Roy Cross's Blog

1. First today, “Rejecting abyssal thinking in the language and education of racialized bilinguals: A manifesto”. Trenchant, thought-provoking stuff from Li Wei and colleagues that aims to “challenge prevailing assumptions about language, bilingualism, and education that are based on raciolinguistic ideologies with roots in colonialism” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15427587.2021.1935957 When you get chance, give this serious piece the time it deserves.

2. Good notice of the launch of The Invention of Multilingualism by David Gramling on Monday, September 20^th at 17:00 UK time; David will be ‘in conversation’ with Claire Kramsch and Zhu Hua.

Registration here https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5716297143381/WN_bjzB0q7HQl6ll08f0IB4IQ

and more info on the book and the series it’s part of here https://www.cambridge.org/core/series/key-topics-in-applied-linguistics/26B8BA9543A4AFC67B5195C07502B3C0

3. Courtesy of my colleague Ann, three pieces by and about Riz Ahmed:

first, his film The Long Goodbye https://youtu.be/Lzz50xENH4g Compelling watching and, be warned, violent in parts;

second, a piece discussing the translanguaging and code switching in The Long Goodbye from the Creative Multilingualism website https://www.creativeml.ox.ac.uk/blog/exploring-multilingualism/we-code-switch-riz-ahmed/index.html

third, a review of the stage version of The Long Goodbye, to give you a sense of the themes to do with British Asian identity that Ahmed explores https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/feb/07/riz-ahmed-the-long-goodbye-livestream-review-mif-manchester-international-festival

4. And, finally and funkily, Franc Moody https://youtu.be/ey7IbZslpZI

Other musicians are available, here https://music.britishcouncil.org/selector-radio/selector-sessions

A social-emotional focus of sorts to today’s message …

1. The international launch of a new report, Beyond Academic Learning, based on the OECD’s survey on Social and Emotional Skills, takes place at 15:00 UK time on Tuesday 7^th September. More info and registration here https://msftedumarketing.eventbuilder.com/event/48213 and a flyer on the survey below

2. Here’s nine social and emotional learning tips from eSchool News, including ‘thresholding’ and ‘brain breaks’ https://www.eschoolnews.com/2021/08/23/9-social-emotional-learning-tips-to-take-into-this-school-year/

3. We all know that our capacity for friendship is limited to 150 people, don’t we? Robin Dunbar has just published a new book explaining why.

Here’s The Guardian’s review https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/21/friends-by-robin-dunbar-review-how-important-are-your-pals

here’s a video of an interview with him explaining his ideas https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/mar/14/my-bright-idea-robin-dunbar

and here (below) is a graphic that I think might work quite well in the classroom

4. The Hay Festival in Queretaro, Mexico started yesterday – sorry!

Full programme here, a mixture of Spanish and English and almost invariably translated https://www.hayfestival.com/queretaro/inicio

Check the timings!

5. I’m not at all sure that this week’s phobia qualifies as a phobia, if you take the (fairly typical) definition from the Cambridge English Dictionary: an extreme fear or dislike of a particular thing or situation, especially one that is not reasonable https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/phobia What’s irrational or unreasonable about taphophobia?

This is my last message till Tuesday 31^st August: these next two weeks, I’ll be helping my father publish his first novel!

1. An interesting account in The Conversation from Christopher Smith of St Andrew’s University of how humankind has responded to previous plagues and pandemics through history, Plagues and classical history – what the humanities will tell us about COVID in years to come https://theconversation.com/plagues-and-classical-history-what-the-humanities-will-tell-us-about-covid-in-years-to-come-165848

In fifth century Athens, for example, “some Athenians were dutiful in caring for others, which usually led to death, but many simply gave up, or they ignored family or the dead, or they chased pleasure of every kind in what time was left to them”.

2. More on plagues: a review by Dwight Garner for the New York Times of three books about disease https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/02/books/review-year-of-plagues-fred-daguiar-life-like-yours-jan-grue-blind-mans-bluff-james-tate-hill.html “As a genre, disease and illness memoirs are permanently interesting if honest and sharply observed. The writer is dealt a joker from the pack. It’s an excuse to open a life for examination, now with a flame-burst of urgency.” (Hope this link works; you may need to register.)

