Roy Cross's Blog

1. The ICEPELL project – Intercultural Citizenship Education through Picturebooks in Early English Language Learning – have just produced a set of seventeen enchanting ‘ICEKits’, teaching packs around picture-books which promote citizenship topics https://icepell.eu/index.php/icekits/

PDF copies of #1, Perfectly Norman, and #3, Strictly No Elephants, below, to give you the idea.

2. The next webinar in UCL’s Academic Writing series, What can we do about academic integrity? with Mary Brooks, is this Thursday, 31^st March, at 16:00 UK time. More info and registration here https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2022/mar/what-can-we-do-about-academic-integrity

“This event will be particularly useful for those interested in academic literacies, plagiarism and academic integrity.” At one level, we’re all interested in academic integrity, aren’t we?

 3. The first of three very informative blog posts on Neurodivergence and online learning through the pandemic from the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), What is neurodiversity? can be found here https://altc.alt.ac.uk/blog/2022/03/neurodivergence-and-online-learning-through-the-pandemic-what-is-neurodiversity-post-1-of-3/

The second, Studying in the home environment and adapting to assessment adjustments, is here https://altc.alt.ac.uk/blog/2022/03/neurodivergence-and-online-learning-through-the-pandemic-studying-in-the-home-environment-and-adapting-to-assessment-adjustments-post-2-of-3/

and the third, Recommendations from the Support Services perspective here https://altc.alt.ac.uk/blog/2022/03/neurodivergence-and-online-learning-through-the-pandemic/

Good suggestions for further reading at the end of each post, too.

4. I don’t often read Bloomberg pieces but quite often enjoy them when I do. Here’s their longish recent piece, on how Putin and Xi Exposed the Great Illusion of Capitalism https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-24/ukraine-war-has-russia-s-putin-xi-jinping-exposing-capitalism-s-great-illusion

“Unless the U.S. and its allies mobilize to save it”, say the authors, “the second great age of globalization is coming to a catastrophic close” – apocalyptic stuff.

5. And, finally, today’s poem for Ukraine is Refugees, by an anonymous author. Be sure to obey the instruction at the end of the poem! (PDF below.)

Refugees

They have no need of our help

So do not tell me

These haggard faces could belong to you or me

Should life have dealt a different hand

We need to see them for who they really are

Chancers and scroungers

Layabouts and loungers

With bombs up their sleeves

Cut-throats and thieves

They are not

Welcome here

We should make them

Go back to where they came from

They cannot

Share our food

Share our homes

Share our countries

Instead let us

Build a wall to keep them out

It is not okay to say

These are people just like us

A place should only belong to those who are born there

Do not be so stupid to think that

The world can be looked at another way

(Now read from bottom to top, please.)

1. Andy Hockley’s giving a talk for NATESOL at 10:00 UK time this Saturday, 26^th March, entitled From Teacher to Manager. More info and registration here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQjRH_0paVld6Oc_ovwQcolP4Vq6gFvBfEPXhwciJwfhziIw/viewform and home-made PDF of flyer below. NB! You need to register by 17:00 UK time

2. Alexandra Mihai’s latest blog post is Growing together: What’s the key to a successful learning community? She’s just moved to Yale University and has noticed that faculty learning communities feature much more prominently among faculty development activities at Yale than at the European universities she previously worked at. So, characteristically, she thoroughly researched these different approaches to community building and facilitation. Her usual excellent reading list. https://educationalist.substack.com/p/growing-together-whats-the-key-to?s=r  Scroll down the page for links to guest blog posts and other good stuff.

3. David Crystal had an online audience of 10,000 for his China TESOL masterclass last Friday on The Future of Englishes. He asked (and answered) the question, What are the consequences of the global status of English for the future development of the language? and reviewed statistics, historical reasons and trends affecting English world-wide, both formally (in relation to grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary) and functionally (in relation to cultural diversity). David also briefly considered the implications for language teaching. Recording here https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1BY4y1s71h Best enjoyed over a cup of coffee?

4. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) here in the UK has just published the first report in their The Skills Imperative 2035: Essential skills for tomorrow’s workforce programme: What does the literature tell us about essential skills most needed for work? Here’s a blog post on their key findings https://nfer.ac.uk/the-skills-imperative-2035-what-does-the-literature-tell-us-about-essential-skills-most-needed-for-work/ and I’ve attached PDFs of both the full report and the executive summary below. One of those key findings is that “Problem solving/decision making, critical thinking/analysis, communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation are transferable skills which will be in high demand in the next 15 years and beyond as technology becomes more embedded in the workforce”.

