Recent measures taken at a number of UK universities – including cutbacks on modern languages staffing, redundancies and in some cases the closure of courses – show the unprecedented pressures that UK universities are facing (and the serious implications these pressures have for an already embattled modern languages community). Modern languages disciplines can exercise some control […] … learn more→
Author Archives: Kevin
Modern languages: four reforms to reclaim the future of our discipline
Three things examiners look for in methods chapters
Once upon a time, when I worked in schools, early childhood teachers routinely issued young children with a ‘pen license’. A pen license was much sought after as it meant that a child could ‘advance’ to using a pen instead of a pencil. Using indelible ink meant that the child was able to write legibly […] … learn more→
How to help kids navigate fake news and misinformation online
Young people get a huge amount of their news from social media feeds, where false, exaggerated or sponsored content is often prevalent. With the right tools, caregivers can give kids the knowledge they need to assess credible information for themselves. Being able to identify the trustworthiness of information is an important concern for everyone. Yet […] … learn more→
“White left” as Chinese Insult
Intelligence is a tough thing to measure. We have all sorts of tests, and all of them are subject to various criticisms, many valid. Despite this, it’s clear the tests are at least a little reliable, because one ethnic group consistently comes out on top: Asians (statistically, which means very little when addressing a specific […] … learn more→
5 industries that desperately need graduates
If you are hoping to get a degree in a field that will allow you to get a job right away, you need to focus on the industries that are in desperate need of graduates. Five of those industries are listed below, so consider heading to school with the intention of diving into these areas, […] … learn more→
Why you should travel young
Many students and other young people are tempted to travel, either on a gap year before college, while they study, or before starting work once they have graduated. Unfortunately, many put it off due to the cost or fears that it may harm their studies and they never get that chance again. Studying while you […] … learn more→
Blogging in the growlery
Like Shakespeare, Charles Dickens liked to invent new words. Along with flummox, abuzz, and whiz-bang, he is also often credited with ‘the growlery’, which he mentioned in passing in Bleak House. There is some debate about whether this word is his creation, and most dictionaries suggest it is an archaic term he adopted but that […] … learn more→
Teaching machines to understand – and summarize – text
We humans are swamped with text. It’s not just news and other timely information: Regular people are drowning in legal documents. The problem is so bad we mostly ignore it. Every time a person uses a store’s loyalty rewards card or connects to an online service, his or her activities are governed by the equivalent […] … learn more→
A head start with mindfulness
Mindfulness is a hot topic these days, but its potential importance to higher education has not yet been broadly recognised. It can be described as a form of meditation and a way of living. It is a mental discipline that involves not only sharpening present-moment attention but also cultivating the attitude with which we pay […] … learn more→
‘This life isn’t worth a damn’: the precarious existence of Czech intellectuals
Bad working conditions in the field of academia are gaining attention across the world. In the UK, researchers and university staff have launched campaigns to fight labour casualisation. In the US, graduate assistants are seeking to unionise for fair pay and benefits. In the Czech Republic, however, the subject is practically non-existent. The Czech government […] … learn more→
