INTRODUCTION On the weekend of 18-19 March I attended The National Outdoor Expo in Birmingham for the first time. This large event ran for the first time in 2022 and will run again next year. For a £10 entrance fee (for both days), there were a variety of talks, chats and panel discussions. In addition, being an exhibition, there was a massive amount of sponsors, products and services on display, from energy drinks to ice baths, orientation guides to hand gliding classes. In these post-pandemic times, the palpable feeling of being able to gather in large crowds and discuss the great outdoors ..read more

Volunteering at the Preston Park Run on 11 February 2023 At school, the only sport I was ever any good at was cross country. A solo, non team activity. I had two left feet, could not score open goals and was, in addition, scared of the rugby ball. Running was the only thing I excelled at. I distinctly remember my first cross country run at Alderman Peel High School in North Norfolk – now a leading Sports Academy in the county. It was 1982 or maybe early ’83. I was cold in my tight shorts and an ever tighter green vest that represented ‘Coke’ house. I came second in the winter run, to Paul Coe ..read more

View from the Summit – Promotional Image Prelude On 10 June, I attended the inaugural ‘View from the Summit’ event about how the great outdoors can improve our mental well-being, which took place at my place of work, the University of Central Lancashire. Organised by UCLan’s Social Prescribing Unit and UCLan Outdoors, in partnership with the mental health charity, Mind Over Mountains and Earthing Revolution, the View from the Summit conference aimed to bring together people with a shared interest in the benefits of outdoor activity and alleviating mental health conditions. It was predominantly ..read more

**Warning: contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 4 part 1** My vinyl copy of ‘The Hounds of Love’ + Sadie Sink ‘Max’ A couple of years ago I abandoned a blog post about Kate Bush. It was going to be about my love for the artist, ever since I first heard her perform Wuthering Heights on Top of the Pops in 1978 when I was seven years old. I did write about a theatre production of Emily Bronte’s novel in 2020, in which Placebo’s slowed down version of ‘Running up That Hill’ was used effectively by director, Sabrina Poole. Two years later, it seems everyone, including millennials worldwide ..read more

Two delegates with their IELTS conference bags beside the Big Fish or ‘Salmon of Knowledge’, near the Lagan Lookout and Custom House, 16 May. [Trigger Warning: This post contains a lot of awful, very contrived fish-related puns] I have just spent the best part of one full week in Belfast. The main reason for going was to attend the 55th IATEFL conference. It was my first in-person event since the Image Conference, Brussels, October 2019 and, like many delegates, the first face-to-face IATEFL gathering since Liverpool, April 2019. On the way to Belfast, before I sailed on an 8-h ..read more

Part of my extensive vinyl collection, which was sold in 2016. INTRODUCTION I have wanted to own a turntable, often known as a ‘record player’, for some time now. I realise that the terms can be interchangeable, but essentially the difference is that a turntable needs a separate amplifier and speakers, whereas the other term is usually reserved for an all-in-one unit that does not need external components, as it already includes the turntable assembly, preamp, amplifier and speakers. I used to own a record player, of course. In fact, for my 8th or 9th birthday – I can’t actually remember which ..read more

Tom Baker’s Doctor is surrounded by The Sisterhood of Karn Listen to an audio recording of this post on Spotify or via Anchor I recently rewatched ‘Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius’, first aired on BBC1 in January 1976. That’s 46 years ago this month. The reason was due to recent Doctor Who storylines regarding the ‘Timeless Child’ and because I walked into a pub in Preston the other day and it was playing on the big screen. It is a childhood favourite of mine, when I clearly remember hiding behind the sofa at home. But being only 5 years old when it was first aired, I don’t remember a huge am ..read more

At the top of Mam Tor, Peak District – photo taken by my ADOS, Barry Greenwood on 24 July. I have just completed my second 10-week pre-sessional course at the University of Sheffield. This is a summary of my experience, before describing my attempt to land a year-round role in EAP. My first write-up of the pre-sessional programme in Sheffield was a detailed look at the programme. This is a briefer review as many of the teaching elements were similar to 2020. For example – it was all online, the use of Blackboard VLE, with Blackboard Collaborate used for the synchronous lessons, while authorin ..read more

Earlier this year I agreed to become the mentor for a new Mental Health in ELT Professional Learning Community (PLC) on Globe, a new project from TransformELT and the brainchild of coordinator, Jennifer Law. Having stated in February that I was unlikely to write or present about this topic in our profession in the future, I had to reconsider after I was given this opportunity. The community is still in the early stages of building, but after months of development, the platform is now live and accepting membership. I recommend that you take a look at what it has to offer. A promotional video t ..read more

How to turn your WordPress blog posts into a Podcast with Anchor Let your ideas be heard. You might have noticed that my three most recent blog posts have now been turned into an audio version, with a link shared within the posts. The audio version can be uploaded easily to popular podcasting sites, such as Spotify, Google Podcasts (allow 7 days) and lesser known ones, such as Breaker and PocketCasts. This latest post demonstrates how this can be done, with a tutorial video and reference to a post published on 22 February by WordPress author, Austin Lau. It also refers to Anchor – a podcasting ..read more