Roy Cross's Blog

Back online on Tuesday – it’s Easter weekend here in the UK.

1. First of two from Language Magazine: A Superpower Hidden in Plain Sight, a piece by Adeola Whitney about viewing linguistic diversity as an asset rather than as a problem https://www.languagemagazine.com/2022/04/05/a-superpower-hidden-in-plain-sight/

2. And the second, UNESCO Sees Role of EdTech in Multilingual Learning, a piece about “the potential of technology to advance multilingual education and support the development of quality teaching and learning for all” https://www.languagemagazine.com/2022/03/23/unesco-sees-role-of-edtech-in-multilingual-learning/

3. And while we’re talking about UNESCO, here’s a piece (with an introductory video) about Darla Deardorff’s Story Circles methodology for developing intercultural competencies https://en.unesco.org/themes/intercultural-dialogue/competencies

You can find Darla’s Manual for developing intercultural competencies here https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000370336 and in PDF form below.

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4. Another piece from The Conversation (I must be their ideal reader), Can we ever fully separate our work and home lives? https://theconversation.com/can-we-ever-fully-separate-our-work-and-home-lives-philosophy-suggests-we-should-stop-trying-177582 My wife and family will testify that this something that I’ve never managed to do.

5. And, finally, ‘The Peanut Vendor’ https://youtu.be/0akHBBpEK2o

1. Assessing learning, with Carolyn Westbrook and Richard Spiby, is the title of a new, six-part series of English Teaching Talks videos https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/english-teaching-talks-assessing-learning-0

Introductory video here https://youtu.be/9PzCYx4sWu0

Other subjects in the series so far are

Integrating ICT with Nik Peachey https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/english-teaching-talks-integrating-ict

and Taking learning outside the classroom with Claudia Rey https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/english-teaching-talks-learning-outside-classroom

2. Good title to this piece in the EDUCAUSE Review by Perry Samson: Students Often Prefer In-Person Classes . . . Until They Don’t https://er.educause.edu/articles/2022/3/students-often-prefer-in-person-classes-until-they-dont

EDUCAUSE was new to me. Their mission is “to advance higher education through the use of information technology”. Here’s their homepage https://www.educause.edu/

3. Alexandra Mihai’s latest blog post, Reflecting on identities in educational development, discusses what it means to be an ‘educational developer’. (I think the alternative term she uses, ‘faculty developer’, actually makes her meaning clearer, and I can remember the time when we had a ‘staff training department’.) https://educationalist.substack.com/p/reflecting-on-identities-in-educational?s=r As ever, a good reading list.

4. Trypophobia is this week’s phobia. Can be triggered by any of the following, apparently: sunflowers, honeycombs, sponges and seedy fruits.

5. And, finally, I found this diagram of the world’s living languages by Lex Fridman from MIT on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lexfridman_there-are-7000-known-living-languages-activity-6916077903973654528-v9qk/ PDF below. See if you can spot what’s missing (as many people quickly did)?

1. Black Mountains College https://blackmountainscollege.uk/ are organising a ‘climate careers fair’ at 10:00 UK time on Saturday 30th April, to “explore the impact that the new era of climate and ecological crisis will have on the concept of a career and what the future may look like in 2030, 2040, 2050 and what this could mean for your chosen career”.

More info and registration here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/climate-careers-fair-tickets-288010355727

2. Here’s the OECD’s Climate Change website https://www.oecd.org/climate-change/

Lots of good stuff, including a good short video, Climate action: How to tackle 90% of emissions https://youtu.be/Gbit6GB-xfs

3. Here’s today’s weekly Teacher Tapp blog post, which among other things asked teachers if their profession should be a graduate profession, what adjectives best described the last half-term (‘hard work’, ‘tiring’ and ‘manic’ were top of the pops), and whether secondary school teachers would be willing to swap places with a primary school teacher https://teachertapp.co.uk/how-did-you-feel-this-half-term-and-should-teachers-have-degrees-you-have-your-say/

4. And, finally, here’s two bits of follow-up to yesterday’s Guardian piece comparing state and private school pupil satisfaction with one’s lot later in life:

first, a graph showing The Relationship Between Money and Happiness, courtesy of my colleague Steve, who admits he doesn’t fully understand it (nor do I, but it’s certainly thought-provoking) https://www.visualcapitalist.com/relationship-money-happiness/

secondly, a Bobby McFerrin song that seems to sum up the argument very well, Don’t Worry, Be Happy https://youtu.be/d-diB65scQU

