ESL etc.

IATEFL’s Global Issues Special Interest Group just added a great new feature to their website: eLesson Inspirations. These inspirations take of the form of video clips, each accompanied by several ideas for how they could be used in a class. Five videos have been posted, and they will add new ones every Saturday. One that […]

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YES! Magazine just added a great new activity based on the above picture to their curriculum section. It would work well in an ESL or EFL classroom. It’s simple, it requires critical thinking, and it makes a great speaking or writing prompt. First, show students the above picture and ask them what they notice. Then, […]

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Two quick links today. The first (thanks Rob!) is a collection of 40 maps. I love using visual prompts with students, and these maps quickly and clearly communicate a wide range of information about our world. One in particular that I liked (#17, pictured above) is a map of the highest paid US public employees […]

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The Story of Bottled Water is a video by Annie Leonard and Free Range Studios (of The Story of Stuff fame) on the issue of bottled water. It is relatively short (about 8 minutes) and the language is fairly accessible. They also offer an annotated script that students could read along with. Anthony Lavigne (LinkedIn) […]

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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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I am a huge David Foster Wallace fan, and I think this video adapted from a commencement speech he gave in 2005 is fantastic. I would especially considering showing it to my college- or grad-school-bound students. It’s a bit long, and it’s certainly not the easiest thing in the world to understand, but I love […]

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This video is an effective way to visually communicate the wealth inequality in the US. I especially like the fact that it focuses so much on the difference between perception and reality. When I was teaching in China, I asked my class what percentage of Americans they thought was rich. The consensus was 80%. It […]

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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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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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Imagine All the Water offers a bunch of information on indirect water use. In other words, it addresses the issue of how much water is consumed in producing various foods and industrial products. The site features many short readings and a short video. The readings are fairly dry, but the video is funny, and the […]

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