Roy Cross's Blog

1. So this is what it’s like to be on the front line of climate change, is it? https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/nov/26/blowing-the-house-down-life-on-the-frontline-of-extreme-weather-in-the-gambia

2. Our new headquarters building in Stratford, to which I’ll be making what is still at present a rare visit tomorrow, is very ‘green’ https://www.betterbuildingspartnership.co.uk/lendlease-creates-one-uks-most-sustainable-new-hqs-iql And now I know the real reason why the water in the toilets is the colour it is!

3. Here’s BBC analysis of some of Greta Thunberg’s criticism of UK government claims regarding its reduction of greenhouse gas emissions policy: Is Greta Thunberg right about UK carbon emissions? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48025650 Do you know the difference between a country’s ‘territorial’ emissions and its total annual emissions?

4. And, finally, Colombia through National Geographic and Disney eyes, respectively, as yet little influenced by climate change https://youtu.be/Htln36XaMoQ and https://youtu.be/CaimKeDcudo

1. “Rather than closing the dialogue between teachers and researchers (…) we hope to widen the door and increase the amount of dialogue” is the avowed ambition of TESOLgraphics: TESOL research at your fingertips, launched earlier today https://tesolgraphics.weebly.com/ I’ve not yet had time to explore.

2. Steven Pinker has a new programme on BBC Radio 4, Think with Pinker, described as ‘a guide to thinking better’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011lt1

and the UK Open University have a matching ‘Pinker Page’ https://connect.open.ac.uk/society-psychology-and-criminology/think-with-pinker which includes two intriguing tests for you and your students to try, to assess how rational you are: Who is Linda? & The Four Cards. Scroll down the page for the tests.

3. A reminder that this Wednesday, 1^st December (already!), at 13:00 UK time, there’s a wide-ranging discussion on English in higher education – challenges, opportunities, current practice and future trends chaired by Kristina Hultgren, Professor of Sociolinguistics and Applied Linguistics at the Open University https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/english-higher-education-challenges-opportunities-current-practice-future-trends  

4. And, finally, prompted by listening to Yard Act last Wednesday, two versions of ‘Damaged Goods’ by Gang of Four https://youtu.be/DPF8H7fucNc & https://youtu.be/fRjsBh_R3TQ I like them both but I know which one I prefer!

1. I’ve sometimes wondered whether I have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), given my eagerness to line up all the jars in the fridge with the labels to the front, but I’ve never felt it necessary to get myself assessed. Here’s the OCD UK website, which suggests, on the one hand, that whatever I may or may not have is at the very mild end of the spectrum, but, on the other hand, more of us and our students may suffer from OCD than we appreciate https://www.ocduk.org/

2. Two pieces on social mobility: a report from the UK Department of Education on which university degrees enable social mobility the most https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-best-university-degrees-for-intergenerational-mobility

plus commentary on the report from the wonks at WONKHE, which also explores issues of access to higher education https://wonkhe.com/blogs/stuck-inside-of-mobility-with-the-access-blues-again/

PDFs of both the whole report and the executive summary below.

3. One for a careful, well-prepared class discussion, perhaps? A post on the NESTA blog which looks at obesity and eating disorders, Healthy lifestyles: beyond single-issue thinking https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/healthy-lifestyles-beyond-single-issue-thinking/

4. And, finally, here’s some stories from ‘champion teachers’ from Mexico, skilfully edited by Deborah Bullock and Paula Rebolledo  https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/champion-teachers-mexico-stories-exploratory-action-research-escuelas-normales I’d like to think that all teachers are champion teachers! PDF below.

Bit of a focus on spoken language this week.

1. Practical Advice on Teaching English Pronunciation for a Global World: Teaching Towards International Intelligibility is the title of a webinar by Robin Walker for Oxford University Press at either 09:30 or 17:30 UK time next Wednesday, 2^nd December. More info here https://elt.oup.com/events/global/Practical-Tips-for-Teaching-Pronunciation-in-the-English-Language-Classroom?cc=us&selLanguage=en

2. Two TeachingEnglish webinars in broadly the same area as Robin Walker’s above with colleagues from British Council Sri Lanka next Monday, 29^th November, one at 11:00 UK time and the other at 12:15 UK time, Teaching Early Years Online and Phonics for teachers of Early Years More info and registration here https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teaching-early-years-online-phonics-teachers-early-years

I rather doubt that my colleagues in Colombo (or anywhere else) teach Received Pronunciation; here’s more on that topic, including a wonderful recording of Lady Silvia Beatrice Coke! https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/received-pronunciation

3. Here’s the cover story from the new edition of Multilingual about the founder of the ‘language data network’ TAUS, Jaap van der Meer https://multilingual.com/issues/november-december-2021/jaap-van-der-meer/ I willingly admit to being slightly intimidated by seventy-nine-year-olds who “frequently bike 70 kms to work”, if ‘bike’ means ‘cycle’.

