In this episode the English and psychology teacher Katharina Wendrich joins me for a chat about storytelling, students and social media. We delve into how stories can help young people to discover who they are, how social media has changed the way we tell certain stories, how to help students deconstruct stories on social media, using Shakespeare to understand how perspectives can be manipulated, the importance of creating an emotional connection with your audience, as well as other ways to help students think more deeply about their stories and posts. 

Here are the links to the two Shakespeare graphic novels mentioned: 

Macbeth: https://www.klett-sprachen.de/macbeth/t-1/9783125782150 

Romeo and Juliet: https://www.klett-sprachen.de/romeo-andjuliet/t-1/9783125782167

In today's digital world, we need critical thinking more than ever. The ability to be able to judge the credibility of sources and formulate plausible hypotheses are key. So what can we learn from professional fact checkers? What happens if we delegate search tasks to AI chatbots like ChatGPT? And what implications might this have for the classroom? Listen in to find out more!

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 22 (as they occur in the podcast).

Online resource: Ennis, Robert. "The Nature of Critical Thinking: An Outline of Critical Thinking Dispositions and Abilities." Last revised May, 2021. Last accessed 5.4.2023.

Article: Coleman, John. "Critical Thinking Is About Asking Better Questions." Harvard Business Review, 22 April 2022. Last accessed 5.4.2023.

Article: Wineburg, Sam. "To Avoid Getting Duped By Fake News, Think Like A Fact Checker." Huffington Post, 18 December 2018. Last accessed 5.4.2023.

Article: Wineburg, Sam, et al. "Lateral reading on the open internet". Journal of Educational Psychology, April 2022.

Article: Hess, Frederick M. "The Stanford Scholar Bent on Helping Digital Readers Spot Fake News", Education Week, 9 April 2021. Last accessed 5.4.2023.

Article: Langr, Ondrej. "AI vs Critical Thinking - A Chat with ChatGPT", Medium, 14 February 2023. Last accessed 5.4.2023.

ChatGPT has been causing quite a stir. But what can really it do? What are its limitations? What does it mean for journalism? What might it mean for students and how will it affect the skills that they need in the future? To find out more, I chatted to a software engineer for a news organisation in the UK who has been working with ChatGPT for some time.

Digital literacy is not just about knowing how to find and consume information, it's also about creating and communicating. But the choice of media will depend on the target audience and our purpose. In this episode we'll be looking at some of the different media on offer, as well as steps students need to take when creating and communicating using digital means.

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 12 (as they occur in the podcast).

Website: American Library Association. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Website: JISC. "Guide: Developing digital literacies." Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Book: Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006.

Book: Hobbs, Renee. Create to Learn: Introduction to Digital Literacy.  Hoboken: John Wiley, 2017.

Book: Dudeney, Gavin et al. Digital Literacies. New York: Routledge, 2014.

Report: Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest (MPFS). JIMplus 2020. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Book: Lessig, Lawrence. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy.  London: Bloomsbury, 2008.

Article: Rosen, Larry D. "Obsessive/Addictive 'Tiny Red Dots'." Psychology Today, 11 March 2018. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Online resource: "Can the Internet save the book?", Salon, 9 July 2010. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Online resource: Rodriguez, Brandon. "The power of creative constraints", TED-Ed, 2017. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

What does it mean to be literate in today's world? How can we help students to confidently navigate the digital sphere? In this episode we'll be looking at three key steps we need to take and how we can help students to become better at validating knowledge online.

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 11 (as they occur in the podcast).

Article: Shirky, Clay. "Does the Internet make you smarter?" Wall Street Journal, 4 June 2010. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Online resource: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). "21st-Century Readers: Developing Literacy Skills in a Digital World." Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Website: JISC. "Guide: Developing digital literacies." Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Website: Stanford History Education Group. "Civic Online Reasoning" Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Article: Grind, Kirsten, et al. "How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results" Wall Street Journal, 15 November 2019. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Article: Rosen, Larry D. "Obsessive/Addictive 'Tiny Red Dots'." Psychology Today, 11 March 2018. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Book: Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006.

