Inspirational English, Issue 35

Issue 35 March 2017

A monthly e-zine for inspiring English teachers

Dear reader, This month we are exploring the theme of HAPPINESS. I wonder what triggers send your mood sky high.

Here’s my HAPPINESS list: • When I do or see a random act of kindness • Quality time with my family • When I travel and meet new people • Knitting- my latest passion • When a student has had an “AHA” moment • My favourite Zumba class

INSIDE

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Museum of Happiness Teaching makes her HAPPY IATEFL Global Issues SIG

Dr Wayne Dyer said:

“Happiness is not something that you get in life.

Happiness is something that you bring to life.”

So what have you done today to make yourself or other people happy?

Moodzie Reading makes us happy Competition HAPPY conversation starters Easy

English

Kids’ corner

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If you want to have your views published in “Inspirational English”, answer next month's question, which is:

Send your answer to: info@englishwithrussie.co.uk

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“Inspirational English” talks to Shamash Alidina, one of the founders of the Museum of Happiness.

The Museum of Happiness is a nonprofit organisation that provides an experiential adventure, where people of all ages and backgrounds can learn more about the essence of happiness and well-being.

By using interactive exhibitions, workshops and events, they offer sciencebased techniques that people can implement into their everyday lives.

The team believes in the following principles:

Hi Shamash. Can you tell me how you came up with the idea of the Museum of Happiness?

based on our values of kindness, creativity, community and mindfulness.

Several things came together that gave me and my co-founder the idea. Firstly, I saw an advert by a fizzy drinks company almost promising people happiness if they bought the drink. That seemed untrue to me. Secondly, I met a volunteer at an event whose parents built and managed the Museum of Nonsense (Nonseum). And thirdly, I discovered that depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide.

You believe that “Happiness arises from 'we', not just 'me'”. Can you share with our readers about an event that you organised and what positive impact it has had on the community?

Putting all these facts together, I googled museum of happiness and found nothing. So my co-founder and I decided to work together to create the world's first museum of happiness,

He then noticed the Museum of Happiness at the back and walked in. We had a free drop in meditation class happening. The man was shivering with cold so a couple of people offered him their scarf and a blanket. Then the

•Be accessible to all, whatever their financial position - offering free or donation places when we can afford to do so

Shamash Alidina is the author of the book “Mindfulness for Dummies” and founder of “Teach Mindfulness and Happier World”.

For more info:

A few weeks ago a homeless person came to the canvas cafe to enjoy a cup of coffee, as the cafe offers 'pay it forward' coffees.

•Be as much volunteer run as possible - give from the heart for the joy of giving •Don't spend too much time fundraising - trust people will support us along the way to be self-sustaining

ShamashAlidina.com MuseumofHappiness.org Facebook.com/shamashalidina Twitter.com/shamashalidina

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teacher did a beach visualisation to help him to feel warmer. He began to stop shivering and started smiling.

He then went on to share that just a few weeks before, he was contemplating suicide as he felt so disconnected from society. The museum was a place of refuge for him, and he continued to attend classes regularly over the next few weeks.

We are very proud of him and what the museum offered to him in a time of need. :-)

Do you organise any “happy” activities for students? If so, would you tell us more about them?

We are in talks with a major university to offer a pop up museum of happiness with activities like a gratitude tree, mindful colouring in and even some yoga, meditation and silent disco.

Our co-founders specialise in working with youth and we hope to offer more specialised classes in the future.

Many of our classes are already accessible to young people too, as they are fun!

Teachers find it hard to make young students see the beauty all around us. Can you share any successful practices that we can implement in the classroom?

Students are under a lot of pressure and often sleep deprived too, so it is hard for them to see beauty around them.

I'd recommend offering relaxation classes to students. And that could be followed by some quiet time doing drawing or art. When they are more rested and relaxed, they will naturally begin to see the beauty around them.

Another idea is to encourage students to write down or share three things they are grateful for, every day. They will then begin to feel more positive and notice more positive things around them too.

Do you plan to organise any online “Happy” projects for international schools so that “Happiness” and “Compassion” could be spread around the world?

Yes! We are currently planning an online fun event which everyone will be able to sign up for free. Sign up your email on our website if you want to stay in the loop about that.

Finally, what “Happy” events have you organised for 20th March, the International Day of Happiness?

We plan to do two things. One the weekend before, we plan to offer a day filled with happiness related Playshops and activities. The exact details are a secret.

And on the day itself, we are planning to offer a range of Facebook Live talks online, all about different organisations and what they are doing to spread not only happiness but radical love - love that can make the world a kinder, more happy place to be. We're excited about that!

