“So this is Alex from the University, and he’s here to talk to you about a very special opportunity!” Explains a starry-eyed Natalie, ushering me before a group of twenty expectant souls, young and old, smiling and scared, whispering in every imaginable language something that must have been along the lines of, “Look! It’s the…
A Conversation with Froso Argyri
Dr. Froso Argyri has very generously agreed to host me on a research placement with her for the final stages of a ground-breaking research project into differences in brain development between monolingual and bilingual children using MRI scans. Below is a synopsis of our conversation which touches on the issues of ethics, funding, interdisciplinarity, outreach,…
Swings and roundabouts
–Reflections on literature review– It has been about a month now that I have been reviewing the literature on literature reviews. I find myself in the unusual position of attending seminars on this practice in the evening and giving lectures on the same subject during the day. To many of my students, a literature review…
Why on earth would you do that?
—Considering my own practice— “Why on earth would you do that?” A friend asked incredulously, as I explained that I would be spending the evening with a former colleague to help her with course design. No, it’s not something I’m paid to do. And yet, in education, our collegial and pastoral responsibilities seem perhaps one…
Reflections on the death of Marakame Uxatiki
Yesterday, I heard the news of the death of someone dear to me in Mexico: the indigenous spiritual leader Marakame Uxatiki, Maestro Rosendo. We may never know the full details of his death, all that we do know is that it was brutal and that his young grandson was murdered alongside him. In my past…
Tentative firsts steps
Walking into the Nunn Hall in UCL’s Institute of Education and seeing a range of appropriately-distanced fellow students feels somewhat surreal but overwhelmingly reassuring after two years of almost exclusively online interactions. I find myself surprised at how tall or short many of my peers are—something impossible to gauge on a Zoom call. And then…