Writing in English at University A Guide for Second Language Writers

Writing is a central skill in university life. If you are pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree, sooner or later you will face the task of drafting essays, research papers, or degree projects in English. To make this challenge easier, Lund University has created a fundamental resource: the manual "Writing in English at University: A Guide for Second Language Writers."

This textbook, originally designed to complement the MOOC of the same name, stands as an indispensable and standalone guide for any student or professional who needs to perfect their academic writing in English.

Who is this manual for?

Although useful for everyone, it was developed specifically with students whose native language is not English (Second Language Writers) in mind. It offers practical advice and strategies to overcome the common obstacles encountered by non-native writers when drafting complex texts in an academic setting.

What will you learn with this guide?

The manual focuses on the most crucial aspects of academic writing and is structured into four key modules:

Fundamental Concepts: You will acquire basic vocabulary and understand the essential terms that every academic writer needs to handle.

Structure and Organization: You will learn the most effective ways to organize and shape your text, from the paragraph level to the overall structure of an essay or article.

Using Sources and Research: You will master critical reading, the selection and correct use of sources, and the incorporation of previous research (citation and referencing).

Practical Tips for Non-Natives: You will receive specific tips and tricks for addressing the linguistic and stylistic issues that often affect writers using English as a second language.

https://lucris.lub.lu.se/ws/portalfiles/portal/83442575/Writing_in_English_at_University_A_Guide_for_Second_Language_Writers_2020.pdf

Results from TALIS 2024. The State of Teaching

The OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the largest global study that listens directly to teachers and school leaders. In 2024, more than 280,000 educators from 55 education systems opened a window into their daily reality: how they teach, how they learn, and what today’s classrooms truly look like.

This new edition, TALIS 2024 Results, offers insights that matter deeply to teachers. It explores how educators are beginning to use artificial intelligence in their practice, what motivates them to choose teaching in the first place, and whether they see themselves continuing in the profession.

For policymakers, TALIS provides evidence to shape decisions. But for teachers, it provides something just as important: a clearer understanding of the profession they share with colleagues around the world—its challenges, its evolution, and its future.

https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/results-from-talis-2024_90df6235-en.html

AI Harm and Human Rights

The report AI Harm and Human Rights, published by ICAAD in collaboration with a law firm, offers a systematic framework that links the harms caused by artificial intelligence (AI) to fundamental human rights. 

It argues that although many AI-related “harm taxonomies” and incident databases exist, they rarely make explicit connections between AI-inflicted harms and violations of human rights. The report fills this gap by mapping ten core human rights against concrete examples of AI harms — such as biased algorithms in hiring or healthcare, invasive facial-recognition misuse, or deepfakes that undermine freedom of expression. 

By doing so, the report provides public and private actors — companies, governments, watchdogs — with a practical tool to evaluate whether a given AI system or deployment could infringe basic freedoms. The mapping table becomes a first step for organizations to identify risky AI uses. 

Crucially, the report warns that many businesses still treat human-rights concerns as irrelevant to their AI deployments — even in the face of growing evidence that AI can cause real, widespread harms.

Find the report on:

https://icaad.ngo/2025/09/29/ai-harm-and-human-rights/

Running Reality #History

Running Reality is an interactive digital platform that acts as a global, time-based historical map. It lets users explore the world’s history from around 3000 BC to the present by selecting any date and place and watching how borders, cities, civilizations, and events evolved over time. 

Through its browser interface, you can navigate a dynamic world map, view historical data on settlements, battles, rulers, objects, and more, all tied to specific moments in history. The platform is designed for students, teachers, researchers, and anyone curious about the past, and it includes educational tools specifically tailored for classroom use. 

Every historical “factoid” in Running Reality is backed by a verifiable citation, making the model transparent and academically reliable. What makes it unique is its ability to visualize history as a living timeline—allowing you to scroll through centuries, watch territories expand or disappear, and understand historical processes in a highly intuitive, interactive way.

Find Running Reality on:

https://www.runningreality.org/

An Infographic Guide to Technology-facilitated Gender-based Violence (TFGBV)

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) is an increasingly common issue affecting women and girls in many different ways. To help educators better understand this topic, a new infographic guide has been created. It uses simple, visual explanations to highlight what TFGBV looks like and why it matters in today’s digital world.