Thank you, Shamash

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CRISTINA CABAL

C

ristina is an English teacher from Spain.

She runs her own

blog “Blog de Cristina” (http://www.cristinacabal.com), which provides a great choice of teaching materials and ideas. Her expertise is “bringing textbooks” to life and her lesson plans usually involve using new tools to spice up our lessons.

Image Credit-Cristina Cabal

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Hi Cristina, It’s an honour for me to have you on TEACHERS TALK. Your blog has been awarded “Featured Blog of the Month” by the British Council three times. Congratulations! Your amazing work inspires so many other teachers to be creative in class. But what drives you to create new and innovative lesson plans?

That’s a good question and I have two answers for that.

The first thing that comes to my mind is “because I want to have fun” but I understand that this answer is probably not politically correct so,quite frankly, although most textbooks are good they tend to be quite repetitive and often they don’t connect 100% with my students’ needs. So, I design activities based on their textbook content, but making them more interactive, interesting and visually more appealing.

You are famous for bringing textbooks “to life” by using technologies. Which three (or 2 )websites/platforms would you recommend to our readers as being userfriendly and easy to utilise even by teachers who know very little about technologies?

Right now, I’d suggest Spark Adobe, Playbuzz and for collaborative projects I would most definitely recommend Google Drive.

Image Credit:|Cristina Cabal

You often take part in workshops where you help many ESL teachers to modernise their lessons. What are the biggest challenges they usually face and share with you?

For me it’s a pleasure to run these workshops because they go from showing a poorly disguised panic to using new technologies to displaying an enthusiasm only comparable to a child given the latest gadget. So, they really want to start integrating technology into their classes, they really want to use new tools to create their own content, they just don’t know how to go about it. And that’s my role, to teach them how to do it and help them be creative; so when the workshop finishes, they have some activities to use in their next class, activities that they have created, and that’s the “aha” feeling that will boost their motivation to continue designing their own activities.

Games and competitions play an important role in your lessons. Which game would you recommend that requires the least preparation and materials?

A game that works really well, requires no preparation and is highly adaptable is the Tic-TacToe (also called Noughts and Crosses). You can revise grammar, vocabulary, phonetics; you can use it to practise speaking, for writing activities... etc. The only limit is your imagination!

Apart from playing games what other methods do you use to encourage your students to be creative?

I believe that giving your students the opportunity to experience success in their learning process is a boost to their motivation. Right now, I am doing lots of collaborative projects where students are responsible for their own learning. They need to present in front of the class and the results are amazing.

Sometimes I want to stand up, give them a big hug and thank them for their effort. (cont. on page 9)

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Image Credit-Cristina Cabal

In January you posted an interesting article about “Keeping our students motivated”. You’ve been a teacher for a long time, Cristina, do you find it more difficult to motivate students, especially teenagers?

I completely agree with you, Cristina. I know that you also teach adults. During my teaching career I have learnt that adults are really conscious about making mistakes. How do you help them overcome this?

Not really. But, something that I know for sure is that enthusiasm is contagious. If you like what you do, your students will catch your enthusiasm and they will probably catch the bug. I’m afraid it also works the other way round.

Yes. It’s true. I think the key is to create a friendly atmosphere where students are able to talk freely and without the teacher interrupting them every single time they make a mistake. Let them see that they can make mistakes and it is not going to be the end of the world but part of their learning process.

It’s true that you need to correct some mistakes, but certainly not all of them and never interrupting them while they are speaking.

When they finish, thank them for their contribution and then tactfully point out two or three mistakes that need to be corrected. This is something they will appreciate.

“I believe that giving your students the opportunity to experience success in their learning process is a boost to their motivation. “

“Create a friendly atmosphere where students are able to talk freely .“ You can follow Cristina’s innovative posts at: http://www.cristinacabal.com and https://www.facebook.com/blogd ecristina/

, u o y k n Tha ! a n i t s i Cr 9

Image credit: Inspirational English 10

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

More than ever we need to communicate and connect with one another to tackle world problems. There’s no us and them – just us. In the IATEFL Global Issues SIG, we are very aware that we are all, students and teachers, citizens of the world. Everything we do affects the rest of the world, and what happens in the rest of the world affects us. Every one of us can make a difference and as teachers we can reinforce this message by what and how we teach. In the Global Issues SIG we believe that we can and should bring global issues into ELT. If you also believe that today more than ever it is vital that we “Care global, teach local”, join us today!

