Neil Pasricha: The 3 As of awesome
12 Jan
Neil Pasricha's blog 1000 Awesome Things savors life's simple pleasures, from free refills to clean sheets. In this, he reveals the 3 secrets (all starting with A) to leading a life that's truly awesome.
How Does Google Work?
18 Nov
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This is a fantastic infographic if you just thought that Google 'searches'.
Who still wants to learn languages? | Education | The Guardian
25 Aug
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This is a terrifying article. What is really horrifying is that there are no surprises in it. Not one. Language learning and study is dying in this country, to the point where university departments are closing across the country. Languages are niching themselves almost exclusively into the Russell Group / independent school spectrum.
Whose fault is it? The Labour government for removing the obligation to study a language after the age of 14? Examination boards for shaping the experience of post-14 language learning to be so dry, inaccessible and irrelevant that continuing after GCSE seems like a fate worse than death? Or teachers and teacher trainers for leaving language learning behind somehow, so that other subjects have more appeal?
Pointing the finger will solve nothing. It is most likely to be a combination of complex reasons that have led to this critical decline. Most importantly, what happens now? How can we move the study and enjoyment of languages back into favour with young people across the country? Or is it too late?
Your thoughts would be most welcome.