One of the other pieces looks at something I’d not heard of before – that’s unusual, I don’t hear you say! – the Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map https://multilingual.com/issues/november-december-2021/inglehart-welzel-are-belgium-and-the-united-states-truly-cultural-neighbors/ Here’s the map itself https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/photos/EV000190.JPG Click to enlarge.

Rest of the new issue here https://multilingual.com/issues/november-december-2021/

4. And, finally, I mentioned this FutureLearn course back in August, Multilingual Learning for a Globalised World but I think it merits another mention, as it’s available at present (in a self-access version) and a number of people have said they enjoyed doing it https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/multilingual

Tonight’s message is clearly fated: two events I was going to include are either cancelled or sold out! I’ve made enquiries about the sold out one.

1. All That She Carried – The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles is this year’s New York Times non-fiction book of the year https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/books/review-all-that-she-carried-ashleys-sack-tiya-miles.html (Can someone let me know that review is available to non-subscribers, please?)

The inscription on Ashley’s sack, which she was given by her enslaved mother Rose, was embroidered two generations later by Ashley’s granddaughter, Ruth, and reads as follows:

My great grandmother Rose

mother of Ashley gave her this sack when

she was sold at age 9 in South Carolina

it held a tattered dress 3 handfulls of

pecans a braid of Roses hair. Told her

It be filled with my Love always

she never saw her again

Ashley is my grandmother

Ruth Middleton, 1921

2. This one’s a bit niche – read the eligibility criteria carefully – a scholarship on an ALTE Introductory Course in Language Testing next March https://www.alte.org/Scholarships

ALTE https://www.alte.org/ is the Association of Language Testers in Europe, who “work together to promote the fair and accurate assessment of linguistic ability across Europe and beyond”.

3. I’m unsure how this story might be spun by conspiracy theorists. Maybe they’d say we should neither be vaccinated nor clean our teeth? https://theconversation.com/why-having-bad-oral-health-could-raise-the-risk-of-covid-169884

4. Bit of a stretch, this week’s phobia: daknophobia. It is actually one I suffer from, following an encounter with a friend’s Alsatian dog many, many years ago when visiting for tea. Rumour has it, clearly in shock, I said, “I’m awfully sorry. I think your dog has bitten me”.

5. And, finally, my favourite act from The Selector birthday show tonight was Yard Act https://youtu.be/UrO7MLlMiLg

Some of the guitar (and the politics) reminded me of another group from Leeds, Gang of Four; here’s two of their songs https://youtu.be/wmdUsiQ2qro  https://youtu.be/I_QJwR6D9d4

1. Here’s a report by the Chatham House think-tank here in the UK on COP26, with a 500-word summary of key findings and a link to the full report https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/11/cop26-what-happened-what-does-mean-and-what-happens-next PDFs of both summary and full report below.

2. Here’s a brand-new podcast from Chris Sowton and Kris Dyer for TeachingEnglish: Episode 1 is How can I integrate global issues into my teaching? Links to podcast, transcript and teacher’s notes all here https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/british-council-teachingenglish-episode-1-how-can-i-integrate-global-issues-my-teaching Direct link to podcast here https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/TEBC_Episode_1_low.mp3 and PDFs of both show notes and transcript below.

3. Richard Everitt asked me last week what does the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) in Cambridge do, when we were sitting just around the corner from it. I think he knows the answer – the clue is in the name.

Here’s a film they’ll be showing and discussing at 14:00 UK time this Thursday, 25th November, Utuqaq https://fieldofvision.org/utuqaq ‘Utuqaq’ in the Greenlandic language, Kalaallisut, means “ice that lasts year after”, “ice with a memory”. I think the discussion will be online and I’ll post the link once I’ve found it, but the film speaks – beautifully – for itself.

Here’s the SPRI site too, for Richard’s benefit https://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/

4. And, finally, here’s one of Selector Radio’s ‘green sessions’, Louis VI performing ‘Orange Skies’ https://youtu.be/XlKqFlKnN0g

Selector Radio is celebrating its 20^th anniversary at 17:00 UK time tomorrow, when it will be live here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObJ0EEIdqlo

1. Next Monday, 29^th November, sees the launch of TESOL Graphics, an ‘online repository of infographic summaries of secondary research in TESOL’. More info and registration here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tesol-resources-for-teachers-online-website-launch-tickets-166146343185

I take this to mean quick, at-a-glance, visual summaries of research: look at it once and get the gist, without having to read the research. I think that’s a good thing …

2. Let’s talk about diversity in the classroom! is the title of Alexandra Mihai’s latest blog post https://educationalist.substack.com/p/lets-talk-about-diversity-in-the, which offers not only a list of ten challenging questions to help us explore our unconscious biases but also a list of ten tips to help us incorporate diversity into our teaching meaningfully. Plus her usual excellent list of references!