5. Two bits of listening, one to exult in and one not to exult in: Frank Vignola and Ken Peplowski play ‘Tiger Rag’ https://youtu.be/9MUwb3eNZzE and a New Yorker piece (text and audio versions) on ‘How Putin’s Oligarchs Bought London’ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/03/28/how-putins-oligarchs-bought-london

6. Today’s poem for Ukraine is Pax Axe, by George Jacobs and Roshni Nagaria

Pax Axe

When bad threatens and arises

Good often appears and surprises.

When greed rears its consuming head

Generosity may find ways to spread.

When anger vehemently lashes out

Kindness can find the courage to shout.

When bullies convene and bullies attack

Compassion could be mirrored back.

When cowardice is known and expected

Bravery, instead, can be selected.

When seeds of hope we seek and spot

Let us not utter words of ‘cannot’.

When we unite to nourish the seeds

We, together, meet people’s needs.

When we post and stream hopeful news

We trust our fellows with power to choose.

When we join hands in another’s parade

We offer to them our support and aid.

When we challenge pain, hurt, and sorrow

We sow and nurture good for tomorrow.

With these shared words, perhaps we can see

Even an axe can morph into a tree.

1. A collaboration between the universities of Bristol in the UK, Dodoma in Tanzania, and Ketebe in Ethiopia: Theory, Practices and Policies for ‘Late Exit’ Transition in the Language of Learning and Teaching: A Literature Review. ‘Late exit’ transition here means switching from L1 to the new language of learning and teaching later in one’s school career http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/education/documents/bristol-working-papers-in-education/working-paper-bowden-barrett-2022.pdf PDF below

and UKFIET blog post about the literature review here https://www.ukfiet.org/2022/additive-not-subtractive-transitions-perspectives-policies-and-practices-for-multilingual-education/

“A recent World Bank report estimates that 370 million learners in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) complete all or part of their basic education using an international/European/former colonial language (L2) as the official language of learning and teaching (LOLT). This is a major factor undermining educational quality and equity worldwide …”

2. The next event in Birmingham University’s MOSAIC Group for Research on Multilingualism Seminar Series is Delinking from the Coloniality of Language in Southern Educational Settings with Carolyn McKinney from The University of Cape Town. More info and registration here https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/education/research/mosaic/events/carolyn-mckinney-delinking-coloniality-language.aspx and PDF of flyer below.

Carolyn’s presentation will explore “the challenges of the coloniality of language as well as of describing languaging in education settings of the South. It will show how colonial language ideologies continue to exclude African language resources and multilingualism in African languages from formal education settings”.

3. News of a successful campaign to save the Hawaiian language from extinction https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/03/a-new-center-could-help-save-native-languages-from-extinction/ 2,000 people spoke Hawaiian in 1983; 25,000 now speak it. Does Barack Obama, I wonder?

4. News of a similarly successful campaign to encourage the learning of the Towa language in New Mexico, including a photo of a rather fine butterfly dance https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/we-dont-want-to-lose-the-language which was made possible by a federal government decision in 2016 to allow language programs to teach in their native languages and no longer require English as a medium of instruction.

5. And, finally, today’s poem for Ukraine: Again, by Claudia Ferradas (PDF below.)

Again

Again,

the texture of my grandfather’s land

is being torn apart.

Born Ukrainian,

he was Polish when he reached Argentine shores,

a refugee

with children and a wife

whose nationalities were a question mark.

I was born into a home that sounded like a symphony.

Ukrainian, Yiddish, German, Polish.

I could not tell one language from the other,

just knew that they all hurt.

We learnt to travel light,

always ready to pack and get away,

to wonder how much pain you could take with you,

respect silence, smell fear.

I did not dare ask questions

about the number burnt on Grandpa’s arm.

Memories bled.

Vodka tasted like metal on your temples.

We thought it was all past,

a past of wolves and snow,

but we can hear again the wild dogs howling.

Again,

Old Europe weaves its uncertain tapestry

murmuring excuses

as it cuts the thread of wasted generations,

and Grandpa is fighting in the streets again

under a different name,

aware that frontiers are as fluid

as the blood that thaws its way across the snow

only to reveal

the bones beneath.

