ESL etc.

Global Issues and Activism in English Language Teaching

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Entries Tagged as 'climate change'

Forces of Change

June 30th, 2009 · No Comments

The Smithsonian’s Forces of Change online exhibit has lots of accessible information on various changes taking place on the Earth, especially those related to the climate. It has sections on the Arctic, the atmosphere, El Nino, and soils.
If I were using this in my class, I would probably first look under the “media library” […]

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Tags: climate change · natural disasters · visual prompts · video · global issues activities · listening · reading · the environment · blog

Rethinking Schools: Environmental Justice

June 29th, 2009 · No Comments

The summer 2009 issue of Rethinking Schools is based around the theme of environmental justice, and lots of the articles are available free on their website.
Highlights include The Big One an article by Bill Bigelow (author of Rethinking Globalization) on teaching about climate change. The article includes a description of several climate change activities, […]

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Tags: environmental racism · environmental justice · teaching with games · climate change · consumerism · the environment · global issues activities · blog

BBC Climate Change: Bloom

May 13th, 2009 · No Comments

Bloom offers a collection of actions that individuals can take to reduce their contribution to climate change. It’s visually interesting, and features actions in categories like food, shopping, travel and water. The language is fairly accessible, although some of the action explanations are not as clear as they could be. This would […]

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Tags: health · food and hunger · water · climate change · consumerism · the environment · global issues activities · blog

The Startling Effects of Going Vegetarian for Just One Day

April 8th, 2009 · No Comments

In The Startling Effects of Going Vegetarian for Just One Day, Kathy Freston gives a variety of interesting statistics on the consequences of all Americans not eating meat for just one day. Any serious discussion of climate change has to include diet, and this short article could be a great starting point.
Some highlights:
If everyone […]

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Tags: food and hunger · water · vegetarian / vegan · health · climate change · reading · the environment · global issues activities · blog

Some Eco-Themed Videogames

January 7th, 2009 · No Comments

Low Impact Living just profiled several environmentally-themed video games, some of which look like they would be good to use with language learners.
In Climate Challenge, the player is president of the European Union, and the goal is to balance green policy with keeping the populace happy.
Ayiti: The Cost of Life gives students the chance to […]

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Tags: poverty & wealth · food and hunger · climate change · politics · global issues activities · video games · the environment

CheatNeutral

November 13th, 2008 · No Comments

CheatNeutral is a funny, accessible way to introduce the “logic” of carbon offsets to students. They have created a mock website that allows people to buy cheating offsets, offsetting relationship infidelity. I’m a little concerned that my students would have trouble with the speed and accent of the language, but I might give […]

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Tags: climate change · video · global issues activities · blog

The Animals Save the Planet

November 7th, 2008 · No Comments

The Animals Save the Planet is a series of short videos from Animal Planet that illustrate global issues and actions. They are funny, and they use very little language, making them accessible to language learners. Basically, each clip uses claymation animals to illustrate a point, and then has a pithy two or three […]

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Tags: climate change · water · video · global issues activities · the environment · blog

Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz 2008

September 16th, 2008 · No Comments

I just came across this social justice quiz. It not only has some thought provoking questions, but also provides references for the answers. It is posted over at truthout.org, a site full of global issues related news articles. Below, I’ve posted some of the questions that I am planning to use with […]

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Tags: poverty & wealth · food and hunger · climate change · war · the environment · global issues activities · blog

Good Sites for Social Justice Issues and Environmental Issues

July 31st, 2008 · 1 Comment

Larry Ferlazzo’s blog is an incredible resource for ESL teachers. It features tons and tons of useful resources, particularly for teachers with decent access to technology. One good way to find stuff is by going through his “best of” lists. Two recent lists that may be of interests are the best teacher […]

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Tags: climate change · poverty & wealth · consumerism · global issues activities · global issues resources · the environment · blog

Infographics

July 19th, 2008 · No Comments

The International Network Archive at Princeton has an interesting collection of Infographics. These six “maps” depict statistical information in a variety of striking graphical ways. The one pictured here is on transportation, and I think the ones on weapons and water could also be useful in a global issues ESL class. Personally, […]

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Tags: health · visual prompts · water · climate change · war · the environment · global issues activities · blog