Category Archives: Uncategorized

1. I was worried this would be a monster file but it’s not too bad (5 Mb): the OECD report on How Learning Continued during the COVID-19 Pandemic with forty-five ‘education continuity stories’ from round the world https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/how-learning-continued-during-the-covid-19-pandemic_bbeca162-en  PDF below. … Continue reading →

This edition is sponsored by the World Economic Forum – if only! 1. Here’s Bill Gates and John Kerry in conversation about climate change at the World Economic Forum, both of them guardedly enthusiastic about what COP26 in Glasgow achieved … Continue reading →

Late home this evening from the inaugural meeting of the London TESOL Research Forum, ably spearheaded (his word) by Jim McKinley … 1. More research: TIRF is The International Research Foundation (for English Language Education) https://www.tirfonline.org/ The winner of their … Continue reading →

Some reading, watching and listening for the weekend … 1. A blog post by Barnaby Lenon from the University of Buckingham on the use of textbooks – or not – in the UK https://educationblog.buckingham.ac.uk/2021/05/16/why-are-english-schools-not-using-textbooks-by-professor-barnaby-lenon/ “In England 10% of 10-year olds … Continue reading →

1. Language Log is the blog of the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Research in Cognitive Science. Here’s a recent post on the story of Creation and the subsequent Great Flood from south-west China, as told in Naxi ‘pictographic writing’ … Continue reading →

1. First of two today from Lancaster University: next Friday, 4th February, at 13:00 UK time, Jennifer Rowsell from Bristol University will be giving the first of this term’s Lancaster Literacy Research Centre talks, on ‘Research creation during a pandemic’. … Continue reading →

1. Climate Questions is a weekly BBC podcast. Here’s all the full episodes https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvb6/episodes/player and here’s a page of short clips, two- to three-minutes long, that might work quite well in the classroom https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvb6/clips Here’s an audio clip from Behavioural … Continue reading →

1. ‘Embedding resilience’ is the title of the next British Council Education Exchange event, with speakers from Nigeria, Moldova, India, the USA and the UK. More info – worth following up the links embedded – and registration here https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/schools/education-exchange-digital-events/embedding-resilience See … Continue reading →

A little later this evening, as I’ve just driven home to Cambridge from Yorkshire, much enjoying BBC Radio 3’s ‘The Miser’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0013k5l and BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Woodlanders’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m000vp38 en route! 1. I’m meeting Ben Knight in the pub in … Continue reading →

1. Thanks to Ann Veitch for this one: great new mini-site from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) on Varieties of English https://public.oed.com/varieties-of-english/ “The OED has always included words from across the English-speaking world. What’s changed – drastically – since the … Continue reading →