1. This one’s a bit specific, for those of you that completed – or supervised the completion of – an MA thesis at a European university during 2022 within the area of language use, language policy and multilingualism.

EFNIL http://efnil.org/ is the European Federation of National Institutes for Language. Each year they run a competition to find the best master’s theses in Europe, and the winners get a €1,500 prize and a free trip to the EFNIL conference. The languages studied in the thesis may be any of the European national languages. Please note, say EFNIL, that English is still one of the official languages!

More detailed information here http://efnil.org/master-thesis-award/master-thesis-award

NB! The deadline is 15th January.

2. Two pieces with a focus on South Asia:

first, the recording of a lecture for the Asia Scotland Institute by John Keay, Himalaya: Crisis on the Roof of the World? https://youtu.be/aIdAUiay6Tc;

second, a short film from The Guardian, The Great Abandonment, about migrant workers within India https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2022/nov/23/the-great-abandonment-the-extraordinary-exodus-of-indias-migrant-labourers

3. Sound advice from the gov.uk site on Designing for people with dyscalculia and low numeracy https://designnotes.blog.gov.uk/2022/11/28/designing-for-people-with-dyscalculia-and-low-numeracy/

More on dyscalculia, which is a challenge for more people than perhaps we realise, here https://www.dyscalculianetwork.com/ including a short video introduction https://youtu.be/HVf_OHK2hHQ

4. Michael Rosen made a splendid host for last night’s ELTons awards ceremony. He performed one of his poems, Hot Food https://youtu.be/Akwm2UZJ34o

Lots more on his YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelRosenOfficial

5. And, finally and uncomfortably, from the Radio 5 ‘Teach me a Lesson’ series, Where’s The Most Painful Place To Get A Tattoo? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0cdhpjm

More episodes here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p095y1m1/episodes/player