Roy Cross's Blog

1. The Olympics start on Friday, almost spectator-free, and the sport karate will be included – to my surprise – for the first time ever. Here’s a good long (free) read from The Smithsonian magazine on the history and traditions of the sport, not all of them as old as one might imagine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/centuries-old-sport-karate-history-olympics-180977941/

2. Even though we have ample supplies of vaccine here in UK, unlike many other countries around the world, we still face a challenge getting young people to get vaccinated. We all thought we were immortal when we were younger? Maybe! The Young Scot organisation have produced a short set of video interviews https://youtu.be/wZ4WFgy7B1o and a matching article to encourage vaccination https://young.scot/get-informed/national/young-people-tell-us-why-they-re-getting-a-covid-19-vaccine This is another of those ones where I blithely observe there’s a lesson in there somewhere!

3. A recent report from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) on Cognitive Science Approaches in the Classroom investigated approaches to teaching and learning inspired by cognitive science that are commonly used in the classroom, with a particular focus on acquiring and retaining knowledge https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/evidence-reviews/cognitive-science-approaches-in-the-classroom/

PDFs of three documents below: the summary version (which is itself over 50 pages long), the full 372-page version and …. a one-page summary of the summary!

4. And, finally, courtesy of my colleague Simon, ten more extraordinary cricket catches https://youtu.be/fDhNfxxAzLs

1. This one’s not light reading – thanks, Amy! – but will repay a half-hour’s quiet attention, Ofsted’s review of research into factors that can affect the quality of education in languages, “its purpose to identify factors that contribute to high-quality school languages curriculums, assessment, pedagogy and systems”. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-research-review-series-languages

PDF below, if that’s easier than reading online.

2. This one’s also more of a weekend read with a cup of coffee, the British Council’s fifth annual report on how young people in thirty-six countries round the world view their own countries and the United Kingdom, Global Britain: the UK’s soft power advantage https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/global_britain_the_uks_soft_power_advantage_report.pdf Trust in government is diminishing it seems … PDF below.

3. Tonight, tomorrow and Sunday only, The Lisbon Players perform Offstage Stories: the stories of eight people intimately connected with theatre – a cleaner, a critic, an accompanist, a wardrobe mistress, a stage manager, a set designer, a stage-hand and an actor. More info here (scroll right down to book a free ticket) https://lisbonplayers.com.pt/box-office/ Thanks, Karl!

4. And, finally, a simply staggering catch from Indian cricketer Harleen Deol https://youtu.be/SakX1XtRaAU

For those of you less familiar with cricket, the catch would have been ruled invalid if she’d crossed the boundary with the ball, so, with extraordinary presence of mind, she leaves the ball behind on the field of play (in the air), crosses the boundary and returns in time to catch the ball again before it hits the ground. Stunning!

1. More on the interface between the hands and the brain, from my colleague Robin in Tokyo https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-athletes-way/202107/touch-typing-may-unclamp-the-brain-and-promote-flow-state

Never having learnt to touch type remains one of the embarrassments of my life when working in an open-plan office; I can batter my keyboard at home as much as I like.

2. This is currently the most popular article on one stop English, and it’s clearly fulfilling a need https://www.onestopenglish.com/support-for-teaching-grammar/comparative-and-superlative-adjectives-article/144846.article

3. Not sure this converts into a lesson, but it’s a powerful, sombre read by the Uyghur poet Tahir Hamut Izgil https://www.theatlantic.com/the-uyghur-chronicles/

4. And, finally, Mexican music from Luz Negra https://youtu.be/OpXvKvhoaK8 (but I think I liked uKhoiKhoi from Zambia best).

1. When I was in primary school, handwriting was a very big deal – we spent hours practising our letters. Years of keyboard work later, I can now hardly write a legible sentence. Just as well I learnt to read before I lost the ability to write, it seems, according to this article on the ScienceAlert website  https://www.sciencealert.com/handwriting-is-better-than-typing-when-learning-to-read-study-finds

Here’s a piece on The Importance of Teaching Handwriting from the Reading Rockets website https://www.readingrockets.org/article/importance-teaching-handwriting

2. Here’s a free set of learning materials from Nik Peachey, Image Scenarios – The Phone Call, designed to enable students to develop influencing skills and deal with unpredictable situations https://payhip.com/b/fS8K Enter the code PHONE to get them free.

3. Last thing on football for this month, promise, without further comment: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jul/13/england-euro-2020-chaos-wembley-european-press-review

4. This week’s phobia, courtesy of my colleague Marta, is the self-fulfilling hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia – nothing to do with hippopatam(i)(uses)!

