How Can Eliciting, Echo Reading and English Exposure Improve Lessons? TEFL A-Z E – S06E05

How can teachers elicit more language, improve pronunciation and help learners get greater exposure to English?In this episode of How to English TEFL Podcast, Gav and Em continue their A–Z of TEFL with the letter E. They explore practical ways to encourage students to think, speak and contribute more—without teachers simply handing them every answer.Gav demonstrates an elicitation activity in which learners hear answers about household chores and create the questions. It develops question formation, tense awareness and conversational flexibility, with examples covering the present simple, present continuous, past simple, past continuous, present perfect and future forms.Em asks whether teachers should eat or drink during lessons, leading to a conversation about professionalism, enormous coffee cups and the dangers of choking on a lozenge. Gav and Em then discuss equity in English language education and why teaching materials should represent diverse people, cultures and perspectives.Looking for a lively pronunciation activity? Their emotional echo-reading game challenges learners to repeat sentences—or even individual words—with feelings such as sadness, anger, nervousness and happiness. It is a simple way to practise pronunciation, intonation, listening and expressive speaking at different levels.They also consider how learners can maximise their exposure to English through courses, podcasts, music, reading, apps, conversations, travel and everyday interactions. For teachers, there is an important reminder to monitor teacher talking time and create enough space for students to use the language themselves.Finally, Em’s tip of the week shows how to exploit a single coursebook question and develop it into a complete lesson involving vocabulary, second conditionals, modal verbs, dress codes, etiquette and discussion. Drawing on their classroom experience, Gav and Em demonstrate how a small prompt can generate a surprisingly rich lesson when teachers elicit learners’ ideas.If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod ☕Visit https://howtoenglishpod.com for practical English-teaching ideas and resources ready to use.Chapters00:00 Welcome and the letter E01:30 What is eliciting in English teaching?02:00 Question-building and grammar elicitation activity08:33 Should teachers eat or drink during lessons?12:00 Equity and inclusive English-language education13:30 How to use echo reading for pronunciation14:20 Emotional intonation guessing game19:00 How learners can increase their English exposure22:00 Teacher talking time and student speaking time24:15 Eager, engaged and empathetic learners29:30 Tip of the week: exploiting teaching materials30:40 Building a lesson from one coursebook question33:35 Final thoughts and goodbye