Roy Cross's Blog

1. My own understanding of the notion of growth mindset is a pretty rudimentary one, largely gleaned from Lucy Crehan’s book, Cleverlands, which compared six national education systems that perform well in PISA with each other. Put simply, a ‘growth mindset’ is a major advantage to a student because it suggests that one’s intelligence can be developed and grown over time and failure is a springboard to learning,  as opposed to a fatalistic ‘fixed mindset’ that says one’s intelligence is fixed and pre-determined and failure is failure and a damning indictment of one’s dimness.

The OECD have just published Sky’s the limit: Growth mindset, students, and schools in PISA https://issuu.com/oecd.publishing/docs/sky-s-the-limit-pisa-growth-mindset PDF below if you react badly to the issuu format, as I do!

And here’s a pretty good summary of Lucy’s book that I came across by chance earlier today: https://chrishildrew.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/slt-book-club-clever-lands-by-lucy-crehan/

2. If you missed the English Australia event with Judit Kormos on Inclusive practices for learning differences the other day, which many people said was excellent, here’s the recording https://youtu.be/fINkuIeVqbU and below, courtesy of my colleague Andrew Skinner, is her presentation. Plus, from the EL Gazette archives, a feature on Judit, The woman who wants EFL to include everyone https://www.elgazette.com/thought-leader/

3. Early notice of the next book adaptation in the Hardy’s Women series on BBC Radio 4, The Woodlanders, which starts next Monday, 3^rd May https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s855 Tess of the D’Urbervilles and The Hand of Ethelberta are already available.

4. And, finally, something altogether more sombre than usual: a very powerful ‘long read’ from Arundhati Roy about India’s ‘Covid catastrophe’ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/28/crime-against-humanity-arundhati-roy-india-covid-catastrophe

1. Mark Twain once said, “All good things arrive unto them that wait – and don’t die in the meantime.” The selected proceedings of the 2017 Dakar Language & Development Conference have just been published and are definitely a good thing and worth waiting for https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/conference-proceedings-language-sustainable-development-goals

Philip Harding-Esch’s introduction covers a lot of ground well and also includes a thumbnail sketch of each of the papers in the volume, to help you decide which ones you might want to read. Two PDFs below: one of Philip’s introduction only, the other of the whole publication.

2. IATEFL’s Teacher Training and Education Development (TTED) SIG is holding a free online conference for both members and non-members this coming Saturday, 1^st May, starting at 09:00 UK time. More info here https://ttedsig.iatefl.org/upcoming-events/1st-may-2021-one-day-online-conference/ and registration link here https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bSqv725fRbu-r9bMf4sHhw I can’t at present find a programme, but I expect that will soon appear.

3. One for those of you that manage or have ambitions (think that through carefully, now) to do so: Eaquals have just published their Academic Management Competency Framework. It’s been designed to provide guiding principles and tools for managers which will contribute to the enhancement of quality in language teaching and learning, with descriptors spanning four development levels to represent the range of competences that might be required across an academic manager’s role, intended as a tool to support managers in the awareness raising of their own strengths and possible development paths. More info, including an explanatory video, and downloads here https://www.eaquals.org/resources/the-eaquals-academic-management-competency-framework/ PDFs of handbook and tools below, as well.

4. Not great timing for those of us in the UK but pretty good timing for everyone else at 00:30 UK time on Friday, 30^th April, is Poetry and the Creative Mind, this year’s Academy of American Poets’ annual gala – chaired by Meryl Streep, no less. Live only, no recording. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-the-creative-mind-virtual-gala-supporting-national-poetry-month-registration-138838474615 I shall be staying up!

5. And, finally, this Wednesday’s phobia, ataxophobia, is not a phobia I suffer from, says my wife. Whereas my wife …

1. Ample notice, so you can plan which sessions you want to attend, of the second annual Pearson English Spring Days event that starts a week today, on Tuesday 4^th May, and runs for three days. It’s looking at how we’ve all coped this last twelve months, and how we continue to cope. The subjects covered will include Lost Learning, Hybrid Learning and Techno Stress. (Not quite sure what that last one’s about but probably something to do with the impact of Windows updates on one’s laptop.)

