In this special minisode of Learning Off the Syllabus, marking the end of Season 1 (yay!), Farnaz is joined by longtime friend, former colleague, and instructional designer ⁠Ela Kaca, as they read through and react to stories sent in by members of the TESL community; laughing at the funny ones, reflecting on the heavier ones, and sharing some of their own experiences along the way. Together, they talk through things like students feeling insecure about their accents, when classroom learning finally clicks in the real world, the importance of building genuine relationships with learners, setting expectations, and the very real feeling of (literally) being lost.

Ela Kaca is an Instructional Designer who loves making learning feel clear, supportive, and meaningful — never overwhelming. Her work blends visual communication, accessibility, and experience design to create learning that feels effortless for the learner and intentional behind the scenes. She has 10+ years of experience in education, digital learning, and curriculum design, and is always exploring new ways to turn ideas into engaging, learner-centered experiences.

ESL= English as a Second Language

LINC: Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada

CLB= Canadian Language Benchmarks

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Email: ⁠learningoffthesyllabus@gmail.com

Theme music:

Periscope by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://audionautix.com/