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.
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?
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.
The TED-Ed lesson A brief history of melancholy, created by Courtney Stephens and directed by Sharon Colman Graham, explores how the idea of sadness and melancholy has changed throughout history. Through an animated and accessible format, the lesson explains that melancholy has been understood in many different ways over time: as a medical condition, a philosophical state, a creative force, or simply part of the human experience.
The resource examines historical beliefs such as the ancient theory of the “four humors,” where melancholy was linked to an excess of black bile, and later cultural ideas that connected sadness with wisdom, creativity, or artistic sensitivity. It also reflects on modern views of depression and emotional well-being, encouraging viewers to think critically about how societies interpret emotions.
One of the main strengths of this resource is that it combines history, psychology, philosophy, and culture in a short and engaging lesson. The TED-Ed format also includes discussion questions and additional materials, making it especially useful for educational contexts. Teachers can use it to promote conversations about emotions, mental health, and the historical evolution of ideas related to sadness and human behaviour.
ESLfriend.com is an online platform offering free ESL resources, including handouts, lessons, activities, and full lesson-sets for English language teaching and learning. The site describes itself as providing materials ranging from daily conversation and grammar to business English and test preparation.
One of the major strengths of ESLfriend is its breadth of content: there are materials for a variety of levels, topics and uses — from conversation starters to full lesson packs. For teachers, this means a ready-made resource library to draw on, reducing preparation time. For learners, the materials can offer extra practice outside class. Another plus is the free access to most of the materials, making it accessible for educators and students with limited budget.
The site also includes media-based lessons (reading passages, audio, discussion questions) which are useful for integrating skills (reading, speaking, listening) rather than only grammar.
In this lesson, students engage in discussions about how AI affects society as a whole and its role in learning English. The session is designed to help students examine both the potential advantages and drawbacks of AI, particularly in the context of language learning.
Throughout the lesson, students will brainstorm AI-related vocabulary, read about and debate various risks and benefits of AI, listen to discussions on AI's impact on education, and experiment with ways AI can assist in improving their English skills.
One Institute has collaborated with the UCLA History-Geography Project, OUT for Safe Schools at LA LGBT Center, and ONE Archives at the USC Libraries to organize K-12 curriculum symposiums and offer LGBTQ+ history lesson plans to educators free of charge.
These lesson plans align with California’s FAIR Education Act and History-Social Science Framework, mandating that K-12 schools in California include fair, accurate, inclusive, and respectful representations of LGBTQ+ communities in their social studies and history curricula.
Daily Grammar is a website that provides free grammar lessons and quizzes to help users improve their English grammar skills. The website offers a structured approach to learning grammar rules and usage through daily lessons and exercises.
Users can access lessons on various grammar topics, such as parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation, and more. The lessons are designed to be concise and are followed by quizzes to reinforce learning.
Free ready-to-print handouts, mp3s and online quizzes on international companies by Sean Banville, who is known for creating and providing English teaching materials. Banville's websites, such as "Busy Teacher" and "English Current," offer a variety of resources for English language learners and teachers.
"Business English Materials" is likely designed to help learners improve their English language skills within a business context. These materials include lesson plans, worksheets, vocabulary exercises, and activities tailored to the language needs of professionals and individuals working in business settings.
ESL KidStuff serves as an online platform dedicated to teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to children. It provides a diverse array of educational resources and tools tailored specifically for young learners of English, including lesson plans, worksheets, flashcards, songs, games, and more.
ESL KidStuff caters to teachers, parents, and tutors who engage with children learning English as a foreign or second language. Its primary objective is to foster an enjoyable and interactive English learning experience for kids through age-appropriate activities.
Within ESL KidStuff, you can explore a wide range of materials organized by different subjects like vocabulary, grammar, phonics, reading, writing, and listening. These resources often feature vibrant illustrations and can be utilized both in classroom settings and at home to support the learning of the English language.
The website further provides comprehensive lesson plans with step-by-step guidance for educators, encompassing warm-up activities, teaching tips, and recommended games or exercises. Additionally, printable flashcards, worksheets, and songs are available to reinforce language acquisition beyond the confines of traditional classrooms. Lesson plans, flashcards, worksheets, songs, readers & crafts.
Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in the month/day format) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant figures of π.
This celebration was founded in 1988 by Larry Shaw, an employee of the San Francisco, California science museum, the Exploratorium.
In this lesson, students can join the fun of Pi Day by following a step-by-step tutorial where they will create a block coding project that turns the digits of Pi into a work of art! Students will have combine creativity, problem-solving skills, and coding concepts such as simple drawing, simple variables, advanced string handling, text drawing, simple loops, and basic math.
PBS Learning Media online activity for elementary school and middle school students. In this blended lesson supporting literacy skills, students learn how animals survive the change in conditions that occurs each winter.
Students develop their literacy skills as they explore a science focus on varied physical and behavioral adaptations.
Science Friday is a producer of high quality, fact-checked, and trustworthy science news and educational programming.
They offer educational and entertaining science experiences through videos, podcasts, digital media, live events, citizen science, K-12 education and professional development, and at-home learning activities for families that directly serve hundreds of thousands of educators, parents, citizen scientists, and lifelong learners every year.
Science Friday also offers lesson plans, that include links to the national science standards addressed in the lesson.
Standard time is the synchronization of clocks within a geographical area or region to a single time standard
During the 19th century, scheduled trains required time standardization in the industrialized world.
Standard time was not enacted into US law until the 1918 Standard Time Act established standard time in time zones; the law also instituted daylight saving time (DST).
This lesson explains some details of the history of time standardization in the United States.
The London Underground (also
known as the Underground, or by its nickname the Tube) is a public
rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent
counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United
Kingdom.
The Underground has its
origins in the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground
railway. Opened in 1863, it is now part of the Circle, Hammersmith &
City and Metropolitan lines; the first line to operate underground
electric traction trains, the City & South London Railway in
1890, is now part of the Northern line. The network has expanded to
11 lines, that collectively hadle approximately 4,8 million
passengers a day. (Source Wikipedia)
This lesson by TED-Ed
teaches how the London subway system was first developed.
