Thursday, 3rd April (Richmond)

Posted on April 3, 2025 by roycross

1. The Healthy Linguistic Diet team, Thomas Bak and Dina Mehmedbegovic-Smith, relaunched their website on the International Day of Multilingualism last week. Here it is! https://healthylinguisticdiet.com/bali-hld-model-launching-on-the-international-day-of-multilingualism-27-3-2025/

2. I hope this one from The New Yorker is accessible, Are We Taking A.I. Seriously Enough? by Joshua Rothman, as what he has to say seems to me to be really important https://www.newyorker.com/culture/open-questions/are-we-taking-ai-seriously-enough

There’s no longer any scenario in which A.I. fades into irrelevance. We urgently need voices from outside the industry to help shape its future.

3. This could be one of your two free New Statesman articles each month: What is school for? https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/education/2025/04/what-is-school-for

The struggle for control of the national curriculum is a fight for the soul of English education, says the author, Pippa Bailey – nothing less!

4. Must Europe always take every opportunity to miss an opportunity? is the plaintive title of this good piece for Engelsberg Ideas by Brendan Simms & Lukas Schmelter https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/must-europe-always-take-every-opportunity-to-miss-an-opportunity/

The Trump administration may finally force European leaders to achieve the elusive goal of political union. The tragedy may be that they have left it too late to deter Russian aggression.

5. And, finally, a gift article from The New York Times about the impact of the Trump tariffs, Trump’s Trade War Risks Forfeiting America’s Economic Primacy https://tinyurl.com/ym64aejc

The United States has steered an economic order for 80 years based on trade and trust, making the country the world’s financial superpower. That vision is now blurred.

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Tuesday, 1st April (Cambridge)

Posted on April 1, 2025 by roycross

1. Here’s an open-access special issue of The Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning on Local Perspectives on Language Teacher Motivation and Engagement edited by Sarah Mercer and David Smid https://www.jpll.org/index.php/journal/issue/view/language_teacher_motivation_and_engagement

Some intriguing titles: how about Unveiling the Motivational Tapestry: A Duoethnographic Journey Into two ESP Teachers’ Motivation in Higher Education by Irati Diert-Boté & Balbina Moncada-Comas https://www.jpll.org/index.php/journal/article/view/diert-bote_moncada-comas or Triggers and Supports of International Visiting EFL Teachers’ Directed Motivational Currents by Kadidja Koné https://www.jpll.org/index.php/journal/article/view/kone?

Here’s Sarah and David’s introduction to the issue https://www.jpll.org/index.php/journal/article/view/smid_mercer/smid_mercer

PDF of that below in case that’s easier.

JPLL introDownload

2. Trump: 6 ways he is already changing the world is a pleasingly non-slick vlog by Carne Ross, who also writes the Diplomatic Anarchist blog https://youtu.be/Rk-8uX7mO14

3. This one’s essential reading if you’re a gum chewer, Chewing gum: another way for microplastics to enter your body? https://theconversation.com/chewing-gum-another-way-for-microplastics-to-enter-your-body-252842

4. Some Stress Is Good for You, Actually – did you know that? Here’s a piece from Time, a magazine I’d been wrongly assuming was no longer with us https://time.com/7271109/some-stress-is-good-essay/

as indeed I had Life https://www.life.com/ Some great photos there!

5. And, finally and restfully – for the viewer, at least! – a video from Fen Farm Dairy about the making of a new cheese, Rædwald https://vimeo.com/1062806478 You may need to sign up for a (free) account.

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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 practical sessions all about how to create lessons that work for all your learners”.

