David Dodgson

David Dodgson blogged for Modern English Teacher over 4.5 years up to the end of 2021. During his time as the MET blogger, David wrote 52 posts spanning his teaching and managerial experiences across 3 different countries and 3 different jobs and drawing on his 20+ years in ELT. Throughout his career, David has worked in Kazakhstan, Bahrain, Turkey and Gabon, gaining experience with young learners, adults, EAL students and exam preparation classes, and holds an MA in EdTech and TESOL and the Trinity DipTESOL. When he finally returned to the UK, he relished the challenge of teaching in the UK for the first time as EAL Coordinator in a leading independent school, which was reflected in some of his more recent posts. David still continues to write, so expect to see articles from him in the new-look MET, as well as in publications like MET, ETp and TESL-EJ. You can find his personal blog here. His interests include supporting learning with technology, and teacher self-development. He also uses digital games as authentic materials for language learning, and blogs about it at eltsandbox.wordpress1.com. David believes that writing articles and blog posts allows you to be part of the wider ELT community, provides a platform to share and reflect on your experiences and to learn from others by engaging with the world of ELT beyond your own personal teaching context. So above all, his advice is to "write on"!

A timely reflection on blogging and its benefits

Why is blogging useful for professional development (PD)? Is it still relevant today? In the last four and half years, David Dodgson has written 52 fantastic blog posts for MET. In his sign-off post, he reflects on how blogging can be a vehicle for PD and on his time writing with us.

Why Oracy Matters for Language Learners

Education programmes around the world promote literacy as a learning goal, but what about oracy? What does ‘oracy’ mean anyway? Our latest MET blog post explains what oracy is, why it is important for language learners and how it can be used in practice.

Moving Forwards: Positive Directions in ELT

Having now moved back to the UK after working internationally for almost 20 years, our resident blogger David Dodgson takes time this month to look at current trends in ELT. In particular, he focuses on two positive trends that must continue to develop as our profession moves forwards while also highlighting work that still needs to be done.

Who are you? Exploring identity in the ESL classroom

With a new academic year starting in many parts of the world, it is time to meet our new classes of English language learners. So, who are our new learners? In this blog, David discusses what ‘get to know you’ really means and how it can set the tone for a course of learning.

The Other Side of Feedback

Having focused on making the most of the feedback we receive in last month’s post, David Dodgson this month turns his attention to an equally important part of the process – giving feedback. He discusses some of the pitfalls to avoid when discussing an observed lesson and advocates a seemingly simple but subtly skilled approach to ensure teachers get the most out of the process.