Here’s three links:

i) programme https://www.pearson.com/english/professional-development/SpringDays.html

ii) registration page https://www.english.com/blog/pearson-english-spring-days-2021/

iii) blog on hybrid learning https://www.english.com/blog/exploring-hybrid-learning-at-spring-days/

Virtual worldwide coffee breaks included, which sounds fun, and all attendees get a certificate – and a goody bag!

2. Here’s another Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) ‘guidance report’, this one offering eight recommendations for improving literacy in the early years of primary school https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/guidance-reports/literacy-ks-1/ PDF of poster with recommendations below.

3. I’m listening to episode 3 of this Nice White Parents podcast as I write. It’s a compelling account of how a well-organised group of white parents effectively staged a take-over of a (largely non-white and plurilingual) state school in New York and changed – or tried to change – it into a bilingual French school for the benefit of their (monolingual) children https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/1-the-book-of-statuses/id1524080195?i=1000486589125 Not the first time, the reporter discovers, that white parents had attempted a take-over of the school …

4. And, finally, something completely different: a taste of Ellen Elias-Bursać’s translation of a recent novel by Croatian writer Ivana Bodrožić, We Trade Our Night for Someone Else’s Day https://sevenstories.com/blogs/212-forget-this-city-and-forget-this-city-forget-this-city-forget-this-cit

1. Just in time, I hope: English Australia have a webinar at 09:00 UK time tomorrow, Tuesday 27^th April, at which Judit Kormos from Lancaster University will be talking about Inclusive practices for learning differences https://www.englishaustralia.com.au/events/event/inclusive-practices-for-learning-differences She’ll be discussing practical strategies to use inside and outside the classroom and how teachers can adapt materials to aid inclusion. NB! You need to register.

2. Reallyenglish are offering thirty days free access to their online IELTS course, which offers 180 hours of IELTS-focused English language self-study https://www.reallyenglish.com/free-trial-request-bc?hs_preview=niRJFZYy-45198326680 That adds up to six hours a day for the length of the free trial, by my reckoning!

3. Stacks of good stuff in the latest European Language Gazette https://www.ecml.at/News/Newsletter/Gazette55/tabid/4425/language/en-GB/Default.aspx including this roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling https://www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/Programme2016-2019/Languagesofschooling/tabid/2994/Default.aspx

4. And, finally, if you think you won’t be overly annoyed by its primary focus on Europe and the USA, you might like to road test The Knowledge daily newsletter: https://www.theknowledge.com/ Lively and well-written, geographical focus notwithstanding! Here’s today’s front page https://www.theknowledge.com/today/

1. Next Wednesday, 28^th April, sees the launch of the first of three modules in the Climate Action in Language Education professional development series for teachers: Introducing climate change issues into language teaching classes https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/climate-action-language-education-module-1-introducing-climate-change-issues-language

A number of you, I know, watched yesterday’s session on this topic at the English UK Teachers Day, but if you missed it, like I did, here’s the recording https://youtu.be/yGlRo8OxMlY and here’s the slides http://bit.ly/220421ELT How’s that for service?

2. If you feel like something a little more hard-core academic, next Tuesday, 27^th April, at 16:15 UK time Hamish Chalmers from Oxford University is giving a talk on the International Database of Education Systematic Reviews (IDESR): What? Why? How? and to What Ends? in Reading University’s weekly series of Applied Linguistic talks. “To understand the state of our knowledge on any particular topic within education it is necessary to consider the findings of multiple studies together. The most robust way to do this is to conduct a systematic review.” More details in the JPG below; you need to write to Rodney Jones at r.h.jones@reading.ac.uk to book your place.

3. Next Wednesday, 28th April, at 13:00 UK time the OECD are hosting a webinar with Education International and UNESCO on Rethinking the classroom after COVID-19. More info and a registration link here https://meetoecd1.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1QU5tgaxQd28msUX3mXHyQ

If, like me, you’ve not come across Education International before, here’s their website https://www.ei-ie.org/en/ They have an interesting history behind them https://www.ei-ie.org/en/detail_page/15179/origins-and-history

4. And, finally, if it was Hay on Wednesday, it has to be Edinburgh today! Not the full festival this time, though, but a series of free events with the six author and translator pairings shortlisted for the International Booker Prize https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on plus a bit more info on the shortlist here https://thebookerprizes.com/international-booker/2021

1. Next Tuesday, 27^th April at 15:00 UK time sees the next ECML webinar, on “The future of language education – learning lessons from the pandemic” https://www.ecml.at/Resources/Webinars/tabid/5456/Default.aspx The webinar will present the preliminary findings of the ECML’s survey of how more than 1,700 language teaching professionals and their students in more than 40 countries responded to the challenges presented by the pandemic.