1. This piece of research, reported on in The Guardian, puzzles me. England state school pupils as happy with life as private school peers is the headline https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/apr/07/england-state-school-pupils-as-happy-with-life-as-private-school-peers-survey

But what do you make of this? “Those who attended fee-paying independent schools did report higher levels of life satisfaction in their 20s. But after responses were adjusted to exclude the effects of advantages such as higher income, house ownership and better exam results, the researchers again found no substantial differences in satisfaction levels.” Perverse, surely, to exclude the ways in which the alumni of fee-paying schools live a better life – higher income, house ownership, better exam results – and then conclude that state school pupils are just as satisfied with life?

Maybe I’m missing the point …

2. A new FutureLearn MOOC likely to be of wide interest, I think, begins on Monday 25^th April Dyslexia and language teaching MOOC https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/dyslexia/8

“Learn more about dyslexia, and gain practical teaching tools and insights to help dyslexic students learn foreign languages.”

3. We should all be eating more pepper, it seems https://theconversation.com/black-pepper-healthy-or-not-179815

My assumption is that many of these pieces from The Conversation lend themselves quite well to use in class with older students – let me know if that’s the wrong assumption, please!

4. And, finally, today’s poetry for Ukraine comes from episode 45 of the Books for Breakfast podcast, which features two Ukrainian poems: ‘Crow, Wheels’ by  Lyuba Yakimchuk, and ‘We Lived Happily During the War’  by Ilya Kaminsky https://www.buzzsprout.com/1162427/10281667-45-wendy-erskine-ukrainian-poetry

All the episodes of Books for Breakfast here https://www.buzzsprout.com/1162427

1. My British Council colleague in Lima, Ralph Grayson, is looking for a consultant to develop resource packs to accompany recordings of the plenary sessions from the recent BBELT conference. More details here https://pe.live.solas.britishcouncil.digital/sites/default/files/280322_tor_new_ways_of_teaching_academic_consultant.pdf

Nothing ventured, nothing gained?

2. Another colleague from The Americas, Graham Stanley, had an interesting conversation with Emma Rodgers of Little Bridge https://www.littlebridge.com/ about Educational Technology and Children on his Teachers Talk Radio show on Tuesday https://teacherstalkradio.podbean.com/e/the-morning-break-with-graham-stanley-05-04-22-educational-technology-and-children/

3. I can’t make the link to the PDF of this article, Mapping the emergence of a gender gap in English in Rwandan primary and secondary schools, by Alphonse Uworwabayeho, Lizzi O. Milligan and Harry Kuchah Kuchah work http://www.iier.org.au/iier31/uworwabayeho-abs.html Harry could, though – PDF below!

4. The April issue of HLT has just arrived, with its usual rich range of articles https://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr22/ including the first mention of suggestopedia for many a long year (that I’ve heard, at least) https://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr22/effect-of-suggestopedia-method

PDF of the contents of this issue below.

5. And, finally, a lively podcast from PoliticsHome, How damaged is Boris Johnson’s reputation? https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-rundown-how-damaged-is-boris-johnsons-reputation/id1205139782?i=1000556611957

Even Teflon wears out over time, doesn’t it?

1. How can I use different languages in my teaching? is the title of the latest episode in the TeachingEnglish podcast series by Chris Sowton and Kris Dyer https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/british-council-teachingenglish-episode-8-how-can-i-use-different-languages-my-teaching

“Students’ home languages should be seen as assets in the English language classroom – but all too often they are viewed as problematic and detrimental.”

2. The next in Universitas Negeri Jakarta’s monthly Zoominar programme is next Thursday, 14^th April at 10:00 UK time: Obaid Hamid from the University of Queensland will be talking about Writing as Social Action and Learner Engagement in Online Classes.

“This presentation will illustrate ‘writing as social action’ in teaching a group of school students from Bangladesh in a weekly zoom class. Named ‘Unliving English’, the class was initiated during the pandemic and was conducted from Australia. It will be argued that the non-curricular teaching provided an ideal space for exploring writing for social and humanistic causes beyond typical linguistic and cognitive goals; it was also highly engaging for students.”

Zoom meeting ID 916 0784 2063 and password PASCAUNJ.

