Keep Calm and Teach English

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.

It's that time of year again and I just came across a short video in History.com  that can perfectly accompany one of my last year's lesson ideas on the origins of St Valentine's Day . Enjoy!

Sherlock Holmes, the famous fictional detective, has always been a favourite among teachers and students of English.  Word on the Street , the Language teaching programme co-produced by the BBC and the British Council, has an excellent lesson on murder, mystery and the man himself. Before viewing the video , you can use the following short text to help students brush up and extend their knowledge of the popular sleuth. Hopefully the whole lesson could get them to read some of Conan Doyle's original stories!

Created with Tagul.com

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.