Take a look at our website: http://gisig.iatefl.org. Come along to the Global Issues SIG Pre-Conference event, meet us and join in with some dynamic projects. There is just time (deadline15th March) to sign up for our exciting Pre-Conference Event at the IATEFL Conference in Glasgow on 3rd April 'English in an unstable world'. We are very proud to have GISIG members Nick Bilbrough of the Hands up Project, Judy Boyle of The NO Project, Julie Pratten, Heart ELT, Susan Barduhn, Margit Szesztay and Kieran Donaghy. Joseph Field from the British Council in Jordan will also be with us to talk about the British Council's work with refugees.

We are delighted that the British Council and New Internationalist are proud sponsors of our event.

Margaret Mead

Info: http://gisig.iatefl.org/category/event/glasgow-2017 Register here: http://conference.iatefl.org/sig_pce_gi.html.

We really hope to see you there!

Linda Ruas, Joint Coordinator of the IATEFL Global Issues SIG, has been teaching and training teachers for many years, in Brazil, Japan and now back home in London. Recently she’s worked on short teaching and training projects in São Tomé and Príncipe and in the refugee camp in Calais. She now teaches ESOL and CELTA at Greenwich Community College, London, and, in her spare time, runs the Easier English wiki New Internationalist.

Contact: lindaruas@hotmail.com

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Should we be interested in philosophy or is it only for fools and dreamers? Is it a topic that can be taught and if so how? And most importantly, why? Is philosophy something illusional and useless; how could it be as the pillar on which all sciences are based?

Before tackling these burning questions, let's start by considering the ideas humanity lives and dies for, what is fights for and defends; creativity, endurance, morality and inspirational ideas are all based on philosophy, as the latter is their Mother and their Source. The policy of a human's life, the choices and priorities are the result of the philosophy they hold, whether or not this happens consciously.

Moreover, humans are born with survival instincts but not with instincts that dictate to them what they should think or believe in.

What, how and where to believe and what to need. They are born with the innate ability to think, choose and decide. If egoism ( aka lack of knowledge) leads us to a spiritual desert , philosophy leads us to an oasis that revives and rebuilds the triptych of mind- body and soul.

The value of philosophy is the awakening and clarity of spirit, and by this term we mean the combination of mind (logic and the chain of thoughts) with all the emotional aspects of a human. Every human being eventually reaches a crossroads in his/her life where answers to fundamental questions need to be answered; in order to strike a fine line between balance and integrity.

This is why delving into philosophy helps us comprehend what lies deep down in our souls: in the foundation of societies , what is implied in all kinds of human communication and what causes certain activities, actions and reactions. Otherwise, we mutilate ourselves while following someone else's philosophy of life, their life, not ours.

What then is the cost and the profit to be gained by philosophical contemplation? (If any?)

Throughout history, most people who have been known as great philosophers *aka risk takers* were either persecuted or discriminated, killed and or banished as scape goats. (Socrates , Heraclitus , Epicure, Galileo , Nietzsche, Reich, and so many others).

However, at the same time, those who dared to study, breathe and embody philosophy as a way of life have been the real creators of the values and role models many people used as a compass in life. They were able to look within themselves and they created conscious mindsets and healthy orientations.

As the old adage goes "here's the thorn and here's the rose, too. ’ Do we need light and enlightenment? Fragrance and superiority in spirit? If the answer is yes, then we must ponder and philosophize about the beauty of comprehension that comes after the thorns of ignorance are removed.

Vassiliki Mandalou from Greece speaking on Happiness and Philosophy

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S S E N I P HAP n a l p n o s s e L

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/dragon_

Step 1 What is happiness and how do we know when we are really happy? Let’s ask the kids.

Here are some comments made by a group of 12 year olds: What do you think? Discuss them with a partner and then write you own definition of happiness.

Created by Julie Pratten from

Heart ELT

1 ‘Happiness is the little things in life.’

2 ‘I think happiness is learning new things.’

3 ‘I think love and peace doesn’t always make you happy.’

4 ‘If everybody loved each other, then we wouldn’t have wars and we’d all be happy.’

5 ‘Happiness is coming home again.’

6 ‘I think happiness comes from really simple things, like sharing a meal with friends.’

7 ‘I think there is no such thing as true happiness.’

8 ‘If you are satisfied with your life, you are happy.’

Step 2

Here are some famous quotations about happiness. Which one do you like the best? Why? ‘A grateful heart is a beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility. It is a foundation for the development of such virtues as prayer, faith, courage, contentment, happiness, love, and well-being.’ James E. Faust ‘Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.’

