ESL etc.

Global Issues and Activism in English Language Teaching

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Entries Tagged as 'blog'

Metropolitan Nightmare by Stephen Vincent Benet

February 2nd, 2012 · No Comments

Here’s a neat poem from 1933. It would be great to use as part of a discussion about how the world has / has not changed over the last 75 years. It also reminds us that environmental concerns and dissatisfaction with modern industrial life are not new ideas. Plus, it kind of foreshadows climate change. [...]

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Tags: blog · climate change · global issues activities · reading · the environment · writing

To My Old Master

January 31st, 2012 · No Comments

Letters of Note recently posted a letter from a freed slave to his former master. The former slave was living and working on Ohio, when his former master wrote to him asking him to return to work on his farm. His response is a spectacular blend of sincerity and sarcasm. In my experience, students are [...]

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Tags: blog · child labor · global issues activities · human rights · poverty & wealth · reading

Why I’m Not Preparing My Students to Compete in the Global Marketplace

January 17th, 2012 · 4 Comments

It’s not ESL specific, but I found a lot of relevant ideas in McKay Jenkins’ recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In it, he argues against focusing on preparing students for competition in the global marketplace. Instead, he suggests helping students understand and explore the problems of the marketplace, problems that are becoming [...]

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Tags: blog · climate change · consumerism · fair trade · finance · global issues activities · poverty & wealth · the environment

Adblock Plus

December 2nd, 2011 · 5 Comments

I may be late to the party, but I want to highly recommend the Adblock Plus plugin for Firefox. It is free, quick to install, and it blocks virtually all banner and pop-up ads. It’s amazing what a difference it makes. It even blocks ads in things like Hulu. I haven’t noticed any slowdown, and [...]

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Tags: blog · consumerism · software

My Life as a Turkey

November 19th, 2011 · No Comments

My wife and I just watched a great documentary on PBS called My Life as a Turkey. It tells the story of naturalist and wildlife illustrator Joe Hutto and his experience as “mother” to a brood of wild turkeys. The video powerfully reveals the complex and sophisticated lives of wild turkeys. I think this should [...]

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Tags: animal rights · blog · food and hunger · global issues activities · the environment · vegetarian / vegan · video · visual prompts

Slavery Footprint

November 9th, 2011 · 2 Comments

Slavery Footprint is a visually engaging survey that roughly determines how many slaves were involved in producing the goods we consume. It’s similar to carbon footprint calculators in terms of the questions it asks, asking about your home, electronics, diet, clothing and so on. On several of the questions, it allows you to really delve [...]

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Tags: blog · child labor · consumerism · fair trade · global issues activities · human rights · poverty & wealth · reading · statistics · visual prompts

World Population: 7 Billion

November 8th, 2011 · 2 Comments

NPR has a neat short video on how the world population has grown to reach 7 billion. It would be pretty understandable, even at lower levels, and it would work with a range of topics: population, poverty and wealth, food, consumption, etc. Thanks Krista

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Tags: blog · global issues activities · population · video · visual prompts

Youth Xchange: Training Kit on Responsible Consumption

October 24th, 2011 · No Comments

Youth Xchange is produced by UNEP and UNESCO, and it has links to loads of educational resources aimed at young people. Topics include the environment, consumption, body image, nutrition, and much, much more. I haven’t nearly explored it all, but there is a lot of good stuff here. It is mostly profiles of people and [...]

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Tags: blog · climate change · consumerism · cultural issues · food and hunger · global issues resources · health · k-12 · poverty & wealth · statistics

Business Insider: A Ton of Charts and Graphs on Wealth Inequality

October 20th, 2011 · 1 Comment

Business Insider has a page that features a ton of different charts and graphs on wealth inequality. It would work great in conjunction with an activity on Occupy Wall Street. The graphs start off showing how unemployment is at an all-time high (since 1940), then they look at CEO pay and corporate profits. The graph [...]

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Tags: blog · consumerism · finance · financial crisis (2008) · global issues activities · poverty & wealth · statistics · visual prompts

Occupy Wall Street

October 4th, 2011 · 2 Comments

Occupy Wall Street is a protest in New York City that has been going on for 18 days. On Saturday, 700 protesters were arrested, following the arrest of 80 protesters the week before. The occupation involves members of a number of different groups, and the main thrust is a frustration with the fact that American [...]

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Tags: blog · consumerism · finance · financial crisis (2008) · global issues activities · happiness · infographics · listening · pictures · poverty & wealth · reading · slideshow · video