Book Club: A Song of Hope to foster ESL, Creativity, and Global Citizenship through Literature

Ever feel like getting students excited about reading in a second language is an uphill battle? That’s why the eTwinning project "Book Club: A Song of Hope" really caught my eye.

Instead of treating literature like just another set of vocabulary lists and comprehension questions, it turns a standard reading lesson into a space where kids actually talk to each other across borders. The setup is simple, but smart: students read together, use basic digital tools to share their thoughts, and connect with peers from other countries to react to the same story.

What works so well here is that English becomes the tool to share an opinion, not just a subject to get graded on. Kids practice their speaking and writing because they actually have something to say, while picking up subtle lessons in empathy and how people from different cultures view the same text.

https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/etwinning/projects/book-club-song-hope-foster-esl-creativity-and-global-citizenship-through-literature

https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/etwinning/projects/book-club-song-hope-foster-esl-creativity-and-global-citizenship-through-literature/twinspace

Plastic in the ocean: What can we do?

Plastic in the ocean: What can we do? is a lesson plan from the British Council’s TeachingEnglish platform, designed for learners aged 9–12 with an approximate B1 level of English. The lesson takes around 120 minutes and can be delivered in two 60-minute sessions. Its main objective is to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans while developing students’ language and communication skills.

The lesson begins with a story about the journey of a plastic bag, showing how everyday rubbish can travel from a street or park into rivers and eventually reach the ocean, where it can harm marine life. Through reading activities, vocabulary work and discussion, students explore the causes and consequences of plastic pollution. They then work collaboratively to create awareness-raising posters containing slogans, explanations, images and suggestions for action.

The resource combines reading, speaking, vocabulary development, creativity and teamwork. It also encourages students to reflect on their own feelings and behaviour, helping them identify practical actions such as reducing single-use plastics, using reusable alternatives and sharing information with others. A gallery walk allows students to view their classmates’ posters and provide positive feedback, adding a peer-learning dimension to the activity.

From an educational perspective, this proposal provides a meaningful context for learning English while addressing an important environmental issue connected to Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. It can be adapted to different classroom contexts and extended through research, presentations, videos or school awareness campaigns.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-resources/teaching-primary/lesson-plans/level-2/plastic-ocean-what-can-we-do

English Speaking Cities: Learning English through a journey around the world

English Speaking Cities is a collection of ten open educational resources from the EDIA Project, developed by CEDEC for English in Year 10 (3º ESO). The project uses travel as its central theme, taking students to cities where English is an important language of communication. London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, Cork, New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Toronto and Sydney become the settings for different learning projects in which students use English to complete meaningful tasks and create final products.

Each project follows a similar structure: students explore a city, carry out a series of activities and work towards a final task. These include writing an opinion article, creating a poster, recording an interview, designing an environmental campaign, producing an infographic, making a video, preparing a digital presentation or recording a podcast. At the same time, students work on specific language content such as different verb tenses, conditionals, comparatives, the passive voice, infinitives and gerunds.

The project combines reading, writing, listening, speaking and interaction with Project-Based Learning (PBL). Grammar is therefore not treated as an isolated set of exercises but as a tool students need in order to complete a communicative task. The resources also promote active learning, digital competence, higher-order thinking, formative assessment and reflection on learning. The travel theme also creates opportunities to connect English with geography, history, culture, environmental issues and digital literacy. 

The ten projects can be used as a complete learning programme or teachers can simply select individual activities or projects to complement their existing lessons. The resources are open and can be viewed, downloaded and adapted to suit different groups and teaching contexts.

https://cedec.intef.es/situaciones-de-aprendizaje-para-ingles-de-3oeso-proyecto-english-speaking-cities/

Plays.org: Learning through play

Sometimes the simplest way to introduce a new concept, practise something we have already learned or give students a short change of pace is to turn it into a game. 