Dalai Lama ‘Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.’

Jim Rohn ‘Be so happy, so that when others look at you, they will be happy too.’

Winnie the Pooh (Continues on page 14)

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S S E N I P HAP n o s s Le plan Image credit: https://pixabay.com isakarakus

Step 3 Read the story and answer the questions.

The Old Man and the Sack When Aydin was walking along the road into town he met an old man who was frowning and looking miserable. “What’s wrong?” he asked. The old man held up an old sack and moaned, “All that I own in this wide world hardly fills this old sack.”

“Too bad,” said Aydin, and with that, he snatched the bag from the man’s hands and ran down the road with it. When the old man realised that he had lost everything, he burst into tears and continued walking into town, even more miserable than before.

Meanwhile, Aydin quickly ran around the bend in the road and placed the sack in the middle of the road where he knew the old man would find it. When he saw his bag in front of him in the road, he laughed with joy, and shouted, “Oh, my lovely sack! I thought I’d lost you!”

Watching through the bushes, Aydin laughed. “Well, that’s one way to make someone happy again!”

Adapted from a Sufi Story from the Middle East

1. What do you think the old man had in the sack?

2. Why did Aydin take the old man’s sack?

3. What is the moral of the story?

4. Did you make anyone happy today? If so, how?

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In this text about the relationship between money and happiness some words have been replaced by the names of vegetables. Can you guess what those words should be?

At times when the is in trouble, this doesn’t always mean that won’t be happy. It just means that people have to try to share the more equally. It also makes people think twice about what really is. The good news is that is not directly linked to how much someone has. If you look at the charts, which show the of two surveys on . The show that when people get enough to live on and earn enough to not be , this doesn’t mean that they are happier. In fact, one of the charts shows that the level of can actually go down when people have a higher

Source: UN Inclusive Wealth report 2012, from Layard 2005

This is because the more earn, the more they want; and it is more difficult to feel satisfied. And try to maintain keep the level of they have always had. This also leads to stress.

When study the relationship between and , or and , they find that they are not really related. But equality (when there is less difference between the richest and the poorest in a ) is related to .

Answer Key Potato = economy, cabbages = people, tomato = money, cucumber = happiness, peas = results, lettuce = poor, onion = income

At times when the economy is in trouble, this doesn’t always mean that people won’t be happy. It just means that people have to try to share the money more equally. It also makes people think twice about what happiness really is. The good news is that happiness is not directly linked to how much money someone has. If you look at the charts, which show the results of two surveys on happiness. The Sources: Ipsos ( Nov 2011 survey) /IMF

graphs show that when people get enough money to live on and earn enough money to not be poor, this doesn’t mean that they are happier. In fact, one of the charts shows that the level of happiness can actually go down when people have a higher income.

Text adapted from an article by Michael Roscoe called ‘Why Things Are Going To Get Worse And Why We Should Be Glad’, published by New Internationalist.

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Image credi: https://pixabay.com, Pezibear

Lesson plan

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Teacher’s

notes

Step 1 Speed chatting Write the question “What would you be willing to sacrifice to be happy?” on the board. Ask the class to make two rows facing each other. Then, encourage the students to ask each other the question, pointing out that they have only 1 min to do it. Once the time is up, one of the rows rotates so each learner has a new partner. Repeat the process several times.

Then ask the students to share the ideas they have come up with.

Step 2 Speaking Show the quote and ask the students how they understand it.

Step 3 Let’s learn some vocabulary The words below can successfully replace the word HAPPINESS. What are the missing letters?

C_nt_n_m_nt

En_o_m_nt

L_ug_te_

P_a_e of m_n_

Ch_ _ rf_lne_ _

Pl_ _ f_lne_ _

H_p_f_lne_ _

Bl_s_e_n_s_

Key- Contentment, Enjoyment, Laughter, Peace of mind, Cheerfulness, Playfulness, Hopefulness, Blessedness

Step 4 Reading Photocopy the reading activity and hand it out. Ask your students to match the headings with the right paragraph. After you check the answers, brainstorm some other ways to live happily.

Step 5 Making a collage The last step could be done on paper or using a computer. The students work in small groups and design a collage entitled: “How can we stop chasing happiness?”

(Continues on page 19)

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MATCH THE HEADINGS WITH THE RIGHT PARAGRAPH A)Energize yourself in the morning.

B)Decide what you really want to do.

C)Take small daily steps.

D)Remove things that prevent happiness

E)Look after your body.

F)Practice living in the present.

G)Make serving others a regular habit.

