werkbook

About werkbook

Welcome to werkbook, where Queerness and ELT intersect. This podcast project brings together Taylor Veigga, Tyson Seburn, and nine ELT folx to explore LGBTQ topics that affect queer people in different contexts, sometimes the same way and sometimes very differently. We'll hear experiences that sound familiar, some that are very difficult, and some that show the joyful and colourful impact being queer has for us and others around us.

Publisher

Tyson Seburn

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

24 Dec 2025

Latest episode

5 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

8 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Nov 2026

   We recommend: Learning Off the Syllabus

   Hi Werkbook listeners! I hope you enjoyed Episode 7 with Mitts recently, and while I'm putting together Episode 8 with Kanako, I've got a special bonus treat for you! Today I'm joined by Farnaz Karimian from Learning Off the Syllabus podcast (@learningoffthesyllabus) for a little political cross-pollination! I think you'll love it. We get to know each other's projects, share the stories behind them, and explore why the conversations happening beyond the lesson plan deserve a wider audience. Then without leaving your podcast feed, enjoy one of our favourite episodes and the one that started me listening, Seasion 1 Episode 7 with Danny McGee. This discussion of classroom neutrality, teacher identity and the realities our students bring into the classroom feels particularly relevant to the work we do with #werkbookpodcast. Think of this as two podcasts, a shared set of values, and one conversation worth passing along. 💜00:20 — Two Podcasts, One Big Crossover: Farnaz shares how students responded to an episode featuring their teacher before she and Tyson bring their podcast audiences together and revisit how their professional paths first crossed.04:36 — Learning Off the Syllabus: Farnaz explains how her informal conversations with colleagues and students too sparked the fires of a podcast, Learning Off the Syllabus, creating space for the experiences and insights that often go unshared when in the trenches of teaching.07:34 — No Strangers Behind the Mic: Farnaz talks about choosing guests she knows, enjoys talking with, and believes have something meaningful to share with the wider teaching community. If we're not engaged in the conversation... 08:39 — Ships Passing in the ELT Night: Farnaz shares how her friendship and professional conversations with Danny McGee sparked a discussion about what gets left out of the classroom.12:41 — Being Neutral Is a Political Move: Danny and Farnaz unpack teacher identity, mindfulness, classroom politics, and the importance of making space for students' lived experiences without losing sight of boundaries, critical thinking, and learning.🎧 For early access and more shownote stories and detailed episode guides, you can subscribe to my Substack: https://seburnt.substack.com🎧 We talk about our local teaching association, TESL Toronto and its 2021 AGM on inclusivity in ELT.🎧 Here's the TESL Ontario blog post that I totally forgot Farnaz collabed on with me. 🎧 Werkbook intro and outro logo combined from music by Gamemaster Audio and AM Beef.

2. 