Plays.org is a large collection of free browser-based games, and although the website is not exclusively educational, it includes a substantial section devoted to learning games that can be useful in the classroom. The main advantage is its simplicity: the games can be played directly in a web browser, without installing an app or additional software, and they are designed to work across computers, tablets and mobile devices.

The educational section brings together games covering areas such as mathematics, spelling, vocabulary, reading, phonics, numbers, shapes, science and basic health. There are very simple activities for younger learners, such as recognising numbers, identifying shapes or matching body parts, alongside more challenging games involving mental arithmetic, mathematical operations, word formation, logic and problem solving.

https://plays.org/education-games/

The secret messages of Viking runestones

The Vikings are usually associated with longships, exploration, battles and raids, but there is another side of their culture that is perhaps less familiar: the stories they left behind in stone. This short TED-Ed lesson, presented by historian Jesse Byock, takes us into the world of Viking runestones and the mysterious messages written on them in Old Norse using runic letters.

The video is a fascinating introduction to the Vikings through something they actually left behind. Instead of focusing only on the usual images of warriors and ships, it looks at the fragments of stone, bone and other materials that have helped historians understand Viking society. Runestones become a kind of historical evidence, giving us clues about the people who created them, what they believed, who they wanted to remember and even how they wanted to be remembered.

The animation also introduces students to the idea that writing has not always looked the way it does today. The runic alphabet, or futhark, opens up an interesting door into language and communication. Students can see how a written message can survive for centuries and become a source of information about a society that disappeared long ago. At the same time, it is a good reminder that historians often have to piece together the past from incomplete evidence rather than simply finding a book that tells them exactly what happened.

One of the things that makes this resource work particularly well in the classroom is its combination of history, language and visual storytelling. The animation is short and accessible, making it easy to use as an introduction to a unit on the Vikings, the Middle Ages or the history of writing. It could also work well in an English lesson, especially with students who enjoy history, fantasy or archaeology. The vocabulary provides plenty of opportunities to work with words connected with writing, symbols, exploration, ancient cultures and historical evidence.

There is also a nice opportunity for students to go beyond simply watching the video. After viewing it, they could investigate a Viking runestone, try to identify some runic symbols, research what inscriptions tell us about everyday life, or create their own short “runestone” containing a message for people living hundreds of years in the future. That last activity can lead to some surprisingly interesting conversations: What would we want people in the future to know about us? What would they misunderstand if all they had were a few objects and inscriptions?

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/spells-threats-and-dragons-the-secret-messages-of-viking-runestones-jesse-byock

Lesson planning with #AI

How can artificial intelligence help teachers prepare better lessons while saving time? This resource from Ditch that Textbook offers a practical introduction to using AI as a teaching assistant during the planning process. Rather than presenting AI as a magic solution, the webpage encourages teachers to use it as a starting point: a tool for generating ideas, exploring possibilities, creating activities and receiving feedback, while the teacher remains responsible for making the final decisions.

The resource is divided into two main areas. The first explores ways of using AI to improve lessons that already exist. Teachers can ask an AI assistant to suggest a lesson plan, create analogies to explain difficult concepts, identify common misconceptions, generate discussion or reflection questions, develop real-world examples, create dialogues or even design interactive stories connected to the subject being taught. AI image generators can also be used to create an unexpected visual “hook” to introduce a topic and stimulate students’ curiosity. The page also suggests using AI to help with assessment, differentiation and the alignment of lessons with curriculum standards.

The second part focuses on planning new lessons with AI. The process begins with the big picture and gradually moves towards individual activities. Teachers can start with a unit or a set of learning objectives, introduce the relevant curriculum standards, and then ask AI to suggest activities, resources and assessment strategies. An important message throughout the resource is that AI-generated material should always be evaluated and adapted. AI can produce many ideas very quickly, but teachers are the ones who know their students, their classroom context and what will actually work.

https://ditchthattextbook.com/ai-lesson-planning/