3. Here’s a ready-made discussion for a class of older students https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/21/icu-is-full-of-the-unvaccinated-my-patience-with-them-is-wearing-thin

4. And, finally, I’d forgotten all about this section of the TeachingEnglish site https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/resources/secondary/stories-poems Stacks of audio, video and print stuff:

try Francesca Beard https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/francesca-beard-chinese-whispers

or China Mieville https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/king-rat

1. I hadn’t realised that registration for this series of three workshops curated by Swansea University closes next Monday, 22^nd November – sorry! Our first years in academia: Managing applied linguistics research alongside teaching and other tasks.

Registration and more info (in quite small print) here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfa4H9jBhlgLiG8HazG6XlVrp6rHVlQBlGZz5w9eXdSKabLCA/viewform

2. Do you tell your students not to use Wikipedia? Why? https://academicmatters.ca/students-are-told-not-to-use-wikipedia-for-research-but-its-a-trustworthy-source/

3. Do you understand what this paragraph is about? “Despite the multi-receiver sets, the spread option is a run-first scheme that requires a quarterback that is comfortable carrying the ball, a mobile offensive line that can effectively pull and trap, and receivers that can hold their blocks. Its essence is misdirection.” I wasn’t sure!

All will be explained here ‘Why background knowledge about the world can increase reading comprehension – even for facts you can just Google’ https://www.banterspeech.com.au/too-many-stories-not-enough-facts-free-tips-and-resources-to-boost-your-childs-knowledge-and-reading-comprehension-skills/

4. This was such a disappointment! This year’s European Poetry Festival in London is all face-to-face, with nothing at all online https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/ It’s all free, but I don’t think that’s quite right. I’ve been well and truly spoilt by my lockdown experience. And I realise that London is not where most of you are going to be next week, either: I’m just indulging myself by complaining!

5. And, finally, online poetry from both sides of The Atlantic:

three videos about Hannah Lowe’s poems about teaching and learning in London https://youtu.be/BPFW6ndCup8 https://youtu.be/djWKP6ad5Ew https://youtu.be/TDIvDtas_aI

and later today, at midnight UK time, readings by the members of the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of Poets in the USA – they look less grand than they sound! https://www.crowdcast.io/e/gather-in-poems/register?mc_cid=1214368b0f&mc_eid=9b48fa0432

1. Good notice of this UCL Linguistics Circle event at 10:00 UK time on Wednesday, 1^st December with Emma Dafouz from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain: Approaching English-medium Education in Multilingual University Settings through the ROAD-MAPPING framework. Registration here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekK5qQul9drCT3NuFO5JRw2Ks-9y5ayj4iaaGTB8ZM585P2A/viewform and more info in the attachment below.

ROAD-MAPPING is a very clever acronym … explained in brief here https://globalenglishes-emi.network/interview-with-emma-dafouz-and-ute-smit/

2. Even better notice of this NILE Insights event on Bilingualism at 16:00 UK time on Thursday, 2^nd December, so you can register – and submit difficult questions in advance! More info and registration here https://www.nile-elt.com/products/InsightsBilingualism

NILE are confident that, “If you are a teacher of English, a learner of other languages or just a language lover you might have asked yourself this question: what makes someone bilingual?” – tune in to find out the answer(s).

3. The best possible notice of this whole-day symposium on EMI in emerging contexts hosted online by the EMI Research Group at the University of Oxford on Thursday, 9^th December, so you can make arrangements to attend. More info and registration here http://www.emi.network/emi-symposium-2021.html Round the world in seven hours!

4. Five free events from the Hay Festival featuring Matt Haig, Steven Pinker, Bill McKibben, Siri Hustvedt and Damon Galgut, who’s just won the 2021 Booker Prize with his novel, The Promise: https://www.hayfestival.com/c-218-winter-warmers.aspx

5. And, finally, two pieces of music that (some of) you might not have expected me to like https://youtu.be/J2uxc01fUXU  and https://youtu.be/5UMCrq-bBCg

1. First, a blog for Cambridge University Press and Assessment (never to be acronymised, I’m reliably informed, as it sounds like a lollipop) by Chris Sowton celebrating Paulo Freire https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2021/11/09/what-freire-can-teach-about-teaching/

Blog home page here https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/category/blog-type/

2. … and second, a blog for Pearson by Jeanne Perrett  https://www.english.com/blog/10-free-worksheets-values-inspired-by-disney/  including 10 free worksheets to teach values inspired by Disney characters that might be fun.

That said, I can well remember the ‘fun’ we had a few years ago when a colleague decided to develop materials inspired by a young man whose initials are H and P, but I’d expect Pearson to have got it right on copyright!

Blog home page here https://www.english.com/blog/

3.Thai blogs are like London buses – don’t think I need to explain, do I?

Here’s Richard Watson Todd’s blog summary of a forthcoming ELTJ article on The languaging curriculum https://sola.pr.kmutt.ac.th/homesola/index.php/the-languaging-curriculum/

and here’s the accompanying website for the ‘hobby course’ https://solatlc.wixsite.com/languaging/hobby-course which repays the investment of a little time.

4. Dorian Gray did not suffer from eisoptrophobia – or did he, maybe?

5. And, finally, another letter from The Times, this one bemoaning the decline of the apostrophe, attached below.