Learner agency is not only important for school but essential for life-long learning. It's not a quality that we are either born with or not, but an ongoing process that unfolds over time. In this episode we'll be looking at what it entails, other qualities that are key, as well as how its development can be supported in the English-speaking classroom.

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 10 (as they occur in the podcast).

Online resource: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). "The future of education and skills 2030." Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Online resource: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). "Student Agency for 2030." Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Book: Livio, Mario. Why? What makes us curious. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017.

Article: Schoon, Ingrid. "Section 1 : Conceptualising Learner Agency : A Socio-Ecological Developmental Approach." (2018). Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Article: Leadbeater, Charles. "Student agency: Learning to make a difference." (2017). Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Website: Albert Bandura. Last accessed 4.4.2023

Grit has been shown to play a key role in why people succeed. But what is it that makes some people grittier than others? In this podcast we'll be looking at the role resilience plays, how a growth mindset is key and some strategies suggested by experts for building grit that also work in the classroom.

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 9 (as they occur in the podcast).

Report: World Economic Forum, "New Vision for Education." Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Article: Duckworth AL, et al. "Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals." J Pers Soc Psychol. 2007. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

TED talk: Duckworth, Angela. "Grit. The power of passion and perseverance." TED, March 2014. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Book: Duckworth, Angela L. Grit. Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success. London: Vermilion, 2017.

Book: Dweck, Carol S. Mindset - The new psychology of success. New York: Ballantine Books, 2007.

Article: Dweck, Carol S. "Growth mindset actually means." Harvard Business Review, 16 January 2016. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Article: Dweck, Carol S. "Growth Mindset: where did it go wrong?" Times Educational Supplement, 11 April 2020. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

TED talk: Dweck, Carol S. "The power of believing that you can improve." TEDxNorrkoping, December 2014. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Book: Tomlinson, Carol Ann. The differentiated classroom. Alexandria: ASCD, 2014.

Online interview: "You're no genius": Her father's shutdowns made Angela Duckworth a world expert on grit." Quartz at work, 26 March 2018. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Article: Berger, Ron "Our Kids Are Not Broken." The Atlantic, 20 March 2021. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Empathy is considered one of the most important resources we have. But what is it? What habits do highly empathetic people have, and how can we learn to develop greater empathy? In this episode I'll also be talking to the English teacher Andrea Holler about how she encourages empathy in the classroom.

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 8 (as they occur in the podcast).

Book: Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.

Book: Baron-Cohen, Simon. Zero Degrees of Empathy. London: Penguin, 2012 .

Online article: Krznaric, Roman. "Six Habits of Highly Empathetic People". Greater Good Magazine, 27 November 2012. Last accessed 12.12.2021.

Online resource: "Points of View." The Guardian, 1986. Last accessed 12.12.2021.

TED talk: Riess, Helen. "The Power of Empathy." TEDxMiddlebury, December 2013. Last accessed 12.12.2021.

Speech: Obama, Barack. "Remarks of President Barack Obama at student roundtable." Istanbul, 2009. Last accessed 12.12.2021.

In this episode we'll be exploring the art of listening, a skill that many people feel is sorely neglected today. We'll be looking at what makes a good listener, why active listening is key, and how to help students to hone the skill that is at the root of all (language) learning.

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 7 (as they occur in the podcast).

Article: Nichols, Ralph G. & Stevens, Leonard A. "Listening to People". Harvard Business Review (September 1957).

Book: Plutarch. Essays. New York: Penguin, 1992.

Book: Murphy, Kate. You're not Listening. What You're Missing and Why it Matters. New York: Celadon Books, 2019.

