Keep Calm and Teach English

Talking about Shakespeare and using his works in the EFL classroom can always be risky as we all know how difficult they are to understand without adequate guidance not to mention that the original works feel overwhelming for anyone who is less than a literature student. However there is no reason why we should deprive our students of the pleasure to experience some of Shakespeare's magic that has stood the test of time and is still meaningful today. Romeo and Juliet, Frank Bernard Dicksee (1853–1928), Southampton City Art Gallery The following learning scenario was designed entirely for the e-class (a digital learning platform for the Greek schools) during the quarantine but it can be used in the classroom provided that there is a computer lab available or a classroom with a wireless connection and enough laptops and tablets for the students to work on.  Students are going to learn about William Shakespeare, the greatest English playwright, and why he is so significant. They are ...

Escape rooms - or escape games are a relatively recent entertainment phenomenon that became popular globally in the early 2010s. Typically, an escape room is played by a small team of people who are ‘locked’ in a physical room and have to solve puzzles within the time limit in order to escape.  photo by  greece-is.com The global increase in recreational escape rooms has inspired teachers around the world to implement escape rooms, physical or digital, in educational settings. There are a number of pedagogic reasons why playing educational escape games offers a valid and engaging approach to learning as it requires significant 21st century skills such as:   Communication and collaboration: Escape rooms offer the opportunities for groups of students to work together to solve the puzzles.  Problem-solving: Players are presented with a variety of puzzles/problems that they have to solve, gaining skills in developing approaches to solve them.  Resilience: Player...

February has officially been designated as Black History Month in the U.S. since 1976. Also known as African American History Month, it is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of blacks in U.S. history. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating black history. To celebrate Black History Month I have prepared some worksheets on a video from Free School , about Dr Martin Luther King, a famous Civil Rights leader, pastor, and humanitarian. Martin Luther King is best known for his peaceful, nonviolent protests and speeches calling for change. One of the most important figures of African American History!

Every day, whether we want to or not, most of us contribute to a growing portrait of who we are online; a portrait that is probably more public than we assume. Our digital footprint is all the stuff we leave behind as we use the Internet: comments on social media, app use, photo sharing, email records, the list goes on- it’s part of our online history and can potentially be seen by other people, or tracked in a database. photo by pexels-2286921 Everyone cares about their reputation, but many students (and teachers) don’t realise that what they do online can impact their digital footprint, permanently. How can our digital footprint become a problem? In the best case scenario, it helps employers look into your background and advertisers track your movements across multiple websites. Refusing to be a part of the online world is not always a solution so it is important for teachers and educators to advise students about the rights and responsibilities they have as digital citize...

Are you or your students fans of the Eurovision song contest? It's true that it's not everyone's cup of tea; you either love it or hate it. It's a competition that is supposed to be an expression of European solidarity. Over the years however, it has been accused of being an extravaganza of kitsch pop acts or of promoting political and cultural bias in the way countries form voting blocs. In the following lesson you will find a short text on the history of the contest, with some practice on the Present and Past Passive, followed by an online trivia quiz for the real fans!

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated mainly in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November. It is a special day for families and people travel long distances to be with their loved ones on this day. It also marks the beginning of the Christmas festive season.  Photo by  jill111 Thanksgiving Day  is a holiday so often depicted in American films and TV series that many Greek students are familiar with it, although they don't exactly know what it is about.  In the following presentation you will find activities on the origins of this popular holiday, suitable for pre-Intermediate young teenagers.  You can download the worksheets here: For the last activity you can use a voting tool like Mentimeter . Students can brainstorm their blessings and make a beautiful wordcloud. Here is what some of my students had to say:

A video on Bonfire Night, suitable for children and young teens in A2 level. The worksheet includes a True or False task, a link to an easy recipe for toffee apples, plus a cut out Guy Fawkes mask. photo by  Free-Photos Make sure you take a look at  my older post  about November 5th and the story of Guy Fawkes night. If you decide to use it, leave me a comment and tell me how it went!

The 21st March is  World Poetry Day  and it is an excellent opportunity to show students a film I am particularly fond of (in fact most teachers are): Dead Poets Society. Dead Poets Society   is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir, written by Tom Schulman, and starring Robin Williams. Set in 1959 at the fictional elite conservative boarding school Welton Academy, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry. There are tons of worksheets out there for both native and EFL students focusing on different aspects of the film. The film itself is very rich in  literature material and can provoke discussions on many issues like poetry, conformity, education, the list goes on.  The following worksheets are inspired by the ones found on the internet so in this sense they are not original. However they are written with my students in mind (ideally 15-18 year olds at B1+ level) and ...