5. And, finally, now I’ve run out of Zambian music, here’s Efe Ce Ele from Argentina https://youtu.be/bq1jPwjJ92s

1. UnHerd is new to me https://unherd.com/ If you’re pushed for time, all its articles are tagged with how long they take to read! It has an ambitious mission:

UnHerd aims to do two things: to push back against the herd mentality with new and bold thinking, and to provide a platform for otherwise unheard ideas, people and places. We think this approach is more needed than ever. Societies across the West are divided and stuck, and the established media is struggling to make sense of what’s happening. The governing ideologies of the past generation are too often either unquestioningly defended or rejected wholesale. It’s easy and safe to be in one or other of these two camps – defensive liberal or angry reactionary – but UnHerd is trying to do something different, and harder.

Good luck, UnHerd!

2. Not a MOOC from FutureLearn this time but a blog post instead – on Freedom of Speech https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/freedom-of-speech I could see it forming the basis of a good lesson for senior school and university students.

3. Marcus Rashford was one of the England players who missed a penalty at the end of the Euro 2020 final and has since been shamefully, disgracefully, appallingly, deeply depressingly vilified by racist England ‘supporters’. I’ve attached copies of his Twitter response below.

As this short video with Barrack Obama shows, Rashford is a remarkably mature young man, who’s achieved more positive social change in his young life than most people three times his age, including changing UK government policy on free school meals last year https://youtu.be/BhQ2ODFmeT4

He’s also just founded the Marcus Rashford Book Club, to help young people between 8 and 12 years old learn to read, and written a positive and inspiring guide for life for young readers, You are a Champion: how to be the best you can be. I have three copies of his book to give away – send me a message by 20^th July if you’d like your name to be in the hat! Photo of the book cover below.

4. And, finally, more great music from Zambia, from uKhoiKhoi at this year’s (online) Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival: https://youtu.be/eBPvncHlPSE Hope you’re reading to the end, George Kanyama!

1. The Teacher Tapp app allows teachers to share thoughts and opinions by answering three short multiple-choice questions sent to their phone at 3:30 pm each day. Answers are collated and the findings shared. The idea’s a good and simple one. It’s primarily intended for UK schools but they’re now opening up to other countries.

Here’s more info on the app https://teachertapp.co.uk/who-is-the-app-for/ and here’s the most recent blog post, summarising recent findings https://teachertapp.co.uk/how-are-schools-organising-self-isolation-this-and-other-findings/

2. New guidance was recently issued by the UK Department (Ministry) for Education on The reading framework: teaching the foundations of literacy https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-reading-framework-teaching-the-foundations-of-literacy

You can’t really argue with the introductory paragraph: Reading is fundamental to education. Proficiency in reading, writing and spoken language is vital for pupils’ success. Through these, they develop communication skills for education and for working with others: in school, in training and at work. Pupils who find it difficult to learn to read are likely to struggle across the curriculum, since English is both a subject in its own right and the medium for teaching. This is why the government is committed to continuing to raise standards of literacy for all.

PDFs below of the whole thing and the introduction only.

3. The second webinar in the TeachingEnglish series on using literature with young learners and teenagers, Using children’s literature as mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors in primary ELT, is presented by David Valente at 12:00 UK time this coming Wednesday, 14^th July. More info and registration here https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-childrens-literature-mirrors-windows-sliding-glass-doors-primary-elt

I hope some of you managed to catch today’s webinar with Gail Ellis and Tatia Gruenbaum on using picture books!

4. And, finally, how about a set from ‘Zamrock legends’ Witch? https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/witch-2nd-july-2021

1. ReadListenLearn have added comprehension questions to some of their stories, most of which already have an audio version https://readlistenlearn.net/en

Here’s a science fiction story, The Ablest Man in the World, by Edward Page Mitchell, a one-eyed writer I’d never heard of till earlier this afternoon! https://app.readlistenlearn.net/articles/the-ablest-man-in-the-world

2. Here’s Alexandra Mihai’s latest blog post, ePortfolio: a student-centred learning space https://educationalist.substack.com/p/eportfolio-a-student-centred-learning As ever, lots of references and links to follow.

What is an ePortfolio exactly? Alexandra defines it as a “personal learning space”, “a collection of materials that documents student accomplishments. Unlike an analogue portfolio, a digital portfolio allows for the inclusion of different media (video, audio, infographics, etc.), thereby providing students with various means of expression as well as the possibility to easily connect resources and ideas.”

3. Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) films “tackle a whole host of subject matters, all inspired by strong human stories.” There’s ever such a lot to explore here in the film archive: https://www.scottishdocinstitute.com/films/?category=stories&opportunities=&duration=&order=DESC

Try this one https://www.scottishdocinstitute.com/films/beautiful-dreams/

4. And, finally, the latest MARSM playlist, #38: A Taste Of Music From Ammanhttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlA3v8gHbQc1nMGPShyg0UqW0JnSOta73

1. The first of two items on academic writing. Tomorrow, Friday 9^th July, at 14:00 UK time Ana Frankenberg-Garcia from Surrey University here in the UK will be talking about Academic English Collocations: from corpus data to assisted writing with reference to ColloCaid, a text editor that she and her colleagues have developed that provides users of academic English with collocation suggestions. More info and registration here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/academic-english-collocations-from-corpus-data-to-assisted-writing-tickets-162302056821

2. You’ll need to register on the THE site to read this second piece on academic writing, but that’s free and easy: a thoughtful piece on the relationship between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Education that suggests the arguments need to be re-framed because AI is always going to win https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/does-rise-ai-spell-end-education

3. Thanks to Dario Banegas for bringing this to my attention: the Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (SPELT) https://spelt.org.pk/ panel discussion on Teaching and Researching English in Difficult Circumstances at 15:30 UK time on Saturday, 17^th July. More info in the poster attached below.

4. So, then, who wrote this? To look at the international system with reference only to sovereign states is to miss a key piece of the discontent puzzle: the growing dominance of private interests over public institutions, which is locking countries into policies that are not socially or environmentally sustainable and weakening societies’ ability to respond to the changes and dangers of the world around them. It warns that this dominance is so engrained that profound changes are required at every level, from the local to the global.

To my surprise, and possibly yours, it was the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in their recent report, Perspectives on Global Development 2021: From Protest to Progress? https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/405e4c32-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/405e4c32-en There’s no free download, alas – and maybe there should be, to encourage those “profound changes (that) are required at every level, from the local to the global” – but the whole report’s available online.

5. And, finally, and thanks once again to my colleague Andrew Skinner, two short videos about the film The Reason I Jump by Jerry Rothwell, based on the book of the same name by twelve-year-old Naoki Higashida: the trailer https://youtu.be/f2DoU1MzLos and an interview with the director https://youtu.be/8FF7FHEqrUY

Here’s The Guardian review of the film as well https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/09/the-reason-i-jump-behind-a-groundbreaking-film-on-autism

1. At 10:00 UK time tomorrow, Thursday 8th July, The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education https://www.obhe.org/ presents the first in a series of ‘Borderless Conversations’ with Perry Hobson from Sunway University & Mushtak Al-Atabi from the Kuala Lumpur branch of Heriot Watt University talking to Kate Cooper from the Institute of Leadership & Management about their experiences of the impact of the pandemic on blended learning at their own institutions and ‘getting the blend right’ https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/borderlessconversations-with-the-obhe-1-getting-the-blend-right-tickets-160940626747?keep_tld=1

I met Mushtak a few years back and thought his total commitment to the best possible student experience and the influence his campus had on the Heriot-Watt mother ship back in Edinburgh was unusual and impressive.

2. Two posts on the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) blog from Caroline Bilton:

one on the teaching of reading https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/eef-blog-reading-comprehension-simple-and-brilliantly-complex/

and a second on maximising the impact of feedback https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/eef-blog-maximising-the-impact-of-feedback-in-literacy/

3. Gail Ellis and Tatia Gruenbaum from the PEPELT project https://pepelt21.com/ will be discussing Using picturebook video read-alouds in primary ELT next Monday, 12^th July at 12:00 UK time. More info and registration here https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-picturebook-video-read-alouds-primary-elt

4. In advance of England’s hour-and-a-half of destiny at 20:00 UK time this evening, here’s What all of us can learn from Gareth Southgate: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-57698821 Worth reading even if you’ve no idea who Gareth Southgate is.

5. And, finally, this week’s phobia is atychiphobia, which may be more widespread than usual this evening here in UK.

1. If you’re involved with an English Teachers’ Association (ETA), either as member or office-bearer, you might like to check out this announcement from the A S Hornby Educational Trust about funding for ETA projects https://www.hornby-trust.org.uk/projects#Projects You can learn more about previous projects and download an application form and guidance notes – copies of both below, in case that’s easier.

2. I mentioned the ELTon-winning Pearson and BBC Live Classes project back in November. The 2020/21 series has now ended and here’s a report from the perspective of the tutors on how they went https://www.english.com/blog/pearson-and-bbc-live-classes-2020-2021-trainers-highlights/ Scroll right down the page for info on how to enrol your class for the 2021/22 series.

3. An interesting new five-part series started on BBC Radio 4 yesterday: Rethink Education. Episode 1 yesterday was entitled What is education for? and today’s sought to answer the question Can school make up for what’s lacking at home? Episodes to come on exams, curriculum and technology https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xky3 Amol Rajan is a lively and irreverent chair.

4. And, finally, it’s that time of year again – the Edinburgh International Book Festival published its programme today, with the following generous message: “The Book Festival is for everyone, whether you are in the position to pay for a ticket or not, whether you can join us in Edinburgh or from your sofa. You’ll need to book for any online events you want to watch – but don’t worry, with an unlimited capacity you won’t miss out on your favourite events!”

Plenty of time to luxuriate in the programme and make your choices before the Festival starts on 14^th August! https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/events