TED talk: Oliveros, Pauline. "The difference between hearing and listening." YouTube uploaded by TEDxIndianapolis, October 2015. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Online article: Horowitz, Seth S. "The Science and Art of Listening". New York Times, 9 November 2012. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Online resource: Zenger, Jack & Folkman, Joseph. "What Great Listeners Actually Do." Harvard Business Review, 14 July 2016. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Book: Rogers, Carl R. & Farson, Richard Evans. Active Listening. Mansfield Centre: Martino Publishing, 2015.

TED talk: Treasure, Julian. "5 Ways to Listen Better." TEDGlobal 2011, July 2011.

Performance: Kirill Petrenko & Berlin Philharmonic. John Cage: 4'33'' performed on 31 October 2020. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Online interview: Beebe, Steven A. & Purdy, Michael. "Interviews with Outstanding Listeners." Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Blog post: Godin, Seth. "How to listen." 4 February 2013. Last accessed 4.4.2023.

Today, we are used to communicating across a range of media on a regular basis. But this does not mean that it's something we do well. Join me to find out what happens to our brains when we communicate, which factors hinder effective communication and what this means for the English classroom.

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 6 (as they occur in the podcast).

Online resource: "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". Last accessed 6.7.2021.

Online article: Epley, N. & Schroeder, J. "The surprising benefits of talking to strangers". BBC website, 12 June 2019. Last accessed 6.7.2021.

Online resource: Goo, Sara "The skills Americans say kids need to succeed in life." Pew Research Center, 19 February 2015. Last accessed 6.7.2021.

Online resource: World Economic Forum, "Future of Jobs Report 2020." Last accessed 6.7.2021.

TED talk: Hasson, Uri. "This is your brain on communication." TED, February 2016.

TED talk: Stevenson, Bryan. "We need to talk about an injustice." TED, March 2012.

Book: Gallo, Carmine. Talk Like TED. The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds. London: Pan Books, 2017.

Book: Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. Gift from the Sea. London: Chatto & Windus, 2015.

Collaboration is about the process of working together towards a common goal, and it's essential in today's world. But working well in a team and having a shared mindset do not necessarily come naturally to us. This is because effective collaboration requires a range of qualities and skills. The good news is that students can already begin to hone them in the classroom. Listen in to find out more!

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 5 (as they occur in the podcast).

Online resource: "Manifesto for Agile Software Development". Published 2001. Last accessed 8.6.2021.

Article: Hackman, Richard J. "What makes for a great team?"Psychological Science Agenda. June 2004. Last accessed 8.6.2021.

Article: Haas, Martine & Mortensen, Mike. "The Secrets of Great Teamwork" Harvard Business Review (June 2016).

Book: Lencioni, Patrick, The Five Dysfunctions of Teams. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.

Article: Kuhn, Deanna. "Thinking Together and Alone." Educational Researcher 10, no. 44/1 (2015). Last accessed 8.6.2021.

TED talk: Treasure, Julian. "5 Ways to Listen Better." TEDGlobal, July 2011.

Book: Murphy, Kate. You're not Listening. What You're Missing and Why it Matters. New York: Celadon Books, 2019.

Creativity is central to who we are as humans. It's not only essential for our personal and social wellbeing but is also a skill that is in great demand. Come and join me as we look at different levels and kinds of creativity, ways we can cultivate it (yes, everyone is creative!) and what we can do to foster it in schools and the English classroom!

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 4 (as they occur in the podcast).

Report: World Economic Forum. "The Future of Jobs Report 2020." Last accessed 12.5.2021.

Article: Lee, Kai-Fu. "Artificial Intelligence Is Powerful—And Misunderstood. Here's How We Can Protect Workers."Time Magazine. 11 January 2019. Last accessed 12.5.2021.

Article: GPT-3. "A robot wrote this entire article. Are you scared yet, human?"The Guardian. 8 September 2020. Last accessed 12.5.2021.

