About me



What do you need to know about me? Well, if you're interested in this blog, odds are you work in EFL or education so let's start there. :)

I currently work in Bahrain as the ICT coordinator at the British Council. Before this, I was a language school coordinator and EAL specialist at an international school in Gabon.

Prior to my African adventure, I worked as an EFL teacher in Turkey for 14 years. I initially did my teacher training in Barcelona, Spain and Turkey was the first stop on an international adventure of language teaching and travelling. The desire to teach language soon overtook the desire to travel and it took a once in a lifetime opportunity to teach and work in tropical Africa to finally tempt me away..

I have worked a variety of learner types and age groups during my career, teaching general English, ESP, EAP, and prep classes for exams like IELTS, TOEFL and FCE. As a teacher, I believe in promoting learner autonomy and critical thinking skills and I see effective use of technology and taking a leaf out of the Dogme ELT/Teaching Unplugged book as the way to do this.

Beyond that, I have a growing interest in using video and computer games in class (see my ELT Sandbox blog for more details) and I have led quite a few teacher training sessions over the last several years (check out the Presentations & Workshops page to see what I've done so far). I see self-development as a key to becoming a successful teacher and blogging is a big part of that for me (but you'll have to read more about that on the About This Blog page!)

If there's anything else you want to know, keep reading the blog. You can also connect with me on Twitter (@DaveDodgson).

A few relevant links of a more personal nature:

Comments

  1. Nadiyah18 August 2011 at 02:36

    Hi teacher Dave, Nice to meet you!
    I'm a learner of English, being happy when I found this blog. I joined at some sites for the purposes of my knowledge and just fun:) thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Josette19 October 2011 at 16:23

    Hello Dave,

    I am a TESOL teacher educator in South Korea. I came across your blog via a Facebook link to http://burcuakyol.com/2011/10/six-reasons-why-you-cannot-be-a-bad-teacher/. The title of your blog caught my eye because I am also a reflective blogger. I've even presented on the concept of using blogging as a reflective tool for teacher development. I'm happy to meet another reflective teacher in the blogospehre.

    I'm happy to make your acquaintance and look forward to reading your blog.

    Happy blogging!
    Josette

    ReplyDelete
  3. DaveDodgson19 October 2011 at 19:40

    Hi Josette,

    Thanks for commenting here. I strongly believe blogging is a great way for teachers to develop. I know it's not for everyone but I always try to get colleagues to at least read a few blogs. Then maybe they'll comment, then maybe they'll start writing one.... ;)

    By the way, I tried to look at your blog but the page wouldn't load..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Josette20 October 2011 at 08:28

    Hello Dave,

    Thank you for going through the effort of finding me! Sorry about the link to my address. I'm trying to work that out now.

    I see that you are as enthusiastic about bringing other teachers on board as I am. On that note, I am about to add you to my blogroll :)

    Now that I finally understand how Twitter works, my community of reflective teacher/learner bloggers just got bigger. It is very exciting!

    When I try to post using my tokenteach.wordpress.com address, I am denied. I was having this issue last night and tried another option. I wonder if there is some disconnect between blogger and wordpress. I just had the same problem...hmmmm?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jessicat14 December 2013 at 10:37

    Hi Dave!
    My boyfriend and I are really keen to come to Turkey and teach (we are currently in Korea). However! We have been hearing such mixed reviews. We had been looking at applying with Teach to Travel. Some people say it's great, others say to steer clear. Have you heard of said recruiters? Or do you know of any reliable schools or recruiters we could look into?
    Cheers for blogging!
    Jessica

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DaveDodgson13 January 2014 at 22:38

      Sorry for the late reply but this comment slipped through the net over Christmas and New Year.

      A lot depends on which school you work at. Some are great and offer a good package while others perhaps offer a good package but fail to follow through on it.

      I have never heard of Teach to travel so I can't be of any help there.

      I hope you enjoy your time here!

      Delete
  6. Elisha Ding10 July 2015 at 22:43

    Hi David,
    My name is Ai-Chu Ding. I am a doctoral student at Indiana University, United States. I have been reading your blog and I really admire your deep reflection and all the amazing ideas you have shared. I am contacting you because my colleagues and I would like to investigate how ESL/EFL teachers view and use technology in their classrooms. We are particularly interested in talking with you because your blog contains posts related to integrating technology resources or tools in language teaching and learning, and you have taught English to non-native speakers. We would ask that you let us include your blog posts as our research data and speak with us in an interview. I really hope you would be willing to participate in our study. Please let me know if you are willing to participate in this research. I will send you more information about our study via email as well. Thank you very much and look forward to hearing from you.

    best,
    Ai-Chu Ding
    ading@indiana.edu

    ReplyDelete

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