The guide includes 14 easy-to-read infographics that explore key ideas such as:

- the different forms TFGBV can take,

- how online and offline violence are connected,

- how TFGBV affects people differently depending on their identities and circumstances,

- what current data and research tell us,

- and how technology can be designed in safer, more ethical ways.

These infographics can be used in training sessions, classroom discussions, awareness campaigns, or any educational activity aimed at promoting safer digital environments. Each infographic comes with a short explanation that highlights its main points, making the material easy to understand and share.

This resource is ideal for teachers, school leaders, and anyone working with young people who wants to help build a more informed and respectful digital community.

Find it on: 

https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/An%20Infographic%20Guide%20to%20TFGBV.pdf

Teaching basic skills

New set of five guides that provide hands-on support on how schools and teachers can strengthen the teaching of basic skills through a whole school. They are developed to support the European Commission’s Basic Skills Action Plan, which aims to boost teaching and learning, support educators and enable supportive environments. 

The materials offer practical advice based on a whole school approach, helping schools provide effective and inclusive support for all learners at three levels: 

Universal support: Strategies that benefit all learners, such as engaging learning materials and supportive school environments. 

Targeted support: Focused actions for learners who may need extra help, including small-group activities, adapted teaching methods or additional monitoring. 

Individual support: Personalised interventions tailored to learners at risk or with specific needs.

(Source European School Education Platform) 

https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/discover/news/new-resources-available-teaching-basic-skills

NotebookLM, a versatile assistant for ESL teachers

NotebookLM offers English-language teachers a powerful and flexible tool for supporting students who are learning English as a foreign language. 

By allowing teachers to upload texts, articles, worksheets, or classroom materials, the platform automatically generates explanations, summaries, vocabulary lists, and comprehension questions tailored to the learners’ level. This helps teachers create personalised resources quickly and adapt authentic materials for different groups. NotebookLM also enables students to explore the content interactively, asking questions in real time and receiving clear, contextualised answers that reinforce understanding. 

For teachers, it becomes an efficient assistant for preparing lessons, designing activities, and differentiating instruction, while for learners it creates a more engaging environment where they can practise reading, listening, and speaking skills with guidance. In essence, NotebookLM enhances both teaching and learning by making high-quality language support accessible, dynamic, and easy to integrate into everyday classroom practice.

Getting started with NotebookLM is simple. After accessing the platform with a Google account, teachers can create a new “notebook” and upload the materials they want to work with—PDFs, Google Docs, web pages, or text files. Once the sources are added, NotebookLM automatically analyses them and becomes ready to answer questions or generate teaching resources based on the content. Teachers can then ask the tool to produce vocabulary exercises, reading-comprehension tasks, grammar explanations, or simplified versions of difficult texts. They can also share notebooks with students or colleagues, making it easy to organise collaborative learning. With just a few minutes of setup, English teachers gain a versatile assistant that supports lesson planning, scaffolding, and student autonomy.

https://notebooklm.google.com/

Musicmap

Musicmap is a powerful, beautifully designed tool for anyone who wants to understand, explore, and connect the vast landscape of popular music. It’s especially useful for music lovers, educators, researchers or anyone curious about how music evolved over time.

The project is based on more than seven years of research, drawing from over 200 sources. Its creator, Kwinten Crauwels, aimed to strike a balance between accuracy, clarity, and accessibility — so the map is detailed, but still easy to navigate. 

How it works

• The map (called the “Carta”) is a 2D diagram: the vertical axis represents time (from past to present), and the horizontal axis groups “super-genres” (broad families of music). 
• Genres are color-coded by their super-genres, and there are different types of links:
• Parent links (showing where a genre comes from),
• Influence links (how genres affect each other),
• “Anti-links” (genres pushing back or reacting against others). 

When you click on a genre, a panel appears with:

• Its name (and any synonyms)
• Approximate year of origin
• Which super-genre it belongs to (or if it's a hybrid)
• A brief description (historical, social, musical) 
• A playlist of example songs (usually 9–12) from different artists, helping you explore what that genre actually sounds like. 
• A connectivity bar with other useful links or tools. 