H)Separate your happiness from your achievements.

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Letting go of past regrets and future anxieties is not easy, but it’s the fastest way to live a full and enjoyable life. Think about enjoying each moment for its own unique role in the ongoing narrative of your life. If you want a short mantra to keep in mind: be here now.

If you think you know what you want and you’re determined that it will make you happy, at least decide on small daily steps that you can take to get there.

Setting unrealistical goals that you never get to finish is far less fulfilling than setting small goals that you can finish and appreciate— and ones that let you know you’re on the right track.

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A lot of people that are searching for happiness will end up with “shiny object syndrome.” This is what happens when they bounce from goal to goal because they’re looking for something (or someone) to take away all their suffering.Knowing yourself and what you truly want can help you develop purpose and focus—so much so that you don’t even have time to waste pondering happiness.

We all need to learn to separate our happiness from our achievements. It’s okay to feel content with our lives simply because we have an inherent sense of self-worth. Reaching our goals can obviously bolster this feeling and give us a deep sense of accomplishment, but the absence of achievement should not mean the absence of happiness.

This is actually a lot more important than finding things to make you happy.

Are you in a toxic relationship? Do you dislike your job? Are you eating a lot of unhealthy food?

These things all need to go before you start to seek happiness; otherwise, they can hold you back and you may never be satisfied.

One key habit of unhappy people that we often don’t talk about is that they are inherently self-centred. This doesn’t mean that they are bad people by any means. It just means their minds spend a disproportionate amount of time focused on the self.

Helping others is one way to break this pattern of attention from “How am I feeling?” to “How are you feeling?” There are a lot of studies that show that giving to others is more rewarding than receiving.

3 From

muscular tension that can trap emotions to serotonin production and bacterial imbalances in your gut, your body is the number one vehicle that will allow you to experience joy and satisfaction, so treat it with care!

4 As much as we like to think we have control and autonomy when it comes to our feelings, the truth is that momentum is a huge factor.

Morning routines have been a keystone habit of content and successful people throughout history, and for good reason; starting your day with a spiritual practice, a physical practice, and a healthy breakfast may not seem like much, but compounded over years, it can make all the difference in the world to your well-being.

Key- a-4, b-6, c-2, d-8, e-3, f-1, g-5, h-7 I would like to thank Benjamin Fishel for letting me use his article “Stop Chasing Happiness: 17 Alternative Ways to Live Your Best Possible Life” to create this lesson plan.

You can read his article here: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/stop-chasing-happiness-17-alternative-ways-live-best-possible-life/

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L e ss

n a l on p

Topic: Happiness Aims: To practise Speaking and writing skills/To talk about happiness/ to practise narrative tenses Age group: teenagers/ adults Level: A2/B1 Materials: worksheet with the Words ( page 21) and the photo Time: 1 hour Created by “Inspirational English�

Show the picture and ask your students to specualte on it Come up with some questions to make them think, such as:

Divide the students into groups for the next stages. If possible have an even number of groups. Hand out the worksheet with the words( page 21) and ask them to put them into categories. They can choose what the name of the categories will be. Explain any unafamiliar vocabulary.

Image credit:https://pixabay.com/Pezibear

Tell the students they need to write a story using at least 15 of the words. Point out that they have to use appropriate narrative tenses, e.g. Past Simple and Past Continuous tense.

If necessary, revise them or do the activity after the tenses have been taught.

The story has to end with the following sentence: Set a time limit . While the students are creating the story, walk around and check for errors.

When the students are ready. Ask them to post their stories on the wall without writing their names. The students walk around, read the stories and have to vote for the best one.

Ask the students to illustrate the BEST story.. If you have access to the Internet in class, they could do it online using :https://www.mystorybook.com.

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Although

Broke

Lonely

Letter

Collar

Teddy Bear

Excited

When

Police

Cliff

Windy

Surprise

Enormous

As soon as

Slippers

Lost

Cry

Soft

Jump

Sunset

Tiring

Pleased

Tree

Dark

Radio

While

High

News

Smile

Sleigh

Eager

Joyful

Suddenly

Open

Blanket

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Lesson Plan Mother’s Day, sometimes known as Mothering Sunday, is held on the fourth Sunday of Lent. It is exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday and usually falls in the second half of March or early April. People usually buy a card and flowers. It is common to treat your mum with a meal out.