How to write great learning outcomes with Cath McLellan & Robert Martinez (not the manager of the Portugal football team) https://www.youtube.com/live/4i9V43YVheo

The secrets to writing classroom materials with Joanna Gore, Kath Bilsborough & John Hughes https://www.youtube.com/live/GN2XmP_kVgE

How to create lessons that work with Melissa Thomson, Sadiku Basiru & Jessica Gallagher https://www.youtube.com/live/-Vc518CMYt4

B. Episode 6 of the Education in focus podcast on Educational planning with Martin Wedell & Rukmini Banerjee, reviewing the importance of planning in education systems https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/podcasts/education-focus/education-focus-6-educational-planning

C. A self-study workbook on the theme, Teacher pathways: Planning lessons and courses https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/2024-12/Workbook_for_Planning_lessons_and_courses.pdf

PDF below as well, just in case that’s easier

Workbook_for_Planning_lessons_and_coursesDownload

2. I’m not sure how worried we should be by this video from Tim Mousel, Agentic AI: A Wake-Up Call to Educators https://youtu.be/PX7vbCwd84o If I’ve understood him correctly, AI is now capable of taking a complete online course on behalf of a student, with the course tutor none the wiser.

3. Also on the AI theme, a piece for The Guardian by Jeanette Winterson, OpenAI’s metafictional short story about grief is beautiful and moving https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/12/jeanette-winterson-ai-alternative-intelligence-its-capacity-to-be-other-is-just-what-the-human-race-needs

I think of AI as alternative intelligence, says Winterson, and its capacity to be ‘other’ is just what the human race needs.

And here’s the ChatGPT story that she’s writing about, ‘A machine-shaped hand’ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/12/a-machine-shaped-hand-read-a-story-from-openais-new-creative-writing-model Quite something!

4. I’ve just discovered Elif Batuman’s blog, The Elif Life Here’s a recent post on the novel in Japan (and much more in passing), The “Debate over Pure Literature” https://eliflife.substack.com/p/the-debate-over-pure-literature

5. And, finally and belatedly (sorry!), this year’s Five Films for Freedom from the British Film Institute and the British Council: free to watch for only three days more, till 30th March https://arts.britishcouncil.org/five-films

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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 a week to spare, you can spend it exploring David’s website https://www.davidcrystal.com/GBR/Books-and-Articles

2.  Denisa Kostovicova’s inaugural lecture as Professor of Global Politics at the LSE – War crimes talk: does it help or hinder peace? – is tomorrow, Wednesday 26th March, at 18:30 UK time. More info and a registration link here https://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2025/03/202503261830/War-crimes

In her inaugural lecture, Denisa Kostovicova discusses how former opponents engage with the legacy of mass atrocity. War crimes need to be addressed, if peace is to be built. But, in divided societies polarised by violence, war crimes talk can deepen the divisions. Kostovicova draws on her study of post-conflict Balkans and presents lessons for contemporary conflicts. She locates the possibilities for peace in political communication across conflict lines, assesses the risks and considers alternatives, such as arts-based approaches.

3. First of two sent me by Maja Mandekić – Thank you, Maja!

Part 1 of Scam Factories: the inside story of Southeast Asia’s fraud compounds by Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li & The Conversation Digital Storytelling Team https://scam-factories-life-inside.netlify.app/

Ben Yeo is trapped in a scam centre in Cambodia, desperately trying to escape. It’s early 2024 and he’s been here for 30 days. Thirty days since Ben and his wife Moira realised their well-paid new casino jobs were just an elaborate ruse. Now they have to choose: pay their captors a US$20,000 ransom or get to work in the scam compound.

You can read (or listen to) all three parts of the series here https://theconversation.com/scam-factories-the-inside-story-of-southeast-asias-brutal-fraud-compounds-250448

4. And Maja’s second, a piece from The Guardian by James Bailey, What is the meaning of life? 15 possible answers – from a palliative care doctor, a Holocaust survivor, a jail inmate and more https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/22/what-is-the-meaning-of-life-15-possible-answers-from-a-palliative-care-doctor-a-holocaust-survivor-a-jail-inmate-and-more

In September 2015, I was unemployed, heartbroken and living alone in my dead grandad’s caravan, wondering what the meaning of life was. Where was I going to find happiness, or purpose, or meaning? What was the point to all of this?