Claudia Ferradas

1. Here’s the first in a series of four podcasts on the final days of the Soviet Union and Putin era Russia from The Rest is History team of Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland https://open.spotify.com/episode/0auxUb9EcE6Ot0SP4y2pko?si=JMq57nyLQNSoAZU6_s4GIg

Their avowed intention is to ‘interrogate the past’ and ‘de-tangle the present’. “They question the nature of Greatness, why the West no longer has civil wars and whether Richard Nixon was more like Caligula or Claudius. They’re distilling the entirety of human history, or, as much as they can fit into about fifty minutes.”

Full, rich archive of all 166 episodes to date here https://open.spotify.com/show/7Cvsbcjhtur7nplC148TWy

2. First of two pieces to do with the London Underground today: Children’s Lives in Second World War Britain, a photo archive of the experience of children forced to interact with the adult realities of the Second World War

Children’s Lives in Second World War Britain

3. My grandmother used to talk about her lunch ‘repeating’ on her. Mine has been repeating on me today, evidence that I do not suffer from this week’s phobia, alliumphobia.

4. I mentioned Poems on the Underground https://poemsontheunderground.org/ the week before last and had intended to follow up more quickly. Judith Chernaik has kindly let us have ten copies of each of a recent set of six poems:

And Suddenly It’s Evening by Salvatore Quasimodo, translated by Jack Bevan https://poemsontheunderground.org/and-suddenly-its-evening-2;

My Father by Yehuda Amichai, translated by Stephen Mitchell https://poemsontheunderground.org/my-father;

For the House Sparrow in Decline by Paul Farley https://poemsontheunderground.org/for-the-house-sparrow-in-decline;

All Souls’ Night by Frances Cornford https://poemsontheunderground.org/all-souls-night;

Diary by Katrina Naomi https://poemsontheunderground.org/diary;

To — by Percy Bysshe Shelley https://poemsontheunderground.org/to

Let me have your choice of up to three poems and your postal address by WhatsApp or e-mail or message on my blog and I’ll send them to you just as quickly as I can.

Photo of one example poem below – they frame very nicely!

5. And, finally, today’s poem for Ukraine: Lessons of War by Alan Maley (PDF below as well.)

Lessons of War

In the course on war

For complete beginners,

The first lesson teaches

In war there are no winners.

What may first look like victory

Soon tastes like defeat,

When conquering territory

Leaves only dust to eat.

The conqueror’s instant rapture

Soon fades when they fail to capture

The souls of the defeated –

And find their own souls depleted.

So everyone loses when it comes to war:

It’s really difficult to see what war

Could conceivably be for …

Alan Maley

1. Green Action ELT https://green-action-elt.uk/ are running a session at 14:00 UK time this Friday, March 25^th on Taking your English language lessons outdoors.

More info here https://green-action-elt.uk/events/

and registration here https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwucO6urD4tH933mA3c1VxDxDOH2psYaexQ

Here’s their archive of recordings of past events https://green-action-elt.uk/events/#past-events

2. Harry Waters wears a flat cap and runs the Renewable English website https://renewableenglish.com/home Have a rummage around for the free stuff:

here’s the materials section https://renewableenglish.com/s1%3A-lessons-and-materials

and here’s the lesson on plastics https://youtu.be/v1JUSwtjxRY

3. Climate change may devastate the Middle East, says The Brookings Institution. Here’s how they think governments should tackle it https://www.brookings.edu/blog/planetpolicy/2022/03/14/climate-change-may-devastate-the-middle-east-heres-how-governments-should-tackle-it/

4. It’s not climate but it is tomorrow, Wednesday 23^rd March, at 14:00 UK time: the latest OECD webinar, Engaging boys and girls in learning: Creative approaches to closing gender gaps, will be reporting on recent OECD research showing “that girls and boys reported different feelings when it came to their learning: the boys were more likely to be bored than the girls, whilst the girls felt less confident than the boys”.

More info and registration here https://meetoecd1.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vqvQCUlhR-6V_iIhmc6Vrw

5. And, finally, today’s poem for Ukraine: Nothing I can Say, by Michael Swan (PDF below, too.)

Nothing I can Say

A woman and three children

under a bridge,

her hand clapped over

the little one’s mouth.

The sound of boots

on the road

coming closer.

Nothing I can say

will change anything.

