1. Here’s an update on the current free IATEFL offer:

• A podcast on The Future of Teacher Development in ELT with Silvana Richardson https://tdsig.org/developod-tdsigs-podcast/
• A webinar, Entering the world of materials writing, at 16:00 UK time on Wednesday, 19^th July with Bethan Stokes https://www.iatefl.org/events/448
• And one for your diary, a little further ahead, at 15:00 UK time on Saturday, 5^th August, Reflective Practice Groups: A visionary journey of professional development with Burak Aydin https://www.iatefl.org/events/368

2. It’s World Youth Skills Day on Saturday, 15^th July. Here’s a sobering post on the World Bank Education for Global Development blog https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/youth-economic-disengagement-harsh-global-reality-remember-world-youth-skills-day

Seven out of every 10 youth globally are economically disengaged or under-engaged – ouch!

3. This UNESCO competition is ‘only’ for colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region, which, depending on how you define it, is at least half the world. Thanks to Amy Lightfoot for drawing this one to my attention. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-invites-schools-compete-asia-pacific-living-heritage-lesson-plan-contest-2023

$1,000 for each of the winning four lesson plans, and a free online course to increase your chances of winning here https://www.gcedonlinecampus.org/_HTML/closed_course_view.php?id=81

4. And, finally and shamefully (because I thought Milan Kundera had died some time ago) https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/12/milan-kundera-the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-author-dies-aged-94

Here’s John Banville’s account of re-reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being twenty years after its first publication https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/may/01/fiction.johnbanville