   24 Oct 2026

   Episode 7: Mitts' werkbook

   Hi everyone! We're so happy to be back with a new episode of #werkbookpodcast! 🌈 Tyson, Taylor, and Mitts--a queer teacherpreneur in Brazil--explore how queerness opens the door to ourselves, giving us the freedom to embrace every side of who we are, both personally and professionally. From queer visibility and authentic teaching to family, allyship, and the freedom to be more than other people expect us to be, this conversation is about making room for all of ourselves. Just in case you're wondering about using this audio with your learners: YES! DO IT! That's one of the reasons this podcast exists. We're releasing the episodes first for to give them space to breathe out there in the podcast universe and ELT classroom environment. But then in Phase 2 next year, we'll be accompanying these episodes with language-learning materials ourselves!EPISODE GUIDE00:00 — Ding ding ding: Sharing queer narratives sparks conversations, builds empathy, and helps us connect with experiences beyond our own.03:57 — Meet Mitts: Brazilian English teacher and teacherpreneur Mitts shares how being queer shapes his identity, teaching, and professional presence. We talk about masculinity and flamboyance.11:06 — Queerness in the Classroom: Visible, Invisible, or Boxed In?: We discuss queer educators’ visibility, inclusive materials, and the freedoms and limitations of being openly queer in education.20:29 — Childhood Curiosity vs. Learned Shame: A childhood encounter with a gender-nonconforming neighbour reveals how children can accept difference before adults teach them judgement.24:35 — Coming Out, Family, and Calling Out Homophobia: Mitts reflects on his mother’s journey to allyship, workplace prejudice in Brazil, and the privilege that shaped his experiences.30:51 — Vulnerability of Visibility: Drag, flamboyant clothing, and a costume-party story reveal the vulnerability and risks of being visibly different. We explore how visible allyship means stepping outside our comfort zones and using our presence to help others feel safer.40:00 — Door Opens to Himself: Mitts shares how his first kiss with a man at 17 led to a lasting friendship, greater confidence, and openness. Mitts reflects on navigating homophobia, embracing himself, and finding queer joy in living authentically.Final vibe check:The more authentically we show up, the more possibilities we open for ourselves and others. 💜🎧 For early access and more shownote stories and detailed episode guides, you can subscribe to my Substack: https://seburnt.substack.com/p/mitts-werkbook 🎧 Taylor mentions a popular cartoon called Wildfire and character Lady Diabolin. I'm including her here to provide context since her appearance is important.🎧 All voice clips used are done so for lighthearted entertainment and often educational purposes under the creative commons licensing. Mitts mentions Erasure, which includes a brief clip audio reference to their popular song, 'A Little Respect'. * Intro and outro logo combined from music by Gamemaster Audio and AM Beef. * Background ambience includes Liquid Memoirs - Transitions, Risian - Imagine a World, and Yair Cohen - Our Home. * Queer joy background music includes excerpts from Jane The Boy - Electric by Electric.

3. 

   18 Jun 2026

   Episode 6: Ethan's werkbook

   Hey you. It's Tyson and Taylor here. We're thrilled to bring you back into the werkbook space for this new drop! Welcome back.In this episode, we share a new story: What does it mean to stay soft in a world that keeps asking you to harden? For Ethan, that question stretches across continents, starting in Vietnam with lotto and parents, moves through to the United States with research work, follows into Brazil where visibility seems everywhere, and back to Vietnam, holding power and taking up space. All these with a pearl necklace sparkling their vibes.EPISODE GUIDE00:00 – Softness is a superpowerWe’re half full… and staying soft in a hard world is its own kind of rebellion.03:15 – Intersectional fabulous realnessEthan talks intersectionality, living visibly, and why a pearl necklace can be both an accessory and a manifesto.08:00 – Identities aren’t pie charts, darlingWe unpack nationality, queerness, and the complicated business of belonging—to countries, communities, and ourselves.15:58 – Growing up queer in VietnamFrom media portrayal to hát lô tô, Ethan reflects on navigating early life and culture that built their curiousity.25:08 – Returning home as an openly queer leaderThere’s something deliciously full-circle about coming back to Vietnam as your whole self—and making institutions take notes.27:36 – The coming out storyWe love a supportive family arc. Did Ethan get one?37:19 – Claim your power, teachersQueer people belong in classrooms, research, leadership, and policy—not just surviving systems, but reshaping them.41:34 – Visibility isn’t free labourResearch, allyship, tokenisation, lived experience, and money all in one segment!47:57 – Spirituality requires authenticityFrom temples to trains, Ethan reflects on self-acceptance, higher powers, and why you can’t build a life on a closet door.52:21 – Queer joy is Taylor. That is all.Friendship, mentorship, found family; plus some traditions must endure. 🌈✨Final vibe check:Softness is power, identity is fluid, and queer joy is in the conversations—and a fabulous necklace 💖* All voice clips used are done so for lighthearted entertainment and often educational purposes under the creative commons licensing. Ethan mentions Queer Eye (for the Straight Guy) and so that's a brief clip.* Intro and outro logo combined from music by Gamemaster Audio and AM Beef. * Background ambience includes Liquid Memoirs - Transitions, Risian - Imagine a World, and Yair Cohen - Our Home. * Queer joy background music includes excerpts from Jane The Boy - Electric by Electric.

4. 

