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"!

The Value of Self

In this month’s blog, David Dodgson, our MET resident blogger, shares his thoughts on teachers’ workloads, the importance of self-development, and the drive for self-improvement. He also considers the need to seek activities and relaxation away from our teaching day jobs, and makes the case for being self-centred once in a while to improve our performance in the classroom.

The keys to being an effective teacher

We all strive to be the best teachers we can, but what are the key components of being an effective teacher? Is it even possible to master our craft of language teaching? David Dodgson reflects on his career and a recent mentoring experience to explore these questions and come up with some answers.

Simply Study Skills

Following on from his look at ‘getting to know you’ activities in last month’s post, MET’s blogger David Dodgson this time focuses on establishing independent learning habits and encouraging the development of study skills. He shares what he does with his EAL students to encourage them to engage with the language around them and be active learners.