Michael Swan

1. Two chances this week to hear Emily Bryson’s talk for National Geographic Learning on Accessible learning: small changes for an inclusive classroom: 17:00 UK time on Wednesday, 23^rd March, and 10:00 UK time on Friday, 25^th March.More info and registration (and recordings of earlier events in the series) herehttps://www.ngl-emea.com/voices-launch-hub-webinars

and a taster-teaser from Emily here https://www.facebook.com/ELTNGLEurope/videos/335071378676497

“Every learner is different. It is essential to adapt our lessons to support each individual, make them feel valued and give them a voice. Making small changes to our teaching practice can have a big impact on learning.”

Attendance certificates, lesson plans and a copy of the student’s book all on offer!

2. Here’s the latest episode of the TEFLology podcast, Accessibility and Inclusivity with Judit Kormos from Lancaster University https://teflology.libsyn.com/113-accessibility-and-inclusivity-with-judit-kormos Well worth a trawl through the archive of the previous 112 episodes! https://teflology.libsyn.com/

3. Evidence to support my own impression that stuff you Google doesn’t stick: Easily accessible but easily forgettable: How ease of access to information online affects cognitive miserliness by Esther Kang https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxap0000412 You may be able to get access to the full article through your school or university library?

4. And, finally (and initially), the first in a daily series of poetry about what’s happening in Ukraine, courtesy of Alan Maley and his friends: today, two short poems from Jill and Charlie Hadfield. PDF below, with the photo behind Jill’s poem.

Not Again?

The horror of war:

each generation forgets

what their parents learned.

Charlie Hadfield

Children of War

Outside the Polish station

A line of empty pushchairs

Waiting to be filled.

At the bombed-out hospital

All the waiting pushchairs

That never will be filled.

Jill Hadfield

Reading, listening and watching for the weekend

1. I enjoyed the latest Learnit podcast, which is an interview with Valerie Bridges, Superintendent of Edgecombe County Public Schools in North Carolina in the USA about Giving Students a Voice in their Education https://www.spreaker.com/user/12493435/45-dr-valerie-bridges-superintendent-edg There’s something about natural authority such as Dr Bridges’s that’s very compelling.

2. Maybe not such a surprise that a report commissioned by FutureLearn should emphasise the key role of online learning, but The Future of Learning Report for 2022 is interesting, nonetheless https://www.futurelearn.com/info/thefutureoflearning

One finding is that over 40% of people plan on starting (what the report calls) ‘a side hustle’ alongside their full-time job; another that 75% of people take the opportunities for lifelong learning offered by prospective employers into account when choosing a new job. PDF below.

3. Thoughtful stuff by Emiliana Vegas from the Brookings Institution‘s education team, Education technology post-COVID-19: A missed opportunity? https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2022/03/11/education-technology-post-covid-19-a-missed-opportunity/

“While technology has transformed most industries—from air travel, to finance, to health care—it has yet to do the same in education,” says Emiliana. PDF below.

4. So, How are you using your materials? (Well, I hope!) We can find out at 09:00 UK time tomorrow, Saturday 19^th March, when Hanoi Pedagogical University and International House London will be reporting on their materials development project with junior secondary school teachers in Vietnam. Register here https://bit.ly/3gZlmeO and PDF of flyer below.

5. And, finally, a whole free issue of EL Gazette to explore, including (as two random Cross choices) “I ain’t done nothing wrong…” on double negatives and a review of Chris Sowton’s book, Teaching in Challenging Circumstances https://elgazette.com/elg_archive/ELG2202/files/downloads/ELG2202%20Feb%20Issue%20479.pdf PDF below in case that’s easier – hope it’s not too big a file.

1. Identifying authenticity in procedures of language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO) with the forensic linguist Yaron Matras is the title of the next talk in the University of Reading Applied Linguistics Research Circle series of weekly talks at 16:00 UK time on Tuesday, 22^nd March.

Full abstract below in PDF form; here’s a taster: “LADO (‘language analysis for the determination of origin’) is a procedure used by governments in Europe, the US and Australia to support the processing of applications for political asylum. It is based on the assumption that linguistic features are a reliable indicator of a person’s place of socialisation and so they can help verify a person’s claim to originate from a particular region, and hence their entitlement to refuges status based on international law. LADO practice, particularly the outsourcing of language analysis to private contractors, has been controversial.”

As usual, please contact Rodney Jones r.h.jones@reading.ac.uk for Zoom details.

2. Early notice of this one at 10:00 UK time on Wednesday, 30^th March, from the Centre for Research in Education in Asia at Bath University: Yongyan Zheng from Fudan University will be talking about Social mobility, multilingualism and language education.

