Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer principally known for her novels and short stories while her TED talks on ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ [1] and ‘We Should All Be Feminists' [2] are widely viewed. Her most well-known novel is ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ [3] which deals with Biafran independence and the ensuing… Continue reading The Thing Around Your Neck
Author: Michael Hammond
The Autism Curve
A series of programmes on BBC looked into the huge rise in diagnoses of autism in the UK [1]. The programmes gave space for various academics (as well as other professionals) to explain this ‘autism curve’ and speculate as to its consequences. All spoke in a balanced and open manner and you ended up feeling you… Continue reading The Autism Curve
Orwell, Klemperer and language
I was talking with a friend about what counts as good writing and mentioned George Orwell’s much celebrated essay on ‘Politics of the English language’. In it Orwell argues writers should think carefully about the language they use as doing so not only produces clear, concise articles for others to read but also enables writers… Continue reading Orwell, Klemperer and language
Question 7
One of the most praised books, at least by reviewers, in 2023 was ‘Question 7’ by Richard Flanagan [1]. A year later, well two years later if I am strict about this, I got round to reading it. It is a difficult book to describe [2]. It is in the main a memoir and family… Continue reading Question 7
What should we do about children’s access to digital devices?
Looking back on 2024 it felt like this was a year in which the role of technology in children’s lives was being questioned like never before. In several countries there was a push back against smart phones in school (or rather than an outright ban teachers were collecting them in and returning to students at… Continue reading What should we do about children’s access to digital devices?
Remembering and remembrance
November is an important time for war remembrance, at least in UK and other commonwealth countries. Two minutes silence falls every year on the ‘11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month’ marking the exact anniversary of the armistice that brought an end to world war hostilities in1918. The month is also… Continue reading Remembering and remembrance
Twin cities
The following blogs appear in a site I help administer, Coventry Association for International Friendship. I have collected four blogs I have written from that site, in case they will interest anyone reading my education blog. The Power of Silence 13 February is the date on which Dresdners commemorate the destruction of their city in… Continue reading Twin cities
The reporting of social science
Few studies carried out in the social sciences are reported in mainstream media so that it is always interesting to see ones that buck this trend. The latest example was a small scale study that looked at ‘how well a spectrogram can pick out voice features which would identify the speaker as being alcohol intoxicated’… Continue reading The reporting of social science
Using ChatGPT for Language Learning
There has been a great deal of discussion on AI in recent weeks, with some raising (yet again) the idea that technology is going to transform the way we live and work. Part of the narrative about AI concerns its impact on education and there have been visions of using AI for providing personalised feedback… Continue reading Using ChatGPT for Language Learning
‘The Lives of Others’
[While other blogs deal more with technology and education, this post reviews a film] Apparently, taking an interest in East Germany or the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) as was (1949-1990) is now ‘cool’ [1], at least in UK. We are getting a wave of books and films and some of them are offering a more balanced,… Continue reading ‘The Lives of Others’
Michael Hammond 
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