David Weller's Blog, page 3

20 ChatGPT Prompts to Learn a Language

Learning a language with ChatGPT is totally doable - if you use the right prompts.

Most learners get stuck asking vague questions like “teach me Spanish.” That’s like asking someone to build you a house with no blueprints. The trick is knowing what to ask - and how to structure it - so ChatGPT becomes your personal tutor, not just a chatbot.

In this guide, you’ll get 20 powerful prompt types that cover speaking, listening, reading, and writing. They're practical, repeatable, and designed to get re...

🤖 Launching: 'AI Education News'

Hi everyone,

Today I’m stepping a little outside the TEFL world to share something new I’ve been working on: a curated newsletter for educators navigating the world of artificial intelligence.

It’s called AI Education News, and it launched last week.

👉 Subscribe here

Why an AI newsletter?

If you’ve ever tried to keep up with AI developments lately, you’ll know the feeling: constant updates, jargon-heavy reports, and very little that directly relates to your actual teaching.

That’s the gap I’m hoping t...

How AI Is Changing Bloom’s Taxonomy for TEFL

Bloom’s Taxonomy is the classic learning framework.

It’s been around for decades and is great for lesson planning (see my previous article on 7 ways to plan with Bloom’s), but now that AI can generate stories, correct essays, and answer grammar questions instantly, is it still relevant?

Yes and no.

AI doesn’t make Bloom’s irrelevant, but it can change how we use it. It can supercharge it.

In this article, I’ll show you exactly how AI supports critical thinking at each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy and ...

Free AI Learning Resources for Educators

One word to sum up what educators are feeling about AI - confusion.

AI seems to be everywhere, but it’s hard to know what it can and can’t do, what actions you need to take (if any). Some are sticking their heads in the sand, some are sure it’s going to take over the world (and their jobs). Most are somewhat curious, but too busy to spend hours searching online to end up even more confused.

Good news: you don’t need to spend a penny to get a solid grounding in how AI can actually help you in the c...

3 Types of Scaffolding for Student Success

The secret to helping English learners thrive isn’t harder lessons - it’s smarter scaffolds.
When your students struggle, it’s rarely because they’re lazy or unmotivated. Often, it’s because they need better bridges between what they know and what they’re trying to learn.

In this article, I’ll show you a simple, three-part scaffolding framework that you can plug straight into your lessons - and help your students grow faster with less stress.

What is scaffolding?

Scaffolding is a temporary support t...

Teaching, Burnout & AI

When teachers talk about burnout, it’s rarely the lessons.

It’s the mountain of admin, the endless decisions, the mental load of retyping, refiling, resubmitting. The work that drains your time and spirit.

This isn’t about teaching better—it’s about teaching lighter. AI, used well, can help you do exactly that, without losing your standards, voice, or magic.

Thanks for reading Barefoot TEFL Teacher! Subscribe for free to receive new posts.

Why did you start teaching?

No one becomes a teacher for the...

Free book for 7 days: ChatGPT for Language Teachers (2025 Edition)

It’s wild to think that the first edition of ChatGPT for Language Teachers came out in May 2023. Back then, AI in education still felt experimental. Now? It’s everywhere.

That’s why I’m thrilled to announce the fully updated 2025 edition – packed with practical, time-saving strategies to help you harness the power of the latest LLMs (like GPT-4.5 and Claude 3.7) in your language teaching.

From lesson planning and materials creation to storytelling, assessment, and classroom management, this versio...

New Resources Page with 159 Websites

Something a little different for this week’s newsletter - a list of my fave TEFL lesson planning and resource websites.

Of course, you there are ways to always create resources.

You’ll see it in the link in the navigation bar on the site, or you can visit it here:

Resources Page

Please contribute!

Please add a comment below, or reply to send me an email with your suggestions if I’ve missed a site.

I’ll be updating this page regularly!

Good luck and good teaching.

If you liked this article, you’ll love m...

10 Top TEFL Teaching Tips

Most TEFL teachers know the basics—lesson planning, student engagement, and error correction. But to move beyond competence and into mastery, you need to refine your approach, troubleshoot common issues, and anticipate student needs before they arise.

Here’s how you can level up your TEFL teaching with research-backed, classroom-tested strategies.

1. Redefine lesson planning

Most teachers plan to cover material, but high-impact planning ensures learning happens.

Backward design – Start with what st...

6 Challenges of TEFL Teaching

What are the biggest challenges in TEFL?

I had a fascinating conversation about the challenges for TEFL teachers, and I was challenged to come up with the hardest. Here they are!

1. Classroom and behaviour management

I’ve never met a teacher who didn’t occasionally struggle with these.

Behavioural issues can even surprise experienced teachers. I remember after having a few very well behaved classes, I loosened my behaviour management system and had a bit more fun, only for it to bite me when my nex...