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. [...]
Entries Tagged as 'global issues activities'
Metropolitan Nightmare by Stephen Vincent Benet
February 2nd, 2012 · No Comments
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 [...]
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 [...]
Tags: blog · climate change · consumerism · fair trade · finance · global issues activities · poverty & wealth · the environment
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 [...]
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 [...]
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
Tags: blog · global issues activities · population · video · visual prompts
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 [...]
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 [...]
Tags: blog · consumerism · finance · financial crisis (2008) · global issues activities · happiness · infographics · listening · pictures · poverty & wealth · reading · slideshow · video
Spent
September 27th, 2011 · 1 Comment
Spent is an educational game that attempts to give users the experience of living on the edge of poverty. You make a series of choices, trying to keep your head above water financially. It is text-based, providing lots of reading opportunities with plenty of life-skills-related vocabulary. I particularly like how they demonstrate that financial pressures [...]
Tags: blog · consumerism · financial crisis (2008) · food and hunger · global issues activities · health · poverty & wealth · reading · statistics · teaching with games · video games
RSA Animate
July 28th, 2011 · 4 Comments
The RSA Animate series of video clips is an interesting way to present some very sophisticated ideas to learners. The visual nature of the lectures helps comprehension and helps hold student interest. The lecture above looks at how recent developments in cognitive science change our understanding of human nature. Other lectures deal with concepts like [...]
Tags: art as activism · audio · blog · climate change · consumerism · cultural issues · global issues activities · global issues resources · happiness · health · human rights · infographics · listening · politics · poverty & wealth · the environment · video · visual prompts