Question: what do YouTube analytics and ELT have in common? Answer: more than you think. Yesterday, I was watching a live stream replay of a YouTube channel I subscribe to. It was a big day in sports here in Canada and the channel was buzzing. As I’m writing this, the channel has 798K subscribers. Watching the replay myself, the speakers kept saying - due to the day’s action - that they had the most people watching the stream live they’d ever had. That number: 2500. That’s about 3% of their total subscriber base. 24 hours later, the video had 22,000 views. Almost 10x the amount of people watched it after the fact than live. What does that mean? I like to believe I’m a pretty observant person and I always try to make connections to my own life. The question this left me pondering was: what does that percentage mean for us in ELT? For education overall? For how the future of online education will look? I have no idea if a 3% live watch is an above, below, or exactly average number across all channels. But to hear them say that was their largest number ever gave me pause. The main reflection for me is this: are we as a world moving away from experiencing things as they happen? - social media is popular because we can consume it on our time - Netflix is popular because we don’t have to be in front of the tv at 7PM on a Wednesday - voice notes replace phone calls so we don’t actually have to be inconvenienced talking to another person I do believe this applies to education, too. We don’t work with students. We work with people. And people display human behaviours. It may not be today, but I do believe that the vast majority of education will move to the non-live model. Not because it’s a better learning experience. But because humans already behave that way. And in a time of short attention spans, busy schedules, and people not even wanting to commit to watch a stream live, it’s only a matter of time. Tik Tok. The most popular question we get when we run a webinar?

General English is the Tinder of ESL. A refusal to commit, amid a myriad of options. I like to say there are many similarities between businesses and relationships: - a (lack of) commitment - an (dis)alignment of interests - a (un)willingness to grow together At LYE, we discuss niching down as starting a relationship. Just as you wouldn’t (likely) go on a first date with the intention of marrying that person, you shouldn’t treat your niche that way, either. We break the niche process into three categories: 1. Dating 2. Moving in together 3. Putting a ring on it But in each stage, there is something constant: a willingness to commit on some level to that niche. Conversely, general English and conversation classes have no commitment whatsoever. And that’s why it’s the Tinder of language teaching. There are too many options. At every turn, you’re a swipe away from working with someone new. It’s an a la carte menu of anyone and everyone. And they’re all willing to hang out with you for a short while. Ask them to stay a little longer and they become skittish. From your side, it becomes tiring, time consuming, and expensive to continue working with all of them indefinitely. They all command your time in different, demanding ways. So you keep swiping. Rinse, and repeat. Playing the field is fun for as long as it’s fun. Eventually, though, people leave Tinder, and focus their attention elsewhere. If you’re struggling to move your niche game forward, ask yourself where your focus is or isn’t. And don’t be afraid to commit, even just a little bit.

#Reflection Well, there you go: https://www.instagram.com/teachergabrielarodrigues/ I'm sending my professional instagram profile. All help is welcome!

It's easier than you think. Yesterday, we shared why in our newsletter. Did you get a chance to read it? You can check it out here. Dogme isn't an educational movement, but a cinematic one. Before Scott Thornbury and Luke Meddings popularized Dogme inside the ELT industry, it existed in Denmark. In the film industry. Dogme 95 is a Danish film movement that sought to make movies “au natural,” so to speak. No fancy lighting, editing, or special effects.Just as it happened. If you've seen the films, you can judge for yourself. They're not for me. But in education, the idea stuck, and for good reason: - teach at the point of need - understand the needs of our students - coursebooks aren't natural! Ok, sure, that's all well and good and is easy for people to talk about. But how do we actually DO it? And in a course? Aren't Dogme and instructional design opposites? Read the post to find out. Let me know below what you think of this.

#Overcoming a Lack of Community Since I went solo, I've been applying for as many forums, workshops, speeches, talks, etc as I can fit in my crazy schedule. Trying to find a niche, and also learning what others are doing, so I can use it in my practice. It's been a work in progress, and I'm going against a few setbacks, but I'm doing it. I recently thought about getting in touch with a few people who have been teaching online for a while, but time has been my worst enemy.