Chang Liu 刘畅 (China/UK) gained her PhD at Newcastle University, UK, focusing on integrating thinking skills into English language teaching. Chang has been active as a lecturer, reviewer, research associate, mentor, teacher trainer, IELTS supervisor, and editor for the journal ARECLS, and she is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Alan Maley has been involved in ELT for over 60 years.  He has lived and worked in 10 countries, including China and India, and has published widely.  He is a past-President of IATEFL.  His main interests are creative writing, humanistic methodology and continuing professional and personal development (CPD).

Pavilion ELT (2024)

ePDF ISBN:978-1-80388-361-8

 

I still remember my first year as a language teacher as if it was yesterday. My classroom was a mix of eager faces and awkward silences, with students often hesitant to speak and me unsure of how to bridge the invisible gap between us. One afternoon, after a particularly difficult lesson, I sat alone in the empty classroom, staring at the whiteboard. I felt like a fraud. Despite the training I had received, the lesson plans I had produced, and the grammar points I had drilled, something important was missing. I had the English language teaching methods, but not the indefinable something extra that would make them work.

That evening, trying to make sense of it all, I wandered into a quiet park. By a stream, an old man sat throwing small stones into the water. Curious, I sat beside him. After a moment of silence, he handed me a smooth pebble and said, “Throw it in.” I did. The ripple spread across the surface and faded. Then he turned to me and said, “You do not change the water by controlling it. You change it by touching it gently and letting the ripples do their work.”

I did not fully understand what he meant until I explored Alan Maley’s Using Wisdom Stories in Language Teacher Education. This book is a useful resource that, much like that ripple in the stream, nudges readers toward deep and transformative reflection. Rather than offering a structured teacher training curriculum, the book presents a variety of stories, poems, metaphors, and book recommendations that invite teacher educators to pause, ponder, and grow. Alan promotes what he calls the 8 Rs (read, reflect, relate, respond, recommend, reinforce, research, and record), a framework not of instruction but of exploration.

The book positions stories not as mere entertainment, but as mirrors, reflecting our assumptions, struggles, and potential as teachers. It resists prescriptive models and instead provides an open space for teachers to engage with complexity, ambiguity, and humanity. 

Part 1 offers 85 wisdom stories from diverse traditions, Zen, Sufi, African, European, and more. Each story is paired with question prompts that stimulate reflection, dialogue, and discovery. One resonant example for me is Story 8, ‘Emptying the Cup’ (page 23), where a professor visits a Zen master to learn about wisdom. As the master pours tea into the professor’s cup until it overflows, the professor protests. The master replies that the professor must first empty himself of assumptions. It reminded me, as a teacher, that learning often requires unlearning, and that we must create space within ourselves for new understanding, especially in multicultural contexts. 

This story led me to question how much of my thinking is shaped by mental clutter, biases, habits, and assumptions I have collected over time without reflection. How often do we as educators walk into classrooms believing we already know what will work, only to find ourselves blind to better possibilities? The story also made me consider whether my own accumulated experience might sometimes block innovation. Do I dismiss new methods or student perspectives too quickly because I think I have seen it all before? If so, how can I remain teachable myself? How can I keep my own cup empty enough to grow? What makes these stories powerful is not just their content, but Alan’s way of letting the reader draw their own meaning, guided, not led, by thought-provoking questions.

Part 2 moves from fable to lived experience. It includes personal anecdotes, poems, quotations, metaphors, and book recommendations, each enriching the reader’s reflective toolkit.

One anecdote that stood out was Close-up Teaching by Adrian Underhill (page 176), which explores his transition from teaching large groups to 1:1 class and then back to large classrooms again. This anecdote made me reflect on how easily our attention is split in the classroom, and how powerful it can be to turn a single moment into a whole class learning event. It also suggests that classroom control may not come from managing behaviour but from guiding collective focus.

In the poetry section, Earl Stevick’s poem (page 213) struck a chord for its message about the unspoken dimensions of teaching. The poem reflects on how much we communicate through our silence, body language, and presence, and how even when no words are spoken, our students receive messages that may be more influential than what we say aloud. It made me consider how my tone, gestures, facial expressions, and silence convey attitudes, values, and expectations far beyond the lesson content. This poem serves to highlight the weight of non-verbal communication and the importance of teacher presence, elements that are often overlooked in formal training.

The book suggests using poems like these at the start of professional development sessions, and I can see why. This piece could spark discussions about classroom atmosphere, the implicit curriculum, and the often-unspoken ways teachers influence learning. In a CPD context, it offers an entry point into the emotional and relational aspects of teaching.

The metaphor section (page 265 onward) is another highlight. I was intrigued by the metaphor of teacher as a high-wire walker, balancing risk, uncertainty, and innovation while moving across the expectations of traditional education. With no safety net beneath them, these teachers challenge norms, throw away the textbook, and trust their instincts and their students. This metaphor resonated with me as a celebration of courage and creativity in the classroom.

It brought to mind N.S. Prabhu’s words: “Teaching is, at most, hoping for the best.”  (page 244). This quotation captures the vulnerability at the heart of teaching, a profession where outcomes are never guaranteed, and yet we step forward each day with intention, care, and trust. The high-wire walker and Prabhu’s statement together reveal that teaching is not about certainty or control. It is about presence, risk, and belief in the unseen impact of what we do. These metaphors, while brief, provide insight into the diverse identities teachers inhabit. They are not only imaginative, but also prompts for reflection, discussion, and teacher development sessions.

Finally, the curated list of recommended readings (page 275) is an insightful addition. One notable title is Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (2006), which documents his long and unconventional journey through the American school system. It features excerpts that show McCourt’s creative responses to real classroom challenges, from turning a sandwich-throwing incident into a teachable moment (pp.15-16), to reimagining cheating as a gateway to authentic writing (pp.83-90). These glimpses into McCourt’s teaching life offer both humour and honesty, giving educators inspiration to find their own path amidst messiness and unpredictability. The annotations give context to generate interest without overloading the reader, making this reading list a helpful resource to revisit.

Reading this book brought me back to that moment by the stream, where a pebble could send ripples across the water. In the same way, each story, metaphor, or poem in Alan’s collection may seem small and quiet, yet it holds the power to effect lasting impact on our thinking and teaching. 

This book is not a toolkit, but a companion. It is ideal for teacher trainers seeking to cultivate conversations and for teachers at any stage of their journey who value meaningful professional growth. At first, I found myself wishing the content was organized around clearer themes. But I came to realize that its open-ended structure is designed to encourage exploration and personal interpretation. The reader co-constructs the learning, just as we hope our students do. As teachers, we often look outward for strategies, tools, and new technologies. This book asks us to turn inward. It reminds us that our stories, and the stories we share, can be our most transformative teaching tools. Through stories, we connect not just with our learners, but with ourselves.

 

References

McCourt, F. (2006). Teacher man: A memoir. London, Harper Perennial.

 

Coming soon! Please check the Pilgrims in Segovia Teacher Training courses 2026 at Pilgrims website