3. How racism manifests itself in NGO culture and structures is the first of two blog posts for BOND https://www.bond.org.uk/ by Lena Bheeroo and Andres Gomez de la Torre, looking at culture and structures inside of NGOs and the discrimination it exacerbates https://www.bond.org.uk/news/2022/04/how-racism-manifests-itself-in-ngo-culture-and-structures

Good iceberg analogy!

4. There’s a poetry reading, The Pity of War, in solidarity with Ukraine next Monday, 11^th April at 17:00 UK time with Alan Maley, Kimwei McCarthy, Charlie Hadfield, Jill Hadfield, Sharoon Sunny, Vishnu Rai Singh, Vahid Nimehchisalem, Sana Khan, Andrew Wright, John Liddy, Gerard Hocmard, and Michael Swan.

Registration here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qdOuhqTstG9GiOSTAUF1J0BwADYhzPHau?timezone_id=Europe%2FLondon

5. And, finally, here’s a tour by mini-drone (weight 250g!) of my hometown, Richmond, courtesy of my friend from Dundas Street infants school, Andrew https://youtu.be/Orc95lud0rU

1. Is education policymaking also being privatised? is the title of the latest Global Education Monitoring (GEM) blog post by Christopher Lubienski https://world-education-blog.org/2022/04/04/is-education-policymaking-also-being-privatised/ Illustrated with a very straightforward cartoon!

2. The next Eaquals webinar is at 10:00 UK time, next Tuesday, 12^th April: Quality Hybrid Language Teaching with Robert Hanley. More info and registration (on different tabs) here https://www.eaquals.org/eaquals-events/event/quality-hybrid-language-teaching/ I made something of a mess of a hybrid session about a month ago, so I’m especially keen to join this.

3. Time for another visit to the UKFIET blog? Why not! https://www.ukfiet.org/blog/ Includes Margo O’Sullivan on teacher absenteeism https://www.ukfiet.org/2022/teacher-absenteeism-and-childrens-learning-the-elephant-in-the-classroom/ and Abdirizak Haybe Ali on the impact of drought on education https://www.ukfiet.org/2022/how-looming-drought-is-devastating-education-in-the-somali-region-of-ethiopia/

4. Do monomaniacs suffer from this week’s phobia, monophobia, I wonder?

5. Scroll down on the left-hand side to the Robin Robertson poem, On Time https://poets.org/poem-a-day Alternative direct link here, if it works better https://dcs.megaphone.fm/POETS7760339994.mp3?key=2c1350aa9e54847480ceb31fcfde3dae Be sure to listen to Robin’s brief explanation of the poem after his reading.

1. ELTsustainable was founded in 2012 by Owain Llewellyn. Its aim is to “help teachers empower learners to engage in the international dialogue around sustainability in their language learning journey and beyond” https://eltsustainable.org/

Owain offers a Language Teaching for the Planet ‘mini course’ https://eltsustainable.thinkific.com/courses/language-teaching-for-the-planet-mini-course

and a host of attractive and engaging lesson plans, including this one produced for International Women’s Day https://eltsustainable.org/2019/03/08/international-womens-day-environment-language-lesson/

2. Christopher Graham gave a talk at Oxford University Press’s ELTOC last month on The global climate emergency, English teaching and me: recording here https://youtu.be/-inBskAJHyc

Chris begins by discussing the negative impacts of day-to-day ELT activities on the environment (energy, paper consumption, flights) and some ways of reducing this impact and making schools greener places to learn and continues with a look at how we can work with our students to integrate climate topics into our classes, as a way of equipping the students to engage with the crisis.

3. Cambridge won’t readily let Oxford steal a march on them (only in Saturday’s Boat Race), and they also offer a wide range of climate materials on their website. This blog post by Jade Blue, which signposts a wide range of climate materials and websites from Cambridge University Press and others, is a great place to start https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2021/11/06/resources-for-teaching-climate-change/

and this post by Katie Back has links to all the material Cambridge produced for COP26 https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2021/11/11/climate-change-week-an-article-round-up/

4. Here’s a nice clear piece on the Waste hierarchy from Genan, who recycle tyres https://www.genan.eu/sustainability/climate/ I confess to finding this completely by accident – did you know that ELT also stands for ‘end-life-tyres’?

