Mark and Stew
16 episodes listed below
Staffroom honesty for secondary teachers.
Teaching as a Second Language follows Mark and Stuart through the everyday pressure points of secondary education. The show mixes collegial banter with concrete advice on silence, consequences, university options, and the realities teachers face when students need more than content knowledge.
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Teaching as a Second Language is built around the kind of education talk that happens between teachers who are still working out the job in real time. Mark and Stuart do not package teaching as a polished theory exercise. They argue, joke, interrupt themselves, and then usually land on a practical point that a secondary teacher could use the next day. The strongest episodes focus on behaviour management. Silence becomes a precise classroom condition, not a general mood. The show separates quiet work from silence during direct instruction, then connects that expectation to routines, non-verbal signals, visual rules, warnings, and lesson design that gives students time away from direct teacher talk. That balance matters. The advice asks teachers to be firm without pretending students are machines. Consequences are handled with similar care. Instead of dramatic threats or public confrontations, Mark and Stuart describe clear sequences, predictable next steps, calm language, and consistent follow-through. The tone stays loose, but the guidance is structured. A running strength is the way the show names ordinary teacher mistakes without turning them into shame. Overcommitting to consequences, talking over students, or assuming students understand future pathways are treated as fixable professional habits. The university-options episode widens the frame from classroom control to student futures. It asks how schools communicate post-grade-12 choices, especially when students believe university is financially impossible or too confusing to navigate. The discussion gives teachers a role in widening student imagination from within their own subject areas. A mathematics class, for example, can still point toward surprising careers or study paths. Deb’s appearance adds another layer by comparing primary and secondary teaching through someone who has moved between both. The result is a compact, informal show for teachers who want advice that sounds lived-in rather than institutional. Its register is conversational and occasionally irreverent, but its centre is serious: better habits, clearer expectations, and broader support for students.
Made for: Teaching as a Second Language suits new and beginning secondary teachers, especially those looking for classroom-management language that feels usable. It also fits teachers who enjoy practical reflection without a formal training-session tone.
What sets it apart: The show’s edge is its mix of casual teacher banter and concrete classroom procedure. It turns everyday frustrations, from silence to post-school pathways, into specific habits teachers can rehearse and refine.
Teaching as a Second Language (TSL) is a podcast all about teaching in secondary education. There are so many aspects of teaching that it is hard to wrap your head around them all. TSL is a podcast where hosts Mark and Stew discuss their experiences in education, and give tips and advice for new and beginning teachers. We share what it's like to be teachers in QLD, Australia, but also discuss teaching with guests from all areas of education.
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A frank teacher chat about why university options still go missing in plain sight.
This episode returns to a familiar school problem: how choices after grade 12 are explained, and how that message can narrow into worries about fees or uncertainty over what to study.
A practical case for classroom silence, with clear cues teachers can put to work quickly.
Teaching as a Second Language opens its Behaviour Bites series with a tidy argument for classroom silence: when the teacher is speaking, the teacher should be the only person speaking.
Barstool talk from a tired Chicago teacher.
Experienced teachers, honest classroom talk.
Smart teacher talk with civic memory.
Educator talk with heart, news, and tools.
Classroom management with a Christian center.
Frank, specific answers to teachers' real classroom questions.
Mark and Stuart use Teaching as a Second Language to argue that Year 10-12 students hear a narrow set of university choices, usually nursing, medicine, dentistry, and teaching.
Mark and Stuart open Teaching as a Second Language’s Behaviour Bites with the claim that teachers “must have complete silence” while speaking, not just “quiet working.” They connect that rule to selective attending, classroom fairness, and the risk that one unchecked comment becomes a “snowball effect” across lessons.
A podcast episode exploring the differences between primary and secondary teaching through the experience of a teacher who has worked in both settings.