3. It was Fred D’Aguiar’s name that caught my eye. His book, Year of Plagues, is being launched by Carcanet Press next Wednesday, 18^th August, at 19:00 UK time. Strictly speaking, ineligible for this message as it costs £2 to join; more info and registration here https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ChKaz30zRI6wJXNW3SbAZQ

Here’s an ever-so-slightly out-of-date page on Fred from our Literature Department https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/fred-daguiar with a free poem, Stone and Shell, at the end: I used a stone to pound a shell.// I pounded it to smithereens // Then ground it into dust. // Now the shell is hushed, // I weigh the stone against the dust.

4. And, finally, this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival opens tomorrow https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/ Still plenty of time to book – all free – and lots of good stuff for children that your students (or your children!) might enjoy, too.

This one with Jeffrey Boakye, available from tomorrow, looks good https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/jeffrey-boakye-music-is-power-music-is-life-15912

as does this one with Jenny Erpenbeck at 10:15 tomorrow https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/jenny-erpenbeck-freedom-came-at-a-price

Four different free online courses and websites from seven different universities today exploring multilingualism

1. First up, Glasgow University with Multilingual Learning for a Globalised World, a MOOC that explores “multilingual education and how it can impact and improve education and even wider society” https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/multilingual Four hours a week for three weeks, this one.

2. South to The Netherlands next, for the University of Groningen’s Multilingual Practices: Tackling Challenges and Creating Opportunities, which covers the “central aspects of multilingualism in today’s globalised societies, such as cognition, policies and education” https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/multilingual-practices This one’s three hours a week for four weeks!

3. The motto of this ‘e-course’ on Multilingual education, put together by a team from universities in Tartu (Estonia), Freiburg (Germany), Bolzano (Italy) and Primorska (Slovenia), is the Bulgarian proverb, “The more languages you speak, the more human you are” https://sisu.ut.ee/multilingual/avaleht Let me know if you know of a similar proverb in another language, please! This one’s a seven-week course.

Here’s the introductory video https://sisu.ut.ee/?jwsource=cl (You might need to turn up the volume on your device; it was a bit quiet on my laptop.)

4. The Lost Wor(l)ds website from Sheffield University, which aims “to normalise multilingualism and embed it in formal education systems, through a focus on nature and sustainability”, is (in its own accurate description) “a website full of activities and ideas to help encourage and facilitate multilingualism” https://www.multilingualism-in-schools.net/

Here’s a description of the project https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/education/research/early-childhood/lost-worlds-language-heritage-and-forgetting

5. And, finally, while you’re in the Lost Wor(l)ds website, take a look at the Schools for Sanctuary website with which it is closely associated https://schools.cityofsanctuary.org/

Yesterday was planned to be the inaugural ‘Climate Tuesday’, but my broadband problems put paid to that, so here’s a one-off ‘Climate Wednesday’ instead.

1. Here’s a good, accessible summary piece on the recent 3,900-page-long (!) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report https://theconversation.com/this-is-the-most-sobering-report-card-yet-on-climate-change-and-earths-future-heres-what-you-need-to-know-165395

“Sadly,” says the article, “there is hardly any good news in the 3,900 pages of text released today. But there is still time to avert the worst damage if humanity chooses to.”

2. And here’s some suggestions for reducing plastic pollution https://somewang.com/15-ways-to-reduce-plastic-pollution/ Are they maybe too focussed on more developed economies, I wonder? Draw up a more appropriate list for your own context with your students?

