1. English Pronunciation For A Global World: An Introduction by Ee-Ling Low from Nanyang University in Singapore is the latest blog post on the OUP (Oxford University Press) website https://oupeltglobalblog.com/2022/03/09/english-pronunciation-introduction/#more-16326

Well worth registering on their site, I think – gives you access to lots of useful stuff, including their most recent ‘position paper’, on Using Technology to Motivate Learners, that I’ve presumed to download on your behalf, to encourage you to register in your own right – I hope that logic is good! PDF below. Other position papers here https://elt.oup.com/feature/global/expert/?cc=us&selLanguage=en

2. The first two of six episodes of Foreign Policy’s special podcast series in partnership with UNHCR on refugees and forcibly displaced people, Escaping Conflict and Healing the Body are now available https://foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/course-correction/ Less grey and male than some foreign policy podcasts (says a grey male).

3. Just in this afternoon, this one: The Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing) at Oslo University is hosting a public lecture by Maria Coady from the University of Florida on “Engaged Collaboration for Multilingual Student Learning” at 13:15 UK time next Wednesday, 6^th April. More info here if, like me, you’re not quite sure what to make of that title https://www.hf.uio.no/multiling/english/news-and-events/events/guest-lectures-seminars/2022/Maria_Coady.html and (mandatory) registration here  https://nettskjema.no/a/251664#/page/1

4. Why does it feel so good to use bad language? a CrowdScience show from BBC World Service https://youtu.be/q42-oUHUviM “We set out to explore the science of swearing, prompted by a question from CrowdScience listener Gadi. Psychological studies have shown bad language can relieve pain, or even make us stronger; we test out these theories for ourselves and try to figure out why certain words are charged with such physical power.”

I still remember the shock I felt back in 1979 when I first understood the literal meaning (which isn’t the whole story, of course) of what people were saying to each other on the tram in Zagreb, probably best translated as ‘Why don’t you go back where you came from?’

Here’s the CrowdScience home page, with lots of short videos on a wide range of topics that should go down well in class, I think https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04d42rc

5. And, finally, today’s poem for Ukraine is Wilfred Owen’s famous (here in the UK) sonnet, Anthem for Doomed Youth (PDF below as well.)

Anthem for Doomed Youth

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

      — Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

      Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

      Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

      And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

      Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.

      The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Wilfred Owen