1. TERN https://www.wearetern.org/ and Techfugees https://techfugees.com/ are organising an event on 25th and 26th March on Tech & Digital by and with Refugees. More info and registration here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tech-digital-with-and-by-refugees-an-event-by-tern-techfugees-tickets-142240991635 and you should feel free to pop in and out over the course of the event as the mood takes you.
2. A Day in the Life of Abed Salama is an engrossing ‘long read’ on life in Palestine from the New York Review of Books that I came across just after – typical! – I’d posted Friday’s message mentioning the event with teachers from Gaza this Wednesday. The article’s available without subscription for two weeks: https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2021/03/19/a-day-in-the-life-of-abed-salama/ And a quick reminder of the event on Wednesday: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/being-english-teachers-gaza
3. On Thursday 25th March at 18:00 UK time, Paul Dolan, the Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), will be in conversation with his colleague Grace Lordan about her new book, Think Big: Take Small Steps and Build the Future You Want, which draws ‘on cutting-edge research from behavioural science [and] offers immediate actionable solutions and tips that will help you get closer to your dream future’. Almost too good to be true? Let’s see! More info here https://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2021/03/202103251800/Think-Big and a registration link here https://lse.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_czRtfXzPRZS9cwPXXxInKg (And just why is the abbreviation ‘LSE’ and not ‘LSEPS’, I wonder?)
4. And, finally, In Our Time, chaired by Melvyn Bragg, is one of the very longest-running BBC Radio 4 shows, with a huge archive available on BBC Sounds to download or stream. To pick only three episodes from the nine hundred (!) currently available, try
photosynthesis
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0435jyv
the Rosetta Stone
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s2qd
or Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000q9b6 for starters.
As a bonus, here’s the episode of Neil McGregor’s series, A History of the World in 100 Objects, on the Rosetta Stone https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sbrz3 – there’s a transcript, if you’re tempted to turn it into a lesson.