5. And, finally, a joke from Barry Cryer that has some personal resonance:

A famous comedian visits an old folks’ home to tell them a few jokes. He chats away to them, tells some very good jokes and then his ego gets the better of him. He asks one old lady, “You don’t know who I am, do you?”  She says, “Don’t worry, dear. Matron will tell you.”

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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 full report below and here’s a short (and corporate) introductory video from the CEO of Gallup https://youtu.be/I32TsgpxntA

world-happiness-report-2025Download

BUT here’s a dissenting view from Yascha Mounk https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/the-world-happiness-report-is-a-sham

What I found was worse than I’d imagined. To put it politely, the World Happiness Report is beset with methodological problems. To put it bluntly, it is a sham. (…) it turns out that the World Happiness Report is not based on any major research effort; far from measuring how happy people are with some sophisticated mix of indicators, it simply compiles answers to a single question asked to comparatively small samples of people in each country: “Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to ten at the top. Suppose we say that the top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. If the top step is 10 and the bottom step is 0, on which step of the ladder do you feel you personally stand at the present time?“

2. I’ve always been puzzled as to how Finland’s very high suicide rate could be reconciled with their being the happiest nation in the world. It turns out I’m thirty years off the pace. Finland launched a highly effective national campaign in the 1990s in response to a suicide rate that at that time was indeed three times the European average. Here’s a piece from The Conversation by a team from Leiden and Tampere universities describing that success, Finland managed to halve its suicide rate – here’s how it happened https://theconversation.com/finland-managed-to-halve-its-suicide-rate-heres-how-it-happened-224708

3. Life mimicking fiction in this piece from The Spectator by Damian Thompson, which could almost be a review of the film Conclave, about the current manoeuvring for succession in the Vatican https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/does-china-have-vatican-city-in-its-sights/ (You’ll need to sign up for a free account if you haven’t already done so.)

4. Here’s a piece from Tim Klapdor’s blog, Heart Soul Machine, on our collective addiction to ‘devices’, Being Broken https://heartsoulmachine.com/blog/2025/03-09-being-broken/

In the depths of COVID we turned to technology to connect us and express ourselves. Then to entertain us through the lockdowns. Then to distract us from our disrupted lives. Then we succumbed to the addiction. I think the addiction broke us and turned us into … (looks around) … this.

Thanks to OLDaily for that one.

5. And, finally, from The Library of Congress, the ‘earliest surviving American animated film’, made in 1906 https://youtu.be/wGh6maN4l2I

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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 by Philip Snow of a ‘short but quietly devastating book’, Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan by Richard Overy https://literaryreview.co.uk/death-from-the-clouds

2. Maybe Bill Gates is one of the good guys after all? Here’s two recent blog posts of his:

What it will really take to feed the world https://www.gatesnotes.com/work/save-lives/reader/how-to-feed-the-world PDF of free chapter from Vaclav Smil’s book below.

How to Feed the World excerptDownload

I’m heading back to India https://www.gatesnotes.com/work/save-lives/reader/i-am-heading-back-to-india

A good guy compared to his slightly younger ‘tech bros’, that is, as captured (if only) in this marvellous Getty Images photo for The Daily Telegraph

3. A interesting blog post from BOLD, Inflated praise can reinforce stereotypes https://boldscience.org/inflated-praise-can-reinforce-stereotypes/

In our first experiment, involving 106 primary school teachers, we found that teachers tend to attribute the success of children from a low-SES background more to hard work, and to deliver more inflated praise such as “You did incredibly well!” Our second experiment involved 64 primary school children aged 10-13. Children learned that a classmate had received inflated praise while a child who had performed just as well had received modest praise or none at all. We found that children perceived the child who was praised more lavishly to be more hardworking but less smart.

4. An excellent feature from The Booker Prize people, interviews with all the International Booker Prize longlisted authors and their translators https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/interviews-with-the-international-booker-prize-2025-longlistees

5. And, finally, two short stories from The New Yorker to read and/or listen to read by the author

Five Bridges by Colm Tóibín https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/10/five-bridges-fiction-colm-toibin

Keuka Lake by Joseph O’Neill https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/03/keuka-lake-fiction-joseph-oneill

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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 teachers and learners explore discourse, grammar, and vocabulary—one text at a time. If you prepare text-based lessons, especially in CLIL, ESP, EMI, and if you are studying or preparing students for TKT, DELTA, or IELTS, this session is for you.

