Keep Calm and Teach English

One of my favourite Christmas stories is "The Gift of the Magi" by O' Henry. It is a romantic short story, about a young married couple and their struggle to buy each other a worthy Christmas gift with little money. Its twist ending is generally considered an example of comic irony, making the story highly entertaining and adequately festive. photo by  StockSnap The version presented here is abridged, accompanied by an audio file from  manythings.org/ .

For this year our school has embarked on an ambitious eTwinning Plus project together with 12 other countries from Europe: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, France, Fyrom, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. As the name suggests (The Chest of Symbols) students will learn about partner countries through symbols. It will help them understand and respect differences among people, but also to cherish and appreciate similarities. National symbols, not only the official ones, but especially those existing outside the official factfiles of the country tell us more about a country's history, culture and traditions than we can expect. Symbols and their literal or metaphorical meanings constitute part of our cultural heritage. Through studying symbols students will also learn about geography, biology and art. They will collaborate through a wide range of ICT tools to deepen their digital competences and find new ways of expressing themselves. One of the final products fo...

According to the  European Framework of Key Competences  there are 8 basic skills necessary for lifelong learning. They are a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the context and are particularly necessary for personal development, social inclusion, active citizenship and employment. Key competences are essential in a knowledge society and guarantee more flexibility in an increasingly interconnected world. They should be acquired by:  young people at the end of their compulsory education and training, equipping them for adult life, particularly for working life, whilst forming a basis for further learning;  adults throughout their lives, through a process of developing and updating skills. 

"1984" is a classic political science fiction novel that has had great impact since its publication in 1949. Many of its terms and concepts, such as Big Brother, have entered everyday use, while because of it the adjective Orwellian has come to describe official deception, surveillance, and manipulation by a totalitarian state.  The lesson that follows is based mainly on selected extracts from the Appendix where the principles of Newspeak as a way of controlling people are explained. The pre-reading activities offer an opportunity to revise main political terms. Suitable for older teens and adults, level B2 or higher. 1984 You can accompany the reading texts with the audio extracts I compiled in the following video:

For my fellow EFL teachers (and others) who work with Projects at High Schools, here are some basic outlines on how to write a research paper. Πώς Γράφεται Μια Ερευνητική Εκθεση