ESL etc.

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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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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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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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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I just added this new journal to my page of journals and article collections. Though not focused exclusively on English language teaching, The World Journal of Education featured several articles on ESL/EFL and sociolinguistics in their first issue, including this one by Carlous Muluh Nkwetisama looking at the perception of English teachers in Cameroon towards [...]

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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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What will the world look like in 1000 years? This is the question posed by Sibylle Machat via her website, where she displays drawings of people’s imagined answers. She invites people to submit their ideas via postcard. This would be a great class activity, and the images Sibylle has already collected would make great writing [...]

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In case you can’t tell, I’ve been on a bit of an academic article kick recently. I just found a new journal: Green Theory and Praxis: The Journal of Ecopedagogy. There isn’t an ESL / EFL focus, but a lot of what they discuss fits well within content-based instruction or critical pedagogy. Their archive is [...]

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I just came across the January 2011 issue of English Journal (vol. 100, num. 3), which had the theme of Green English. The journal is aimed at middle and senior high school English teachers, but a lot of the ideas and activities are totally relevant to ESL or EFL contexts. Several of the articles discuss [...]

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I just went through the journals and professional organizations pages to update them and fix all the broken links. I found some great stuff while poking around in there. For one thing, JALT’s GISIG has huge portion of their newsletter archives up on their website. I also added a link to the collection of ESL [...]

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