1. TeachingEnglish has just had a two-month focus on Planning lessons and courses. I’ve picked out three items from the riches available:

A. The recordings of the three sessions in the online Creating lessons that work mini-event last week: “three practical sessions all about how to create lessons that work for all your learners”.

How to write great learning outcomes with Cath McLellan & Robert Martinez (not the manager of the Portugal football team) https://www.youtube.com/live/4i9V43YVheo

The secrets to writing classroom materials with Joanna Gore, Kath Bilsborough & John Hughes https://www.youtube.com/live/GN2XmP_kVgE

How to create lessons that work with Melissa Thomson, Sadiku Basiru & Jessica Gallagher https://www.youtube.com/live/-Vc518CMYt4

B. Episode 6 of the Education in focus podcast on Educational planning with Martin Wedell & Rukmini Banerjee, reviewing the importance of planning in education systems https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/podcasts/education-focus/education-focus-6-educational-planning

C. A self-study workbook on the theme, Teacher pathways: Planning lessons and courses https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/2024-12/Workbook_for_Planning_lessons_and_courses.pdf

PDF below as well, just in case that’s easier

2. I’m not sure how worried we should be by this video from Tim Mousel, Agentic AI: A Wake-Up Call to Educators https://youtu.be/PX7vbCwd84o If I’ve understood him correctly, AI is now capable of taking a complete online course on behalf of a student, with the course tutor none the wiser.

3. Also on the AI theme, a piece for The Guardian by Jeanette Winterson, OpenAI’s metafictional short story about grief is beautiful and moving https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/12/jeanette-winterson-ai-alternative-intelligence-its-capacity-to-be-other-is-just-what-the-human-race-needs

I think of AI as alternative intelligence, says Winterson, and its capacity to be ‘other’ is just what the human race needs.

And here’s the ChatGPT story that she’s writing about, ‘A machine-shaped hand’ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/12/a-machine-shaped-hand-read-a-story-from-openais-new-creative-writing-model Quite something!

4. I’ve just discovered Elif Batuman’s blog, The Elif Life Here’s a recent post on the novel in Japan (and much more in passing), The “Debate over Pure Literature” https://eliflife.substack.com/p/the-debate-over-pure-literature

5. And, finally and belatedly (sorry!), this year’s Five Films for Freedom from the British Film Institute and the British Council: free to watch for only three days more, till 30^th March https://arts.britishcouncil.org/five-films