3. Here’s ELT Footprint’s ideas for Practical ways of including sustainability in your language classroom https://youtu.be/ispWGr_VfFQ Their focus is on the UK, but their ideas travel quite well, I think https://eltfootprint.uk/

4. This week’s related phobia? Heliophobia!

5. And, finally, maybe not quite the greatest rally ever in the history of table tennis – but close! https://youtu.be/1dyQGoVLI8k Not convinced? How about this one? https://youtu.be/HO8HGx4So_E

1. A good blog post from Tim Oates of (what is now called) Cambridge University Publishing and Assessment, drawing together a number of current issues in education: Here’s how to solve the ‘hyper problem’ of interrupted learning  https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/blogs/outline-principles-for-the-future-of-education

Several good links in Tim’s piece, including this one Are the best teachers the ones with fewest gimmicks? from Lauran Hampshire-Dell https://www.tes.com/news/are-best-teachers-ones-fewest-gimmicks-teaching-learning-schools

2. Tim makes no reference to the learning of Latin, however, about which there’s been something of a storm in a teacup here in UK recently. Here’s two pieces on the topic, one neutral, sort of https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/latin-state-schools-england-williamson-b1894202.html 

and the other strongly against https://ie-today.co.uk/news/plan-to-teach-latin-in-state-schools-utterly-misconceived-says-former-head/

Is Latin still learnt in schools anywhere else apart from the UK, I wonder? Italy, I guess!

3. Last year’s was cancelled because of Covid, but this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival has just begun. It’s a blend of ‘real’ and virtual audiences and events, and there’s a fair bit that’s free to watch online. Have a rummage around on their site! https://tickets.edfringe.com/

4. And, finally, a video of Cryptic’s sound installation last month on the beach at Irvine on the west coast of Scotland https://vimeo.com/581232471

1. This month’s Humanising Language Teaching (HLT) has a clear geographical focus on Germany https://www.hltmag.co.uk/aug21/ Betsy Hollweck’s piece on Teaching English through Food appealed to non-mageirocophobic me! https://www.hltmag.co.uk/aug21/teaching-english-through-food

2.  I mentioned Teacher Tapp a while ago. Here’s this month’s data and analysis https://teachertapp.co.uk/how-supported-do-teachers-feel/

They were looking at two issues: i) How supported do you (teachers) feel by your school senior leadership team? ii) Teacher Introspection. I thought the second more interesting.

3. “Time for a home-grown English language test, Indian agents say” https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/time-home-grown-english-language-test-indian-agents-say China next? You may need to register to access this piece.

4. And, finally, how do you establish yourself as an online authority in coffee machines like James Hoffmann and make lots of money from that authority? I clearly missed a trick! https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/31/oslo-pram-guy-teenage-vacuum-expert-niche-online-reviewers

1. I hope this one doesn’t get swamped by adverts. It’s an interesting piece exploring just how multilingual the Mexican government and Mexican citizens would wish to be https://mexiconewsdaily.com/opinion/the-fight-to-save-mexicos-native-languages/ A good basis for a class discussion?

2. Yet another benefit of being non-monolingual: “research has shown that a music-related hobby boosts language skills and affects the processing of speech in the brain. According to a new study, the reverse also happens — learning foreign languages can affect the processing of music in the brain”. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210803105546.htm (Thanks, Melanie!)

3. Digby Jones, Baron Jones of Birmingham – to use his full title – got himself into a right mess this week after his criticism of (what he called) BBC presenter Alex Scott’s ‘elocution’. There’s a good piece here, including the original Jones tweet, by Claire Hardaker, a forensic linguist from Lancaster University http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/drclaireh/2021/08/02/digby-lord-jones-the-man-who-took-on-linguistics-and-lost/ (Thanks, Ann!) and here’s Scott’s own splendid ‘final-g-free’ riposte https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/alex-scott-accent-opener-video-b1894626.html

4. And, finally and also thanks to Ann, a treasure trove of accents and dialects from the British Library https://sounds.bl.uk/accents-and-dialects

Try this one from the Survey of English Dialects (the bottom left-hand corner tile on the main page): Mr Cloughton from Askrigg in Wensleydale, not far from where I was born, talking about building dry-stone walls https://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Survey-of-English-dialects/021M-C0908X0006XX-0500V1 and chuckle at the difference between his accent and the interviewer’s.

