Category Archives: Uncategorized

1. We prefer things to be black and white, with no shades of grey. Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, made the mistake of suggesting in a video recently that the Taliban had some … Continue reading →

Late again this week, this time due to an unusually painful bout of sciatica. Suggestions from fellow-sufferers will be most welcome! 1. This one doesn’t mince its words: “The use of English as the common language of science represents a … Continue reading →

1. I can’t remember where I came across this ELT Buzz collection on nativespeakerism – LinkedIn, maybe? https://www.eltbuzz.com/tag/native-speaker/ Ironically, ELT Buzz itself https://www.eltbuzz.com/ has a bit of a native speaker vibe, but it does a good job hoovering up news … Continue reading →

1. Here’s an update on the current free IATEFL offer: 2. It’s World Youth Skills Day on Saturday, 15th July. Here’s a sobering post on the World Bank Education for Global Development blog https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/youth-economic-disengagement-harsh-global-reality-remember-world-youth-skills-day Seven out of every 10 youth … Continue reading →

One day late as I got carried away with Hansjörg Schneider’s ‘The Basel Killings’ yesterday … 1. Something a little different to start with today: two articles from The Conversation by Gavin Harper of Birmingham University on rare metals and … Continue reading →

1. I’m going to try to keep this simple. At 12:00 UK time this Saturday, 8th July, British Council China are reporting on their recent research project, Online Teacher Research Mentoring for Professional Learning: Experiences of Chinese English Teachers. Five … Continue reading →

1. Thanks to Robin Skipsey for sending this one, prompted by the 110-year-old Cambridge exam questions the other day, 10 ‘grammar rules’ it’s OK to break (sometimes) by Steven Pinker https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/15/steven-pinker-10-grammar-rules-break 2. Native Speakerism – what is it and why … Continue reading →

1. Ever been to a conference and regretted not being able to go to two concurrent sessions at the same time? Here’s the recordings of all the sessions, concurrent or otherwise, at Trinity’s 8th Future of English Language Teaching Conference … Continue reading →

1. EL Gazette were typically quick to pick up on this one from Cambridge Assessment, Can you answer a 110-year-old exam question? https://www.elgazette.com/can-you-answer-a-110-year-old-exam-question/ Cambridge have been kind enough to supply me with the answers, and here they are: a. is … Continue reading →

1. Stephen Downes just had a half-hour conversation with an AI (Artificial Intelligence) interlocutor-bot about the ethics of AI https://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2023/06/my-conversation-with-pi-ai-on-ethics-of.html Why didn’t I think of that idea first? 2. A message from Sergio Monteiro, the President of BRAZ-TESOL: “Saudações do … Continue reading →