ESL etc.

This transcript of a speech given by journalist Chris Hedges offers a very powerful look at our current state of affairs. The introduction of the article draws parallels between our self-destructive path and the novel Moby Dick, which opens the door to using this article as part of a unit on literature, as well as […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Take Our Jobs is a project by the United Farm Workers offering harvesting jobs to unemployed Americans. The idea is to contend the allegation that illegal immigrants take “our” jobs, while also raising awareness about the food chain. Asking students to look at this initiative could be a great way to bring up issues of […]

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The Money Gusher, George Monbiot’s latest column, draws interesting parallels between the financial crisis and the ongoing Gulf oil spill. Pollution has been defined as a resource in the wrong place. That’s also a pretty good description of the company’s profits. The great plumes of money that have been bursting out of the company’s accounts […]

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Materials used: Reading Circle Peer Evaluation Sheet Financial Crisis Timeline Activity Financial Crisis Lesson Handout Financial Crisis Readings On Tuesday, we did the first reading circle. I was pleased to see that it went well. I had done this with a global issues class I taught in Hawaii, but at that school reading circles were […]

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