1. Ample notice of this event at 14:00 UK time on Thursday 12^th August as you may wish to do some prep for it with your students: the Global LEAD #WatchOurImpact Dialogue, a partnership between UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited and USAID’s Global Lead programme. More info and registration here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/watchourimpact-dialogue-registration-164041599841

More on Generation Unlimited here https://www.generationunlimited.org/

and on Global Lead here https://www.edu-links.org/about/global-engagement/global-leadership-and-education-advancing-development-global-lead

Might be hard to keep track of the abbreviations and acronyms!

2. The Coding Mindset is the most recent edition of the Pearson English Podcast. A new term to me, ‘coding mindset’. Podcast and explanation here https://www.english.com/blog/the-coding-mindset-podcast/

Direct link to podcast here https://soundcloud.com/pearson-english-podcast/the-coding-mindset (so you don’t keep clicking in vain on the forward arrow, as I did, but maybe that was a practical illustration of the coding mindset?).

3. I’d not come across this UNESCO list of the 1,154 World Heritage Sites before https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/ Lots of fun to be had exploring!

Used to be 1,155 until Liverpool lost its World Heritage status recently, alas. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/21/unesco-strips-liverpool-waterfront-world-heritage-status

4. Here’s a grim but well-written piece from Gerry Hassan for The Scottish Review on Scotland’s struggle with drugs-related deaths, which “has earned Scotland the unwanted moniker of ‘the drug death capital of Europe’”. https://www.scottishreview.net/GerryHassan579a.html

(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/moniker)

5. And, finally, this week’s phobia, suggested by my colleague Steve, is igniterroremophobia. Steve says, “It’s hard to tell if some of these are just made-up nonsense…”

1. “There is a very long way to go for us all to fight against racial discrimination and hatred”, says Professor Li Wei, appointed earlier this year as Dean of the University College London Institute of Education. At one level, Li Wei has clearly been successful in his own fight against racial discrimination; as he explains in this piece for tesol journal, he now wants to help others win their fights https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/tesj.618 PDF below.

2. “Those in charge often have no experience of the problems they’re trying to solve and so are slow to find effective solutions.” This episode of the BBC Radio 4 series Equitable Leadership is an interview with Baljeet Sandhu, a pioneer of the Lived Experience Movement and founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Knowledge Equity here in the UK, who believes ‘knowledge equity’ can make policy-making more progressive https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000ycvl

3. Last Monday, I mentioned the debate, Is Privatisation of Education Really a Solution? Here’s one contribution to that debate, Public Education Works: Five Lessons From Low and Middle-Income Countries https://doc-04-4o-prod-03-apps-viewer.googleusercontent.com/viewer2/prod-03/pdf/qa4lnn48r53comugedgq39e7h3fqfsb4/puidolbajf8d4a6lhc9ng7krih7bt9t6/1628012475000/3/102819316364724173377/APznzaZh_1Yw0MnveT8cXsl2ywtuLJdeZkYeOvzQJQuExHvhk8itI5NFupsUnzzSCaEwAsfghH0XLvYD5Y7PsMeFE_778m91rVS12OXDIW3DXxw5schde5CFiadIUd6hN8HZO6GAsaJw6TAQkAHbkftNS0BhdCC2SMe9uBQL6qgSi2ZqlO055Fn5t–sYuyzixgzDgVSuiE220EIMueZGkqsHayu5UEHTWSNWxed1lZx2TiNY2FhOCoZdKWpHexLX5cH4UegDlXve-pVulb5dmqJ2TNwNLqAElRZE5qi2P-JuVRj0x8_R6ynHPeq5LbzZ0YWxwAcFg3n_CMFJHIDgcnp7nH_8cEwtS6CNAuUP4JXEbMQUazrq8I=?nonce=9oishsc949o4u&user=102819316364724173377&hash=u3juvv0v0gtmpiu0mptp1r3q1kj4gh4k

That’s a horrendously long link which probably contains information on what I ate for lunch as well as the length of my inside leg, so there’s a PDF as well, below.

4. And, finally, here’s a simple recipe which – wonderful typo – makes ‘four sandwishes’ https://ralphschelling.com/download/ralph-schelling-monocle-rezept-tamago-sandwiches.jpg