   24 Apr 2026

   Episode 5: Ani's werkbook

   Welcome to this episode of werkbook! Tyson Seburn & Taylor Veigga explore what being Queer actually looks like for eleven Queer ELT folx—across cultures, generations, religions, and life stages.EXCLUSIVE RELEASE @ #IATEFL2026In this episode, Ani, a Brazilian educator who identifies as travesti, shares her journey from navigating gender identity in a conservative environment to building a fulfilling life in São Paulo. Our conversation explores language, identity, queer visibility, cultural norms, and the power of representation—moving from personal struggle to joy, love, and future possibility. It’s a grounded, deeply human look at how vocabulary, community, and visibility can help us be who we are in all ways. .EPISODE GUIDE00:00 Intro & meeting Annie 04:05 Identity, teaching & finding a way through 05:00 Moving to São Paulo for safety and freedom 09:10 Culture, masculinity & being visible 15:00 Language, labels & reclaiming words 19:45 Religion, silence & early self-discovery 30:00 Gender roles & the pressure to perform 36:45 School, allies & early confidence 37:30 Pop culture, Gaga & representation 47:00 Allyship & asking better questions 55:00 Queer joy, love & building a future 1:00:10 Final thoughts on real allyship

5. 

   4 Apr 2026

   Episode 4: Gaye's werkbook

   Welcome to this episode of werkbook! Tyson Seburn & Taylor Veigga explore what being Queer actually looks like for eleven Queer ELT folx—across cultures, generations, religions, and life stages. In this episode, we meet with Gaye (he/she/they), who is from Türkiye. They are pansexual and bigender. Most of us don’t grow up with the words to describe our identities that clearly; in fact, we aren’t encouraged to. In this episode, Gaye reflects on how that absence shaped their understanding of gender and sexuality while growing up in a conservative, under-resourced context. They talk about working as a queer educator in an environment where openness isn’t always possible—supporting students who are asking similar questions, often without the language to do so. Gaye also traces how access (or lack of it) to media and representation influenced that process: from discovering shows like The L Word to recognising how mainstream portrayals can both illuminate and distort queer lives.The conversation also touches on family, particularly Gaye’s relationship with their mother, and the complicated mix of care, silence, and expectation that comes with it. Throughout, Gaye returns to the role of education—not as a grand solution, but as a daily, practical way of making space for honesty, visibility, and small shifts in understanding.If you believe that stories like Gaye’s aren’t heard enough in ELT contexts, I’m so happy you’re here to listen to our latest episode.EPISODE GUIDE00:20 — Identity and labels02:32 — Language, survival, and growing up in Türkiye06:20 — English opens up more possibilities08:25 — The L Word, awareness, and distorted expectations14:04 — Performing identity in restrictive environments19:42 — Mental health for self-understanding22:18 — Professional life and pressure25:02 — Grief and its relationship to queerness28:39 — Queerness as motivation and connection31:03 — Gaye's queer joy with students* All voice clips used are done so for lighthearted entertainment and often educational purposes under the creative commons licensing.* Intro and outro logo combined from music by Gamemaster Audio and AM Beef. Some background music by Diamonds And Ice. Queer joy background music by Jane The Boy.

6. 

   14 Feb 2026

   Episode 3: Chad's werkbook

   Welcome to this episode of werkbook! We explore what being Queer actually looks like for eleven Queer ELT folx—across cultures, generations, religions, and life stages. Thank you, from hosts Tyson Seburn and Taylor Veigga, for caring and sharing inside and outside our communities!In this episode, we share space with Chad Langford, a Queer American, who is a language teacher living in France for forever. Warning: there may be a little spicy language, but only until we reclaim it for ourselves.EPISODE GUIDE0:23 🧙🏻♀️ Tyson & Taylor say heyyyy2:08 🧙🏻♀️ Ty & Tay are pronunciation queens3:27 🧙🏻♀️ Chad clocks himself5:14 🧙🏻♀️ Language bites until you don't let it14:03 🧙🏻♀️ Growing up in our hometowns17:50 🧙🏻♀️ Parking lots, bookstores, and balls25:29 🧙🏻♀️ Bullying wasn't equal for everyone30:52 🧙🏻♀️ Coming out, pt. 333:36 🧙🏻♀️ Queer rep in the 80s37:46 🧙🏻♀️ Did we date in highschool?42:30 🧙🏻♀️ French Queerness as an adult46:20 🧙🏻♀️ Chad on lost solidarity49:11 🧙🏻♀️ Witchy Queer joy boyChad refers to Consenting Adult (1985) and Tyson talks about The Golden Girls, S2E11 "Isn't It Romantic?" (1987).* All voice clips used are done so for lighthearted entertainment and often educational purposes under the creative commons licensing.* Intro and outro logo combined from music by Gamemaster Audio and AM Beef. Inserted micromusic clips include "Blame It on the Edit" by Rupaul and "Ein Lied für Barbara" by Heideboys. Queer joy background music by Jane The Boy.