2. It’s always good to see things through the slightly wider MFL (Modern Foreign Languages) lens in addition to the monofocal ELT lens, which is the one through which the British Council was looking when it drew up these two reports on ELT teaching and learning worldwide during the pandemic https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/ministries-education-responses-during-covid-19 PDFs of both monofocal reports below.

3. ‘Designing for Agency in the Digital Classroom’ is the next OUP webinar: https://elt.oup.com/events/global/designing-for-agency-in-the-digital-classroom?cc=gb&selLanguage=en Two editions, one at 09:30 UK time and the other at 17:30 UK time on Wednesday, 28^th April, in which Paul Driver “will explore the fundamental role of agency in learning and teaching”.

4. Hot off the press, the new issue of EL Gazette https://elgazette.com/elg_archive/ELG2104/mobile/index.html includes a gently provocative piece by Marko Modiano from Gävle University in Sweden on the rise of European English at the expense of British (or American) English – “With the British out of Europe, there are no longer hordes of language watchdogs in the EU” – and a report on the Hands Up Project’s work in Palestine. Here’s their website as well https://handsupproject.org/

5. And, finally, there’s a nice piece on The Conversation website on the big ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal https://theconversation.com/suez-canal-blockage-how-cargo-ships-like-ever-given-became-so-huge-and-why-theyre-causing-problems-158090 I’ve not been able to verify the rumour that it’s now heading for the Panama Canal …

Their podcast this week is about dinosaurs! https://theconversation.com/uk/podcasts

1. Let’s start off today with a quick reminder of English UK’s Teachers Day from 09:00 UK time tomorrow, 22^nd April https://www.englishuk.com/elt-conference#teachersday

Here’s a link to Silvana Richardson and Chia Suan Chong’s talk at 12:00 UK time on The native factor and the last five years https://youtu.be/SuZ4mJhFYYo

and here’s one to Colm Downes, Christopher Graham and Dianna Torosyan’s talk at 15:30 UK time on Climate action in language education: impactful ways to integrate environmental issues in English language teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGlRo8OxMlY

2. Two short taster videos from Ready to Run https://vimeo.com/537686090 and https://vimeo.com/531655540 Their free offer is still available here if you haven’t already signed up https://readytorun.digitallearningassociates.com/

3. The programme for this year’s Hay Festival, which runs from 26^th May to 6^th June, has just been published, with more than 200 writers, global policy makers, historians, poets, pioneers and innovators to entertain and educate us. All events will be closed-captioned and available to watch for free 24 hours from their live broadcast http://hayfestival.com/wales/home Early notice to give you time to explore and book your seats!

4. Something longer – but not too long, twenty-four minutes – to watch: The Guardian’s Oscar-nominated documentary film, ‘Colette’, about ninety-year-old Colette Marin-Catherine’s return after seventy-four years to the German concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora where her brother was killed https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2020/nov/18/colette-a-former-french-resistance-member-confronts-a-family-tragedy-75-years-later Sombre – and uplifting.

5. And, finally, this one’s for Medusa – our phobia of the week is ophidiophobia!

1. Another excellent blog post from Alexandra Mihai, Thinking about authentic learning? Try Project-Based Learning https://educationalist.substack.com/p/thinking-about-authentic-learning Good reading list at the end, as ever!

2. The kind of feature, from The Guardian’s Experience series, that I’d have given my eye teeth for when I was teaching: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/apr/16/experience-ive-had-the-same-supper-for-10-years

Last week’s piece was entitled A maggot hatched from my head https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/apr/09/experience-a-maggot-hatched-from-my-head

3. If your students are into football, here’s more on the European Super League, which continues to dominate the news here in the UK and most of Europe https://capx.co/the-end-of-football-anyone-who-values-competition-should-oppose-the-european-super-league/

“This kind of closed shop, or ‘socialism for the rich’ is a recipe for mediocrity and stagnation, the antithesis of what makes elite sport, well, elite.” No words minced there.

