Category Archives: Teaching Approaches

What About The Teacher? – ELT Vista

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Press Release — October 2025

ELT Vista Re-established in the USA

ELT Vista, the original project that later evolved into ELT Visa, has now been re-established in the United States. The new website can be found at www.eltvista.com.

Much of the content first published through ELT-Vista periodical in the early 2000s and appearing on this website has been revised, expanded, and incorporated into the newly released book, What About the Teacher? – A Humanistic Guide to Self-Actualization for TESOL Teachers, now available on Amazon in both digital and paperback editions.

Published in September 2025, What About the Teacher? offers a reflective and non-linear exploration of teaching that blends practical TESOL methodology with the deeper human dimensions of professional growth. It emphasizes the teacher’s own development as central to the learning process—addressing not only how we teach but why.

The book carries forward the humanistic and arts-inspired spirit of the original ELT-Vista periodical while expanding its reach through new reflective sections, professional tasks, and thematic explorations of learner autonomy, identity, and self-actualization.

To learn more or to read the full article about the book, please visit the updated ELT Vista website at www.eltvista.com.

📘 Book Link: What About the Teacher? – A Humanistic Guide to Self-Actualization for TESOL Teachers on Amazon

The Devil’s Advocate: Why Should A Lesson Be Fun?

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As an EFL teacher for the last quarter century (sounds more impressive than 25 years), I have been taught and have taught other teachers the profits, or perhaps more accurately the necessity, of providing an enjoyable lesson. I have said in my teacher training workshops that if the students are not enjoying their lesson, they will simply tune out and perhaps even become disruptive. It all sounds perfectly logical, politically correct and nurturing.

In terms of teaching students, I have often experienced, as I am sure you have too, a sense that you can actually feel the learning process taking place when you have given your students a task that interests and motivates them. The question is, however, does it always have to be like this? Also, can it always be like this? More fundamentally, is it wise, educationally speaking, to put so much emphasis on creating entertaining lessons, and at the end of the day, will our students truly benefit from adopting this kind of approach.

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The Cross-Curricular and Critical Thinking Connection

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Defining the Cross-Curricular approach to teaching is much easier than putting it into practice. This is because much forethought is needed into actually setting up a task or project as well as integrating different academic disciplines, matching said disciplines to component tasks, and then facilitating the usual management that comes along with any large-scale project. Whether you are contemplating a school level project involving many academic disciplines and class levels or you are an EFL teacher trying to weave different academic subjects into your class as material, the keyword, as mentioned above is “thought”. Yes, it takes much analytical thought. Critical analytical thought to be precise!

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