Links for Enquiring Minds
At InThinking, we would like our site to be a one-stop-shop. That is, it is our ambition that you can find everything on our site that you need for teaching the IBDP English A Language and Literature course. In this way, we hope that we can, amongst other things, save you time. Our ambition, admittedly, is rather bold. Even as we approach 800,000 words of text, we know that we will never fully realise our ambition, but, to coin a phrase, we beat on, boats against the current.
So, what are we offering?
This page provides a number of links to articles, news stories, and podcasts that are of interest, to busy teachers who, like you, are interested in language, literature, and culture. The page is contemporary, and is updated monthly. We hope you enjoy the links. Some may inform your teaching, and some may get passed on, as recommendations, to younger enquiring minds.
David Sedaris: Calypso (KCRW)
David Sedaris is hilarious but that’s just the obvious. He discusses the art of melancholy, and mortality, topics in his new book of humorous stories, Calypso.
327: How We Talk (featuring Nick Enfield and Simeon Floyd) – Talk the Talk (talkthetalkpodcast.com)
We make hesitation noises and tiny pauses in conversation all the time, but what’s the meaning behind them? And is it true that different cultures have different tolerances for silence?
The hardest question for a third culture kid: Where is home? (Public Radio International)
Karolina lives in Boston but grew up in several countries and speaks a bunch of languages. Her English is perfect but she doesnât feel completely at home in it, or in American culture. Welcome to the world of third culture kids, a fast-growing group of people who fit in everywhere and nowhere.
Michael Ondaatje, Nell Dunn, Open Book - BBC Radio 4 (BBC)
Man Booker-winning Michael Ondaatje talks to Mariella Frostrup.
Opinion | The Elevation of Imprecision (www.nytimes.com)
Trump uses language to tell blatant and not-so-blatant lies.
The Unmonitored President (The Atlantic)
Trump is the first president who, rather than striding forward and speaking, just gets up and talks.
June | 2018 | The History of English Podcast (historyofenglishpodcast.com)
In this episode, we turn our attention to the south of England and examine some of the unique features of the Middle English dialects spoken there after the Norman Conquest. We also take a look at a poem composed in the Southern dialect called “The Fox and the Wolf.” Finally, we explore how developments in this region informed some of the modern differences between northern and southern speech in Britain.
Slice of PIE: a linguistic common ancestor â Science Weekly podcast (the Guardian)
Nicola Davis explores the hypothetical common ancestor of modern Indo-European languages and asks, where did it come from? How and why did it spread? And do languages evolve like genes?
A word in your ear: The art of making ourselves heard (The Independent)
The fact is that we judge people on their voice. We canât help it. It can go in your ear like honey â or like broken glass. Andy Martin heads to Shakespeare country for some vocal delivery pointers
The Power of Poetry : Intelligence Squared (www.intelligencesquared.com)
For 15 years, the power of the spoken word has been at the heart of Intelligence Squared’s mission. Argument and debate, we believe, can move, persuade and create real change. Now, in these anxious and divided times, we are holding a special event that will celebrate the positive, transformative force of another kind of spoken word – poetry.
How advertisers manipulate all our senses at once (The Independent)
Have you ever heard the sound of chocolate, or seen the colour of music? Multisensory marketing is becoming big business, and it really does work
To Sir, with love (Independent.ie)
Ciara had taken a plane and train to meet him. In the past he had treated other interviewers and even friends with similar disdain. The drama of the day made for an interesting article