Keep Calm and Teach English

21st March is World Poetry Day . It is a celebration of poetry for everyone, everywhere. It's a day to promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry and to connect it with the other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting. It is a chance to use poetry to say things that can’t be said in prose. Photo by congerdesign How can we use poetry in the EFL classroom and have fun with our students on this day? Here are some ideas: An easy way to start is by reading and writing haikus.  They are short, easy to write and memorise and can be used with students of any age and level. They are made of three lines with five, seven, five syllables respectively and their themes are usually inspired by nature. For ideas on how to write haikus on paper or online you can visit an older post here. I am poems : students can talk about themselves and  express the way they feel, what they hope, think, dream, enjoy and so on.  The lines in each poem begin the same way: I am, I wonde

Writing a CV is a real-life skill our students should practice at least once before leaving High School as it is something they may have to use immediately either for a part-time job or volunteer work or later on for their further education and career. photo found in  thebalance.com As a growing number of Europeans move across the continent for work, volunteering and study every year, a CV framework that seems relevant for classroom use is   Europass .   Europass is a collection of five documents, two of which are freely accessible: the Curriculum Vitae and the Language Passport . The documents can work both online and as printed templates. Since its official launch in 2005, Europass has helped European citizens make their skills and qualifications clearly and easily understood in Europe. Recently there has been a proposal on a revision of Europass to   make the tool more accessible to all Europeans, including those with disabilities. Until the update, I've revised an ol

Oscar Wilde’s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is perhaps the author’s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray’s moral decadence caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde's only novel. Although sensored in its first edition, it has enjoyed wide popularity, and has inspired many cinematic, literary, and artistic adaptations. The video that follows presents an abridged version of the story for B1+ students. Text and audio is taken from  Opportunities Pre-Intermediate, Longman . The worksheets include Think-Tac-Toe activities for homework. Think-Tac-Toe activities allow students to choose tasks that better align with their learning styles and interests. (For more information on Think-Tac-Toe activities you can visit one of my older posts on  differentiated instruction ). If you decide to use them in your classroom, leave me a commen

In 2006, the European Parliament adopted a Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning   defining the competences each European citizen needs for personal fulfilment and development, employment, social inclusion and active citizenship. It invited Member States to ensure that their education and training systems are able to equip people with these competences. Since then, European societies and economies have experienced significant changes. To meet these changes there is a new proposal on Key Competences. So what is new? Well, as a start there is a change of terminology as well as of the competences themselves: the term ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is updated and replaced by  DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES    as   it is considered a most appropriate term "to refer to the full range of devices, software or infrastructure. With the increased, varied and embedded use of mobile devices and applications, references to 'computers' and 'the I