1. Harry Kuchah Kuchah is giving the next webinar in the Universitas Negeri Jakarta
Graduate School ‘Language, Society, Education’ monthly programme, Silence and Silencing: English Medium Education and the Exclusion of Girls in an African Basic Education Context, at 08:30 UK time next Wednesday, 16^th November.

Zoom link here https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87433869222?pwd=R2FIOE50VnRWd2dGWlFVV0JZdXZpQT09&fbclid=IwAR3TjiRXB0SxPRxB#success

and Harry’s blurb here: “There is very limited evidence globally of the impact that learning in an unfamiliar language has on girls’ educational outcomes. In this presentation, I start by mapping the emergence of a gender gap in English in Rwandan primary and secondary schools and describe a research study which built on these differences to investigate in- and out-of-school factors that might account for this gap. By focusing on data collected through classroom observations of teachers’ pedagogic practices and the ways in which girls interact in the classrooms, I provide evidence of how experiences of exclusion intersect with other mechanisms of marginalisation related to gendered norms and expected behaviours.”

(I’ll check that Zoom link before next Tuesday.)

2. A new TeachingEnglish course, Climate Action in Language Education starts next Tuesday, 15th November, running for twelve hours in total over four weeks https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/climate-action-language-education It’s described as “a practical course designed to help English language teachers integrate environmental issues into English language teaching, through the exploration of language, principles and projects.  It aims to equip teachers and learners with the skills they need to take and sustain meaningful and impactful action to protect the environment in their local contexts”.

 Much more to explore on the TeachingEnglish site here https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/

3. Here’s the recording of Sarah Mercer and Chris Farrell’s webinar for OUP ELT earlier this week on the new Oxford paper on Self-Directed Professional Development that they wrote together with Donald Freeman https://www.facebook.com/events/627867849121441/ The paper presents a “step-by-step approach to realistic, personalised, and effective professional development (PD)” and its key messages are that:

• Self-directed PD is typically relevant and sustainable over time and impacts positively on teachers’ wellbeing, motivation, and confidence.

• Each teacher has different PD needs, depending on their own preferences, the context they work in, their personal circumstances, and the opportunities available to them.

• The potential for self-directed PD emerges from teachers’ motivation and curiosity to learn, knowledge of the learning opportunities available, access to these opportunities, and support to engage with them.

• Teachers can draw on the seven-step PD framework provided in this paper to guide their self-directed PD.

• Employers have an important role to play in ensuring teachers have the practical support they need to engage with opportunities for self-directed PD.

It’s a good paper. My sense is that Sarah and Chris’s intended audience, with their talk of ‘crafting’ the PD available to the teacher’s own needs, is one of teachers who are already reasonably confident and self-aware and just need a little extra encouragement. PDF of the paper below.

4. And, finally, here’s an LRB diary piece about teaching in the suburbs of Paris by Madeleine Schwartz,  Teaching in the Banlieue https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n22/madeleine-schwartz/diary PDF below, just in case.