Teaching Legal English with Natasha Costello

Teaching Legal English with Natasha Costello

Author: TESOL Pop May 21, 2024 Duration: 13:30
TESOL Pop
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Natasha Costello, co-author of Practical English Language Skills for Lawyers and a legal English educator, discusses career pathways to teaching legal English. In this episode, Natasha shares insights into learners' needs, lesson content, and resources for anyone interested in exploring teaching legal English as a career.


KEY TALKING POINTS

Getting into teaching

Natasha recounts her transition from a solicitor to a senior lecturer, where she taught law and legal skills. Relocating to France, she discovered a niche in teaching English communication skills to French lawyers, leading to her legal English education career.


Relevance of English for French lawyers

Natasha explains the growing necessity for lawyers to use English, mainly when dealing with international clients where English serves as a lingua franca. This necessity is driven by global business interactions and international legal practices.


Paths into teaching

Natasha identifies two main groups of legal English learners: legal professionals and university law students. She explains that educators can come from various backgrounds, including law, business English teaching, linguistics, or even translation.


What Legal English involves

For legal professionals, lessons may focus on preparing for client meetings, writing emails, contract drafting, and other specific legal tasks. University students may focus more on vocabulary and grammar, but practical scenarios and elements of legal systems, history, and politics are also integrated.


Lesson example

Natasha describes a lesson focused on contract law. She teaches the vocabulary of contracts and the grammar needed for giving legal advice, using real-life scenarios to help students practice this language.


ABOUT

Natasha Costello is a legal English educator based in Paris. She has over 20 years of experience teaching law students and legal professionals. Natasha is passionate about bringing the real world of legal practice into the classroom. She recently co-wrote, with Louise Kulbicki, the book ‘Practical English Language Skills for Lawyers: Improving Your Legal English’, which helps students practise language and workplace skills simultaneously. Natasha regularly presents at conferences about teaching legal English and is on the Board of EULETA, the European Legal English Teachers’ Association.


REFERENCES & RESOURCES

  1. European Legal English Teachers Association (EULETA)
  2. Costello, N. and Kulbicki, L. (2023) Practical English Language Skills for Lawyers Improving Your Legal English. Routledge
  3. Haigh, R. (2021) International Legal English. A Practical Introduction for Students and Professionals. Routledge
  4. Study Legal English Podcast with Louis Kulbicki
  5. Test of Legal English Skills (TOLES)


TRANSCRIPT

Watch with closed captions.


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CREDITS

Producer Laura Wilkes

Editor Haven Tsang

Thanks to our inspiring guest, Natasha Costello.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


Ever feel like the best teaching ideas come from a quick chat in the staffroom, but your schedule never allows for it? TESOL Pop captures that spark. Designed for the busy English language teacher, this mini podcast delivers compact, meaningful conversations with TESOL, TEFL, and ESL educators globally. Each episode is a focused interview, kept under fifteen minutes, packed with practical ideas and personal insights that can genuinely shift your approach in the classroom. You’ll hear stories about career pivots, reflections on what actually works with students, and clever uses of technology, all shared in a casual, accessible tone. It’s the audio equivalent of a refreshing coffee break with a colleague who gets it. The podcast understands that profound professional development doesn’t always require a lengthy seminar; sometimes, a single, well-timed insight is enough to reinvigorate your teaching. By tuning in, you join a global conversation that feels both personal and immediately useful, making it easy to integrate new perspectives into your daily routine without overwhelming your calendar.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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