One of the most important rules a learner of English should learn is basic word order in English. It is very common for Greek EFL learners to write incorrect sentences as Greek syntax is very flexible in terms of word order. The English language however follows stricter rules and any sentence that does not follow the rules not only sounds  wrong but is  in fact wrong. We tend to emphasize the order of certain words within a sentence, like for example adverbs of frequency, but we don't give our students enough practice on basic sentence structure.  photo by  stevepb The following lesson  has been in my mind for a long time as whenever I correct my students' writings I observe the same word order mistakes over and over again. I found an interesting diagram on SVOMPT in  engames.eu  but I decided to design it a bit different.  So here it is:

Mardi Gras is a Carnival festival that lasts for several days and ends the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is always on a Tuesday in February or March. It is the day before the start of Lent. Lent is a period of 40 days before Easter when many Christians fast.  photo by  Leamsii People celebrate Mardi Gras by having parties, attending parades, wearing costumes and masks, and eating King Cake. Because Lent is a somber time, Mardi Gras is a last chance to live it up and celebrate. Two of the largest Mardi Gras Carnival celebrations are in New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro . You can find all this information and more in the presentation below, together with downloadable worksheets, printable masks and a short video on the basic samba steps. Suitable for B1 teens. 

In Unit 1 of our coursebook Think Teen 1st Grade, we read and discussed about our schools, our ideal schools as well as unique schools from around the world, such as "Schools of the air" in Australia.  photo by  422737 The following video seems like a good way to wrap up our unit by looking at schools in Britain. It  is suitable for older children or young teens at an A2+ level.

Unit 2 of our coursebook talks about school life. A fun and easy way to revise school subjects is Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World"! photo by  harishs

Growing up in Greece I always wondered how certain Christian holy days were called in English and if they were celebrated the same way or even if they were celebrated at all in England or other European countries. photo by  Pezibear With Easter approaching I searched the internet for ideas on Easter customs and I prepared some worksheets for my students concerning Easter days in the English speaking world, starting from Lent to Easter Sunday.  The worksheets can be used as a springboard for comparing customs and discussing other spring religious (or not) customs, if your class consists of multicultural students. In any case, as with any religious topic, handle with care and use accordingly!

Dumb Ways to Die is one of those songs that you cannot get rid of easily. Apart from its catchy tune, it comes with an equally enjoyable video, making it one of the most popular videos in YouTube . It was originally designed as a public service announcement campaign by Metro Trains in Melbourne, Australia, to promote rail safety. The video went viral through sharing and social media starting in November 2012. Since then it has spawned more songs, a considerable number of parodies, video games and, believe it or not, a couple of ESL lesson plans! The following lesson plan is a combination of what circulates on the Internet (a version that works best with my classes). Ideal for older children and young teens. Level B1, mainly due to its vocabulary (although it becomes self explanatory through the video) If you decide to use it in your class, leave me a comment and tell me how it went!

There can be no Christmas without Charles Dicken's iconic short story about the cold-hearted Ebenezer Scrooge who finds the true meaning of Christmas through a journey in his past, present and future. The story has been repeatedly adapted into films and has never ceased to bring out the good in people.  photo by  TerriC The following video is an abridged version of the story for A2 to B1 students. Text and audio: Opportunities Pre-Intermediate, Longman. -A Christmas Carol- By Charles Dickens

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley can be described as the first great horror story. Published in 1818 it has remained popular untill this day and has formed the basis for a number of films. The film adaptations tend to present the monster as an evil character, but the book itself tells us a different story… Abridged version for B1 students. Text and audio taken from Opportunities Pre-Intermediate, Longman. Frankenstein by Eurydice Gkori on Scribd

Halloween is celebrated on the 31st October in the USA and in Britain. It is a tradition that is very appealling to children and teenagers because of its "scary" side, the costumes, the decorations and the famous "trick or treat" custom. The lesson that follows is designed for young teens at B1 level. Enjoy! Halloween

The Pearl is a famous novella by John Steinbeck. Published in 1947, it is the story of a poor pearl diver, Kino, who finds a valuable pearl and is convinced that his life will change. The story explores man's nature as well as greed and evil.  Steinbeck's inspiration was a Mexican folk tale. Here is an abridged version of the story for B1 students. (Extract taken from Opportunities Pre-Intermediate, Longman)

Writing haikus is a popular activity in education as they are simple to write, read and memorise. Their short, fixed form make them easily accessible to students of any age and level. Below is a simple lesson idea where students analyse the form of haikus and later are invited to write their own. If computers are available, students can use the Haiku Poem Interactive  found in  readwritethink.org/ .

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 later on for their further education and career. CV formats are similar in both English and Greek so learning to write a good resume can be tranferable in any situation. The lesson that follows is based on the Europass CV  page which is a European Commision project aiming to help people looking for a job within the European Union.