Fab English ideas

Why is December always so busy? OK, I know there’s Christmas etc. but that’s not until the end of the month, and we’ve got holidays to look forward to. I agree the exam marking and report writing can be time-consuming, yes there’s prezzies to buy everyone, menus to plan, beds to change and houses to clean for the guests (every time my husband catches me cleaning he asks who’s coming over, he’s rarely wrong!)

1. Apart from, or because of all that, it’s even more important to feed your passion when times are tough, so once again I’ll be following #teacher5aday, especially #teacher5adaycalendar

2. Webinars are taking a back seat at this busy time of year, but I’m still busy with, and really enjoying the International House course  I’m doing at the moment.

3. Christmas in class- the British Council have plenty of ideas, but I must admit a weakness for busy teacher.org which always has a million worksheets for every occasion.

4. Finally, but to be honest pretty high up on the list at the moment – TAKE A HOLIDAY! – Have a break, recharge the batteries, spend time with people I love, eat, drink, be merry, rest, #exercise, #notice, #learn, #volunteer and especially #connect.

Merry, wonderful and happy holidays everyone!

While I feel a bit uncomfortable blowing my own trumpet with you, I must just share how excited I am about this…

My new (and first!) “book”!! Even more exciting is the fact that it’s being marketed on The Round, which if you don’t know it, is an independent publishing platform created by Lindsay Clandfield and Luke Meddings, both of whom where great help on this adventure.

It’s actually a downloadable pdf, this format works much better because basically it’s packed full of autonomous activities, so the idea is that you print it off (onto coloured paper?), cut and laminate, then hey presto, you have an eternal well of quick ideas for students who finish an activity before the rest of the class.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and have only two things to say:

a) If you’ve never published anything, then do it NOW! It’s much easier (and cheaper!) than you think.

b) I’ve already got a couple of ideas for my next publishing adventure!

I’m still in the middle of  the #teacher5adayPE challenge and actually starting to “enjoy” wallsits and there’s #teacher5adaysketch to look forward to. I’m the new kid on the playground so I don’t know what’s been done before but I wanted to suggest another half-term challenge in the form of #teacher5adaywrite.

The idea is to choose from one of the following activities each day of the holidays, as with the other challenges it’s all about “having a go”, and discovering new things. The activities can be done on any day you like, there’s no particular order:

1. Write a Haiku

As you know, haikus are seventeen syllables long, three lines of five, seven and five. Traditionally they are on the subject of nature, and it’ll do you good to get out so off you go.

2. Write the first line to your bestseller

We’ve all got a book in us, and it’s actually very liberating to write it. Remember it doesn’t have to be any good, you don’t have to show it to anyone or try and publish it but that shouldn’t stop you writing it (or them) anyway. I’ve never found time to join the National Novel Writing Month challenge but it looks great.

3. Write a Hadfield Poem

I’ve written previously about this idea from Charles Hadfield that I just love, the following frame makes for great little poems, even if you’re as uncreative as I am:

Line 1: Where
Line 2 : a (adjective) (person)
Line 3 : What are they doing
Line 4: What are they thinking of

for example

The Morning Brainstorm
Hunched over the kitchen table
The cold-toed teacher
Blurring her fingers on the keyboard
Thinking about thinking

4. Write an article

If you’re not reading journals dedicated to your field then this is the opportunity to leaf through a few and find your own voice on something you feel strongly about. Like your novel, you don’t have to send it to be published, but then again, why not?

5. Blog

If you don’t blog then you can tell me below why, if you do then now is the chance to reflect on what you get from blogging and tell us all about it. Remember to add a link to your post in the comments below.

6. Write a mission statement

Just like any successful venture, you need a mission statement, so take the time to have a think about it, and then write it somewhere that you can refer back to from time to time. Don’t forget that it will need updating occasionally, after all, we are all work in progress!

7. To-do list

You know how much I love a to-do list, well the holidays are the perfect opportunity to take note of where you are and where you need to go during the next half-term.

Please let me know how you get on with this challenge and add your own ideas below!