Find this resource on:

https://musicmap.info/

Teacher’s Essential Guide to Cyberbullying Prevention

This guide by Common Sense Education provides educators with a comprehensive, research-based approach to understanding and preventing cyberbullying in schools. It includes definitions of cyberbullying, the differences between offline and online bullying, real-world scenarios, prevention strategies, and ideas for classroom implementation.

The guide explains what cyberbullying is, how digital tools change the ways students interact, and why cyberbullying can be more complex than traditional forms of bullying. It offers actionable steps teachers can take: building a respectful classroom climate, creating digital safety rules, facilitating peer-to-peer support, integrating digital citizenship into lessons. Rather than only reacting to incidents, it emphasizes fostering a respectful online and offline environment, encouraging bystanders to act, and involving families and the community.

The guide includes discussion questions, scenario-based prompts, and links to further resources, making it practical for immediate implementation.

https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/teachers-essential-guide-to-cyberbullying-prevention

ESLfriend.com

ESLfriend.com is an online platform offering free ESL resources, including handouts, lessons, activities, and full lesson-sets for English language teaching and learning. The site describes itself as providing materials ranging from daily conversation and grammar to business English and test preparation. 

One of the major strengths of ESLfriend is its breadth of content: there are materials for a variety of levels, topics and uses — from conversation starters to full lesson packs. For teachers, this means a ready-made resource library to draw on, reducing preparation time. For learners, the materials can offer extra practice outside class. Another plus is the free access to most of the materials, making it accessible for educators and students with limited budget.

The site also includes media-based lessons (reading passages, audio, discussion questions) which are useful for integrating skills (reading, speaking, listening) rather than only grammar.

Find it on:

https://eslfriend.com/

ESPAD (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) Report 2024

The latest edition of the ESPAD (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) report has just been released and is ready for you to access.

This report is a vital tool, as it offers the most recent data (from 2024) on alcohol and other drug use, and risk behaviors among our adolescents.

Why is this report so significant?

A broad European view. The study collected responses from over 113,000 students aged 15 to 16 across 37 European countries (including 25 EU Member States). This gives you an incredibly broad perspective on what’s happening across the continent.

30 years of history. This study is a benchmark. With this eighth data-collection wave, ESPAD celebrates 30 years of collaboration that has compiled the voices of over 800,000 students since 1995. This makes it the most extensive and harmonized research project on adolescent substance use worldwide.

A planning tool. For you, as an educator, the detailed ESPAD data is crucial. It helps you understand current trends, identify areas of greatest risk, and design or adjust your prevention and education programs more effectively.

https://www.espad.org/espad-report-2024

Pumpkin contest 2025 #IESAzorín

For another year, our high school's English Department has organized and hosted its traditional Halloween pumpkin contest. 

The competition saw great participation, as is customary, especially from the younger grades. The awards ceremony for the most terrifying, most creative, and most amusing pumpkin took place on Friday, October 31st, during the first break. 

Our congratulations to all the participants and winners!

English4Today

English4Today is an online English learning platform designed to help users improve their English skills for study, work, and everyday communication.

It provides a range of English language learning resources, including grammar lessons, writing guides, vocabulary builders, and pronunciation support. It is aimed at both learners of English as a second language (ESL/EFL) and teachers seeking supplementary materials.

This valuable online resource offers:

• Grammar and usage guides. Detailed explanations of English grammar points, punctuation, and common mistakes.
• Writing and vocabulary tools. Resources to expand vocabulary and improve formal or academic writing.
• Online courses and eBooks. Structured learning materials for students at different levels.
• Teacher resources. Materials and tools for classroom use or online instruction.

Some content and courses are free, while others require membership or payment.

Find it on:

https://english4today.com/?v=12470fe406d4

Academic Writing Handbook for Learners

To fulfil the requirements of a course or programme, it is often necessary to produce written work for assessment. This type of writing is referred to as academic writing when it is completed for assessment or certification purposes.

The aim of academic writing is to communicate researched, analysed, and discussed information clearly and effectively. Such writing should be clear, concise, objective, and informative, and all sources of information or research must be properly acknowledged. Developing proficiency in academic writing generally requires guidance, practice, and feedback.

The purpose of this handbook is to provide guidance on academic writing for learners undertaking programmes equivalent to levels 5 and 6 of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). The resource may also be useful for learners at other levels and for educators supporting the development of writing skills.

