1. Over two years now since I gave FACTWorld a plug! In their own words, it “is a forum set up to support the teaching of subjects through the medium of a foreign language, bilingual education, immersion education, content and language integrated learning (CLIL). The site contains links to country reports, useful sites and contact details of key people in participating countries. The site is run entirely by volunteer teachers for other teachers. If you have something to share, send it to us, and we’ll post it here” https://www.factworld.info/

The thirty-sixth issue of their journal, with a focus on young learners this time and a seven-year-old co-editor, has just come out https://www.factworld.info/en/Bulgaria-FACT-Journals-Issue-36 PDF below.

2. From BOLD, who focus on ‘big ideas for growing minds’, Why children can benefit from using their fingers for math by Venera Gashaj & Korbinian Moeller from Loughborough University https://bold.expert/why-children-can-benefit-from-using-their-fingers-for-math/

Do you, too, remember sitting on your hands during math classes to avoid being caught counting on your fingers? When we were children, our teachers discouraged us from using our fingers, believing that doing so would hinder the development of an abstract understanding of numbers. Nevertheless, we would still glance at or move our fingers while counting or performing simple calculations. Even today, we occasionally use our fingers to count the days to know how many nights to book at a hotel from Wednesday to Sunday. Does this sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. Thinking about our shared experience, we wondered why using our fingers to count and calculate feels so natural and helpful, and yet is often discouraged in early math education.

Plus, an interview with Moeller, How do young children learn mathematics? https://bold.expert/how-do-young-children-learn-mathematics/

From an evolutionary point of view, numbers are a relatively recent invention as they have only been around for about 3,000 years. This is too recent for our brains to have developed a dedicated number area. Instead, we most likely process numbers using parts of the brain that process visual information including perceptual features like density.

Numbers are a relatively recent invention, eh?

3. New York Times Readers got their own back and picked their own 100 Best Books of the 21st Century https://tinyurl.com/4f2pnkjf There’s not a huge amount of overlap with the NYT’s own list: 39 books out of 100.

4. This is probably one for the weekend, and you need to be a bit file-nerdy-needy like me: The National Archives releases Cabinet Office files online https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/the-national-archives-releases-cabinet-office-files-online/

Try this one about the access ex-prime ministers should and did enjoy to their personal papers when writing their autobiographies (or more usually having them written for them) as an exercise in civil service ineffability and the old boys’ network, with frequent appearances by a formidable Miss P M Matthews from the Historical and Records Section. https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/release-2024-07/cab103-827.pdf

Or this one about European Union Enlargement, which includes the first draft of a 2002 paper entitled ‘Something for Turkey’ (as in something – anything – is better than nothing) and includes the following judgement de haut en bas in a report on ‘Focus Groups on EU Enlargement’ on page 87: It would be very hard to underestimate the ability of ordinary people to understand the arguments for and against enlargement. It may be that the pamphlet was written with a different, more enlightened audience in mind.

The whole report on the focus groups – with all its painfully grating condescension – anticipates (unintentionally) the background to Brexit and is well worth a read if you have time (pages 72-96 of the file) https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/release-2024-07/prem49-2505.pdf

PDFs of both below.

5. And, finally and delightfully, all fifty-three of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts with the New York Philharmonic from 1958 through to 1972 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU0HyYmOgH8Xn06fDThwLDh95igfZpurQ

Plus, all his handwritten scripts (and typed up versions) https://leonardbernstein.com/lectures/television-scripts/young-peoples-concerts