1. Here’s the latest free download in the Cambridge Elements series, Explicit and Implicit Learning in Second Language Acquisition by Bill VanPatten and Megan Smith https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/explicit-and-implicit-learning-in-second-language-acquisition/EBABCB9129343210EB91B9198F17C4EB

Their very interesting conclusion is that “second language acquisition is largely if not exclusively implicit in nature and that explicit learning plays a secondary role in how learners grapple with meaning”. PDF below.

2. Here’s a chance to contribute a teaching activity to the University of East Anglia’s research project on Gender-ing English Language Teaching – and win a prize in their raffle! https://app.geckoform.com/public/#/modern/21FO0097qyp9eg00ju77pl7ixw

3. Wednesday’s plenary at IATEFL Belfast last week, Reading the world and the word was by Gabriel Díaz Maggioli.

Here’s the blurb for his talk (or is ‘blurb’ just for book covers and I should say ‘abstract’ here?): “Reading is an enabling skill that allows access to a whole array of contexts, contents and information. The teaching of reading in foreign language settings has been tied to a more or less stable paradigm for the past thirty years. However, with the move to online instruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, certain taken-for-granted axioms about the teaching of this skill have come into question. In this plenary we will explore some of the current assumptions behind enabling learners to access the world through texts.”

Gabo’s talk starts 38’30” into the video https://www.facebook.com/IATEFL/videos/554337879583460

4. Some food for thought from Anne Kispal for the NFER blog on Choosing texts for comprehension activities in the classroom https://www.nfer.ac.uk/news-events/nfer-blogs/choosing-texts-for-comprehension-activities-in-the-classroom/

Starts with a sentiment with which I certainly (used to!) agree: “Choosing the right text for assessing comprehension is not an easy, five-minute job. However, for many of us – whether we are teachers or assessment specialists – it is one of the more pleasant tasks.”

5. And, finally, a great cinema and football story about the fifteen-year-old Carlo Ancelotti (against whose team one should not bet lightly this coming Saturday) https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/may/21/carlo-ancelotti-the-secret-ringer-who-patched-up-pasolini-and-bertolucci