Sponge Chats – Teacher Training with Borja Uruñuela

This blog post is part of the Sponge Chats video series.

A short time ago, I had the pleasure to sit down with trainer, manager, school owner, and author, Borja Uruñuela for the first Sponge Chat. For those of you that don’t know Borja, he is one of the owners of St. James, one of the most well-known language academies in Spain, as well as a prominent figure within ACEIA and TESOL, having been teaching and training for well over twenty-five years. I’ve seen Borja present at various ACEIA conferences many times, and every time I had the ‘that-was-a-great-session’ feeling. Because of this, I felt he was the perfect person to kick off the new video series.

In our talk, which can be seen here on the Sponge ELT YouTube channel or listen to in the podcast below, we spoke about many things from starting out as a non-native teacher and moving into teacher training, to tips on how to become a teacher trainer. A massive thank you to Borja for taking the time to sit down with me – it was insightful, rewarding, and I can’t wait to catch up again!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

If you don’t feel like watching the Sponge Chat, feel free to listen to the podcast on Spotify!

Perspectives on money management and investing for ELT professionals with Nicola Prentis (The Chilled Investor) – SPONGE ELT

In this Sponge Chat, Nicola and I delved into money and ELT – and why you should check out her Chilled Investor course: https://chilledinvestor.com/product/the-chilled-investor-course/  00:00 Introduction – Evolved Sponge Chats!   02:29 Hello!   04:30 Sponge Chats and Sponge Perspectives   05:00 Who is Nicola Prentis   06:30 The origins of The Chilled Investor  1030: Financial literacy   13:00 Nicola's false sense of security   17:30 What should ELT professionals consider doing financially?   23:00 Different types of investing   24:00 The Chilled Investor course   26:30 How much do you need to start?   30:30 What do I do when I see my investments going down?   35:00 Nicola's recommended resources   42:00 Nicola's three tips for you!

1. Perspectives on money management and investing for ELT professionals with Nicola Prentis (The Chilled Investor) 45:28
2. Sponge Chats – Teacher Training with Adrian Tennant 01:11:46
3. Sponge Chats – Teacher Training with Matt Ellman 56:56
4. Sponge Chats – Materials Writing with Silvina Mascitti 56:04
5. Sponge Chats – Materials Writing with Riccardo Chiappini and Ethan Mansur 01:06:17