Roy Cross's Blog

1. Next Monday, 8^th November at 16:30 UK time sees the Cambridge Annual Distinguished Lecture on Second Language Learning and Teaching by Alastair Henry from University West in Trollhättan (wonderful placename!), Sweden: Motivational Persistence in Multiple Language Learning: Identities, Vision, and Goal Self-Concordance

More info and registration here:  https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJctcuCrrjItHdEYjDLBdE4XNnQ1UOUj4-HS

“Endurance is crucial to success in language learning. Along the often long road to fluency, diversions, hurdles, and setbacks can be many.”

2. Next Thursday, 11^th November, at 09:00 UK time on the other side of the world from Trollhättan, is the next ‘Zoominar’ in Universitas Negeri Jakarta’s ‘Language, Society, Education’ monthly programme, with Fauzia Shamim from Ziauddin University in Karachi, Pakistan talking about the ‘Effects of digital multi-modal communication on language norms, conventions and use’.

Zoom meeting ID 9747372 6718 and password PASCAUNJ (I think that’s all you need, but I’ll check.)

“There has been an exponential increase in multi-modal communication mediated through digital media in recent years, especially during the pandemic. This study investigates how the use of various digital media platforms and apps by Generation Z has impacted the norms, conventions and use of language, including grammar, vocabulary and appropriacy in regard to purpose and audience. The findings have important implications for teaching-learning of English language in higher education settings, particularly in non-native English speaking countries.”

3. I’m reliably informed that ‘the NATESOL beast will awaken for the new academic year with a very interesting presentation for EAP practitioners’ next Saturday, 13^th November, at 10:00 UK time: ‘Connecting language across the curriculum: inclusion, differentiation and access through EAP’ with Bee Bond from Leeds University.

More info and registration here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdp8Rh5DgeJeT9I-P0zFzG4JXrWNeQce6WDzxDPqpswIET96w/viewform

“In this webinar, (Bee) will begin by questioning the purpose and position of EAP in the curriculum. Drawing on practical and insightful case studies, (she) will outline the impact that ignoring language(s) in the curriculum can have on both students and staff.”

4. There’s a free event from the UK National Centre for Writing at 19:00 UK time next Tuesday, 9^th November: Meet the World: Barcelona, written and translated will celebrate the recent publication of The Book of Barcelona, about a city which is ‘a melting-pot of cultures and (…) (a) myriad truths’.

Registration here: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/spektrix/event-detail/?WebEventId=mtw-barcelona

5. And, finally, this year’s Being Human festival starts next Thursday, 11^th November. See what you can find here that you fancy https://beinghumanfestival.org/2021/event-series Pickles, Dickens, biohacking and accents included …

1. This is one that should really have gone out yesterday. Teaching for Climate Action: Schools Shaping the Future is a COP26 event co-organised by the OECD, Education International, and UNESCO at 13:00 UK time this Thursday, 5^th November https://www.ei-ie.org/en/item/25446:register-today-teaching-for-climate-action-schools-shaping-the-future

2. We’re due another visit to the UKFIET blog, I reckon https://www.ukfiet.org/blog/ The usual wide range of posts, including Framing Ecosystems for Childhood Resilience by Stephen Bayley from Cambridge University, whose research involves observing how children in low-income settings develop skills like creativity and problem solving https://www.ukfiet.org/2021/framing-ecosystems-for-childhood-resilience/ and this post by Inderjit Bains from Birmingham University which explores the role of the private sector in shaping learning experiences and outcomes for disadvantaged children in India https://www.ukfiet.org/2021/private-school-inclusion-for-disadvantaged-children-in-india-before-and-during-the-pandemic/ Many of us are by instinct against private education, but maybe that’s just too black and white.

3. A virtual curator’s tour of the current Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything exhibition at the British Museum https://youtu.be/lCwv0nTNKWE Great stuff!

4. And, finally and courtesy of my father, who – although he found it in the Letters column of The Times recently – is not quite sure about the language. The actor Rex Harrison was notorious for his unpleasant behaviour towards fellow actors and audience alike. On one occasion, he was met at the stage door by a woman holding out her programme in the hope of his autograph. He pushed her out of the way, so she hit him with her umbrella. A rare case, said the letter writer, of the fan hitting the shit.

5. I guess you could say that my father suffers from a mild dose of kakologophobia …

A BBC day today!