Mothering Sunday was originally a time when people returned to the church, in which they were baptized or where they attended services when they were children. This meant that families were reunited as adults returned to the towns and villages where they grew up. In time, it became customary for young people who were working as servants in large houses, to be given a holiday on Mothering Sunday. They could use this day to visit their own mother and often took a gift of food or hand-me-down clothing from their employers to her. In turn, this moved towards the modern holiday, on which people still visit and take gifts to their mothers.

Mother’s Day To practise Speaking and Listening skills.

Talking about past events teenagers/ adults

Stage 1 Ask the students to think of a word to describe their mum. Write down the words on the board and ask some of your pupils to tell you why they have chosen this word.

Stage 2 If possible, bring a picture in which you and your mum are doing something special, for example, she is teaching you how to cook or knit.

Students love to hear our stories so why don´t you tell them a story about a precious moment that you shared with your mum.

Stage 3 Put the students in groups of four and show them the pictures. Ask them to imagine they are one of the children in the photos. They have to imagine they are old now and tell you a story about the time this photo was taken.

Where were they? What were they doing? Why is it a special moment for them?

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Spice Girls’ song “Mama” The lyrics to the song Before the lesson ask the students to bring a photo of their mum and themselves

Picture 1:James Goodman, Flickr.com, Creative Commons

Created by “Inspirational English”

Picture 2: Lou Bueno, Flickr.com, Creative Commons

Image credit:

Picture 3: AJ. Mat, Flickr.com, Creative Commons

.

Picture 4: es1123, Flickr.com, Creative Commons

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Teacher’s notes- Mother’s Day Ask your students what they would do on Mother´s day to make their mother feel special. Would they make something or maybe take her out to a spa centre? Or they could dedicate a song to their mum on their favourite radio show. Ask them if they know any songs dedicated to a mother.

Tell the students that you are going to play the song “Mama” by the Spice Girls. If they haven´t heard about the British band, you can tell them they were really popular in the 90s.Play the song and ask them to think about the relationship between the protagonist and the mother. Here´s a link to the video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsNbhwSXDB8

After you play the song, you can show them the lyrics and talk about the feelings that the song conveys.

Do they have a similar relationship with their mother? How does the song make them feel?

Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/spicegirls/mama.html

Ask the students to work in small groups again and tell them to show the pictures they have brought. Let them talk about why they have chosen this picture and also a special moment they had with their mum.

For homework you can ask them to write a poem or a song dedicated to their mother.

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USING SONGS IN CLASS BRINGS SO MUCH FUN. THEY CONNECT CULTURES AND LANGUAGES AND ENCOURAGE CREATIVITY. HERE’S SOME TIPS HOW YOU CAN USE THEM.

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MOODZIE The creator of Moodzie is Natalie Clarke, who is a professional Special Education, Information Technology and Nutrition teacher from Australia.

After working for many years as a Special Education teacher and particularly with children with ASD, I felt there was a huge need to help children to control their emotions. This is what stops children from being effectively engaged in learning and life.

I have been helping children with special needs for years. In 2016, I had the opportunity to work at an Autism school and had six students with very high needs. Even though Moodzie was not born then, I practiced using every strategy that I had as a teacher for the last 25 years to help my students.

My 10 year old son has ASD and I have also used these strategies from when he was very little. He is high functioning as a result and has created his first app and youtube channel.

Moodzie is the Ambassador for Life Learning Apps and will help Millions of children worldwide through this program.

This Christmas, I was floating in my pool and I had the idea that I needed a cute little creature to represent my apps and especially my mood toolbox. My son with ASD adores Pokémon and so Moodzie was born. He is sensitive to the world and changes colour depending on his mood.

I knew was I going in the right direction when a feather dropped on my lap.

I design apps for children, but the mini apps such as my manifesting Jar can be used for adults. They do contain a parental lock for weblink in the apps so that children can safely use it too.

I also have a range of other apps for adults such as: Alchemy Apps: Touch the character and get positive messages.

Bride’s Alchemy, Santa’s Alchemy, Pregnancy Alchemy/ Where’s the bride? A bridal quiz with games. Available on Apple, google play and amazon apps.

Boy or girl game? A pregnacy quiz with games. Available on Apple, google play and amazon apps.

Halloween quiz: Apple watch, IOS and Google play and Amazon.

( continues on page 27)

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How can Moodzie be used by teachers and students?

Mood tool box is an integrated program for both home and the classroom. Moodzie is the main character and shows children how to regulate their emotions and how they are feeling is determined by what colour this sensitive creature turns.

The free resources from my site at www.ifelearningapps.com •Story: Moodzie chooses happy.

