Episode 64! Who Gets to Choose What's Worth Learning?

As Beijing's weather turns colder, we tackle a fundamental question that emerged from a recent university class: Who should decide what students study in a language classroom? The teacher? The students? The administration?

In this episode, we explore the difference between what's fun, what's necessary, and what's boring but inevitable in language education. Drawing on experience teaching academic writing to 40+ students at a Chinese university, we look at how COVID-era online teaching has shaped current classroom dynamics—and why students who once multitasked across screens now struggle with focused, in-person instruction.

From gamification debates to AI dependency, from the challenges of teaching citation formats to the question of whether musicology could make academic writing more engaging than environmental studies, we consider the messy reality of university-level English language instruction.

Can you make homelessness interesting to study? Should classes be customized to student interests when exam requirements are fixed? And what happens when the curriculum emphasizes reading and writing but largely ignores speaking practice?

No easy answers here—just an honest reflection on the competing demands of education, engagement, and examination in modern language teaching.

Topics discussed:

• The shift from online to in-person teaching post-COVID
• Student engagement and the attention span challenge
• The role of speaking practice in academic English courses
• Choosing curriculum content: teacher autonomy vs. institutional requirements
• AI's growing presence in student work

Tell us what you think, whether you're a student, teacher or in the admin seat, who do you think should make the decisions and how much leeway should be given?

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Time stamps:

00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview

00:46 Podcast Background and Evolution

01:57 Challenges in Language Teaching

05:01 Student Engagement and Classroom Dynamics

09:57 Technology in Education

18:23 Curriculum and Subject Relevance

32:09 Conclusion and Final Thoughts