1. What is climate change? A really simple guide https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24021772

2. The reality of climate change in the Mekong Delta https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45738136 and the reality of climate change in the Marshall Islands https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59140269

3. A piece from the BBC on ‘Five dealmakers who will influence the outcome at COP26’: Xie Zhenhua, China’s man for all seasons; Saudi’s resolute defender, Ayman Shasly; Alok Sharma, the Briton in the middle; Sheikh Hasina, the voice of the vulnerable; Teresa Ribera, Europe’s bridge-builder https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59053257 Might make a good role play for older students?

4. A jigsaw reading exercise here, perhaps? ‘COP26: Four numbers to remember ahead of the climate change summit’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59067310

5. And, finally, I’m not at all sure what to say about this https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-59135029 Better for the climate than its conventional equivalent?

1. Some listening first: Jeanne Perret for the Pearson English Podcast on Storytelling – for all ages. https://www.english.com/blog/storytelling-pearson-english-podcast/

Other episodes here https://www.pearson.com/english/resources/pearson-english-podcast.html

2. The next Leiden University Centre for Linguistics lecture in their series on Language Policy and Practices in the Global North and South is a talk by Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen from Bath University at 12:00 UK time this Wednesday, 3^rd November: ‘Lost in Translation: Parents as Medium Translators in Intergenerational Language Transmission’.

More info here https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/series/language-policy-and-practices-series and registration here  https://universiteitleiden.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Atf-CrrDIpHtTalMQ7CV6Kbm9DRFJtOmPh

“Family Language Policy (FLP) has received increasing attention in recent years. Of central interest is why some children, growing up in a bilingual environment, become monolinguals while other children, growing up in a monolingual society, become bilinguals.”

New one on me, FLP, but sounds interesting.

3. Dhofar University’s ‘English Scholars Beyond Borders’ online conference on Saturday 4^th and Sunday 5^th December is free to attend. If you’d like to present a paper, you have until 11^th November to submit your proposal.

More info here http://www.englishscholarsbeyondborders.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ESBB-DUIC-2021-detailed-flyer.pdf and PDF below.

4. And, finally and demandingly, for a change of theme and perspective, Timothy Snyder’s recent talk for the Stanford Humanities Center (sic) on “The Five Forms of Freedom” Freedom takes five forms, says Snyder: sovereignty, unpredictability, mobility, solidarity, and factuality. https://youtu.be/O2f97SFlTsg Good subtitles if you want.

1. This collection of papers from Bloomsbury Academic publishers, The Sociopolitics of English Language Testing, edited by Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini and Peter I. De Costa, is definitely not to be read through in one sitting by most of us, but maybe we should all dip into it, as the issues it raises are not often aired.

Online here https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338876690_The_Sociopolitics_of_English_Language_Testing and PDFs of whole text and preface only below.

“The contributions in this volume highlight marginalized but significant perspectives on the sociopolitical essence of English language tests and testing by exploring the implications of testing theories and practices from a critical perspective, that is, a view that foregrounds concerns surrounding power inequalities.”

2. Oxford University Press want to know Have your views on teaching changed since 2019? Direct link to survey here https://yonder.online-host.solutions/ASP/P019501/landingpage.asp and they’re honest enough to say it will take twenty minutes to complete.

One possible annoyance is the warning that “If you need to leave the survey and come back please do not close the window as you will have to start again from the beginning”, so settle down with a cup of coffee!

3. The Cambridge University REAL (Research for Equitable Access and Learning) Centre’s Michaelmas (Autumn) Term webinar series starts at 13:00 UK time next Tuesday, 2^nd November, with a talk by Gabriela Martinez Sainz from University College Dublin on “Paulo Freire and climate change education – the role of critical pedagogy and lessons from the Global South”. Series poster here https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/centres/real/events/Michaelmas%202021%20Seminar%20Series%20Poster.pdf (PDF below) and registration here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/real-centre-seminar-series-tickets-180023293517 .

4. It depends how you look at this latest Teacher Tapp blog post. It’s either ‘more than 50% of teachers think that the behaviour of the students in their classes has remained constant over the last decade’ or ‘more than 40% of teachers think the behaviour of the students in their classes has declined over the last decade’ https://teachertapp.co.uk/whats-the-worst-weather-for-behaviour/

5. And, finally, a recent joint reading from their new books by three very different Bloodaxe poets, George Szirtes, Claire Askew and Annemarie Austin https://youtu.be/cFhfkBi_SNw

More on George Szirtes (inc. video and sample poems) here https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/fresh-out-of-the-sky-1280

Claire Askew here https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/how-to-burn-a-woman-1279

and Annemarie Austin here https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/shall-we-go–1253

Scroll down to the ‘extract’ button on each page for the poems.

