ESL etc.

I would like to start an environmental forum in TESOL. The purpose of this forum will be to bring together English language teachers, program administrators, and other English language professionals interested in environmental issues. We will use our network to share materials and other resources in a spirit of collaboration. We will also promote environmentally […]

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In this session, we talked about ideas for greening an English language program. I shared my own experiences, dividing my time between the areas of curriculum and resources. Here is the presentation I gave. Below, you can find links to the various materials I discussed. A good place to start is a project I undertook […]

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Here are the materials from my TESOL presentation on giving international students the food-related language they need. My premise is that we focus on the language for expressing preference, describing cultural foods, and understanding recipes. In fact, these are not the most pressing food-related needs that our students have. I propose that food lessons should […]

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So You Want to Save Water? is an infographic that shows the water used in producing various foods and other items. At the bottom of the graphic, they show how much water could be saved by switching various things. I was surprised to learn that swapping a cup of coffee for a cup of tea […]

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For those of you going to TESOL 2013 next week, I’ll be giving two presentations. Thursday 3/21 1:00-1:45 in D163 Feeding International Students With the Language They Need Students come to IEPs with religious, environmental, and ethical values that inform their diet. Lessons about food should therefore give students the language they need to control […]

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100 Views of Climate Change is a website from Colorado State University that offers short and long videos on climate change, along with notes on books and articles and links to other resources. Finding specific resources is very easy. The site is broken into five sections: climate, nature, humans, action, and the big picture. Each […]

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With all the talk of Black Friday (here in the US), I always like to do a short lesson on Buy Nothing Day around this time of year. One place to get materials is the Adbusters’ campaign page, where there are a number of protest ideas and posters. Developing Teachers has a 90-minute lesson based […]

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The True Cost of Food is a 15-minute video about the hidden costs of factory farming, industrial agriculture and fast food. It comes with a discussion guide and an excellent Take Action handout. I really like how the Take Action handout is framed — recommending actions based on the issues students care about. The video […]

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Greening the L2 Classroom is a great article in the July 2012 edition of TESOL Connections by Wendy Coyle and Amy Delis. I met Wendy and Amy at TESOL 2012 when I attended their presentation on having students create environmental PSAs. This article describes much of the process they used in structuring this activity, and […]

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After Capitalism is a series of short animated videos available from The Guardian. Each video features a student animation of an impression of post-capitalist society. I was particularly struck by this one. The text of each animation comes from various authors and economists, including one of my favorite journalists, George Monbiot. The videos are short […]

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