I am thrilled to share my interview with TEFLtastic’s Alex Case below. I have been a fan for a long time. Teachers, like me, who have ever been up late at night planning lessons will be familiar with his work, including on Usingenglish.com. This site was a lifesaver for me so many times. Back in 2020, Sandy Millin said  he is “probably the most prolific ELT blogger on the internet, constantly sharing new resources. His blog is a goldmine of resources covering every area of teaching you can possibly imagine.” I fully agree. I am honored to have him here. See our interview below!

Hello and welcome, Alex! Thank you so much for joining me here. Can I get you a drink? What are you having?

Thanks for inviting me and for the lovely introduction. I think you summarized what I’d love to achieve even better yourself with my all time favorite comment on my blog: “I am not kidding. Right now I am setting my alarm back to the original time because I don’t need to spend an extra hour on this in the morning.”

If you can recommend a beer that tastes exactly like Xmas pudding, that would be literally perfect.

Wow, I don’t remember that blog comment but I do remember the feeling of being saved many times. Formal and Informal Email Games/Worksheets FTW.  I think a fictional beer delivered online is the absolute least I can do. Drink coming right up, I suppose! 

What are you up to these days? What is new?   

Nothing new for years and years, still writing for TEFL.net, Englishclub.com, and Usingenglish.com and teaching more or less full time for two schools in Tokyo. Less biz/ ESP than I used to do because I’m resisting online lessons, and I lost my Cambridge exam classes during COVID, so more cover days and teaching IELTS. 

 I see. I note that you remain prolific online! How do you find the time for everything?

Get my exercise out of the way early in the morning, only one kid who is increasingly independent, no social life, most of my days are cover days so I don’t know what’s coming up and can’t spend the hours planning that I would otherwise, really really going for it when I’m in the mood so I can slack off when I’m not, perfectly organizing my laptop hard disk while listening to podcasts etc, knowing the best times of day to do each thing, thinking best on the page so turning everything into a document, and having absolutely no interest in the appearance of me or my materials.

Thank you. I think there is plenty of wisdom in there for anyone hoping to create a bit more. Sticking with advice, do you have any advice or warnings for young people looking to get into writing and ELT? 

Don’t get married in a country you hate (as I have escaped, but I’ve seen some teachers fall into). 

That sounds like a good one to get into over an Xmas pudding-flavored beer someday. What about advice for your younger self?

Nothing I can think of. Through sheer luck and with literally no planning, seems to have worked out quite well. Did Europe when UK still in the EU and I was young enough to live off the crappy wages, got management and teacher training out of the way so I could just teach and write without thinking I was missing anything, and ended up in a very livable country that suits me.

Nice. Whether it was luck or not, I am glad things seem to have worked out well. I like this idea of sort of getting something out of the way and not feeling like you missed something. It seems that you were able to focus more on writing as a result.
What is on your mind these days?

I wrote about this in a jokey way on my blog and LinkedIn last year, but I really am wondering how long I can still make enough money out of what I’m doing to sustain myself and my family. Not exactly worried as I’ve had a good run, my daughter is the Saffy from AbFab/ Lisa Simpson of the family, I have very cheap tastes, and shelf stacking or something would be a nice change (if such jobs still exist). Still, think it might be just a matter of years.

I am sure you are not the only person in ELT wondering about that. I remember that LinkedIn post well. I was thinking about it just a few days ago and this actually gave me the idea to invite you for the interview. Here it is:

Shifting gears here between the near future and the distant past, do you remember the first time we were ever in touch?

Seems like a long time ago and a different TEFL and TEFL blogging world, but I’m guessing I left a comment on your blog during my initial blogging world blitz?? I was convinced you wrote a book review for TEFL.net, but if so I can’t find any evidence of it…

Reasonable guesses, all! I very well might have written a book review for TEFL.net but could not find it either. On my side, I know that Usingenglish.com was a huge help for me when I was teaching a range of students in Korea in 2009. I think the first time we were in touch was when you wrote a piece for KOTESOL’s The English Connection. Does it sound familiar?

Seem to remember writing something on Japan in the Korean classroom and maybe one more, but hadn’t remembered that was the start of it. I wonder if I ever put together that it was the same M Griffin as the blog, as back in the day I commented on a friend’s girlfriend’s blog for about 6 months before I realized it was the same person…

Haha. And, yup, it was me. The piece was indeed about Japan in the Korean Classroom (published in Autumn  2011).  My first message to you was 15 years ago to the month! Just for fun, here is the first contact:

I suppose that I should mention that I didn’t really start blogging until late 2011. 

In that case, I almost certainly need to apologize for not remembering when we started communicating again via your blog. These are the great social skills that give me so much time for all things TEFL…

No apology needed. I think the TEFL world should perhaps be grateful for these social skills.  By the way, it has been great seeing and interacting with you on LinkedIn lately.

Ditto. LinkedIn as a TEFLer has been a mixed experience, but ruminations from classic TEFL bloggers like yourself are definitely highlights.

I have enjoyed this talk immensely even if it made me feel quite old. Classic blogger. Times and platforms have surely changed but it is fun to keep up with what people are doing. Anything you’d like to plug?

Thanks, been really fun. Have finished writing a big book of functional language photocopiables and almost finished a similar one on grammar for business, just need to follow the advice of the results of my latest poll on LinkedIn and pay for a domain I can sell them on.

I‘m afraid I don’t have any great advice. But, here is the poll and maybe readers can weigh in.

I wish you the best of luck with this.
It has been great talking to you. Thank you again for taking the time. I will look forward to checking out those books and seeing you online!