1. Pride of place today to the ‘personal passion project’ that Chris Sowton has been developing over the last few months, Teach Any Class https://teachanyclass.org/ It’s a wonderfully rich resource, covering Professional Development, Classroom Activities, Skills Development, Important Concepts, Great Thinkers, Amazing Objects, English Resources and Teaching Terms.

In Chris’s own words: Teach Any Class is a 100% free-to-use resource hub for teachers, with professional development materials, ready-to-use activities, teaching tips, student-facing skills development work, a huge English language resources section – and much more besides. In total, there are already nearly 2,000 separate resources on the website, but I hope this is just the beginning, and that Teach Any Class can grow into a significant global teaching community. I wanted to build something practical, open, and genuinely accessible – learning which does not sit behind a paywall and has not been created by big publishing companies. Everything is completely free to use, and there is no sign-up required. Whilst the resources can be used by any teacher, they are especially designed for those working in challenging situations, where class sizes may be high and mobile data may be limited.

2. This LSE online event next Wednesday, 17^th June, at 18:30 is likely to be an engaging and lively one, Surviving Extreme Times with Mishal Husain & Lea Ypi: sign up here https://www.lse.ac.uk/events/lse-festival/2026/surviving-extreme-times

In their books, both Mishal Husain and Lea Ypi have explored their family histories through periods of authoritarianism, conflict and political upheaval. In this conversation they will explore the resonance with the present of themes from the past, like the rise of fascism, migration, colonialism and inequality. What can history tell us about how to live through difficult political times, and where to find hope?

More events in the LSE Festival, which begins next Monday, 15^th June, and runs all week, here https://lselive.eckoenterprise.net/festival/2026/presentations

3. The last NATESOL free webinar of this academic year is next Tuesday, 16th June, at 16:00 UK time,  A Brief Journey into the Science of Learning and How It Applies to Foreign Language Learning with Dr Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel from Glasgow University. More info and registration here https://www.canva.com/design/DAHLl2KOfAo/6Jva7TOrfeoDrtLtiuFonw/view#1

In this session, Carolina will take the audience on a journey that explores how our memory works and how we can use this knowledge to tweak foreign language teaching. She will share research insights on human learning that can directly inform activities in the classroom and provide hands-on practical tips. There will be demonstrations to experience the learning strategies, and the audience will leave the session inspired and ready to apply new ideas.

4. A good piece from Geoff Mulgan, Rethinking universities’ social contracts … and how to avoid the fate of the monasteries  https://geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/rethinking-universities-social-contracts

Universities are in a paradoxical position. In some respects, they have never been stronger – richer, more influential, more deeply embedded in national economies than at any point in history. Yet they are simultaneously under attack from multiple directions, and the threats are serious enough to warrant more than defensive reassurance. I was struck by an analogy suggested by Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne and head of the Australian public service. Five hundred years ago, monasteries dominated Europe as centres of learning, wealth and prestige. Yet over the next two centuries they steadily declined. In England they were suddenly dissolved by an angry King Henry VIII who simply stole their treasures and left them in ruins. Institutions that had seemed permanent and powerful faded to the margins of society. It turned out they had no divine right to exist. They had failed to understand the profound change in systems of knowledge that was happening around them, involving printing, the renaissance, religious innovation and a new spirit of inquiry.

5. And, finally, and less light reading than is often the case in this last item, Ethan Mollick’s latest blog post, What it feels like to work with Mythos: Claude Fable represents another big jump in AI https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/what-it-feels-like-to-work-with-mythos

I had early access to the first Mythos-class AI model being released to the public, Claude 5 Fable. Much of the discussion of Mythos has centered on its impact on software security, but I tested it on everything except that (the guardrails around Fable essentially prevent it from being used for cybersecurity at all). My conclusion is that it represents a very real leap over every model I have used before, and, maybe more important, suggests our relationship with AI is changing in drastic ways.