How Can Teachers Inspire Students, Teach Intonation and Use Information Gaps? TEFL A-Z I – S06E09

How can English teachers inspire students to speak more, use intonation to change meaning and create purposeful interaction in class?In this episode of the How to English TEFL Podcast, Gav and Em explore the letter I in their A–Z of TEFL. They begin with the importance of capitalising the pronoun “I” before discussing how teachers can encourage fuller answers by showing genuine interest, setting high expectations and finding something worth talking about—even when a learner says, “Nothing special.”Em demonstrates how stressing different words in “I didn’t say he had stolen my bike” produces eight possible interpretations. It is a simple pronunciation activity that shows learners how sentence stress and intonation communicate meaning beyond grammar and vocabulary.Gav and Em also reveal the unexpected roles teachers take on, from administrator and navigator to counsellor, cheerleader, detective and technical support. Em then puts Gav through a technical information-gap activity about a turbine, demonstrating how missing information can generate focused speaking, listening, pronunciation and note-taking practice.How can teachers avoid imposing their own cultural expectations? Gav introduces intercultural reflection questions covering stereotypes, silence, disagreement, eye contact and the assumption that our own behaviour is universal. They discuss ways to challenge stereotypes without turning the classroom into a confrontation.Finally, Gav explains why active, social and responsive interaction can make learning more meaningful and memorable. Em shares an easy name-and-adjective icebreaker before they race through idioms, indirect questions, instructions, implicit learning and interactive whiteboards.Drawing on their years of international English-teaching experience, Gav and Em combine practical classroom ideas with honest discussion and the occasional mysterious saucepan.If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpodVisit https://howtoenglishpod.com for practical teaching ideas and resources ready to use.00:00 Welcome to I in the A–Z of TEFL01:12 Why the pronoun I always needs a capital letter03:00 How can teachers inspire students to speak?05:13 Setting expectations for fuller answers08:13 Teaching intonation and sentence stress11:34 The unexpected responsibilities of a teacher15:00 The many roles teachers take on18:31 What is an information-gap activity?20:38 Technical information-gap demonstration23:01 Checking understanding after a speaking task24:02 Intercultural reflection for English teachers25:31 Challenging cultural stereotypes sensitively27:10 Are our own behaviours really universal?28:15 Silence, disagreement and eye contact29:51 Why interaction deepens learning31:14 Demonstrating responsive listening32:30 Why icebreakers matter33:17 Name-and-adjective icebreaker35:30 Idioms, indirect questions and instructions36:22 Implicit learning and interactive whiteboards37:30 Support the podcast and closing