ESL etc.

Food MythBusters covers a wide range of topics, including things like hunger and food security and marketing and advertising. They have resources in a variety of formats, including videos, infographics and fact sheets. The blog is also full of great information. This is definitely a site I’d look through if I were putting together a […]

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You Won’t Believe What the Food Industry Is Doing to Keep Americans Hooked on Junk Alternet’s April M. Short just put together a great article detailing some of the more devious ways in which corporations peddle their food products. First, she describes about how processed foods are made to look more natural, like McDonald’s using […]

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I’m giving the presentation I did at TESOL this year on providing international students the food-related language they need at the BART Summer Symposium. My premise is that we focus on the language for expressing preference, describing cultural foods, and understanding recipes, despite the fact that these are not the most pressing food-related needs that […]

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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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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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Joseph Henrich, Steven Heine and Ara Norenzayan recently published a paper on The Weirdest People in the World. Here, weird is an acronym meaning Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic. Henrich et al question the conclusions reached by social science experiments conducted largely at American universities. They propose that many of the fundamental truths arrived […]

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I’m working on a presentation for TESOL 2013 about providing students with the language they need to make food choices. My premise is that most lessons on food don’t do that. Typically, we focus on the language of expressing preference, while ignoring areas like allergies, religion and ethical beliefs. In my presentation, I’ll be sharing […]

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Two English teachers (Linda Ruas and John Shepheard) have launched a new wiki featuring simplified versions of articles from the New Internationalist, a magazine focused on promoting global justice. Their intention is the make these articles more accessible for English language learners. As of today, the New Internationalist Easier English Wiki features modified articles from […]

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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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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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