Training English Language Teachers & Zumbini® Instructors Blog

Love how Skye Neville, a ten-year-old from Wales is making a stand on the unnecessary use of plastic!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/23/how-a-10-year-old-from-wales-scored-a-big-win-in-the-war-on-plastic-waste?utm_term=4b9d7dbf03b684ff975d07f5c805163a&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUK_email

If you agree her and want to help her campaign, sign her petition:

https://www.change.org/p/publishers-and-politicians-ban-plastic-toys-on-comics-and-magazines?recruiter=66024519&recruited_by_id=c5dfbdfd-c7a6-498b-a969-1f70ec3f1c2b&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard

Well done Skye for drawing everyone’s attention to this!

Monday 8th March is International Women’s Day. Dress in purple if you want to show your support for gender equality.

Love this video! Even the youngest of these children can see how unfair it is that the boy is rewarded more for the same job! If only the decision makers and CEOs in industry start leading by example.

As teachers, we need to be aware of the images with use in class with our students. Children can have stereo-typining ingrained! We can change that!

Check out this fabulous experiment done by a teacher trying to challenge any assumptions her pupils might have on whether professions are gender specific!

• 

EQUAL WORK.

EQUAL PAY!

Who doesn’t love a good fairy tale? It could be a traditional tale or a real-life tale.

With children, we can go with traditional tales like Little Red Riding hood. Here in Learn with us 1, I gave the fairytale a twist so we are working on food:

Or the traditional tale of the tortoise and the hare which I tell here as Mr Rabbit and Mr. Turtle from Learn with us 1.

There are plenty of real-life fairy tales like the one of Owen and Mzee, which the children love:

Enjoy Fairytale Day!

Although International Cat Day isn’t until 8 August, 22 February has been adopted by Internet users from a festival which orginated in Japan.

Just read this article about cats being the unsung heroes of the pandemic! We have got three and they certainly keep us occupied and amused, so I can understand why cat owners have voted that they felt less alone during the pandemic!

https://people.com/pets/cat-quarantine-bonding-during-pandemic-survey/

I have to say that for the children in my English classes and my Zumbini babies and toddlers, Pete the cat is still their favourite:

Check out Pete the cat’s website for more stories, songs and materials: https://www.petethecatbooks.com/

20 February is the World Day for Social Justice and the idea behind this day is to encourage people to think more about social justice and how there is still a wide gap between the rich and the poor.

This day actually highlights key concerns in the Sustainable Development Goals like poverty, exclusion, and unemployment.

The children in our classes may feel overwhelmed by this and that there is not much they can do as an individual or indeed as a child but if they are connected to the Internet, they can always remember to click on the Greater Good link to combat world hunger. It’s free and the site’s sponsors fund food and support for the hungry.

https://thehungersite.greatergood.com/clicktogive/ths/home

If the children are worried about animals, they could also click on:

https://thehungersite.greatergood.com/clicktogive/ars/home?gg_source=logonav&gg_medium=sitenav&gg_campaign=THS

Whilst they are there they can also contribute to the environment by clicking on:

https://thehungersite.greatergood.com/clicktogive/trs/home?gg_source=logonav&gg_medium=sitenav&gg_campaign=ARS

If they click on:

https://thehungersite.greatergood.com/clicktogive/ggc/home?gg_source=ctgtabs&gg_medium=sitenav&gg_campaign=VET

the site’s sponsors fund food for hungry people and animals, health care, education and other important causes.

Just looking for materials to work on Sustainable Development Goals and came across these lovely poems by Topher Kearby on empathy and kindness.

Hi. I’ve had some messages about how you can sign up for ELTOC 2021 next week.

Here is the link to be able to register:

https://elt.oup.com/events/global/eltoc-2021?cc=global&selLanguage=en

And here is the schedule:

https://view.pagetiger.com/ELTOC-2021-global-schedule

This is what I will be talking about.

Look forward to seeing you there!

I will be giving a webinar on March 23 and 24 for Oxford University Press Italy on Citizenship and Sustainable Development Goals. I have discovered that March has so many important dates linked to both of these that it seems like a great time to start working on SDGs in your classes if you haven’t already.

https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/un/

Education in values and citizenship and Education for Sustainable Development Goals are essential for the survival of our planet and for us to live happily but they are especially important in times like these and need to be an integral part of our teaching and not something just tagged on almost as an after-thought. 

The values of Citizenship are even more critical in the face of Covid-19, when we have to come together as a community, not just our local community but on a national and global level. 

Important dates

March 1 is is Zero Discrimination Day, an annual worldwide event that promotes diversity and recognizes that everyone counts.

Check out:

https://www.unaids.org/en/2021_ZDD_campaign_end_inequalities, for more information

March 3 – World wildlife Day

Check out the UN website: https://www.wildlifeday.org/

March 8 is International Women’s Day.

Check out: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

March 20 – International Day of Happiness

https://www.un.org/en/observances/happiness-day

Check out this video from 2017.

or

Older students may like Pharrell William’s UN speech from 2015.

March 21 – International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

International Day of Forests

World Down Syndrome Day

It is amazing that the UN has March 21 assigned to three very special causes.

https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-racism-day

https://www.un.org/en/observances/forests-and-trees-day

https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/world-down-syndrome-day-2021/

March 22 – World Water Day

Often my students do not realise how lucky they are to have clean, safe running water to consume.

https://www.worldwaterday.org/

https://www.un.org/en/observances/water-day

I will try and add materials on these special days in the weeks ahead.

https://elt.oup.com/feature/global/learn-with-us/?cc=global&selLanguage=en

So pleased to announce the arrival of the international Learn with us!

How can you bring your classroom to life with engaging real life content?

Take a look at Oxford University Press’s new primary course!

“Everyone smiles in the same language!” So true! When I read this quote by George Carlin, I just loved it so I made a postcard from free photos on Pixabay.