie Ellis argues that there is a place for the discussion of politics, as defined by Bernard Crick, in the language teaching classroom and that it shouldn’t be regarded as a taboo subject.