1. ‘Being English Teachers in Gaza’: next Wednesday, 24^th March, at 12:00 UK time, four teachers from Palestine – Diana Abu Zayed, Tasnim AlAsttal, Somia Rajab and Laila Saleh – will be reflecting on and discussing their professional identity as teachers in a panel discussion chaired by my colleague, Damian Ross. No teaching context is easy, but I guess some might be easier than Gaza. More info and a registration link here https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/being-english-teachers-gaza

2. Also next Wednesday, 24^th March, at 03:30 UK time – I’ve asked if there’ll be a recording! – the first in a series of six Thai Association of Applied Linguistics (TAAL) events which together make up ‘The Ultimate Guide to Publishing Research in Top Journals’ – Richard Watson Todd (plus one of his two amazingly large dogs in the photo attached below) on Choosing a Publishable Topic. Zoom link here  https://bit.ly/3qSTxbu and more info in the photo attachment below.

3. Third up today, a matching pair: a set of self-access guides to help teachers plan and shape their own professional development https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teaching-success-self-study-guides plus a booklet for teacher associations designed to help them help their members get the most out of the self-access guides https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teaching-success-self-study-booklets-a-guide-teacher-associations I’ve attached a PDF of the guide for teacher associations below.

4. McKinsey, the management consultants, usually charge governments round the world a very hefty sum for their services. Here’s an article from them for free, though, about a teacher survey they conducted recently which shows that learning loss due to Covid is global – and significant https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/teacher-survey-learning-loss-is-global-and-significant “Although teachers around the world have different styles and standards for learning, there is one thing on which they seem to agree: a computer is no match for a classroom as a place for kids to learn.” PDF attached below in case you have trouble with the download.

5. And, finally, Don Winslow is a favourite author of mine. I’ve just read the new one, Broken, and here’s Winslow talking about it https://youtu.be/uAwU3hpLrXE One thing that puzzled me in Broken, though, was his use of ‘ILYM’ at the end of the Acknowledgements. I know the very large majority of the readership of these messages is much younger and much funkier than me, but I had to look it up … https://www.cyberdefinitions.com/ (If you’ve not read any Winslow yet, try either The Force, about the New York Police Department, or the first book of his ‘Cartel’ trilogy, The Power of the Dog.)