VersaText_Book_Launch_FlyerDownload

2. When your economy is as big as the US one is, policy changes on climate and development have huge implications globally. Here’s a recent post on the Carbon Brief blog https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-nearly-a-tenth-of-global-climate-finance-threatened-by-trump-aid-cuts/

And here’s Chatham House’s take on Trump’s first fifty days more generally https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2025-03/world-upended-trumps-first-50-days-power

3. The next NATESOL event is one week today, Thursday 20th March, at 16:00 UK time and should be an engaging one, to judge by the title of the talk: Enhancing Online Learner Engagement: Insights from a University Language Centre with Sal Consoli from Edinburgh University. More info and registration here https://www.natesol.org/event-details/enhancing-online-learner-engagement-insights-from-a-university-language-centre

How can we sustain psychological engagement in online English language learning? In his talk, Dr. Consoli will share key insights from a research study conducted at a university language centre, exploring how digital tools, task design, and emotional appeal impact learner engagement.

4. And one hour later next Thursday at 17:00 UK time, if you’re incredibly well organised, you could also pop into this Healthy Linguistic Diet (HLD) face-to-face event in London, Bali, Borneo and Britain: From linguistic ecology to neuroscience More info and registration here https://healthylinguisticdiet.com/bali-borneo-and-britain-from-linguistic-ecology-to-neuroscience/

Examining the tension between mono- and multilingualism in different places across the world highlights differences, but also common themes, which led us to identify that our HLD model has much to offer when extended to encompass linguistic ecology and sustainability as well as social justice in language education. Our new framework provides an alternative to currently dominating academic monolingualism, emphasising the value of epistemic diversity and aligning with the agenda of decolonisation.

5. And, finally, the Mezcal Maniac blog. The clue is in the name. Good photos! https://mezcalmaniac.substack.com/p/three-palenques-and-a-funeral-a-wild

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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, ample notice I hope of a very interesting-looking five-day webinar series from Pearson, Challenging traditional methods: Understanding AI-driven innovations in language teaching, which runs each day from Monday 24th to Friday 28th March at 16:00 UK time.

Monday – Adapting assessment in the age of AI: From challenge to opportunity with Amanda Bickerstaff

Tuesday – Help, I’m competing against AI: Human vs artificial intelligence in language teaching with Ilya Gogin

Wednesday – AI in language teaching: 10 major evolutions you need to prepare for with Alex Asher

Thursday – Avoiding AI slop: Generating age and level-appropriate content with Luke Priddy

Friday – Less planning, more impact: Using AI to create effective lesson activities with Jay Bhadresha & Nina Hall

More info and registration here https://www.pearson.com/languages/community/webinars/ai-driven-innovation-in-language-teaching.html There’s a professional development certificate on offer after each session; complete the full series to earn a Credly by Pearson digital badge!

3. Two recent pieces from The Guardian on Sir Kazuo Ishiguro (or ‘Ish’, as he prefers to be known)

‘The definition of a classic’: Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘Never Let Me Go’ at 20 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/08/the-definition-of-a-classic-kazuo-ishiguros-never-let-me-go-at-20

‘AI will become very good at manipulating emotions’: Kazuo Ishiguro on the future of fiction and truth https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/08/ai-will-become-very-good-at-manipulating-emotions-kazuo-ishiguro-on-the-future-of-fiction-and-truth

It’s about time I read Never Let Me Go, I guess!

