Category Archives: Uncategorized

1. There’s an Uzbek focus to many of the articles in the most recent issue of HLT (Humanising Language Teaching) https://www.hltmag.co.uk/aug22/ Try Principles of Teaching Karakalpak Students English Speech Etiquette by Zoya Sarsenbaeva and Zernegul Uteshova, which seems to me … Continue reading →

1. This year’s Einar Haugen Lecture at Oslo University will be given by Marianne Gullberg from Lund University and is entitled More than just hand-waving: Gestures and meaning in multilingual language use. More info and Zoom link here https://www.hf.uio.no/multiling/english/news-and-events/events/guest-lectures-seminars/einar-haugen-lecture/2022/Einar%20Haugen%20Lecture%202022%20marianne-gullberg.html “Multilingual … Continue reading →

1. The Council of Europe formally adopted a Recommendation earlier this year on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture https://search.coe.int/cm/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectId=0900001680a563ca This coming Friday, 23rd September, in a webinar for the ECML, David Little will be analysing … Continue reading →

1. A good ‘long read’ from The Guardian by Aida Edemariam, initially inspiring but ultimately depressing, ‘Parents are frightened for themselves and for their children’: an inspirational school in impossible times https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/sep/06/parents-are-frightened-inspirational-primary-school-impossible-times “Children will do anything for a sticker” – … Continue reading →

1. Two pieces of the many written about Queen Elizabeth II since her death last Thursday: one you might not have been expecting, from Jeanette Winterson, ‘She has been the one and only stable female in my life’ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/11/jeanette-winterson-on-mourning-the-queen and … Continue reading →

1. Two from the ECML (European Centre for Modern Languages) in Graz: a poll, Why learn a language?, which asks for your top three reasons for doing sohttps://edl.ecml.at/Activities/Poll/tabid/3229/Default.aspx and a (fun but quite challenging!) game based on pictures with language … Continue reading →

1. Two short, different introductions by David Bellos of Princeton University to his book, Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: an animation from Penguin Books https://youtu.be/GyTYbHMdvE0 and a talking head one from Big Think https://bigthink.com/videos/linguistic-diversity-is-language-2/ Bellos has made a … Continue reading →

1. Here’s two ways of saying the same thing about How Living Abroad Helps You Develop a Clearer Sense of Self: one a Harvard Business Review article https://hbr.org/2018/05/how-living-abroad-helps-you-develop-a-clearer-sense-of-self and the other a favourite Philip Larkin poem of mine that many … Continue reading →

1. Here’s David Edgerton’s review of retired diplomat Arthur Snell’s book, How Britain Broke the World: War, Greed and Blunders from Kosovo to Afghanistan, 1997-2021 for The New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/book-of-the-day/2022/08/british-diplomacy-in-the-dock There are alternative points of view, one ought to point … Continue reading →

1. I reckon you need to be brave to write three articles on Humor (sic) in ELT, which is what John Rucynski has done for TESOL Connections. See what you think; PDFs below. #1 http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolc/issues/2022-05-01/email.html #2 http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolc/issues/2022-06-01/email.html #3 http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolc/issues/2022-08-01/email.html 2. … Continue reading →