Late evening, late autumn, late 2006. The CEO of IHWO is alone in the plush new offices on the South Bank of the River Thames. The move was smooth, the place has taste. The future beckons - Dos Conference 2007 on the horizon - the DoSes are hungry. Directors’ Conference hot on its heels - ...

I’ve called this article CEF backwash because of the classroom implications for teachers and learners represented by the CEF. It’s washing back straight into our faces and cannot be ignored by anyone in ELT. IH teachers will recognise an awful lot in the CEF from training courses they have done, as many of the basic principles ...