1. It’s United Nations International Mother Earth Day today https://www.un.org/en/observances/earth-day

Mother Earth is clearly urging a call to action. Nature is suffering. Oceans filling with plastic and turning more acidic. Extreme heat, wildfires and floods, have affected millions of people. Climate change, man-made changes to nature as well as crimes that disrupt biodiversity, such as deforestation, land-use change, intensified agriculture and livestock production or the growing illegal wildlife trade, can accelerate the speed of destruction of the planet. That is why we need to recover our ecosystems.

Lots of stories https://www.un.org/en/observances/earth-day/stories

and resources https://www.un.org/en/international-mother-earth-day/page/international-mother-earth-day-resources

2. Keith Kelly on CLIL (Content & Language Integrated Learning): What Austria Gets Right https://youtu.be/VZ7R99yjNIo

Keith highlights the strengths of Austria’s approach to CLIL in a global context. Drawing on real classroom examples and an Austrian study on communication in the curriculum, he discusses what makes the model successful and how it can grow further.

Slightly dodgy AI-generated subtitles in English that probably aren’t necessary!

3. Here’s The Daily Telegraph obituary of Pope Francis https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/80a4ce285163a940

When on March 13, 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was asked formally if he accepted his election as bishop of Rome he replied in Latin: “I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Three days later he explained his reason for choosing the name Francis, after Francis of Assisi. “For me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation,” he said. “How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor.”

4. In 1940, Captain Robin ‘Tin Eye’ Stephens (named after his ever-present monocle) interrogated the German spy Wulf Schmidt and turned him into a double agent. The latest podcast from the National Archives tells some of the curious stories behind their new exhibition, MI5: Official Secrets http://tnaontherecord.libsyn.com/mi5-official-secrets

PDF of podcast transcript here and below https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/mi5-official-secrets-show-notes.pdf

5. And, finally, man and cormorant in perfect harmony https://youtu.be/l5WBlVXRU0A