About the Bloggers

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Hi, I’m Steve. I live in Madrid and work at the British Council. I’ve worked in ELT  for twenty something years and have taught English in the UK, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Spain. Like a lot of people, I stumbled into teaching, found out that I love it and can probably say I’m in it for life.

Things I’m interested in the classroom include using clips from film and TV to work on a variety of language areas and skills, vocabulary acquisition, pronunciation, and getting students to speak more and better.

Hi, I’m Tom. I’ve been teaching English for over 20 years and am now working in materials development and teacher training for Oxford University having spent the previous 16 at the British Council in Madrid. I’m also a freelance teacher trainer and am fascinated by the areas of motivation, group dynamics and a more personalised methodology via practical applications of the Dogme approach, for example.

35 Comments on “About the Bloggers”

  1. Sonia Chislett says:
    March 10, 2011 at 09:20

    Great! Really impressive. I loved the film and the idea of using the beginning is very good. I’ll try is out next week.
    More please!

    Reply
  2. Ceri says:
    March 10, 2011 at 20:59

    Hi Great to see the two of you entering the blogosphere 🙂
    Ceri

    Reply
  3. kierandonaghy says:
    November 11, 2011 at 18:03

    Hi,
    I’m really impressed with your blog. Great use of video and very motivating activities. Keep up the good work!
    All the best,
    Kieran

    Reply
  4. All.at.C says:
    November 12, 2011 at 20:23

    Thanks for coming by and commenting, Kieran. Always happy to see updates to the great selection of video and activities on your blog.

    Reply
  5. Patti Trimborn says:
    January 28, 2012 at 11:14

    Hi, Tom and Steve,

    I was just introduced to this blog, but will keep looking around and will definitely share it with my colleages. Congratulations on the award and all the great work.

    Best wishes,
    Patti

    Reply
  6. Ana García Álvarez de Perea says:
    November 18, 2012 at 18:12

    Excellent work, I will add you up to my blogroll!

    Reply
  7. Sara says:
    December 10, 2012 at 01:09

    Hola Tom
    Just wondering. Where were you in july-august 1991 or 1992, sorry I need to check again,? maybe working as a teacher in a sort of summer camp in CR? Just to say that I still remember you and your classes; I was in the advanced levels and you opened a new world in terms of English. I remember songs like polka-do-pyjamas or something like that
    Thank you so much. I see you have become even a greater professional
    Congrats

    Reply
    • All.at.C says:
      December 10, 2012 at 19:48

      Hi Sara. I did indeed spend 5 very happy summers many years ago in C-LM working on those courses. Thanks very much for your kind words! It’s nice to be remembered and it’s even better to see that you went on to greater things with your English! Lovely to hear from you again.

      Reply
      • Charo says:
        September 19, 2014 at 11:53

        Hi, Tom!
        Actually she isn’t the only one who has been influenced by your teaching ideas. Those summers were so great, haha. And we were soooooo young.
        (Can you imagine months of reading and following this blog without knowing that your were involved in it? I should have noticed it before. Now I’m in shock!)
        Thanks you two for all this hard work plenty of awesome class ideas. And please, keep on!! ;p
        greetings,
        Charo.

      • All.at.C says:
        September 25, 2014 at 15:38

        Thanks Charo! Nice to hear from you again. Glad you like the blog – especially as you didn’t know who was behind it!

  8. Fran says:
    April 12, 2013 at 19:58

    Thanks for sharing all your hard work with us in Palma de Mallorca

    Reply
  9. Emma GL says:
    December 4, 2013 at 08:28

    Hello there! Thank you so much for adding me to your blogroll! I really appreciate it. And of course thank you for all your lessons – they are always interesting and were a real help to me when I got my first CAE class (3 hours with teenagers on a Friday afternoon). I used your My Blackberry isn’t working lesson with a class yesterday. The class was groaning at all the jokes but we enjoyed it too. We finished with a chat about technology names, phones and jokes. Thank you!

    Reply
    • All.at.C says:
      December 4, 2013 at 15:19

      Hi Emma. It’s great to hear you like the activities and even better to hear that your students do too! And if you’re on our blogroll it’s because we like your ideas as well! Thanks for commenting and enjoy your teaching down south.

      Reply
  10. Lautridou Celine says:
    April 13, 2014 at 19:22

    Hello Tom,

    How are you doing?
    I’m Celine, from Dublin July 2012!
    I’m going to take the agregation exam next year (French top exam for teachers) and one of the topic is the famine in Ireland. If you know of a book that would be worth reading or a person worth contacting it would be very nice of you and very helpful.
    Meeting you was really great, and so is your blog (I’ve used granny o’grimm this year and it worked pretty well)
    Thanks
    Celine

    Reply
    • All.at.C says:
      April 22, 2014 at 12:12

      Hi Celine! Lovely to hear from you and glad you like the blog!
      I know two books which are really good. The first is a fictionalised account by Liam O’Flaherty, which is simply called “Famine” and the second is by Ireland’s most respected modern historian, Tim Pat Coogan and it’s called “The Famine Plot”.
      Let me know (you have my email!) if you need anything else and the best of luck in the exam!
      Slán,
      Tom

      Reply
  11. sparkybakewell says:
    April 28, 2014 at 11:13

    I saw Tom at TESOL Madrid this year and am now hooked on his and Steve’s blog – great ideas to keep sleepy teens motivated and also interesting for businessmen who are bored with talk of presentation skills! Love it thanks Lucy (SparkyBakewell for Tom’s purpose)

    Reply
  12. Tanya says:
    July 17, 2014 at 10:59

    Wonderful BLOG with plenty of ideas!!!
    All the best,
    Tanya

    Reply
  13. Haen Jung says:
    August 19, 2014 at 03:33

    really gooood !!

    Reply
  14. Oil Your English says:
    February 17, 2016 at 14:56

    Cool blog! #feelinginspired

    Reply
  15. Tina Klemmer says:
    April 6, 2016 at 16:41

    Just discovered your blog through Film English and realized it’s you Tom Spain!!! Great job, very interesting. Well done you guys! Tina Montpellier

    Reply
  16. Lucy Elliott says:
    March 29, 2017 at 12:54

    Hi, how can I view the videos for the Marks and Spencer adverts? When I clicked on the link, it said it’s private…

    Reply
    • All.at.C says:
      March 30, 2017 at 22:13

      Hi Lucy
      I’ve just had a look for the videos and can’t find them anywhere. Marks and Spencer must have taken them down, unfortunately. Will let you know if I come across them, and if you see them anywhere, please let us know.

      Reply
  17. Susana says:
    December 3, 2018 at 21:08

    Hi there!!!!
    I miss your lessons so much! Will you prepare something for this Christmas?
    looking forward to it! I love this blog!

    Reply
  18. sharonvioleta says:
    June 16, 2019 at 21:54

    I just wanted to drop a note – I love your blog and have used many-a-lesson. I wish you still updated it (more than only at xmas time). Thank you again.

    Reply

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