ESL etc.

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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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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Materials Used

Reading Circle Assignment Sheet
Reading Circle Demo
Miniature Earth / World Wealth Handout
Economics Reading

First, let me give a little background on this class. It is an elective for level 4 and 5 students, our top two levels. We meet twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday, for an hour and fifteen minutes each time. […]

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I realize that this video is very partisan, but perhaps it could be used in certain contexts for critical media exercises. In my opinion, it starts slow (and obvious) but picks up around the middle. I particularly like the clips about the EPA and GMO food (1:29-2:00).

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I posted about this awhile ago, but I finally had a chance to watch the Story of Stuff. It’s a 20 minute film about consumption that is packed with powerful information. It’s well presented, too. A bunch of additional resources are available as well, including a footnoted script and a fact sheet, […]

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I just heard about the book Purple Hearts: Back from Iraqon the World. It’s a collection of photographs and interviews with injured American soldiers returning from Iraq. A short (4:45), powerful slideshow features many of the photos along with recordings taken from the interviews.
More photos are available at Nina Berman’s website. Check […]

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This talk by Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for an education system that nurtures creativity instead of stifling it, and could be used as part of an activity on changing education.

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I’m a bit behind in with my participation in the TESOL’s Electronic Village Online. With moving, I’m just now catching up. I’ve joined the lesson planning discussion. I’ve found the daily email digests a bit overwhelming, but the wiki seems pretty useful.
For week two, we watched a video and read a handful of […]

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The Story of Stuff is a great video that takes you through the lifespan of our stuff - extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. It points out the problems of running a linear process like this within a closed system (the Earth) and links to a lot of great resources. In addition to […]

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The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 French film about the struggle for Algerian independence. The themes of terrorism, occupation and torture are quite well portrayed and could certainly spark discussion on current events. One problem is that it is subtitled, but with advanced classes this might be OK. Alternatively, if you […]

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