ESL etc.

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In this podcast I talk about what I’ve been doing for the past several months. I talk a bit about my time at Dancing Rabbit, an community based around environmental sustainability with a website full of photos and articles. I also talk about two online jobs, as a tutor for TalkBean.com and as […]

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“Dancing Rabbit is an ecovillage set amid the hills and prairies of rural northeastern Missouri. Our goal is to live ecologically sustainable and socially rewarding lives, and to share the skills and ideas behind that lifestyle.”
I spent three weeks at Dancing Rabbit, and had an amazing time. Folks were very welcoming, and I learned […]

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Dot Earth is Andrew C. Revkin’s blog at the New York Times. He covers a wide range of news related to sustainability and climate change. It is too complex for most language learners, but simplified versions of some of the articles he references could be useful.
In addition, he often refers to videos and […]

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Facing the Future is an organization that makes activity-based, global issues curricula for students of all ages. In addition to the great stuff they offer for sale, they have a ton of materials available as free downloads. I especially like the lesson plans from Engaging Students Through Global Issues, and the Climate Change […]

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The latest issue of the Solidarity, Sustainability, and Non-Violence newsletter is out, and it addresses the Spiritual Dimension of Sustainable Development. This is a point of view that does not often come up in my classes, and might strike a chord with some students.
I particularly liked the article Spirituality of Spiritual Development. It […]

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I just made a new page featuring some news sites that gear their articles towards language learners. Most of the sites also offer supplemental materials such as vocabulary lists, audio recordings and grammar exercises.
The page is posted in the links for teachers section of the website.

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I just stumbled across this blog of a teacher in Japan who does some activities based on global issues. I haven’t really looked through the archives yet, but his blog features lots of examples of student work, including projects on whaling and water usage.

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The Bird and the Sea is a great meta-blog on the environment, sustainability and leaving a lighter footprint. It gives headlines from a variety of blogs and news sites, and is a great source for up to the minute readings.

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The UN recently released it’s new State of the Future Report wherein they discuss how things are going with regards to the various Millenium Development Goals.
A great review of the report is available here, from Solidarity, Sustainability and Non-Violence. Here are some of the statistics they pulled from the report:

global population keeps increasing and […]

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I start by introducing a roleplay in which students were asked to imagine what they would do if their boss pressured them to do something illegal or dishonest. As an example, I told them a story about a student at another university who worked as a tour guide over the summer. His boss […]

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