Pack your bags and leave your lesson plans at the door. Hosted by longtime expats Chris and Robin, Mad Dogs and English Teachers is a weekly deep-dive into the reality of life as an international educator.
What’s on the syllabus?
True Stories: The stuff they didn’t mention in your TEFL course.
Your Turn: We read listener emails from across the globe—the good, the bad, and the "did that really happen?"
Hard-Won Advice: Real talk on surviving and thriving in a foreign country.
It’s less about pedagogy and more about the people. Come for the stories, stay for the community.
Re-watching the 1969 British classic Kes got Chris and Rob thinking about their own school days in the 1970s and 80s—and just how wildly unhinged education felt back then compared to the international classrooms they teach in today.
From bizarre uniform requirements to classroom discipline that would never fly in the modern era, the lads take a nostalgic, laugh-out-loud trip down memory lane.
In this episode:
Uniform Shock: Rob’s transition from sunny Rhodesia/Zimbabwe to the north of England, braving the winter chill in shorts, woolly socks, garters, and sandals.
Spare the Rod?: The days of corporal punishment—from getting caned over a destroyed paper-plane hoop and slipperings to an eye-opening encounter with a pool cue in South Korea.
Classroom Politics: Left-wing schooling, trade-unionist dads, and reading Animal Farm and 1984 in primary school.
Teachers of Another Era: The sideburn-twisting biology teacher known as the "Dungeon Master," the ex-boxer art teacher threatening students with steel-capped boots, and why an entire cohort of teenage boys suddenly took up Home Economics.
Playground Lore: The lost art of the scheduled after-school scrap, the sheer social disaster of having parents who banned television, and sneaking off to the local pub during sixth form lunch breaks.
Get in touch:
Email: maddogsandenglishteachers@proton.me
Facebook: Search Mad Dogs and English Teachers
If you enjoyed the show, please share this episode on Spotify—it helps more than you know!
13 Sept 2026
Whatever the Weather
From breathtaking summer steppes to winter air so thick with coal smoke you can taste it—what happens when teaching overseas means taking on the local climate at its absolute worst?
This week, Chris and Rob tackle a letter from Dominic, an expat teacher in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, who loves the country but dreads the onset of toxic winter smog. That kicks off a whirlwind tour of the extreme climates, bizarre weather, and questionable domestic heating setups the lads have survived over the years.
In this episode:
Steppe by Steppe: Rob reminisces about crossing Mongolia on a vintage Soviet motorcycle and yurt-hopping through the wilderness.
Communal Radiators & Heated Drains: Surviving sub-zero winters in Kazakhstan and Hungary, where central heating switches on by calendar date rather than temperature.
The Smog Index: Comparing the yellow diesel haze of Yangon, gray high-rise fog in Southern China, and the nostalgic soot of industrial Britain.
Nature Strikes Back: Surviving a Biblical sandstorm in Jordan that turned the world beige, tropical typhoons in the Philippines blowing whole wardrobes away, and Hungarian hail the size of prized marbles.
Expat Home Comforts: British cold-bedroom traditions, the horror of carpeted toilets, and Chris’s ultimate defense against toxic air: the high-powered nasal brine blast.
Have you survived a winter in Ulaanbaatar or weathered freak storms in your corner of the globe? Drop us your survival tips!
Facebook: Search "Mad Dogs and English Teachers"
Email: maddogsandenglishteachers@proton.me
6 Sept 2026
Curriculum Woes
What happens when you blag your way through an interview at an elite international school, only to find yourself completely drowning in ManageBac, 8-point rubrics, and learner profiles? In this episode of Mad Dogs and English Teachers, Chris and Robin tackle an urgent SOS email from a listener facing professional ruin in Casablanca after jumping from Cambridge into the deep end of the International Baccalaureate (IB).
Join the hosts for a candid, humorous breakdown of what it’s really like navigating international curricula while teaching abroad:
The Casablanca Dilemma: Surviving the jump from structured Cambridge/NCEA to the buzzword-heavy world of PYP, MYP, and statements of inquiry.
Cambridge vs. IB: Comparing rigid exam specifications and resits against ongoing holistic assessments and evidence portfolios.
Teaching EAL & IELTS Overseas: Helping students bridge the gap between English as a school subject and English as a functional communication tool (plus why making up stories on speaking tests is an essential skill).
Curriculum Culture Shock: Lessons from teaching Canadian provincial frameworks, First Nations poetry, and navigating Orwellian themes in autocracies.
The "Fake It Till You Make It" Verdict: Honest advice on when to confess to your supervisor and how to dig yourself out of the rubric rabbit hole.
Stick around to the very end for an exclusive original track: "Blagged My Way to Casablanca."
Get in Touch:
Email: maddogsandenglishteachers@proton.me
Facebook: Search "Mad Dogs and English Teachers"
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