Online resource: Fancourt D, Garnett C, Spiro N, West R, Müllensiefen D. "How do artistic creative activities regulate our emotions? Validation of the Emotion Regulation Strategies for Artistic Creative Activities Scale (ERS-ACA)" PLoS ONE 14(2). Last accessed 12.5.2021.

TED talk: Robinson, Ken. "Do schools kill creativity?" TED, February 2006.

Article: Torrance, E. Paul and Shaughnessy, Michael F. "An Interview with E. Paul Torrance: About Creativity." Educational Psychology Review 10, no. 4 (1998). Last accessed 12.5.2021.

Article: Kaufman, J. C. & Beghetto, R. A. (2009). "Beyond Big and Little: The Four C Model of Creativity" Review of General Psychology, 13(1), 1–12.

Report: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). "Fostering Students' Creativity and Critical Thinking." Last accessed 12.5.2021.

Article: Robinson, Ken. "To encourage creativity, Mr Gove, you must first understand what it is."The Guardian. 17 May 2013. Last accessed 12.5.2021.

Critical thinking is one of the most in-demand skills for the workplace today. But what does it actually entail, and how can we train ourselves to become better at it? In this episode, I'll also be talking to the English teacher Jürgen Thamerus to find out how he hones his students' critical thinking skills in the classroom. So why not come and join us?

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 3 (as they occur in the podcast).

Online resource: Ennis, Robert. "The Nature of Critical Thinking: An Outline of Critical Thinking Dispositions and Abilities." Last revised May, 2021. Last accessed 7.4.2021.

Online resource: Hitchcock, David. "Critical Thinking", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Last accessed 7.4.2021.

Report: World Economic Forum. "The Future of Jobs Report 2020." Last accessed 7.4.2021.

Article: Plummer, Matt. "A Short Guide to Building Your Team's Critical Thinking Skills." Harvard Business Review. Posted 11 October 2019. Last accessed 7.4.2021.

As humans, we are driven by curiosity, the urge to answer the question why. But why is this? What does research tell us about its importance for learning? What can we do to create an environment that fosters curiosity? And what are some of the consequences for teaching English? Come and join me to find out more!

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 2 (as they occur in the podcast).

Website: Mario Livio

Book: Livio, Mario. Why? What makes us curious. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017.

Article: Grossnickle, E.M. "Disentangling Curiosity."Educational Psychology Review 28/1 (3/2016).

Article: Kang M. J., Ming Hsu, I., Camerer C. F., et al. "The Wick in the Candle of Learning." Psychological Science 20/8 (2009).

Article: Gruber, M. J., Gelman, B. D., Ranganath, C. "States of Curiosity Modulate Hippocampus-Dependent Learning via the Dopaminergic Circuit." Neuron (2014).

TED talk: Gruber, M. "This is your brain on curiosity." YouTube, uploaded by TEDx Talks, 11 November 2015.

Online resource: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). "Skills for 2030. In brief." Last accessed 21.3.2021.

Article: Lowry, N., & Johnson, D. W. "Effects of controversy on epistemic curiosity, achievement, and attitudes." Journal of Social Psychology, 115/1 (1981).

Article: Deardorff, D. K. Intercultural competence model in "The Identification and Assessment of Intercultural Competence as a Student Outcome of Internationalization at Institutions of Higher Education in the United States." Journal of Studies in International Education 10 (Fall/2006).

Who came up with the idea for the 4 Cs? Why are they so important for today's students? Which other skills and qualities will they need? And how does this all inform English teaching today? Come and join me as we explore the answers in this inaugural podcast in the series Learning English Today – the 4 Cs and beyond!

Here are the links to the materials in Episode 1 (as they occur in the podcast).

Online resource: Schleicher, A. "The Case for 21st century learning." Last accessed 21.3.2021.

Website: Sir Ken Robinson

Book: Robinson, Ken. Creative Schools: the Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education. New York: Penguin Books, 2015.

Website: Angela Duckworth

Book: Duckworth, Angela. Grit: Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success. London: Vermilion, 2017.