Downloads:

https://www.fess.ie/images/stories/ResourcesForTutors/AcademicWritingHandbookForLearnersInTheFETSector.pdf

What Works Best?

"What Works Best" is a suite of resources developed by the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation (CESE) for the NSW Department of Education in Australia that outlines the most effective, evidence-based practices for improving student learning and wellbeing.

The resources succinctly describe 8 core themes that research consistently shows make a difference to student outcomes:

High expectations

Explicit teaching

Effective feedback

Using data to inform practice

Assessment

Classroom management

Wellbeing

Collaboration

"What Works Best" translates the latest research into practical guides and illustrations to support teachers and school leaders as they reflect on and improve their instructional practice.

Visit:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/education-data-and-research/what-works-best

Resources:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/education-data-and-research/what-works-best/all-what-works-best-resources

Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction

Barak Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction are a set of $\mathbf{10}$ research-based guidelines for effective teaching, derived from cognitive science, observations of "master teachers," and research on cognitive supports. They provide a framework for structuring lessons to help students efficiently acquire, practice, and connect new knowledge, primarily by managing their cognitive load and ensuring long-term retention.

The principles are supported by evidence from three key areas:

Cognitive Science: this research highlights the limitations of working memory (the mental space for processing information) and the importance of automaticity (fluent recall) in freeing up mental capacity for higher-level thinking.

Master Teachers:the principles summarize the instructional methods and classroom routines consistently used by teachers whose students showed the largest academic gains.

Cognitive Supports: these are scaffolding techniques, like models and prompts, that help students successfully navigate difficult material.

Download this guide:

https://beehiiv-publication-files.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/downloadables/747480c6-e377-4d48-b0a8-52b5a256f1e1/044f419a-31a0-4c23-b235-d5d34d6e6454/Download%20the%20Guide.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAQCMHTQSE2JGAGXHJ%2F20251017%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20251017T054512Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=191d7e3f436b5076848199d1b0a5967a41b520d69e700830af4bbdf7c8bc0c54

Brilliant Maps

Brilliant Maps is a website that helps people “make sense of the world, one map at a time.”  It publishes interesting, quirky, and often surprising maps on topics ranging from geography and history to social phenomena. 

On the site you’ll find maps like “All the Countries That Have Militarily Defeated the United States,” “European Countries With No Mountains,” or visualisations of how many hours young people spend doing unpaid domestic work. 

Each map usually comes with explanation or commentary about what it reveals, including sources, caveats, and sometimes comparisons or additional data. 

Find it on:

https://brilliantmaps.com/

Keep It Real Online. Helping Young People Stay Safe in a Digital World

In today’s hyperconnected world, young people spend a large part of their lives online — learning, socialising, playing, and exploring. The internet offers endless opportunities, but it also comes with risks that can affect their wellbeing. From online grooming and cyberbullying to exposure to pornography or unwanted messages, the digital space can be both empowering and challenging. That’s where Keep It Real Online, an initiative by the New Zealand Government, comes in.

Keep It Real Online provides practical advice, real stories, and step-by-step guidance to help children, teenagers, parents, and educators navigate the online world safely. Rather than simply warning about dangers, the campaign focuses on honest conversations, education, and early prevention — recognising that the key to digital safety lies in open communication and trust.

Visit:

https://www.keepitrealonline.govt.nz/

Free English Language Arts Worksheets

Free English Language Arts Worksheets on HelpTeaching provides a collection of downloadable worksheets for various English language skills. These cover topics like grammar, reading comprehension, writing, vocabulary, punctuation, and more. 

Teachers can use them to reinforce lessons, assign practice work, or support students who need extra help.

https://www.helpteaching.com/free-english-language-arts-worksheets.htm

Heart Words in Spanish

The page “Heart Words in Spanish” on ReallyGreatReading introduces a resource of videos that review high-frequency English words, explained in Spanish. 

The idea is to help students with words that are hard to read or irregular: by showing how they are spelled, highlighting the tricky parts, and then providing follow-up practice activities. Teachers can use these videos before doing the exercises.

The site is part of Really Great Reading, which offers tools and methods for helping with reading instruction, especially for students who struggle with decoding.

https://www.reallygreatreading.com/heart-words-spanish