4. And, finally, Voices of Hope is a partnership between the Carnegie Hall and the Serious music agency https://serious.org.uk/voices-of-hope

Stacks of free stuff from now till the end of the month, including Ute Lemper, a favourite of mine, yesterday https://youtu.be/O8_nIftDoV4 and on Sunday, Mexican singer Magos Herrera (who I think might become a favourite of mine) with string ensemble Brooklyn Rider  https://youtu.be/qaW-s5N5KHI

1. Never mind Brexit! Never mind Covid! What’s the biggest story in all the UK papers today and the first item on all the TV and radio news bulletins? Football! Specifically, the plans by twelve of the richest clubs to establish a European Super League to make themselves even richer. Here’s The Guardian’s account of what the President of UEFA calls “a disgraceful and self-serving proposal from clubs motivated by greed”: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/super-league-players-face-world-cup-and-euros-ban-warns-furious-uefa-chief

Even Boris is getting involved https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/ministers-urged-to-take-action-over-european-super-league-plan

That second link includes a good short video explaining what all the fuss is about. Good material for a role play with club owners, managers, players, fans (and some people who can’t stand football)? https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/role-play

2. Eclectic? I should cocoa! The Lancaster Literacy Research Centre programme covers topics ranging from Reading, Writing and Rebellion at 10:00 UK time this coming Friday, through a prosopographical (me neither!) look at Ancient Babylon, to the role of Minecraft in education research. Click on the booking link for each event for more info http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/literacy-research-centre/

3. And while we’re talking about Lancaster, a reminder that their MOOC on Dyslexia and Foreign Language Teaching starts today: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/dyslexia/7

4. Thinking of becoming a head teacher? Read this OECD report first! https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/what-are-the-roles-and-salaries-of-school-heads_97d6b7a5-en PDF below.

5. And, finally, how stressed should I be that I only discovered this morning that April is Stress Awareness Month every year? Maybe this test will help me find out https://www.stress.org.uk/individual-stress-test/

1. This month’s edition of Humanising Language Teaching (HLT) from Pilgrims – no country focus this time round that I can detect but the usual rich and varied mixture of topics nonetheless! https://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr21/

2. Two considered pieces from The Conversation about the resurgence of violence in Northern Ireland, which many people think is an unintended consequence of Brexit:

https://theconversation.com/northern-ireland-the-politics-behind-the-riots-158727

https://theconversation.com/northern-ireland-how-to-understand-the-influence-of-paramilitary-groups-158726

Don’t ask me what were the intended consequences of Brexit, please.

3. Acronym alert! EAP is English for Academic Purposes, BALEAP is the British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes, and a SIG is a Special Interest Group. OK?

EAP for Social Justice is one of BALEAP’s SIGs, and they recently published this account by Bill Guariento of an online pre-sessional partnership between Science, Engineering and Technology students at the University of Glasgow and at the Islamic University of Gaza https://eap4socialjustice.net/2020/06/06/pre-sessional-english-language-courses-university-telecollaboration-as-a-driver-of-global-north-south-student-contact-for-engineers/

Bill’s paper “concludes that pre-sessional English language telecollaboration that juxtaposes areas of peace and conflict can offer particular opportunities for the dialogue that, in Freire’s view (1996: 69) leads, through action and reflection, to ‘naming’ – and thereby potentially changing – the world”. PDF below if that’s easier than a long scroll.

4. I missed this report by the Society for the Advancement of Education https://www.sahe.org.pk/ looking at Medium of Instruction in Punjab’s Government Schools when it was first published a year ago and have just come across it while doing some preliminary research for a new CLIL project https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/Change_Medium_Instruction_Punjab_Government_Schools-Perceptions_Prospects.pdf

Its findings “point to the need for an appropriate language in education policy wherein Urdu rather than English serves as the MoI (medium of instruction) in the primary grades, English is taught more effectively as a subject or skill and there is room for the mother tongue to complement Urdu in the initial years”. It includes a very useful literature review. PDF below.

5. And, finally, my colleagues in Portugal have started a podcast, primarily for the students they teach – but I think it deserves a wider audience! https://spark.adobe.com/page/8xM4IHdgPtfZa/

In their own words, “The Sunshiny Day podcast is a tiny audio present packed with surprising talents, funny stories, moving music, side-splitting jokes, and much, much more!” Simple little gems like a nine-year-old talking about – and playing – their green ukulele (at the beginning of the first episode). How about you start one with your students?