Uploaded February 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
It’s not easy to hit your target with a bow and arrow these days… Even if you are as expert an archer as Cupid. Yes, Legolas might have done slightly better, but the fact remains that hitting a moving target is not easy. The good thing is that Cupid is not prepared to give up so easily… Enjoy! 😊
[NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have only uploaded it here for educational purposes].
It’s not easy to hit your target with a bow and arrow these days… Even if you are as expert an archer as Cupid. Yes, Legolas might have done slightly better, but the fact remains that hitting a moving target is not easy. The good thing is that Cupid is not prepared to give up so easily… Enjoy! 😊
[NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have only uploaded it here for educational purposes].
![Psychology and ELT - Body Language
Why are some TED talks so hugely popular and others are not? Sure, content does count, but there appears to be another factor as well which plays a huge role. Body language. Watch Vanessa Van Edwards talk about her findings.
[NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have uploaded it here for educational purposes]. Psychology and ELT - Body Language](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZUq64IY9Xpg/mqdefault.jpg)


![Comedy for ELT - The Chase
An excellent little clip and a brilliant parody of action movies. Ideal for split-viewing; you get some of the students to watch it and then describe to the others what happens. Taken from the brilliant BBC series ‘Alas Smith and Jones’.
[NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have uploaded it here for educational purposes]. Comedy for ELT - The Chase](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/a0BEGX2d4eM/mqdefault.jpg)
![Psychology and ELT - Ownership
How do you get people to (re)connect with an idea / a product / a brand / an organisation / a cause? One way is to tell them how great these are. Another (and much better way) is to get THEM to do the ‘advertising’ for you! In this fantastic Case Study, McDonald’s managed to (re)connect with its fans (and many, many more people in the process) by asking them to design their own burger. Who would decide which one would qualify for the McDonald’s menu? Why, the people themselves of course! And did it work? Well, just watch the clip…
So – can we learn from the masters? Could we perhaps use the idea of ownership and involvement to get people to like their course / school / workplace / teaching association more? It’s up to us. [The key is for us to realise that we need to move from a ‘Tell and Sell’ to a ‘Participate and Play’ approach (Ferrier: ‘The Advertising Effect’ – p. 181)]
[NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have uploaded it here for educational purposes]. Psychology and ELT - Ownership](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aGQMnOmMVlU/mqdefault.jpg)
![Ads for ELT - Whodunnit
Here is a step-by-step guide for an amazing activity you can do with your students:
• Students work in pairs.
• Play the video clip in class [up to 0:53] and ask students to make a note of the suspects, what each of them says and how the detective manages to identify the culprit.
• Ask the students whether they noticed anything that had changed while the detective was talking (chances are the answer is going to be ‘No’).
• Play the clip again – up to 0:53. This time students are likely to spot 2-3 changes.
• Play the clip until the end.
• Students have to make quick notes of all the changes they see. They then try to write them down using their notes and what they remember.
• Pairs score 1 point for each of the 21 changes they manage to recall properly.
• [Alternatively – to help students practice reading – you can show the students a passage describing all the changes; in the passage, make sure you include a number of mistakes (e.g. ‘a stuffed polar bear’ – instead of ‘a stuffed black bear’). Students will have to use their notes and memory to spot the mistakes].
In terms of motivation, few activities can match this one. Unless they have seen something similar in the past, students are simply stunned!
[NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have uploaded it here for educational purposes]. Ads for ELT - Whodunnit](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ao-v31eI3Pw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Human Nature - Israelis and Palestinians
Watch this fantastic short clip by the great (Israeli) Daniel Kahneman to see what insights Psychology can offer into the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Looking at the issue from the point of view of Israel, Professor Kahneman says that peace is difficult – very difficult. Here is why:
- Power imbalance [1:07]: A power imbalance makes the powerful look down on the powerless (indeed, according to N. Epley (Epley 2014, Ch. 3), it often leads us to dehumanize our powerless adversaries), they are less empathetic, prone to contempt and they have a sense of entitlement. Israel is by far the more powerful party.
- Habituation [2:53]: We very easily ‘habituate’ to a certain state of affairs – thinking that it is going to last forever. Israel enjoys a number of privileges it would have to give up in order to attain peace. It is very hard to do that.
- Loss aversion [4:45]: Losses (esp certain and immediate losses) loom larger than benefits (esp uncertain, future benefits). If Israel struck a deal now, it would have to give up a number of things (not least territory it has occupied, not to mention the settlements) and hope that this might translate into peace and good-neighbourliness in the future.
- The right to self-defence [6:20]: Whenever there is a conflict, we perceive ourselves as the injured party, simply responding to aggression, insults etc. It is never the other way round. Not once has any of the two sides admitted that they were the initiators.
- Disproportional retaliation: Another great Jew (E. Aronson) quotes research showing that it is all but impossible to restrain our tendency for excessive retaliation (Aronson & Tavris 2007 – p. 192). Time and again, our brain magnifies the other party’s offences and our own deeds seem insignificant by comparison.