Free Ibook on apple PDF: Free Download •Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel /UC204GGokw2J5pjtk5jgXEEw

These are wall posters that are constant reminders to children about what Moodzie they are and what strategies can assist them with regulating their emotions.

Moodzie has great tips to help give children strategies for their moods.

Tips from life learning apps: http://www.lifelearningapps.com /moodzie-loves/ https://www.facebook.com/lifele arningapps/ : https://www.instagra m.com/moodzie_lifelearningap ps/ Additional materials are also available to schools and parents such as certificate templates, colouring and game templates. http://www.lifelearningapps.co m/moodtoolbox/

The Moodtool box is currently being built and there are two mini apps already released. Once each of the strategies are explored, the whole toolbox will be released. It will also monitor what strategies worked when the child uses it and record the date and the time. If you subscribe to www.lifelearningapps.com you will get updates for new apps released and Moodzie’s tips.

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READING MAKES US HAPPY

Reading English makes me learn more me to have a correct structure of senknowledge as well as makes me love tences and paragraphs. This keeps reading so much. It helps me to improve abreast with the recent global happenand enhance my intelligence in English ings. Lastly, I can relate and understand world. It teaches me to practice and those articles written in English that develop the way of speaking together makes me more interested in reading. with correct pronunciation. I can encoun- Through these things, I am so happy and ter and explore different English words being happy makes me create a differthat makes my vocabulary sharpened. In ence. exploring English words, I can familiar- Christine Joy L. Evangelista, ize those unfamiliar words. It also leads Grade 11

I feel happy when reading English unfamiliar words familiar to me. Haparticles because it is one of the factors piness from reading is indeed irrewhy I acquire more knowledge on how placeable. to speak in English, how to correct my Hanna Mae E. Baduyen grammars, and my pronunciation. It is also one of the key that helps me understand people from different countries and socialize confidently with them. While reading English articles, happiness is seen in my face because I know I can gain wisdom and make

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READING MAKES US HAPPY

“ I feel happy when I read English articles.�

Reading English makes me more intel- through reading, appreciate different ligent. It is the key to gain knowledge cultures and keep me updated on glothrough exploring the world of wisdom. bal issues.

It sharpens my vocabulary; it enhances my way of speaking including pronun- Jelly May R. Tandaguen ciation and reduces my regional accent.

It entertains me. My vacant time would not be wasted. It provides me some information. It teaches me about the different issues around the world. Most of all, I learned to connect worldwide

I feel happy when I read English arti- Love reading English because it makes cles. It gives me more knowledge and me up-to-date. helps me improve my English especial- Sofia F. Adap ly my pronunciation. Reading is the best and easiest way to learn and gather information. The most interesting in reading is that we feel that we are exploring the world and we know what happens around the world. Reading English articles is not difficult, try to analyse it and you will understand it. I

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COMPETITION

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Frank & Russie’s Little Big Adventures Chapter 5 Hi from the city of Bath. Russie and I have just arrived and after a light breakfast we are ready to explore the city. My first impression is that it looks very beautiful and different from Oxford. My teacher says that this city has some fine examples of Georgian architecture.

However, what the city is most famous for is the Roman Baths, which is a well-preserved complex for public bathing. We buy our tickets and go inside. I have to admit that I don’t like the smell but I find the building stunning. There are signs everywhere which warn us not to touch the water because it carries a lot of infectious diseases. Then we go into the museum where we can see a lot of artefacts dating back from the Roman time when the baths became very popular. What I find fascinating is the collection of 12,000 Roman coins.

After our extensive walk in the Roman baths, we head to the Jane Austen centre. From my literature lessons I know that she was a very popular 18th century British writer. Some of her best novels are: “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility”.

When we approach the centre, a wax figure of the famous author welcomes us and a man who introduces himself as Mr Darcy bows. Russie tells me that he is one of the main characters in “Pride and Prejudice” and she would love to have some cream tea with him in the wonderful Regency Tea Room.

When we step inside, I feel like going back in time because we meet a lot of costumed ‘character’ guides. A friendly lady takes us around and tells us about the time Jane Austen spent here and how her life in Bath was depicted in her books.

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Before we leave, we decide to have some cream tea and of course, Mr Darcy joins us. My teacher is really over the moon and doesn’t stop chatting with him about the impressive exhibition and life in Bath.

