Author Archives: Christina Egan
Of ‘Guns at Bull Run’ and ‘Good wives’ : children’s worlds in the past
My favourite book, when I was little, was my mother’s illustrated description of Technological masterpieces of millennia past. My father would buy us whole series of colourful children’s books on animals in habitats all around the world. All my childhood, I … Continue reading
Books to make your eyes pop out
One of the new picture books at the UCL Institute of Education, Librarian (2017), takes us to a public library for its 50th birthday – a very apt story at a time when so many public libraries get closed. One boy stands … Continue reading
How learning languages makes you smart, successful – and a better citizen
Speaking foreign languages has obvious practical and intellectual advantages, and most of you will have noticed press reports that it is also beneficial for your brain, possibly even staving off dementia. The effects on your cognitive ability and memory are easy to … Continue reading
Posted in Curriculum Resources, Education in Literature Collection, International education, Main Education Collection
Tagged Europe, European Union, foreign language learning, foreign language materials, language policy, linguistics, multiculturalism, multilingualism, sociolinguistics
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Education in Germany – a long march uphill
If you believe that Germans have massive bowls of freshly-prepared muesli for breakfast, march through the forests and up the mountains in ergonomic sandals and up and down cold water-basins barefoot, and are partial to extremely emotional music about love … Continue reading
Are Bhutan and Vanuatu world leaders? Thoughts for the International Day of Happiness
Happiness is a word with an intense golden glow and surely one of the main goals of each one of us every day of our lives; but it seems an elusive thing, difficult to define or measure or pursue systematically or collectively. … Continue reading
Why meritocracy may cement inequality : a closer look at China
Mass literacy and universal tests have brought higher education within reach of literally a billion people in China, if they have some academic aptitude at all and work hard enough. This is probably what you believe, whether you favour the … Continue reading
Favourite subjects versus relevant curriculum?
When I glanced through one of our new acquisitions – a book which analyses the success of Japan’s educational system – a list of pupils’ favourite subjects struck me. Both elementary and middle school students had voiced a preference for … Continue reading
