A bit of a climate theme today …

1. The next Green Action ELT online event, at 14:00 UK time this coming Friday, 24^th November, is Green activism: how far can we go? with Linda Ruas. It asks the question, “How far can we go in our language classes to encourage our learners to become environmental or climate activists?”

More info here https://green-action-elt.uk/events/

and registration here https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrdO-opjktGdFRFdrm-h3TvfAKLR0mwAuQ#/registration

There’ still time to enrol in the TeachingEnglish Climate Action course I mentioned a while back, if you missed it first time round https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/training/climate-action-language-education

Interesting that they seem to have no misgivings on the activism score: the blurb states that this free course “aims to help you integrate environmental issues in English language teaching and develop the skills you need to take and sustain meaningful and impactful action to protect the environment in your local context”.

2. A long piece on Greta Thunberg and Palestine which raises lots of issues, some usefully annoyingly, by no fewer than six journalists from Der Spiegel, Has Greta Thunberg Betrayed the Climate Movement? https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-potential-rift-in-the-climate-movement-what-s-next-for-greta-thunberg-a-2491673f-2d42-4e2c-bbd7-bab53432b687

3. Here’s a TeachingEnglish lesson plan (for both face-to-face and online classes) intended for primary age learners from the ages of 8 to 12 with A2 English (but would also work, I think, with older pupils with less strong English) on The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) intended to introduce the SDGs and the thinking behind them to your learners https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-resources/teaching-primary/lesson-plans/level-2/sustainable-development-goals Lots of downloads, of which two below, the f2f lesson plan and the f2f worksheet

4. Grazzia Maria Mendoza Chirinos and Leticia Araceli Salas Serrano co-edited the recently published book, Empowered Women in ELT: A collection of Worldwide Stories, “a collection of narratives from worldwide, empowered, and inspiring women who share their achievements, sources of inspiration, paths and how they overcame their challenges”. Neatly book-ended by two expatriate Argentinians, who wrote the foreword (Annie Altamirano) and the epilogue (Dario Banegas)! https://sites.google.com/view/empoweredwomenineltseries/volume-1-stories?authuser=1

Book download here (and PDF below) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sqs0jbtMJgc_aFfMp5mNC70jtdTK5P6x/view

5. And, finally and damagingly to one’s remaining faith in the essential goodness of human nature, from the comments on a New York Times recipe for Cheesy Hasselback Potato Gratin: comment from Person A: “I’d remove the butter, cheeses, and cream and use olive oil and a few other herbs (rosemary and the like). Would work better for my Mediterranean taste” [1 like]; reply from Person B: “It’s fine you don’t like this kind of recipe but it’s not necessary to tell us what you made instead. These notes are to help people with the recipe. We don’t need to know about you. Go ahead and have a peanut butter sandwich. Or a slice of pizza. Just don’t write us notes about it please” [473 likes]. Recipe here so you can make your own mind up whether it’s worth making – I think I agree with Person A! https://tinyurl.com/3j774m8c