ESL etc.

Teach UNICEF is a new website that shares a bunch of UNICEF teaching materials by topic and grade level. Topics include child labor, armed conflict, poverty and sanitation, to name a few. Most topics offer materials for grades 6-8 and 9-12, and some include K-2 or 3-5. You can also browse by media type. I [...]

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Global Issues in the ELT Classroom, a new textbook by the Czech Republic’s Society for Fair Trade, won a 2010 ELTon from the British Council for innovation. This book uses the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals as a framework to address a wide range of global issues. The sample activities look promising, but they are [...]

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March 31st was Cesar Chavez’s birthday, and Larry Ferlazzo updated his list of the Best Sites for Learning about Cesar Chavez. His list includes a lot of great stuff, including readings, audio and video clips. One that caught my eye is something from the Smithsonian on the banning of the short-handled hoe. I have to [...]

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Dancing Rabbit is an intentional community in northeast Missouri that is dedicated to living sustainably. They eat (and grow) local, organic food, practice natural building techniques, and host educational seminars. I stayed there for three weeks a couple of years ago and loved it. It is truly something worth supporting. Their website also features past [...]

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Making Connections is a new textbook (w/ teacher’s guide) from Facing the Future. This new research-based teacher’s guide helps students develop English language skills through highly engaging real-world investigations of current global issues. Designed for intermediate-level English language learners and striving readers, Making Connections combines language learning with opportunities for students to think critically about [...]

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I’m a fan of statistics as conversation / writing prompts, and Worldometers features a bunch of interesting stats. The main page provides real-time stats on a variety of issues, including consumption (military expenses, car production etc.), the environment (CO2 emissions, forest loss, etc.) and food (number of overweight people, number of people who died of [...]

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The Institute for Humane Education has a great collection of activities, many of which could be used with English language learners. Most of them are aimed at younger learners, but many could also be used effectively with adults. I haven’t yet had a chance to go through the whole site, but I took a look [...]

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I just became aware of A Young People’s History of the United States,a version of Howard Zinn’s classic targeted towards younger readers. I haven’t seen the book myself yet, but I suspect that it would work well with English learners, too.

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I just saw this photo essay looking at farming in America. It was done as a Thanksgiving piece in the New York Times, and looks at a variety of food-related issues, albeit in a fairly simple way. I like the fact that it focuses on students, though (including a neat project called The Edible Schoolyard). [...]

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Eating Animals, the new book by Jonathon Safran Foer, is a very engaging, and wide ranging, look at the ethics of eating animals. He does a great job of exploring the various issues without reducing things to exaggerated extremes. He is a wonderful writer, and I think this book would be a very interesting read [...]

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