This week’s update includes the addition of an Individual Oral (IO) transcript to a previously published page (available here to subscribers). You – or enough of you – have been getting in touch to suggest that having transcripts of IOs is a very useful learning tool for both you and your students. Transcribing an IO is not entirely straightforward and, particularly for those of us who type with one or (more boldly) two fingers, is time consuming. Of course, one of our ambitions at InThinking is to support you by saving you time, allowing you to get on with teaching. Transcribing spoken language may take time – what did the student just say? – but it’s also a learning experience in itself. It raises questions. For example, what counts as appropriate language in an oral examination? Is it a case of you know it when you hear it? Well, if there is some truth in that, it is of limited help to teachers and students. Clearly, asking students to memorise their oral, mimicking the argot of academic writing is a lousy idea. And, even the best, most lucid speakers, experiencing the relative stress of an IO will sort of, um, like, gonna, wanna, ah. You know what I mean? The conundrum over what counts as appropriate language in an IO suggests, at any rate, that there are some teaching materials that we ought to write and publish. We’ll get on to that. One more thing: A couple of weeks ago, we asked that you get in touch if you would like to participate in a new series of podcasts that we are launching where we interview and find out about you – teachers of English A: Language and Literature. We received many responses from around the world (thank you), but we’d like to hear from more of you. Get in touch, please, if you are interested and would like to know more. Contact [email protected]