- Attribution [7:38]: We act in the way we act because of the circumstances; the other side however acts the way they do because of their nature – because they cannot help it (e.g. ‘Because they are anti-semites’ etc. – Palestinians also perceive Israelis as racists). This is such a common phenomenon, there is a special term for it: the Fundamental Attribution Error.
- Mistrust [8:05]: Psychologically, we don’t mind so much if we miss an opportunity (e.g. to achieve peace). We do mind an awful lot however if we choose to trust the other party, we take a step towards reconciliation (e.g. by dismantling a settlement or releasing prisoners) and then we feel that this is turned against us (instead of appreciated).
So – what is to be done? Professor Kahneman says there is little hope in trusting that there will be a gradual change of attitudes among the Israeli people (or the Palestinians come to that). What is needed here is leadership – someone who will help steer the nation in the direction of peace. Will the Israelis manage this? The best answer perhaps is a Hebrew word from the Old Testament: ‘timshel’ ( = thou mayest).
[NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have uploaded it here for educational purposes]. Human Nature - Israelis and Palestinians](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bCPUT492_c4/mqdefault.jpg)
![Comedy for ELT - School Answering Machine
Would it not be great if we could tell people EXACTLY what we think for a change? The teachers at this particular school apparently had had enough of spoilt children and spoilt parents and so they recorded a, shall we say, rather frank message for the school answering machine... Level: B2 - C1 Topic: Education.
[NB: I do not own the copyright to this audio clip. I have uploaded it here for educational purposes].
SCRIPT
Hello. Youve reached the automated answering service of your school. In order to assist you in connecting to the right staff member please listen to all the options before making a selection.
- To lie about why your child is absent, press 1.
- To make excuses for why your child did not do his homework, press 2.
- To complain about what we do, press 3.
- To swear at staff members, press 4.
- To ask why you didnt get information that has already been enclosed in your newsletter and several fliers which have been mailed to you, press 5.
- If you want us to raise your child, press 6.
- If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone, press 7.
- To request another teacher (for the third time this year), press 8.
- To complain about bus transportation, press 9.
- To complain about school lunches, press 0.
If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his or her own behaviour, classwork and homework and that its not the teachers fault for your childs lack of effort, hang up and have a nice day!
Thank you for your interest in public education. Comedy for ELT - School Answering Machine](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bS1dcGCvojs/mqdefault.jpg)
![Psychology and ELT - Distancing
What’s the idea here? All these people waiting for the new Apple – surely that can’t be good for Samsung? Surely the message here is ‘If so many people swear by the new Apple i-Phone, it’s got to be good!’ right? [Social Proof!] And yet…. if we watch the ad, it turns out that those waiting are actually ‘old fogies’; the young generation have moved on – they are using Samsung. Here is the kicker: the few young people in the queue are actually saving a spot for their parents!!! What self-respecting teenager would like to look like their father/mother?!? [Moral: If you want people to avoid something like the plague, just show them that a group they want to dissociate themselves with actually have it / do it. Brilliant!] Psychology and ELT - Distancing](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLMFqW7HTzI/mqdefault.jpg)
![Psychology and ELT - Motivators
Imagine a company wishes to offer $ 1,000 as a bonus to employees. How should they go about it? There are 3 options: a) They could present it as a down payment on a new car or some home improvement b) They could present it as added security (money in the bank for a rainy day) or c) They could present it as a way of recognising the importance of the individual to the company. The question is: which of the 3 ways of presenting that bonus would be more likely to motivate people? Chip Heath run such a study and here is his brother Dan Heath reporting the results… In the light of these findings it is worth asking ourselves: do the management of the school we work for try to motivate us in the right way? And how can we motivate other people – not only people working in schools or businesses, but also people offering to do voluntary work in organisations like TESOL or IATEFL perhaps?
[NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have uploaded it here for educational purposes]. Psychology and ELT - Motivators](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cOSIP60kmCs/mqdefault.jpg)
![Psychology and ELT - The Wrong Focus
So: you are a teacher, you’ve done your ELT training, you read ELT books, you watch ELT webinars, you attend ELT conferences, etc. How can you get even better as a teacher? What about doing more of the same? Is this a good idea? It seems that this would be the most obvious answer.
Yet Rory Sutherland seems to disagree. And he points out two very important things: a) The law of diminishing returns: Beyond a certain point, it takes a lot more effort to make a difference in something (and that difference is likely to be marginal); b) even if you do get better at something you are already good at, your students may not even notice. So this is the idea: perhaps we spend too much time trying to improve our knowledge about the language (grammar, discourse, phonology etc.) or methodology (methods, techniques etc.); perhaps we should focus on something else. Disciplines such as Psychology, Business Studies, Management and Behavioural Economics can potentially help us enormously. Even finding ways (as Rory Sutherland suggests) to let your students know how great you are may well be a better investment of your time (Marketing!)
[NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have uploaded it here for educational purposes]. Psychology and ELT - The Wrong Focus](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cYu8wm8L-WM/mqdefault.jpg)