7. 

   25 Dec 2025

   Episode 2: Coming Out, Pt. 2

   Welcome to this episode of werkbook! We explore what coming out to family actually looks like—across cultures, generations, religions, and life stages. Tyson and Taylor include personal reflections on coming out to parents in Canada and Brazil shaped by religion, fear, and love, and situate these stories in and out of the broader contexts explored by the nine guests we get to hear from.From there, we hear a range of voices: people who lived double lives to survive at home, those who are selectively out due to culture or language, those who never got to come out to a parent who passed away, and others whose families quietly “already knew.” The episode closes with joyful, affirming stories of support—while still acknowledging that coming out is rarely a single moment, but a series of ongoing negotiations shaped by safety, timing, and love.Section 1 - This common experience with parents00:10:05 — Ani (Brazil)Growing up evangelical, living a double life, and finding school—not home—as a safe space.00:15:39 — Kanako (Japan)Not being out to family, managing visibility on social media, and the limits of selective disclosure.00:26:16 — Gaye (Türkiye)Grief, generational limits, and coming out to a parent only after their death.Section 2 - It's understood00:29:59 — Elizabeth (UK)A matter-of-fact, almost accidental coming out where queerness was already assumed.Section 3 - We love you.00:35:47 — Chad (USA)Coming out first to an aunt, then to parents—and reflections on the paths we choose to do so.00:41:03 — Giovanni (Italy)A joyful, theatrical family “intervention” that ends in laughter and relief.00:44:49 — Ethan (Vietnam)Immediate parental affirmation and the privilege of unconditional support.Section 4 - Out isn't just to parents.00:50:10 — David (Canada)Later-in-life coming out within a marriage, moving from queer theory to lived clarity.Section 5 - Rounding things out00:58:30 — Mitts (Brazil)His mom was the gay beard until she wasn't and then she was again.* All clips used are done so for educational purposes under the creative commons licensing.* Intro music clips by Gamemaster Audio and AM Beef. Background music includes Aryeh "I Love You", Oded Distalmen "Coucou", and Dreamy Drums - Rhythmic Chop Beat.

8. 

   24 Dec 2025

   Episode 1: Coming Out, Pt. 1

   Welcome to our first episode, where we come out together as a community, podcast hosts, and podcast editors! Taylor says it best when she describes the stories we include as being "unpolished". Taylor & Tyson discuss the origin of this project, the meaning behind the name (it's not incorrect spelling, we swear!), coming out stories, the phrase itself, and ways in which media has shaped the view of coming out. We attempt to show how we're merging two worlds: queerness and education.Episode breakdown:A - 0:00 IntroductionsB - 5:02 Why werkbook is neededC - 11:15 Coming Out Day historyD - 13:50 Taylor & Tyson discuss coming out storiesE - 18:57 Coming out vs Inviting inF - 21:15 HeartstopperG - 29:00 Elliott PageH - 34:40 Preview of S1E2* We refer to Human Rights Campaign and National Coming Out Day. Find out more here: https://www.hrc.org/campaigns/national-coming-out-day* All media clips used are done so for educational purposes under the creative commons licensing.* Intro music clips by Gamemaster Audio and AM Beef. Background music includes Like a Father.

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

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Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.