Author Archives: roycross

Thursday, 27th March (Cambridge)

Posted on March 27, 2025 by roycross

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday, 25th March (Richmond)

Posted on March 25, 2025 by roycross

1. Here’s the recording of a recent Future of English conversation with David Crystal https://youtu.be/64HRT797Lsc One of the easiest (and most engaging) people I ever interviewed: you just light the blue touchpaper and sit back! And when you next have … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Thursday, 20th March (Cambridge)

Posted on March 20, 2025 by roycross

1. I hadn’t realised that today was World Happiness Day until I saw that Gallup’s annual World Happiness Report was published today https://www.gallup.com/analytics/349487/world-happiness-report.aspx Finland is the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row! PDF of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday, 18th March (Richmond)

Posted on March 18, 2025 by roycross

1. Two free from this month’s Literary Review: Sea of Troubles, a review by Owen Matthews of a ‘brilliantly written, convincingly argued and compelling book’, Baltic: The Future of Europe by Oliver Moody https://literaryreview.co.uk/sea-of-troubles Death from the Clouds, a review … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thursday, 13th March (Cambridge)

Posted on March 13, 2025 by roycross

1. James Thomas’s new book, Discovering English with VersaText, is launched online this coming Saturday, 15th March, at 15:00 UK time. More info and registration here https://bit.ly/vtbl2025 and PDF below. Everyone gets a free chapter! ‘Discovering English with VersaText’ helps … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday, 11th March (Richmond)

Posted on March 11, 2025 by roycross

1. Here’s a combative interview in Der Spiegel with Pankaj Mishra about the war in Gaza, “Germany’s Reputation Has Been Badly Tainted by its One-Sided Support for the Israeli Government” https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/pankaj-mishra-on-the-war-in-gaza-germanys-reputation-has-been-badly-tainted-by-its-one-sided-support-for-the-israeli-government-a-12cab975-96cd-4187-aefc-edce56113b0c 2. To give you time to arrange to attend, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Thursday, 6th March (Cambridge)

Posted on March 6, 2025 by roycross

1. I enjoyed this BBC Radio 4 series, Facing the Music, very much on my way back from Yorkshire last week https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m002848z Toby Jones and Sibelius, Dominic West and Beethoven, Maxine Peake and Ethel Smyth: what’s not to like? 2. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday, 4th March (Richmond)

Posted on March 4, 2025 by roycross

1. NATESOL’s 41st Annual Conference, Learners and Learning, is on Saturday 17th May and is a hybrid event, online via Zoom or on-site at Manchester Metropolitan University. All speakers get to attend free and the deadline for the submission of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thursday, 27th February (Cambridge)

Posted on February 27, 2025 by roycross

1. Two recent posts about young children’s behavioural development on the BOLD blog: Do tablets help or hinder children’s play? with Salim Hashmi & Kathryn Bates https://boldscience.org/do-tablets-help-or-hinder-childrens-play/ When children are with another person, they tend to benefit from playing on … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday, 25th February (Richmond)

Posted on February 25, 2025 by roycross

1. Lost England, a gallery of photos from 1870 to 1930 from The Guardian to start with today, including one of the labour-intensive construction of the Manchester ship canal in 1889 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2016/nov/28/lost-england-photographs-from-1870-to-1930 2. The longlist for this year’s International Booker … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment