Roy Cross's Blog

1. The next Green ELT event, at 16:00 UK time this Friday, 27^th September, is Intersectionality, ELT and climate change – piecing it all together with Rose Aylett & Zarina Subhan. More info here https://green-action-elt.uk/events/ and registration here https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtc-GoqDMvGtd7jH6QOKJU92xip3EjokbI#/registration

The causes and the negative impact of the climate crisis are interconnected with a large number of socio-economic, political and cultural issues both local and global. This discussion will explore these connections and their impact and suggest some implications for EFL teachers seeking to integrate climate change topics into their lessons.

(Both Rose and Zarina gave very well-received plenaries at this year’s IATEFL conference: here’s Zarina’s, Because you’re all worth it! https://www.youtube.com/live/kVjTqsAm9Js and here’s Rose’s, Disrupting the commonplace: embedding critical literacy within language education https://youtu.be/Hor2Iyx80is)

2. Here’s Alexandra Mihai’s latest post on her blog, The Educationalist, Watch & learn: Reflections on peer observation in teaching https://educationalist.substack.com/p/watch-and-learn-reflections-on-peer

Peer observation in teaching is a well-researched topic (as you can see in the selection of resources at the end of this post), and still, it is not as widespread a practice as one would expect. I (Alexandra) will dive into the “why’s”, as usual, the “how’s”, suggest some tips on what to be mindful of and, more importantly, I put together a list of resources – both academic and more practical – for those of you who want to dive even deeper into the topic.

3. I’m becoming ever more of a fan of Katja Hoyer’s Zeitgeist blog. Here’s two recent pieces:

her Berliner’s perspective on Belfast, No peace beyond the wall – Belfast isn’t Berlin https://www.katjahoyer.uk/p/doing-things-the-norway https://www.katjahoyer.uk/p/no-peace-beyond-the-wall-belfast

and her take on Norway, Doing things the Norway – Notes from a rich country https://www.katjahoyer.uk/p/doing-things-the-norway

4. Two from Ethan Mollick:

one from his own blog, One Useful Thing, Scaling: The State of Play in AI https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/scaling-the-state-of-play-in-ai

Now feels like a good time to lay out where we are with AI, and what might come next. I want to focus purely on the capabilities of AI models, and specifically the Large Language Models that power chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini. These models keep getting “smarter” over time, and it seems worthwhile to consider why, as that will help us understand what comes next. Doing so requires diving into how models are trained. I am going to try to do this in a non-technical way, which means that I will ignore a lot of important nuances that I hope my more technical readers forgive me for. Fine by this less technical reader!

and one he’s shared, GPT-4 is judged more human than humans in displaced and inverted Turing tests by Ishika Rathi, Sydney Taylor, Benjamin K. Bergen & Cameron R. Jones from the Department of Cognitive Science at University of California San Diego https://arxiv.org/pdf/2407.08853

Accessibly written and includes a good explanation of what exactly a Turing test is. PDF below.

5. And, finally, there are five women and one man on this year’s Booker Prize shortlist, only one of whom I’ve heard of – which has to be a good thing! https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/six-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-booker-prize-2024-shortlist

This will be the last Free Resources message until Monday 16^th September: I’m heading off to Cres for a break https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cres

1. Spongebag not Washbag! is the title of the highly readable latest post by Carne Ross on his Gentle Anarchy blog https://carneross.substack.com/p/spongebag-not-washbag It’s all about his grandfather, Alan Strode Campbell Ross, who had at least two claims to fame: one, an important role in the breaking of World War 2 cyphers, still secret in part today; two, the invention, along with Nancy Mitford, of the once hugely influential categorisation of English as ‘U’ and ‘non-U’ (where ‘U’ = upper class and no prizes for which was to be preferred of the two).

If you register for a free JSTOR account https://www.jstor.org/ you can read Carne’s grandfather’s 1954 article, Linguistic Class-Indicators in Present-Day English, for yourself (and another 99 articles for free each month) https://www.jstor.org/stable/43344273?read-now=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Alan Ross’s article has some wonderfully confident footnotes, including “Frequently the only commentary needed is my own pronunciation of the relevant word (which may be taken as normal)” and “In any case, boarding-school is little used by U-speakers, for, to most of them, there is no other kind of school”.

2. One from OLDaily, How I Use “AI” by Nicholas Carlini  https://nicholas.carlini.com/writing/2024/how-i-use-ai.html No, I didn’t follow all (any!) of the coding/programming tasks that Carlini had AI do for him, but you certainly get a general sense of the power and potential of AI.

3. Learning a language? Four ways to smash through the dreaded ‘intermediate plateau’ is a piece from The Conversation by Jill Boggs of Swansea University about the impact on her own language learning (and her students’ language learning) of her discovery of Paul Nation’s teaching methodologyhttps://theconversation.com/learning-a-language-four-ways-to-smash-through-the-dreaded-intermediate-plateau-236648

He (Nation) suggests a balanced approach to language learning and it transformed my (Jill Boggs’s) entire perspective. He proposes that language education should be evenly divided among four critical strands:

1. Meaning-focused input

2. Meaning-focused output

3. Language-focused learning

4. Fluency practice

PDF of the Paul Nation piece that Jill refers to below.

4. A piece from SPIEGEL International about Brigadier Mbeirik Messoud and the unit of Méharistes (the Mauritanian National Guard) that he leads which suggests that not quite the whole world has lost the plot, Keeping the Peace on Camelback: Mauritania’s Secret to Stability https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/keeping-the-peace-on-camelback-mauritanias-secret-to-stability-a-223fc1f0-c4fe-4483-9815-d6040d659c91

5. And, finally, Chow Mein, a short story by Durga Karki, translated from Nepali by Sandesh Ghimirehttps://www.himalmag.com/culture/chow-mein-durga-karki-nepali-literature-translation-sandesh-ghimireI’ve just – thanks to John Drew – discovered Himal https://www.himalmag.com/ Highly recommended!

See you in September!

1. Here’s a free-to-read piece from the Journal of English as a Lingua Franca (JELF) https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/jelf/html, Linguistic justice in English-medium instruction contexts: a theoretical argument by Josep Soler from Stockholm University  https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jelf-2024-2003/html PDF below.

In the final keynote panel at the 2022 ICLHE conference, Philippe Van Parijs pondered how EMI teachers might be seen: either as killers, traitors, sellers, saviours, upgraders, or liberators. After providing characterisations for each of these labels, Van Parijs suggested that EMI teachers should be better conceived of as civilisers, not in a missionary sense of civilising the barbarian, but in the Aristotelian meaning of civic virtue, of citizens being part of public life, actively involved in discussion of public affairs. This seems to imply a specific view of English, one that almost naturally equates the language to democratic progress and consensus. In the article, I challenge this assumption …

Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education (ICLHE) home page here https://www.iclhe.org/

2. Navigating the New Frontier of AI in Education was the title of Helen Crompton’s (short and to-the-point) keynote talk for the William & Mary College 2024 Teaching & Learning Symposium https://youtu.be/P8y2fu2S1UU

Helen’s abstract: The emergence of generative AI models such as ChatGPT is reshaping educational environments. This presentation highlights the ways in which ChatGPT and comparable tools can enrich student engagement, deepen comprehension, and tailor learning experiences within university contexts. Furthermore, we will review the limitations and the challenges these technologies can present, including issues of academic integrity and the imperative to nurture critical thinking abilities alongside AI support. By participating in this session, attendees will gain insights into optimizing the utility of these tools while recognizing and proactively managing the limitations and potential abuses in education.

William & Mary STLI (Studio for Teaching & Learning Innovation) YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/@wmstudioforteachinglearnin1642/videos

3. Great stuff about the olive harvest in Greece, ‘Swish! Swish! Swish!’ by Patrick Leigh Fermor, read by Dominic West https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-podcast/swish!-swish!-swish! First published sixty-three years after it was written in 1958: not sure why!

4. Carl Edward Rasmussen, the Professor of Machine Learning at Cambridge University, writes a very accessible blog, What should we, humanity, do about Climate Change? https://mlg.eng.cam.ac.uk/carl/climate/

My focus (says Carl) is on the grand human challenge of turning our scientific knowledge about climate change into concrete action to avoid its most severe consequences. This isn’t a particularly popular topic, probably because it reaches across conventional subject boundaries, and may be difficult to monetise.

Why is this a hard problem? There are 4 main reasons, in no particular order:

Horizon: the characteristic time scale for climate effects are much longer than typical legislative terms. The inconvenience and price of decarbonising society will be immediate, but the rewards come later, continuing for generations. If we don’t value future generation’s conditions, then climate change isn’t much of a problem. If we do, then that means that we’re willing to accept some inconveniences to promote their well-being. But the long time horizon makes it difficult to be sure our efforts are paying off.

Reluctance to give up privileges: the use of atmospheric resources, such as releasing CO2 has been very uneven globally. A subset of predominantly wealthy nations have overexploited these common resources. Now, they’ve gotten used to this behaviour and are reluctant either to stop or to pay a fair price. Beside general reluctance to engage, this sometimes manifests as systematic misinformation and various forms of climate change denial.

Inexperience with global cooperation: humans are generally extremely good at cooperative behaviour, e.g. in families or local communities. But we have little practical experience with cooperation at a global scale. Successful implementation will require thoughtful design based on universal principles which are applicable across culturally and economically diverse communities.

Insight: the majority of people agree we have an ethical obligation towards future generations to ensure good living conditions. But naturally, we will only endure the inconveniences necessary if we are confident about the outcomes. This means that we need to inform policy makers, politicians and our populations about the causes and consequences of climate change.

In order to make real progress on this hard problem, we need to acknowledge and address all of these difficulties. This page links to various short notes, discussing these problems, and what their solutions might look like.

5. And, finally and magically, from Cuba in the 1920s, https://youtu.be/A91jnug9Bmw

Plus, something a little more recent and commercial https://youtu.be/tGbRZ73NvlY

1. What role does English play in our multilingual world? is the latest (ninth) episode of the British Council’s Our World, Connected podcast https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/our-world-connected-podcast/english-multilingual-world Harry Kuchah (in the studio in London) and Eric Mpozenzi (at home in Rwanda) join Christine Wilson for a lively discussion.

So, what does it mean to speak English in a world with over 7,000 languages? How does its popularity affect the quality of education, the learning of other languages, and the evolution of the English language itself? And how can teachers ensure inclusivity for all students, regardless of their English proficiency?

2. Elif Shafak’s latest post on her blog Unmapped Storylands, Upon The Ashes of Books, reflects on the recent disturbances in the UK https://elifshafak.substack.com/p/upon-the-ashes-of-books

We cannot be a country where people are targeted and attacked and discriminated against on the basis of the colour of their skin or their faith or their cultural and ethnic heritage. We cannot be a country where libraries are burned down so that ignorance and hatred can grow upon the ashes of books.

3. A free illustrated book from Geoff Stead and colleagues, Engines of Engagement, a curious book about Generative AI by Julian Stodd, Sae Schatz & Geoff Stead. Sign up for your copy here https://seasaltlearning.com/engines-of-engagement-generative-ai-book/

In this illustrated book, Julian Stodd, Sae Schatz, and Geoff Stead explore central questions that Generative AI raises within our organisations, from structures and systems to identity, trust, and the nature of truth. ‘Engines of Engagement’ traverses a broad landscape of change, with deep consideration of how these powerful systems will impact our familiar mechanisms of creativity and productivity, artistry and education at individual, organisational, and societal levels.

4. There’s a new (fourth) poster in the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) ‘Things You Might Not Know About The World of Languages’ series https://cdn.ecml.at/EDL/posters/EDL-infographic-languages-2024-EN.pdf PDF below.

Have you ever been responsible for an untranslatable culaccino? If not, never mind, you’ve almost certainly been guilty of niksen, equally untranslatable. Although I wonder whether David Cameron might translate it as chillax?

Plus, ‘Where am I?’ – a game played with twenty random photos which include minimal but sufficient linguistic clues to help you identify the country in each photo https://edl.ecml.at/Games/WhereamI/tabid/3263/Default.aspx

5. And, finally, Gay sheep and gaslighting: 10 of the funniest jokes from the Edinburgh fringe 2024 https://www.theguardian.com/stage/article/2024/aug/12/10-funniest-jokes-edinburgh-fringe-2024

Olaf Falafel – whose joke I didn’t get unaided, alas – also runs a successful YouTube channel (not just) for kids, Art Club https://www.youtube.com/@OlafFalafelArtClub Try Henri Matisse for Kids  https://youtu.be/5h6VlosEVXA or Joan Miró for Kids https://youtu.be/xXKquODMN5g

1. Ipsos have just published their 2024 Global Leadership Survey, for which they interviewed a total of 23,800 adults in 31 countries around the world https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/russia-iran-israel-and-china-rank-worst-global-influence-while-eu-seen-preferred-model-over-britain

Here’s the survey results https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2024-06/ipsos-kings-global-leadership-survey-2024.pdf? PDF below.

No surprises who the bad guys are, then – not from a ‘Western’ perspective, at least.

2. Here’s the Cornell (University) Center for Teaching Innovation YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@cornellcenterforteachingin2018 Lots to explore!

3. Here’s a very (surprisingly, refreshingly) plain-speaking recent policy paper from Oxfam, Water War Crimes: How Israel has weaponised water in its military campaign in Gaza https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/water-war-crimes-how-israel-has-weaponised-water-in-its-military-campaign-in-ga-621609/ PDF below.

4. The Cambridge University Centre for Science & Policy (CSaP) held its annual conference, UK science and technology for innovation, growth and society, at The Royal Society in London in June. There are recordings and reports on the whole programme here https://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/events/2024-csap-annual-conference/

If the first parallel seminar, Envisaging a quantum future,is maybe a bit much to start with, try How will AI transform the education experience? with Jenny Gibson, Russell Martin and Anna Vignoles https://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/news/article-how-will-ai-transform-education-experience/ or Nature recovery – making it happen with Fiona Reynolds, Matthew Gould, Jo Lucas  and Silviu Petrovan https://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/news/article-nature-recovery-making-it-happen/

5. And, finally, I think we need this doing for other countries as well as the USA, The Loneliest Road in Every State in America https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/least-traffic-roads-usa

1. It was the centenary of the American novelist James Baldwin’s birth last Friday. Here’s three pieces celebrating his life and work:

a) a New York Times piece, From Harlem to Selma to Paris, James Baldwin’s Life in Pictures https://tinyurl.com/2p9vcvst

b) this week’s episode of the Radio 4 series, Words & Music, celebrating Baldwin https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021jtz

c) Free-to-read for this week only, The Paris Review’s ‘Art of Fiction’ interview with Baldwin from 1984 https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2994/the-art-of-fiction-no-78-james-baldwin

2. English-medium education and gender equality is a new report by the UK Open University for the British Council which investigates the impact of English-medium education (EME) on gender equality at secondary school https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/case-studies-insights-and-research/english-medium-education-and-gender-equality

Girls’ education is a global development priority and part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The EMEGen project explored the impact of the rapid rise of English as a Medium of Education on gender equality in low- and middle-income countries. The research found that girls, particularly those from poorer families and minority communities, are significantly underrepresented in English-medium education at secondary level compared to boys. English-medium polices thus create gender- and class-based educational inequalities. While English-medium education is not inherently superior to local-medium education, girls’ comparatively lesser access to it can limit their opportunities and restrict their onwards educational and professional options, many of which require English.

“While English-medium education is not inherently superior to local-medium education” seems to put things very gently, it seems to me!

PDFs of the report itself, the usefully brief (!) policy brief, and the accompanying set of Open Educational Resources below. There’s also a good short video on the project here https://youtu.be/UAKRR9G3oaE

You can find the OU project website here https://wels.open.ac.uk/research/projects/emegen

3. I mentioned the Silent Way about a month ago. Here’s a short video interview with expert Silent Way practitioner Luisa Piemontese https://youtu.be/YWSLtlwZ5X8

4. Here’s (at least) everything you need to know about this year’s Booker Prize longlist https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/13-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-booker-prize-2024-longlist Links to each of the individual books at the top of the page, plus lots of other links to lead you astray throughout the piece. Plus, an extract from each book on the longlist here https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/read-extracts-from-the-booker-prize-2024-longlist

5. And, finally, from the Cocoa Runners blog, Wake up and smell the cocoa! https://cocoarunners.com/site-news/wake-up-and-smell-the-cocoa/