Cultural Geography Blog

I'm going to take my traditional Christmas blogging break , and be back in the New Year, unless there are some events that I can't avoid blogging about... I've just had four days on the coast - lovely to be one of the few occupied vans on the site this week - got some further time away organised, and also some writing time, and plenty of family stuff planned... and my birthday too. As usual, here's a Christmas illustration from one of my favourite artists: Ronald Lampitt. And here's an extra one this year... a very apt cartoon... Have a good one! Thanks everyone for reading the blog this year.

Thanks to Anthony Bennett over at  Internet Geography for the excellent images and drone footage of the Golden Sands resort near Withernsea which have been shared over the last few weeks. I am familiar with Withernsea, as my first ever teaching experience was in the school there during my PGCE. These are all worth exploring, and the students loved them in the last week of term, when we explored coastal erosion as part of the conclusion to our Adventure Landscapes unit. Visit the website , or follow on Twitter to see more... And to make the most of these images, you can now obtain a DME which provides a range of activities for AQA GCSE Geography in particular, including questions, images and activities. There is a £5 discount until Christmas Eve. See it described here. https://t.co/MzBW6h6kYE pic.twitter.com/bfSOcpgEEb — internetgeography.net 🌍 (@InternetGeog) December 17, 2018 Finally, if you go to the shop you will see details of CPD / fieldwork ev...

A few weekends ago, I went down to an all-night showing of Christian Marclay's 'The Clock' at Tate Modern. It is a difficult thing to explain, and the reality is different from what you expect, but if you are ever in a place where it is showing, it is worth getting in to see some of the film, although you probably won't watch all of it in one go. The film lasts 24 hours , and features scenes from hundreds of films where a clock is visible or the time is referenced in the dialogue. Details of the Tate exhibition   are here. Here's a PODCAST on the making of the film And here's what you see when you go inside...

A Kanji i s an adopted Chinese visual character which is used in the Japanese writing system. The Kanji of the Year for 2018 has been announced: 災 , pronounced  wazawai  or  sai , meaning “disaster” or “misfortune.” The Japan Kanji Aptitude Foundation each December announces a “kanji of the year,” selected by popular vote to encapsulate the year that was. Members of the public send in votes by postal mail, an official website, or voting boxes, selecting a single character and often appending an explanation for the choice. This year’s top pick,  wazawai , referred to the multitude of natural disasters that afflicted the archipelago during 2018—serious earthquakes in Osaka, Hokkaidō, and Shimane Prefectures, a string of typhoons that battered the nation’s shores, torrential rains causing landslides and flooding, and the record-setting heat of summer. “As we look ahead to the coming year,” noted the JKAF press release, “many are hoping that the new imperial reign...

A good day today, as we finally launch a resource that has been in the pipeline for over a year, and has been tweaked and improved over the last year or so. I've blogged about it here before. Here's some text from the official press-release. The Ice Flows teacher resources pack provides a range of resources and suggested lesson plans built around playing Ice Flows game.   The learning outcomes relate to an understanding of the interactions between ice sheets and climate, and the resulting impact of changes in ice sheets on global sea level.  The resources include explainer videos, some skeleton PowerPoints to use as a basis for lessons, plus added extras such as a Spotify playlist. The resources are aimed at pupils in KS3 in UK Schools, but the main resources are generic enough to be used with any curriculum or age. We also provide information on how the game could be used in line with the UK curriculum for older pupils. The resources were created in partne...