CROSSWORD

While strolling around the narrow cobbled streets, I notice quite a few statues of pigs and I am curious as to why they have been placed there. Russie explains that there is an old legend according to which:

KING BLADUD

We are now quite tired, so we start looking for a bench to chill out on. Then we hear the “Happy” tune of the Ice cream Van. .. “Right on time”, I think. Russie and I treat ourselves with some yummy Mr Whippy. While sitting on a bench at the big square, we see a group of dancers, who are singing and dancing using long sticks. They are wearing white costumes decorated with bells and rosettes. I turn to my teacher to find who they are and she patiently explains that they are called Morris dancers.

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Traditional English Form of Dancing

Morris dancing is a traditional English folklore form of dance which is based on rhythmic stepping. The dancers wear bell pads on their shins.

They often wield swords, handkerchiefs and sticks. The most common instruments used in the dance are drums, a fiddle and a pipe. The earliest records of Morris dancing dates back from 1400s.

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Hey, that was free entertainment and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We have an hour left before we take the bus to our next destination so we take a walk through the elegant Victoria Park and head off to the famous Royal Crescent. This is a row of 30 terraced houses which were built in the 17 t h century and are a fine example of Georgian Architecture. We find lots of young people there taking photos so we don’t miss the chance to take a selfie. I have been told that many noble people have lived in this magnificent building and also some scenes from the popular film “The Duchess” were shot here.

It’s time for our bus now and we are heading to … No, we will keep it a secret but we’ll give you a clue.

“To be or not to be.”

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Glossary Stunning- extremely attractive or impressive To depict- to describe something in words, or give an impression of something in words or with a picture Stroll- to walk somewhere in a slow relaxed way Leprosy- an infectious disease that causes painful white areas on the skin and can destroy nerves and flesh Swineherd- a person whose job is to take care of pigs Handkerchief- a small piece of material or paper that you use for blowing your nose, etc.

Rosette-a round decoration made of ribbon

Read the story and decide if the statements are TRUE, FALSE or No Information: 1. The Roman baths are still used for bathing.

2. Frank studied about Jane Austen in his Literature lessons.

3. Jane Austen was born in Bath.

4. Frank and Russie can see many pigs in the city of Bath.

5. King Bladud died in Bath.

6. Frank and Russie dance with the Morris dancers.

7. Royal Crescent was built before the 18th century.

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HI KIDS. DID YOU FIGURE OUT WHERE MAGIC COMES FROM?LET’S ASK POLLY AND SEE IF SHE KNOWS.

“From the heart,” Polly suggests.

“You’re almost right, “Jimmy says. “It comes from LOVE! So, you see, you are the one who created the MAGIC all along, not your wand.

Here, take this stick.”

Polly gives Jimmy a curious look but decides to play along and takes the stick anyway.

“Now,” Jimmy instructs, “Close your eyes and imagine that you are holding your wand.”

“But I am not, “Polly says, “I’m holding a stick!”

“Trust me.” Jimmy interrupts her.

So Polly closes her eyes and pretends she is holding her wand. Jimmy tells her to cast a spell that will make all the snowdrops turn blue. Polly mumbles something magical under her breath, waves the stick high in the air and there’s a sudden flash.

When she opens her eyes…

What do you think happens when Polly opens her eyes? Find out in the next issue.

TO BE CONTINUED

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s m o i d I y p Hap

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What makes us happy?

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Words related to HAPPINESS

BLISS CHEERFULNESS CONTENT DELIGHT HOPEFULNESS JOY LAUGHTER PLAYFULNESS SMILE

Can you come up with a witty caption using the word HAPPINESS? Image Credit: https://pixabay.com, ambermb

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http://www.cristinacabal.com/

http://www.regipio.com/

https://creativeelt.wordpress.com/

http://www.lifelearningapps.com/

http://www.teachingcove.com/about/

http://gisig.iatefl.org/

http://snstouch.com/teacher/en.html?type=11

http://www.readlistenlearn.net/

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Do you want INSPIRATIONAL ENGLISH to reach other inspiring teachers and students who love the language?

Share it!

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Crossword-page 33 Across: 4. candle,5. passion, 7. teddy, 10. marriage, 11. date Down: 1. cuddle, 2. Cupid, 3. kiss, 4. Chocolate, 6. wedding, 8. card, 9. restaurant

Did you know that having a pet helps children grow up more confident and kind? US psychologists claim that young adults who care for an animal have stronger social relationships.

Image credit: pages 4 & 5- Museum of Happiness pages 1, 10, 28 & 47 Floognianov_photography pages 26 & 27 Natalie Clarke pages 29 & 30 Mario Samollo pages 2, 3, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 46 Inspirational English Design- Inspirational English

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See you in April!

Contact details: info@englishwithrussie.co.uk http://www.englishwithrussie.co.uk/