ESL etc.

Worldmapper has a large collection of world maps that display various issues in a simple yet effective way. They expand each country to illustrate their share in a given issue. For example, the map below illustrates each country’s proportion of the world’s child labor. Worldmapper has maps on many, many topics, including poverty, gender empowerment, [...]

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I’ve been pretty busy at work the past couple of weeks, so I’ve got a backlog of things I want to post, but I wanted to quickly share a bunch of resources that I’ve found for teaching about the protests in Iran. As usual, Larry Ferlazzo has pulled together a lot of great links in [...]

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I came across this very disturbing story today in a post by Bill Templer on IATEFL’s Global Issues Ning. Yala, Thailand – Suspected Islamic militants shot dead a female Buddhist teacher in Thailand’s troubled south Tuesday in a spiraling uprising against central government authority, police said. The 56-year-old elementary school teacher was shot in a [...]

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The New Internationalist has a collection of global issues articles written specifically for learners of English. They have articles on globalization, the environment, human rights and war. They haven’t updated the articles for several years, but the topics are still very relevant. One example that I like is a series of 5 stories told by [...]

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The International School Studies Association at the University of Denver has a large collection of links to lesson plans that deal with global issues. They break them down thematically (Cultural Studies, Environmental Studies, Economics, etc.) and by grade level. There are tons of lessons available here, so there are bound to be some good ones. [...]

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The Washington Post has a nice interactive look at what is happening in Darfur. In addition to a variety of short readings, there is a 3-minute slideshow with audio commentary. To put things in context, there is also a map and an annotated timeline, along with some information on Sudan as a whole. It might [...]

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I just came across this social justice quiz. It not only has some thought provoking questions, but also provides references for the answers. It is posted over at truthout.org, a site full of global issues related news articles. Below, I’ve posted some of the questions that I am planning to use with my global issues [...]

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The International Network Archive at Princeton has an interesting collection of Infographics. These six “maps” depict statistical information in a variety of striking graphical ways. The one pictured here is on transportation, and I think the ones on weapons and water could also be useful in a global issues ESL class. Personally, I’m a big [...]

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Dot Earth is Andrew C. Revkin’s blog at the New York Times. He covers a wide range of news related to sustainability and climate change. It is too complex for most language learners, but simplified versions of some of the articles he references could be useful. In addition, he often refers to videos and other [...]

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Facing the Future is an organization that makes activity-based, global issues curricula for students of all ages. In addition to the great stuff they offer for sale, they have a ton of materials available as free downloads. I especially like the lesson plans from Engaging Students Through Global Issues, and the Climate Change curricula. Finally, [...]

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