Next meeting: 13 June 2024, at 15:00
Meeting 09 Nov 2023
We grabbed the chance of celebrating International Week of Science and Peace, 9-15 November by United Nations (UN) and talked about intriguing topics: one related to human body & the other one to the possibility of peaceful coexistence on Earth.
How to live longer, according to science – BBC News
Is Peace on Earth Possible? | The Story of Us
Materials worth watching / reading / listening to:
- WHAT IS PEACE? / INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE 2018
- Science’s Greatest Mysteries | BBC Select
- Article & discussion „Designer babies” from Taboos and Issues by Heinle
Meeting 23 Nov 2023
Appearance vs. personality! This and other things related to people’s looks vs. character were discussed today.
Materials worth discussing / watching / listening to:
- The way we look, 6-minute English, by BBC Learning English
- Spelling game (a nice ice-breaker), Bored? Games! by Preston Publishing
- Vocabulary excercises, English File
Meeting 07 Dec 2023
Santa Claus & Christmas time. The most festive time of the year is drawing near! Today we talked about Santa Clause in the film – so far there have been many movies produced with the most liked and awaited gift-giver in the world. We discussed some of them and also dug into the lyrics of some of the Christmas smashing hits we can hear every year on the radio or TV, which in a way herald this special time.
Materials worth discussing / watching / listening to:
- Fred Claus Movie – Part 4/7
- Santa Clause 3 – Meeting scene
- Last Christmas by Wham
- Happy Christmas (War is over) by John Lennon
- Christmas: the Bristish way vs. the American Way, English Matters, no. 91/2021
| Merry Christmas to You ALL | Merry Christmas to You ALL | Merry Christmas to You ALL |
| Merry Christmas to You ALL | Merry Christmas to You ALL | Merry Christmas to You ALL |
Meeting 04 Jan 2024
The media & fun incidents on air, the language of headlines, fake news. We talked about bloopers (=embarrassing mistakes) that can happen live in TV or radio studios. We also analysed the vocab used in newspaper headlines and tried to recognise fake news, doing a fun quiz.
Materials worth discussing / watching / listening to:
- The funny side of the news by BBC
- HOW TO SPOT FAKE NEWS? Recommendations by the European Parliament
- Quiz by BBC Bitesize: Can you spot the fake news stories from October 2023?
- Exercises on MEDIA vocabulary, English File, upper-intermediate
Meeting 01 Feb 2024
Today the topic of our meeting was inspired by the celebration of the International LEGO day, which takes place on the 28th of January. Hmmm… Why not talk about these particular colourful bricks that have been amusing generations of people of all ages for so long. On this ocassion we also touched upon creativity, flexible thining and did some nice communicative brain-teaser.
Materials worth discussing / watching / listening to:
- INTERNATIONAL LEGO DAY 2023 | Guinness World Records
- How limits can boost your creativity | BBC Ideas
- The benefits of flexible thinking | BBC Ideas
- LEGO Designer Stories | International Women’s Day 2022
- Article: „Many shades of meaning” from English Matters, 84, 2020
- Game: „Confusing words” from Bored? Games! by Preston Publishing
Meeting 29 Feb 2024
Global warming, deforestation , soil degradation, loss of biodiversity , wildfires , drought, pollution of different kinds , fossil fuels extraction , resources exploitation, OVERpopoluation, OVERfishing, urban sprawl , fast fashion …
The list seems to have NO end … unfortunately … these seem to be only some of the biggest environmental problems we’re facing nowadays. No doubt – we NEED to do something about it! We have already started dealing with the issues but as usual there’s still a lot to be done! Today we discussed environmental problems & the environment protection and what we, as individuals, can do to support SUSTAINABILITY on our planet. We also talked about the matter globally – how it needs to be tackled on a corporate / governmental / industrial level.
What we know for sure is that we need to act TOGETHER in the name of our planet protection. This is our Home and we should treat it as one @@@ Planet Earth is the ONLY one we have @@@
Materials worth watching / listening to / reading:
- Top 5 Environmental Problems in the Current World
- Causes and Effects of Climate Change | National Geographic
- How can I help the environment? 6 Minute English
- 20 Environmental Problems That Our World is Facing Today
- How We Can Keep Plastics Out of Our Ocean | National Geographic
- The Tipping Point | Climate Change: The Facts | BBC Earth
- Climate 101: Deforestation | National Geographic
- Renewable Energy 101 | National Geographic
- Human health affected by climate change: BBC News Review
- BOX SET: 6 Minute English – 'Environmental English’ mega-class! One hour of new vocabulary!
- The Tragedy Of Deforestation | Climate Change: The Facts | BBC Earth
- Climate change: The place on Earth heating fastest – BBC News
- Air Pollution 101 | National Geographic
- „Being Eco-friendly”: the article from English Matters no.79/2019.
- Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care. (***a nice lead-in video for discussing environmental issues)
Materials about the environment for Younger Kids 
- What is Environment And How To Keep It Clean? | Environmental Studies For Kids | Vid #1
- Reduce Reuse Recycle Song for Kids | Earth Day Songs for Children | The Kiboomers
- Guess what habitat it is!
- GOING GREEN! (Earth Day song for kids about the 3 R’s- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!
- Sustainability for kids (whiteboard animation) (higher level)
- Teaching children about sustainability and recycling (higher level)
- Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, to enjoy a better life | Educational Video for Kids (higher level)
ENJOY!!!
Meeting 14 March 2024
Teen businesspeople?!? Are there any??? Hmmm…. apparently it’s not such a rare phenomenon! Today we learned about some young entrepreneurs making lots of money, being just teenagers. We listened to their motivation, tips & attitudes.
Materials worth watching / listening to / reading:
- Meet the teenage entrepreneurs making millions – BBC News
- Child entrepreneurs turning ideas into money making businesses | A Current Affair
- Young Entrepreneurs Share Their Success Story | Motivational Video for Kids by Scholastic
- Teen millionaires: the young entrepreneurs running successful businesses | 7NEWS Spotlight
- Children: New billionaires – BBC News
Meeting 25 April 2024
Social media – a supplier of bliss, a real curse or merely a practical tool of our times?!? Today we had a chance to look at the issue from different angles and we became more aware of the negative impact of our eyes being so much glued to our smartphones in pursuit of FOMO (=fear of misssing out). Are social media our ally or rather a manipulative contrivance in the hands of corporations? We wanted to find out today by listening to & watching experts, regular users and real stories.
Meeting 23 May 2024
Again we touched upon the powerful influence of corporations on our decisions in our everyday lives. This time in terms of our eating habits & food choices. We talked about „Sugar, salt, fat” – said to be the trinity blamed for increasing obesity among kids, teenagers and adults. Are superfoods the remedy?
Materials worth watching/reading:
- Junk food, sugar and additives – The dark side of the food industry | DW Documentary
- Magazine: English Matters: „The Marvellous Universe of Superfoods” p. 20-23, edition November/December 2023
Meeting 12 June 2024
Noughts and crosses, tag, hopscotch, dodgeball, battleships … – these are only few examples of retro activities that were enjoyed mainly by the older generations. Just to set ourselves in the right mood for summer holidays we spent today’s time re-discovering these old-school games and simply having fun talking about or playing some of them.
Materials worth watching/reading:
- Top 10 old school games by StarMetro Videos
- „Word battle” activity from Bored? Games! by Preston Publishing