1. This year’s Einar Haugen Lecture at Oslo University will be given by Marianne Gullberg from Lund University and is entitled More than just hand-waving: Gestures and meaning in multilingual language use. More info and Zoom link here https://www.hf.uio.no/multiling/english/news-and-events/events/guest-lectures-seminars/einar-haugen-lecture/2022/Einar%20Haugen%20Lecture%202022%20marianne-gullberg.html

“Multilingual speakers often seem to use words differently from monolinguals. This talk demonstrates that multilingual speakers’ gestures open a new window on to what they mean to say.”

Home-made PDF below.

2. I mentioned Oxford University Press’s ELTOC a while back. There are still places for the later sessions, the first of which starts at 17:40 this evening and includes an interesting looking debate, ‘Should Primary School Children Take Tests?’. More info and registration here https://elt.oup.com/feature/global/eltoc/?cc=gb&selLanguage=en and PDF of programme below.

3. And what about secondary school children? The idea of ‘grammar schools’ – selective entry secondary schools – has long been politically divisive here in the UK, on the one hand, and on the other, one of the very few things that absolutely unifies educationalists, all of whom think the idea a very bad one. Here’s a piece from The Guardian about the revival of the idea, ‘They don’t work’: experts criticise Liz Truss’s grammar schools plan following Liz Truss’s becoming Prime Minister https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/sep/22/liz-truss-politicians-and-experts-criticise-grammar-schools-plan

4. And, finally, here’s some highlights from Yes, Minister to make us both laugh and cry about politics https://youtu.be/XBN9QTgjos8