I have recently watched an excellent series entitled 'Douglas is cancelled' (I can really recommend this SkyShowtime production),  and it inspired me to plan a lesson on the phenomenon of 'cancel culture'. I ended up preparing a Canva presentation with links to a New York Post article, together with vocabulary work and open questions, as well as a set of listening comprehension and discussion questions based on a CBSN video exploring the question if cancel culture has gone too far maybe. You can find the presentation  here - a cherry on top is 2 paper 1 mock questions- hope you like it!  (key and lesson ideas in the presentation notes)

SKELL ,  or Sketch Engine for Language Learning, ' is a simple tool for students and teachers of English to easily check whether or how a particular phrase or a word is used by real speakers of English.' In other words, SKELL is a powerful online tool that can significantly enhance English language learning. It provides a unique way to explore and understand how words are used in real-world contexts.  Here's a breakdown of its benefits: Key Features and Benefits: Corpus Analysis: SKELL allows users to search through massive collections of text data (corpora) to analyze word usage, frequency, and context. Collocations: It helps identify common word combinations (collocations), which are crucial for natural-sounding language. Concordances: You can find examples of how a word is used in different sentences, providing valuable insights into its meaning and usage. Word Frequency: SKELL shows how often a word appears in the corpus, giving you an idea of its importance and

This is a post meant to share the presentation that I prepared for IATEFL Poland 2024 conference in my home city of Gdańsk, Poland- hope you find it useful and you can see it  here :) but beware..... "If you are looking for yet another enthusiastic presentation of an AI toolbox or tutorial, you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a place to vent about AI and the way it is about to ruin education, you will be even more dissatisfied. If you are, however, looking for ideas on how to introduce AI into your teaching practice as a thinking partner, not a vending machine for ready educational product, you will be in the right place."

  Personalisation is one of the holy graals of teaching, and rightly so, as tasks and content that a student can relate to are a real boost to the effectiveness of the process.  In the era of AI tools, it is definitely easier to create and adapt materials  to give them a personal touch, especially with the new kid on the block- Anti-Quiz Maker:)  ELTcation Anti-Quiz Maker Unlike standard comprehension quizzes that evaluate students' grasp of a text, this tool creates personalized prompts that inspire students to relate to their own experiences, reflect, and produce creative responses.  Simply choose and paste your language material and indicate the age group and proficiency level of your students.  The tool works with any text-based material – such as reading passages, transcriptions of audio or video clips, vocabulary lists, or grammar structures – and generates four distinct types of personalized exploration.  Look what it did with the text on Values from Oxford English B book: A

​ With summer getting closer and closer, everyone somehow seems to feel a need to invite the holiday mood into the classroom:)  Vocabulary memes and meme battles are an excellent idea to bring some fun vibes into YOUR classroom. A great free tool that can be used to this end is the ai-assisted educational platform  Curipod . It is mainly meant to aid you in preparing interactive presentations and full lessons (very much like Nearpod or Preardeck), the option of creating vocabulary memes being just one of many.  Generally, you create a Curipod presentation under the ‚vocabulary meme battle’, where you include the vocabulary items to be used for the memes and present the rules of the game- basically, students are allocated time to create and present vocab memes and then there is a vote which of the memes was most fun. Memes can be easily created with  Canva , or any app you like. Students usually love memes and know better which generators work best:)  Enjoy a meme-based vocab revision,

If you've ever struggled to get your students to truly collaborate during group projects, rather than watch 1 or 2 of them do the heavy lifting while others take a cozy nap,  you know the struggle is real- unfortunately, working in a group does not always mean collaboration….But fear not! We're about to turn your group work headaches into a fun-filled adventure with some lively and effective strategies to get everyone in your classroom to actually collaborate. Let's dive in: Clear Expectations: Let's Set the Stage:   Imagine yourself as the director of a blockbuster movie, setting the scene for your students' group project. Before the curtains rise, you lay down the law with clear objectives and expectations. Make it crystal clear that everyone needs to shine in their own role, whether it's the lead actor, the scriptwriter, or the master editor. Role Allocation: Casting Call!:   Picture your students as a rock band getting ready to rock the stage. Each member ha

​ Tweeting in a classroom sounds like a fun and challenging exercise, that could be used to create opportunities to write, speak, enhance comprehension, especially when working with literary texts. Here are some possible ideas for that: Tweet clues .  Students can create tweets that contain clues about the identity of a character from a literary work, such as their name, appearance, personality, actions, relationships, etc. They can also use hashtags, emojis, or images to enhance their clues. For example, a tweet clue for Sherlock Holmes could be:  I'm a consulting detective with a keen eye for details and a brilliant mind for solving mysteries. I live at 221B Baker Street with my friend and assistant, #ArthurConanDoyle #WhoAmI 🔎🕵️‍♂️ Tweet quotes . Students can create tweets that contain direct or indirect quotes from a character from a literary work, such as their dialogue, thoughts, or narration. They can also use quotation marks, punctuation, and emojis to indicate the tone a