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Some highlights from the annual IATEFL conference, which took place in Belfast on 17-20 May The first post-pandemic 'in-person' IATEFL conference saw a slight dip in attendance figures – about 1600 delegates compared to the pre-pandemic figures of nearly 2500 attendees – but it didn't detract from the electric atmosphere, which was largely due to the ability to interact face-to-face again. Indeed, I didn't see members of my PLN for three long years! Between networking and catching up with friends and colleagues I managed to see some sessions. Here are some highlights. In her first IATEFL presentation, the proud IATEFL scholarship winner Rachel Tsateri shared a framework for planning collaborative and reflective online lessons she had devised during the period of emergency remote teaching. She referred to the framework – or at least the main portion of it – as a jigsaw-gloss . As the name suggests, the framework combines two collaborative learning techniques: jigsaw-rea

The British Museum has recently opened the exhibition "Female Power: the Divine to the Demonic" which shows how women have been represented throughout history in various mythologies around the world. Here you can find a 3 hour lesson plan about Art , which complements unit 7B of  English File C1.1 , O.U.P.  The first lesson includes some speaking activities to discuss Art, exhibitions and Public Art; a power point presentation of local Public Art in Zaragoza and an intensive listening comprehension task, based on a clip of  Today programme on BBC Radio 4 (17/05/22) , which is more suitable for C2 students.  The second lesson is focused on Street Art and it includes some conversation questions about Art, education etc., and another power point presentation about Street Art in Zaragoza . You can access the list of key words below in Word format here and  the 5' recording of the Today radio report here . Some of the key words you will come across in the recording are: a g

NOAA data  show a carbon dioxide level of 421.13 parts per million (ppm) for the week starting May 8, 2022, a new record high since measurements started at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. As the image below also shows, very high daily levels were reached recently, as high as 422.04 ppm.  Greenhouse gas levels are even higher further north. Very high carbon dioxide levels were recorded recently at Barrow, Alaska, approaching 430 ppm.  Furthermore, very high methane levels were recorded recently at Barrow, Alaska, including many at levels well over 2000 parts per billion (ppb). The trigger: El Niño and sunspots El Niños typically occur every 3 to 5 years, according to  NOAA  and as illustrated by the NOAA image below, so the upcoming El Niño can be expected to occur within the next few years.  As also illustrated by the  NOAA image  on the right, we are currently in the depths of a persistent La Niña and this suppresses current temperatures. A huge temperature rise in the Arctic looks set to unfol

Journalist Oliver Bullough has recently published the book "Butler to the World" where he describes how the City of London has become a safe laundering machine for the Russian oligarchs, who stash their fortunes in "Londongrad" with the help of bankers, lawyers, accountants and public relations managers and with the complacency of the British "hilariously under-funded" law-enforcement agencies. In this 44-minute "Fresh Air" interview, Terry Gross discusses with Mr Bullough the ins and outs of the banking and legal system that allows the so-called Russian "kleptocrats" to enjoy a luxury life in the financial heart of Europe.   Although the interview can be followed with a full script, the description the financial and legal procedures to protect the oligarchs' dodgy business transactions from public scrutiny, will raise the level of this task to C2. An "extended listening" exercise can be set for homework with a simple spe

Kimpton, Hertfordshire, claims to hold "the biggest village festival in the country". Here you can listen to a short radio interview (2':54") to Emma Rice-Oxley, one of the top organizers of the 2022 festival, on  Today , BBC Radio 4 .  And here you can find a lesson plan for B2 students . The interview has no script, but with this list of interesting words as a guide, it can be suitable for B2 students and above:  live events, to host [a village festival], to raise the flag to mark the start of the festivities, blessed [with the weather], brilliant, [quite] a claim, to proof your credentials, [a two-year] hiatus, the highlights, the procession, to parade, [up] the high street, moving, dressed up, floats, a Jubilee related [float], a cannon, to fire, rainbows and brownies dressed up as fireworks, a scout group, to bang pots and pans, theme, the UK Garrison , a charity group, Darth Vader , stormtroopers , Maypole dancing , a fun run, a hog roast , you name it. You can