In Episode 77 of The Teacher Think-Aloud Podcast, Shé sits down with Ben Buckwold (Founder & CEO of Ellii) and Tara Benwell (VP of Publishing at Ellii) to explore the story behind one of Ellii’s most creative classroom tools: Ellii Dilemmas. Born, quite literally, on a cocktail napkin, this interactive activity invites students to wrestle with moral and everyday dilemmas through authentic dialogue, reflection, and debate.
Ben and Tara share how Ellii Dilemmas grew from a moment of procrastination into one of the platform’s fastest-growing features with thousands of teachers already using it worldwide. The conversation covers the tool’s pedagogical design, from its built-in discussion scaffolds and “Speak Up” feature to the way it fosters empathy, critical thinking, and social-emotional learning.
Together, we unpack how moving from debate to dialogue can transform speaking practice into something deeply human and reflective.
“ It’s a way for students to engage, have a conversation, a debate, a discussion, a dialogue, and to just really get into it.” — Ben Buckwold
Get featured on the podcast!
The Teacher Think-Aloud Podcast is looking for contributions to their annual Friends of the Podcast episode in which they feature voices from teachers around the world. In past years, these episodes have focused on teaching contexts around the world and AI in ELT. This year, they're asking contributors to get back to basics and reflect on what areas they want to work on in their teaching practice.
Participating is easy: all you need to do is listen to a short prompt and leave a voice memo at https://bit.ly/backtobasics26. The deadline to participate is December 15, 2025.
🎙️ Listen now on your favorite platform:
🔗 Follow The Teacher Think-Aloud Podcast on social media for more updates:
There are no comments on this post. Start the conversation!