September Poll Results...

Yes, here are the monthly poll results that just everybody in EFL was waiting for - even if I say so myself. The questions was this:

You are trapped on a desert island with a gang of TEFL authors. All food and whisky has been exhausted. Which author do you eat first?

Well, there was a flurry of frantic action in the closing days, leading to a bumper crop of 72 votes being cast. And, I'm happy to say that there was a clear and outright winner - well, a pair of them actually, as they happen to be a couple. I suppose the extra meat was a crucial factor here, but I'm only guessing really.

On the other hand, there were clearly four extremely nice chaps who nobody would touch with a wooden barge pole - or even a pair of elongated chopsticks. Or maybe it was just their appalling taste that led to them getting left way behind in the cannibalism stakes (steaks - geddit?!). They are far too tender for the table, anyway, it seems.

So, on to the detail. As you can see from the wizard hand-crafted graphic above (my skills on Excel appear to have evaporated over the years), the winners are - Liz and John Soars! This charming couple, well known throughout the TEFL world for their authorship of the apparently endless Headache series of course books, garnered a massive 30 votes, equating to 41% of Teflers choosing to eat them first! Yum-yum!

The second place in the barbecued flesh market has gone to Mario Rinvolucri, the inimitable author of dozens of slightly cranky books about brightening up your classes by bringing in your washing, resorting to psychological torture, and pretending to be a therapist. Mario notched up an entirely reasonable 18 votes, making him first choice as the main dish for 25% of discerning Tefl carnivores.

Close behind, as ever, was Scott Thornbury, inventor of dogme and writer of a wide range of unreadable books about not teaching grammar, not preparing anything at all, and whatever he happens to think we should (not) be doing in our classrooms this year. Scott attracted a healthy eight votes, good enough for a side-dish or a starter, which left him with 11% of the Tefl take-away trade.

The also-rans were as follows: Jack Richards (6%), Jeremy Harmer and Philip Kerr (5% each), and finally, poor old Lindsay Clandfield, who must be far too sweet to eat - only 4% of the Tefling electorate chose to devour him.

So, that's it then. Oh, hang on, that's not it, actually. In fact, and by way of an immense personal scoop, I have managed to secure an interview with the yummy Soarses! Yes, and it will make its world-wide premiere tomorrow, on these very pages, all things being well.

Meanwhile - does anybody have any ideas for an October poll?