1. The next UCL Centre for Applied Linguistics Research Seminar is “Understanding the nature and acquisition of vocabulary knowledge in second languages” with Beatriz Gonzalez-Fernandez from the University of Sheffield at 12:00 UK time next Wednesday, 3^rd November. More info in the PDF below and registration here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeY8NF3g7GBXF-76BZxsLcBjehwJAuIE0FQbG2IL2AEa_Saew/viewform

2. Also next Wednesday, but at 16:00 UK time, in Birmingham University’s MOSAIC Research Seminar series is a talk by Victoria Odeniyi from the University of the Arts in London: ”Gentle Activism: Decolonising the Arts Curriculum through Translanguaging”. Again, more info in the PDF below and registration here https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/education/research/mosaic/events/victoria-odeniyi-gentle-activism.aspx

3. It’s well worth rooting around in the publications section of the Language and Development Conference Series website http://www.langdevconferences.org/publications.html Two pieces by John Clegg, for example, on English Medium Education in Africa

one from Tashkent in 2003 http://www.langdevconferences.org/publications/2003-TashkentUzbekistan/Chapter%208%20-%20Recognising%20and%20Countering%20Linguistic%20Disadvantage%20in%20English-Medium%20Education%20in%20Africa-John%20Clegg.pdf

and another from Addis in 2005 http://www.langdevconferences.org/publications/2005-AddisAbabaEthiopia/Chapter%204%20-%20Moving%20towards%20bilingual%20education%20in%20Africa-John%20Clegg.pdf

plus the slightly different and more accessible approach to Proceedings (with a capital P) from the last conference in Bangkok http://www.langdevconferences.org/publications/2019-BangkokThailand/Bangkok-Conference-Proceedings-2019.pdf PDFs of all three below (unless they’re too big).

4. Here’s a talk from the recent Cambridge University Alumni Festival on the Legacies of empire in the Middle East, India, and China https://youtu.be/uSt_7hzne4o Very interesting, once they’d agreed who was talking first and second!

5. And, finally and non-multilingually, because it often books up ridiculously early, here’s advance notice of the next Cambridge Schools Conference, at which Iroise Dumontheil from Birkbeck College London will be bravely talking about ‘The adolescent brain’.

More info on Professor Dumontheil’s talk here https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/support-and-training-for-schools/cambridge-schools-conference/november-2021/speaker/

and registration here https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/support-and-training-for-schools/cambridge-schools-conference/november-2021/programme/ (That booking link seems a bit dodgy, so I’ll update it tomorrow if I need to.)

1. The Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) Europe, Asia, Pacific (EAP) Hub https://www.norrag.org/kix-eap/  invite us to the final day of their 1^st KIX Education, Policy and Innovation Conference tomorrow, Thursday 28^th October, from 09:00 UK time.

Tomorrow is devoted to Teaching Quality and Learning https://norrag.zohobackstage.eu/KIXEPIC#/agenda?day=4&lang=en and Freda Wolfenden from the UK Open University will be giving the plenary talk.

2. A good long read on Wired of the current Facebook brouhaha, How to Fix Facebook, According to Facebook Employees https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-fix-facebook-according-to-facebook-employees/

I’m not sure ‘brouhaha’ is quite the right word there, though, for something so serious.

3. Brushing your teeth for two minutes has been the international gold standard for a long time now. The evidence base for two minutes, however, is perhaps not as strong as it was https://theconversation.com/is-brushing-your-teeth-for-two-minutes-enough-heres-what-the-evidence-says-169108

But there may well be no evidence base at all to my assertion that two minutes is the international gold standard …

4. Oikophobia does not mean what you might think – if you’re thinking of oiks, that is https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/oik

5. And, finally, a forensic piece by Jane Sunderland from Lancaster University on Gender, language and prejudice: Implicit sexism in the discourse of Boris Johnson https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/opli-2020-0022/html PDF below to ensure that everyone who wants to read this piece can.

“The main part of the article”, says Jane, “takes this further by exploring how certain insults to men draw on an understood prejudice against women. I illustrate this with a “telling case”: three naturally occurring examples of prejudicial, sexist language recently used by British prime minister Boris Johnson: big girl’s blouse, man up and girly swot. For all three to work, they draw on what we might call a discourse of “Women as ineffectual”. I conclude with a discussion of intentionality as regards this sort of prejudicial language use, what it is intended to achieve and how it can be resisted.”

Nothing to do with oiks, strictly speaking – I think.

