ESL etc.

Global Issues and Activism in English Language Teaching

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Entries Tagged as 'politics'

Center for the Advancement of Steady State Economy

September 7th, 2011 · No Comments

One of the fundamental problems with capitalism as it is currently practiced in many countries around the world is that it relies on continual growth. Obviously, this is not sustainable. The Center for the Advancement of Steady State Economy (CASSE) is an organization that seeks to explore the true costs of growth-based economics, as well [...]

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Tags: audio · blog · climate change · consumerism · fair trade · finance · global issues resources · politics · poverty & wealth · reading · slideshow · statistics · the environment · video · visual prompts

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 [...]

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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

L. M. Bogad and Performance-based Activism

July 15th, 2011 · No Comments

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of going to a talk on campus by L. M. Bogad. He is a professor at UC Davis and spoke on the topic of performance-based activism. He’s been involved with number of groups, including Billionaires for Bush and The Yes Men. On his website, he has video [...]

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Tags: art as activism · audio · blog · climate change · consumerism · global issues activities · pictures · politics · video · visual prompts

Global Eye

June 10th, 2011 · No Comments

Global Eye is a (now defunct) magazine aiming to bring global issues to primary and secondary schools. Thus, the language is pretty accessible and a lot of it could be used with English language learners. As a magazine, the materials are primarily readings and pictures / graphics, but there are some writing activities in there, [...]

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Tags: blog · climate change · fair trade · food and hunger · global issues activities · global issues resources · infographics · k-12 · lesson plans · natural disasters · politics · poverty & wealth · reading · the environment · visual prompts

“The Economics of Happiness” and “I AM”

April 20th, 2011 · No Comments

I just became aware of two documentaries that would fit nicely into a unit on happiness. The first is The Economics of Happiness. This documentary links a number of global issues (climate change, terrorism, etc.) with personal issues (depression, loneliness, etc.). I haven’t seen the whole thing, but the trailer brings up a lot of [...]

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Tags: blog · climate change · consumerism · cultural issues · fair trade · food and hunger · global issues activities · happiness · health · human rights · listening · politics · poverty & wealth · the environment · video · visual prompts

Scholar as Citizen / Tea Party / Astroturf

April 7th, 2011 · No Comments

Scholar as Citizen is a new blog launched by UW-Madison professor William Cronon exploring the public practice of history. One of his first posts was about ALEC, a “nonpartisan” group for state legislators working to promote “free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty”. Two of their current objectives are exposing the “trainwreck” of the [...]

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Tags: blog · global issues activities · history · politics · poverty & wealth · reading · video

What We Are For

March 7th, 2011 · No Comments

George Monbiot just put together a proposal for an agenda for an upcoming rally in the UK that will include a number of different organizations. He did this in recognition of the fact that it is important to be FOR something, not just AGAINST things. This parallels something that I’ve long wondered: how can politicians [...]

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Tags: blog · global issues activities · politics · poverty & wealth · reading · the environment · vocabulary

Corporations vs. Democracy

March 3rd, 2011 · No Comments

The Story of Citizens United v. FEC is a new video by Annie Leonard (of the Story of Stuff fame) about how corporations have gained undue influence in American democracy. She looks at it historically and also looks at the 2010 Supreme Court case of the (ironically named) Citizens United v. FEC. As a result [...]

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Tags: blog · global issues activities · history · listening · politics · poverty & wealth · video · visual prompts

Two Steps Back

March 1st, 2011 · No Comments

A recent article in the Guardian reveals some of the changes being made on Capitol Hill by the new Republican House. Among other things, they have reinstituted styrofoam coffee cups. These had been replaced with a biodegradable corn starch alternative four years ago. Next on the Republican agenda of environmental retro moves? Lightbulbs. House Republicans [...]

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

It’s the Inequality, Stupid

February 28th, 2011 · 3 Comments

Mother Jones has put together a collection of 11 great infographics that look at the distribution of wealth in American from a number of different angles. I particularly like the one headed “Out of Balance” (included here) that compares perceptions, reality and preference. It is really incredible, with the concentration of wealth and power in [...]

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Tags: blog · finance · infographics · politics · poverty & wealth · statistics · visual prompts