Why does energy transfer from a hob to a spoon?

The heat energy is transferred from the hob to the metal spoon through conduction; this is where particles that vibrate a lot due to their heat energy then 'pass on' these vibrations to the next adjacent particle which does the same and so on. Metals are a good conductor of heat so that is why the metal spoon gets hot, however, wood is not a good conductor of heat and so the wooden saucepan handle doesn't get hot.