4. I’m not sure how many people will have heard of Noël Coward nowadays. In his day, which was probably the period between the two world wars, there were few more famous actors and writers worldwide. Here’s a well-written piece by Oliver Soden for Engelsberg Ideas about a less well-known side of his character, Noël Coward the spy https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/noel-coward-spy-espionage/

5. And, finally and cinematically, a Films Division film from India, I am 20, directed by S. N. S. Sastry https://youtu.be/fA8h74ZW8Ok  Those born on Independence Day in 1947 were selected from different parts of India and interviewed to know their hopes and desires, ambitions, hobbies, fears and frustrations and the result is this unique film.

And here’s a follow up film from 2021, which documents how (some of) those twenty-year-olds developed https://youtu.be/AICnH7QYmvM

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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. Back to the UKFIET blog for the first time in quite a while, where the call for abstracts for this year’s conference (in September) closes on 21st March https://www.ukfiet.org/2025/call-for-abstracts-is-open-2/ and there’s a new blog post from Pauline Rose, Celebrating evidence from the Girls’ Education Challenge https://www.ukfiet.org/2025/celebrating-evidence-from-the-girls-education-challenge/

3. A good piece from Laurie Bristow, who was UK ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020, on Putin, Putin’s war without end https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/europe/ukraine/69275/putins-war-without-end

A Trump-brokered ceasefire, says Laurie, however favourable to Moscow, will do nothing to alter the Russian president’s worldview or long-term aims.

You’ll need to create a free account – well worth doing!

4. A piece for The Conversation from Andrea Caputo, How to negotiate with Trump: forget principles and learn to speak the language of business https://theconversation.com/how-to-negotiate-with-trump-forget-principles-and-learn-to-speak-the-language-of-business-251399 Principles? Who needs them?

5. And, finally, a piece from the London Review of Books blog by Selma Dabbagh explaining how Israel still relies on ‘emergency regulations’ introduced by the British in 1945, ‘How life is in there’ https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/march/how-life-is-in-there

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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 proposals is not too far off, 27th March. More info here https://www.natesol.org/event-details/natesol-annual-conference-2025-call-for-proposals You’ll need to scroll down and click on ‘read more’.

2. Here’s an advance open access article from the forthcoming issue of ELTJ, Global Englishes teaching in secondary schools in Italy by Claudia Andreani & Jim McKinley https://academic.oup.com/eltj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/elt/ccaf010/8042391?login=false

To foster the internationalisation of higher education, English has been established as the lingua franca par excellence in as diverse domains as medicine, technology, science, diplomacy, and business and has been adopted as the medium of instruction in universities across the world. In this context, published English Language Teaching (ELT) research, mainly dominated by a ‘standard’ American or British English ideology, has instilled, and still promotes, an idea whereby English language learners should pursue native-like competence, thus attributing the status of role models to native English speakers (NES). Rooted in standard language ideology, this ‘code fixation’ (Seidlhofer 2018: 96) assigns prominence to British English and General American English in ELT as institutionalised varieties to the detriment of others which are widely used in global communication.

PDF below.

Global Englishes teaching in secondary schools in ItalyDownload

3. You’ll find all the episodes of the latest, third series of the TeachingEnglish podcast with We’am Hamdan & Chris Sowton here https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/podcast/teaching-english

Maybe try either Episode 4: What is the impact of artificial intelligence on English language teaching? https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/podcast/teaching-english/teachingenglish-podcast-what-impact-artificial

or Episode 9: How can we use the creative arts to teach English? https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/podcast/teaching-english/how-can-we-use-creative-arts-teach-english

Show notes and transcripts in English and Arabic are available to download for each episode.

4. Staying with TeachingEnglish, here’s the recording of an enjoyable TeachingEnglish Facebook Live event last week, Planning for Every Learner, with Emily Bryson & Gabriel Díaz Maggioli https://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncil/videos/planning-for-every-learner/632161289446568 Emily and Gabriel answered questions from the audience about lesson planning, differentiation, visual thinking, and more.

Here’s the TeachingEnglish homepage with info on forthcoming events, not just the ones I tell you about after the fact! https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/

5. And, finally and cephalopodically, an NYT gift article with some great video, What a Crab Sees Before It Gets Eaten by a Cuttlefish https://tinyurl.com/3n7t6mzx

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