5. And, finally, today’s poem for Ukraine is ‘Resistance’ by Simon Armitage Here’s the poem https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/resistance-by-simon-armitage-ukraine-poem and here’s a piece about the poem https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/poet-laureate-simon-armitage-writes-ukraine-war-poem-resistance

1. Starting on 18^th April, Migrants and Refugees in Education: A toolkit for teachers https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/migrants-and-refugees-in-education “Learn how to teach and support young people across the globe affected by violence, conflict, or displacement.”

Something that more of us may find ourselves doing than we’d have anticipated three months ago? Three hours a week for four weeks.

2. However, a related ‘but’ – and quite a big but – lies behind the argument of this piece from Chatham House Ukraine exposes Europe’s double standards for refugees https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/03/ukraine-exposes-europes-double-standards-refugees

Also from Chatham House and written by its director, Robin Niblett, Global Britain in a divided world https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/03/global-britain-divided-world PDF below.

“The government must now prioritize rebuilding its relationship with the EU; leverage the G7 to avoid being side-lined by closer US–EU cooperation; and give greater strategic purpose to its trade agenda. It also needs to follow through on its commitments to support the resilience of the international community, or it will fail to live up to its goal of launching a truly global Britain.”

3. 372 articles so far and counting – The Conversation’s archive of pieces on the invasion of Ukraine https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/ukraine-invasion-2022-117045

4. No fewer than six poems for Ukraine today, courtesy of The Calvert Journal https://www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/12137/contemporary-ukrainian-poems

5. And, finally, for lovers of Cuban music but not just for them, a documentary on the roots of ‘Son Cubano’ https://youtu.be/8SP1qICCCnc

Some reading for the weekend, with something for everyone, I hope …

1. Another free book to download in the Cambridge University Press Elements in Language Teaching series edited by Heath Rose and Jim McKinley, Technology and Language Teaching by Ursula Stickler https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/technology-and-language-teaching/31B1CC3D298097FA2BCE89A3F0EAC00A

“Step-by-step, teachers are shown how to make decisions about the choice and usage of online tools, how to adapt their pedagogy and teaching strategies to fit with online learning environments, and how to create a positive learning experience for their students.”

PDF below. No jokes about the author and the rules, please.

2. Today’s poem for Ukraine is February 23rd, 2022, by Danyil Zadorozhnyi https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/march-2022-ukraine-february-23rd-2022 written as a deliberate echo of the poem by W H Auden, September 1, 1939, with its famous line, “We must love one another or die”. Text of the Zadorozhnyi poem here, with PDFs of both poems below.

February 23rd, 2022

“trees—that’s what I lack most of all,” she says

“you have so few of them here in Lviv

Donetsk, though, was a green city

greenery all around”

but I didn’t know that

I was young, never spent much time there,

never valued people or the county until after it happened

“second time I’ve lost my home,” she utters with hatred

“officially, this time”

and I get her

and I don’t

hugging her

my mom’s concerned there’ll be tons of internally displaced persons

where will we put them all up, she asks

I don’t mind, but I don’t have any space

except in your room, if you want

containing my emotions, I elect empathy, saying

I get you

but it’s too early to talk about that

though I actually think it’s too late

if we’re only talking about this now

so, being kind constantly is very hard, tricky

but easy and at times the only thing someone can want

and if the war, not just any war, came to our home

and we had to flee to another city in another part of the country

I’d like to be helped there

not for the people there to make xenophobic comments on the internet

trying to catch my kids speaking the wrong language

twisting my wife’s tongue—she’s from Belarus, for heaven’s sake, seeking shelter here

if only I had the money to rent three of the four rooms in the apartment

with old landlords and Soviet furniture

Danyil Zadorozhnyi

(translated by Yuliya Charnyshova and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler)

3. Barry Gifford was completely unknown to me till yesterday. Here’s a short, one-thousand-word story of his, Joy Fun, courtesy of Seven Stories Press https://sevenstories.com/blogs/257-joy-fun-an-excerpt-from-barry-gifford-s-new-book-the-boy-who-ran-away-to-sea

4. You might need to be a Philip Larkin fan to appreciate these memories of him from alumni of Hull University, where he served for thirty years as university librarian https://hullalumni.me/2022/03/25/memories-of-larkin-part-one-i-wish-to-apply-for-the-post-of-university-librarian/ See what you think.

5. And, finally, a good long read from The Guardian, How south London became a talent factory for Black British footballers https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/31/south-london-crucible-for-black-british-footballers