Ever since I finished kindergarten, I knew I wanted to teach. In January 1998, it all began in Seoul. Since then, I’ve moved from the classroom to management to a mixture of both. I currently work and reside in Toronto, Canada and do design work for education on the side.
Main interests
- public spaces for exploring teacher identity and development
- critical and inclusive pedagogies
- concision
Current professional roles
- 2019 – Current: Trinity DipTESOL Tutor, Oxford TEFL
- 2018 – Current: Coordinator, IATEFL TDSIG Committee
- 2014 – Current: Assistant Academic Director, International Programs – University of Toronto, New College
- 2010 – Current: EAP instructor, International Foundation Program – University of Toronto, New College
Talks and workshops
I typically centre my talks around critical/intensive reading, academic writing, teacher identity, and most recently, social inclusivity issues.
Recent/Upcoming talks
8th ELT Malta Conference 2019, Attard MALTA, 18-19 October 2019
This talk will make you gay (or your materials anyway)
This is an updated version of a talk given at IATEFL 2019.
BELTA Day 2020 [Plenary], Brussels BELGIUM, 9 May 2020
The info ‘instashare’: its impact on belief and our power as language teachers
Shermer (2012, p. 135) suggests that when information is shared with us, “belief comes quickly and naturally, skepticism is slow and unnatural, and most people have a low tolerance for ambiguity.” In our current age of digital information, we all consume news, entertainment, and even educational materials, quite often through rapid-fire instashares online. This delivery paired with our natural instincts can significantly increase the challenge of not only locating what we’re looking for, but also evaluating conflicting messages about what’s true. In this talk, we will explore how information is produced, shared, and conveyed through social media; the impact instashares have on our abilities to decipher context and make evaluations; and the power (or arguably the responsibility) we have as educators to augment the role of language technician with emancipatory guide.
Past talks
You can watch segments of a few talks I’ve given online on my Youtube playlist or you can cycle through them below.
Publications
Aside from nearly 200 posts on this site, here’s a bibliography of other publications.
Seburn, T. (2018, April). Fake news, questioning, and happiness proteins. Garnet Education [blog]. https://www.garneteducation.com/fake-news-critical-questioning-and-happiness-proteins/
Seburn, T. (2018, Spring). LGBTQ+ inclusivity in the language classroom: attitudes and considerations. TESL Ontario Contact.
Seburn, T. (2018, April). Up for debate. EL Gazette. http://162.13.127.165/rhapsody-elgazette/resources-up-for-debate/
Seburn, T. (2017, September 17). ARC: Engaging learners with texts by digging deeply into the meaning. American TESOL Institute. https://americantesol.com/blogger/arctysonseburn/
Seburn, T. (2017). Learner-sourced visuals for deeper text engagement and conceptual comprehension. In K. Donaghy and D. Xerri. (Ed.), The Image in English Language Teaching (pp. 79-88). Malta: ELT Council.
Seburn, T. (2017, July). Critical readers in the misinformation age. EFL Magazine. https://www.eflmagazine.com/critical-readers-misinformation-age/
Seburn, T. (2016, December 6). The age-old age debate: is technology a turn-off for older teachers? Pearson English. https://www.english.com/blog/age-old-age-debate/
Seburn, T. (2016, January). Beyond the comprehension question: perspectives on using Academic Reading Circles for deep reading. ELTAS Newsletter.
Seburn, T. (2016, January). Unconventional: publishing with the round. EFL Magazine. https://www.eflmagazine.com/publishing-with-the-round/
Seburn, T. (2016). Academic Reading Circles (2nd Ed). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Seburn, T. (2015, August). Because grammar (and cats). TESL Ontario Contact.
Seburn, T. (2015). R is for racism. In PARSNIPS in ELT: Stepping out of the comfort zone (Vol. 3). Digital Platform: Smashwords.
Seburn, T. (2014, January 9). Give credit where credit is due? Garnet Education blog. https://www.garneteducation.com/give-credit-where-credit-is-due/
Education
Master of Arts (with Merit), Educational Technology and TESOL. University of Manchester, UK
TESL Canada Certificate (Standard 2 Permanent)
TESL Ontario Certificate (lapsed membership)
Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy. Western University
For a full CV, including projects, publication details, and a complete list of all talks given, please visit my LinkedIn profile. 
If you’d like to get in touch by email, please do: tyson.seburn@utoronto.ca.