More info and registration here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/development-in-education-in-asia-crea-2022-seminar-series-3-tickets-289985593717

3. Oxymoronic: Can you even attempt to decolonize English teaching? Is the title of J P B Gerald’s talk at 14:00 UK time on Monday, 21^st March – speaks for itself, I reckon! https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/oxymoronic-can-you-even-attempt-decolonize-english-teaching

Here’s JPB’s own site https://jpbgerald.com/

4. And, finally and heartbreakingly, from the Ukrainian poet Olga Bragina and translated by Elina Alter, There’s No Getting Out https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/march-2022-catalan-theres-no-getting-out-olga-bragina-elina-alter

1. The Association for Quality Education & Training Online (AQUEDUTO) https://aqueduto.com/  have recently published a report by Simon Borg on COVID-19 and the Shift to Online Teacher Education https://aqueduto.com/media/3ytfysdx/covid-19-and-the-shift-to-online-language-teacher-education.pdf “With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it quickly became clear that institutions worldwide were forced to transition to online-based teacher training programmes. With expert Simon Borg, we connected with teacher educators in nine different countries to learn how they responded to COVID–19 and the fast switch to OLTE (online language teacher education). The narratives are followed by a review of the key themes that they highlight, and the report ends with some reflections on the implications of the study for ELTE.” PDF below.

2. Also looking at teacher education, How should ITT (Initial Teacher Training) evolve to meet global needs? is the title of this article in the tes magazine (which no longer uses its full name, The Times Educational Supplement, or capital letters, to the confusion of people of my generation, but maybe that’s the point) https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/specialist-sector/how-should-teacher-training-itt-evolve-meet-global-needs

3. The eighth annual edition of the British Council’s Five Films for Freedom, the world’s first global, digital LGBTIQ+ short-film programme, has just launched, with films this year from India, China, Croatia, Panama and the UK.

More info here https://film.britishcouncil.org/about/work/fivefilmsforfreedom

the films themselves here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdiB3YQ6fPnkd_z1AA8diFxRRRvk0bSQK

and a useful glossary of common LGBTIQ+ terms from The University of Technology in Sydney here https://www.uts.edu.au/partners-and-community/initiatives/social-justice-uts/equity-and-diversity-uts/gender-sexuality-5

Watch one a day for the next five days?

 4. And, finally, this week’s phobia is amaxophobia, something that I do not suffer from having just become the happy owner of a car for the first time in nearly twenty years – the opposite rather!

1. Early warning – and if I remember, I’ll remind you next Tuesday, too – of an event on 28^th March, starting at 10:00 UK time, The Climate Connection Global Knowledge Exchange https://www.britishcouncil.org/climate-connection/get-involved/global-exchange There’s a focus session on the Climate Action for Language Education (CALE) programme at 11:00 UK time at which Colm Downes will announce a number of exciting new CALE developments around World Earth Day on 22^nd April.

2. I don’t think this is too technical; I’m a little less sure, though, for how much of the world a heat pump is a viable option. NESTA have just published a range of reports into heat pumps and people’s attitudes (here in the UK) towards their use and cost https://www.nesta.org.uk/project/reducing-cost-heat-pumps/ PDFs of three of the NESTA reports below.

3. In part climatic, this year’s Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth Symposium starts in Nairobi tomorrow, with a focus on “Decolonization & Cultural Heritage in Africa”: more info here https://www.kbc.co.ke/the-cultural-heritage-for-inclusive-growth-symposium-begins-tomorrow/ and registration here https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Uum74kmSSv-mkkpv8ccy6g

4. Possibly not at all climatic but quite likely climactic is the next event in the China TESOL Master Class Online Series, David Crystal talking about The Future of Englishes at 12:00 UK time on 18th March. More info and registration here (and in the PDF below) https://tesol.i21st.cn/yanxiu/ – click on the English button if your Chinese is rusty! All welcome!

5. And, finally and at very short notice, the March ViVEXELT Symposium, on Sharing synchronous online ELT practice through a Virtual Exchange with a keynote by Robert O’Dowd from Universidad de León on Virtual Exchange and its role in Teacher Education is tomorrow, Wednesday 16^th March, at 12:50 UK time. Full details in the PDF below; registration (but absolutely no information!) here https://coventry-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMvceiqrjwjEty28LYBLK6c5zRXRRM5zzC- The ViVEXELT (Vietnam Virtual Exchange for English Language Teaching) project is a collaboration between Coventry University in the UK and Hanoi University of Science and Technology in Vietnam https://vivexelt.com/