International Safer Internet Day on 5 February encourages everyone to learn good online habits. A downloadable activity from Microsoft is perfect for language learning. It combines arts and crafts, English and Internet safety in one simple package. The activity involves downloading and printing out what they call a “chatterbox” — also called a fortuneteller, or … Continue reading “Safer Internet Day Communication Activity”
In this A2 article your students will learn about the population of New Zealand and its national day, Waitangi Day on 6 February. You can decide to work on it either at the beginning of February to match the celebrations or as part of a unit devoted to national days in English-speaking countries. Although this … Continue reading “Waitangi Day, New Zealand’s National Day”
Andy Warhol remains one of the most famous and iconic American artists. He contributed to bridge the gap and blur the boundaries between pop culture and fine arts and his work is a wonderful way in into American 20th century history, culture, and values. Some thirty years after his death, the New York Whitney Museum … Continue reading “Andy Warhol: From A to Z”
The Hate U Give is a bestselling young-adult novel and now a new film. The carefully nuanced novel, written in part from experience by young African-American author Angie Thomas, gives a fascinating insight into the life of a teenager caught between two worlds: the mostly black neighbourhood where she lives and the mostly white private … Continue reading “The Hate U Give”
The biopic about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is excellent for discussing gender issues in this class. This short clip should really get students talking. It’s suitable from B1+, as there is a lot of implicit content. It’s a scene from early in the film, On the Basis of Sex. It’s 1956, and Ruth … Continue reading “Teaching with Film: Ruth Bader Ginsburg”
Brexit is a complex topic to tackle in class. We’ve scoured the web for the simplest videos we can find. This 2’30 video is aimed at British children, so it’s a fairly simple explanation of Brexit. Usable from A2+. This video from Channel 4 News is a very good explanation of the importance of the … Continue reading “Teaching about Brexit: Web Resources”
This A2 article about musicals and the tradition of high school performances in the USA should be of particular interest to those among your students who may have seen the exhibition in Paris, but also to any student with a taste for films or music. As usual, the document is but a starting point for … Continue reading “Musicals”
The new biopic about Oscar Wilde’s final years after leaving prison takes its ironic title from one of the children’s stories he wrote for his sons. The film, written, directed and starring Rupert Everett has a wonderful supporting cast (Colin Firth, Colin Morgan, Emily Watson.) This B2 downloadable resource includes work on an article about … Continue reading “Oscar Wilde: The Happy Prince”
A suggestion from a group of British teenagers is helping food banks serving people who live on the breadline. These two videos are good for discussing the social phenomenon in class. As you can read in our article, a group of Exeter teenagers suggested putting signs on supermarket shelves next to priority items for food … Continue reading “Food Banks Videos”
This A1+ level article is an opportunity to introduce Christmas from the perspective of the up-coming release of the new version of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas!, one of the much-loved books by The Cat in the Hat author Dr Seuss. Vocabulary: Christmas emotions months locating expressions Grammar: simple present and preterite the indefinite article … Continue reading “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”