Pre-COP week in Glasgow

1. This is without doubt where we should start today, the official COP 26 home page https://ukcop26.org/

Full of good stuff, for example this good clear explanation of the COP 26 goals https://ukcop26.org/cop26-goals/

Get your students to explore the site and report back?

2. This looks likely to be good: Sensations English, who’ve been nominated for an ELTon this year – https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/eltons-innovation-awards-2021-finalists – are running a COP26 Special Edition – Climate, sustainability and ELT – at 14:00 UK time, tomorrow, Wednesday, 27th October. Details and registration here: www.sensationsenglishwebinars.co.uk/

While you’re there, take a look at their Using Video in ELT series of four webinars: https://www.sensationsenglishwebinars.co.uk/index.php/past-webinars-series/

3. Next Tuesday, 2^nd November, at 10:00 UK time my British Council  colleagues in East Asia are bringing together teachers from Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam to share their best practice in integrating climate change issues into their classroom activities. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WaLEKjLTQAe4QUq8rUzoTw

4. The next ELT Footprint UK event, on Travel and transport part 2: offsetting and mitigation, is at 14:00 this Friday, 29^th October. More info here  https://eltfootprint.uk/events/ and registration here https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkcuCgqjwoHtTmf2wsGDKnI_AmhEepT6T8

My own understanding is that although we won’t get very far with offsetting and mitigation, every little helps. In ELT Footprint UK’s words, “while we can take the train domestically and hold more online meetings, stopping flights is not an option for UK ELT right now”. Take a look over the fence into UK ELT?

5. And, finally, here’s a different side of Greta Thunberg https://youtu.be/Upccq5uVPkA

Only a quick double tonight: battling my first migraine for years!

1. Just enough notice, I hope, of Chris Farrell’s webinar at 14:00 UK time tomorrow, Tuesday 26^th October, for Eaquals: The Classroom in 2021: Challenges and Opportunities.

More info here https://www.eaquals.org/eaquals-events/event/chris-farrell-the-classroom-in-2021-challenges-and-opportunities/

and registration here https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Np_I0jOESaSI3B2Ip5m1Og

Chris will be looking at “the contrast between the realities of the ELT classroom in the pre-Covid context and the situation as it is now”.

2. Proof that vaccination works in this New Scientist article – but perhaps nonetheless not enough proof for those of us that don’t want proof, sadly? https://www.newscientist.com/article/2294250-how-much-less-likely-are-you-to-spread-covid-19-if-youre-vaccinated/

1. No fewer than five MOOCs to review over the weekend, three for teachers https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/language-assessment

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/teaching-english-great-lesson

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-in-early-childhood

and two for learners

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/workplace-english

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/explore-english-language-culture

2. Here’s the latest ELT position paper from Oxford University Press – possibly ever so slightly more controversial than previous papers? – on English Pronunciation for a Global World https://elt.oup.com/feature/global/expert/pronunciation?cc=global&selLanguage=en You need to register to download and I recommend you do so. PDF below just in case.

3. Three thinkpieces with strong views on the future of education to accompany a cup of coffee or tea over the weekend:

first, courtesy of the WONKHE blog, the recent Alun Francis social mobility report for Policy Exchange  https://wonkhe.com/wp-content/wonkhe-uploads/2021/10/Alun-Francis-paper-for-media.pdf

“There are evidently many examples of unfairness and inequality, but if social mobility is going to improve, policymakers are going to achieve little if they remain locked into a discussion about elites, and policy focusses only on who becomes part of it. They have to ask harder questions about the supply of opportunities and how they can be extended to a wider variety of people” (PDF below)

second, from Sol Gamsu for the Open Democracy website, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/elite-educators-have-milked-system-long-enough/

“As the pandemic deepens inequality between children, it’s vital to dismantle the system that gives state schools no chance against private peers.”

and third, from Christopher Such’s Primary Colour blog, https://primarycolour.home.blog/2019/10/06/the-fundamental-unaddressed-issue-of-education/

“As all foundation stage and key stage one teachers are acutely aware, children arrive at school with a vast range of experiences and abilities. There is an overwhelming difference between a child who has just turned four from a challenging family background and a child who is about to turn five from a supportive family background.”

4. There’s free talks from the LSE on a number of interesting topics over the next few weeks, including China’s role in the world, USA-Europe relations, climate, and corruption. Have a browse over the weekend! https://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/Search-Events

5. And, finally, John Agard reading his own most famous poem, ‘Listen Mr Oxford don’. A real treat if you don’t already know it – and a real treat if you do! https://youtu.be/Ywy-Tthdg7w