While looking at the Guardian website I noticed they have 'interactive guides'. These take on various forms, they can be slide shows, pdfs that you can zoom into, or diagrams with areas you can click on to get more information. These guides are added regularly so you’ll find current topics and because it's online the older ones are stored safely there too.

In class you could introduce a topic by showing one of the guides on a projector or IWB. Alternatively your students could choose a guide to read for homework and present in class the next day. If you have a computer lab you could give your students some questions which they have to answer by reading one of the interactive guides during the lesson. 

Here are four of my favourites:

Bidding war starts for Mandela's revelatory personal archive

This week's news item, adapted for MEC from a news article originally published in the Guardian Weekly, is about Nelson Mandela releasing his personal archive of diaries, letters and notes to the public.

You can find this story in the News Items section on your Work Area screen.

Land of history, land of legends

This week’s news item is our monthly news item for teens. It is about the south-west of England and the various attractions that can be found there.

You can find this story in the News Items section on your Work Area screen.

You can also find longer versions of the news item with extension activities by logging in to our teachers’ area here.

November word games

This month's Witch's Pot topics are 'places in and around the house'(Easy), 'items that can be used when you are camping' (Average) and 'adjectives describing build' (Difficult).  

The Swamp Disaster topics are 'words related to shopping' (Easy), 'words related to money'(Average) and 'materials' (Difficult).

The Wordsearch topics are 'office items' (Easy), 'travelling by plane' (Average) and 'words meaning ''miserable''' (Difficult).

There are new Crosswords and Bridge Builders at all levels too.

Visit the Word Games area to find them all.

TED is a non-profit project started in 1984 to bring together the best ideas from all over the world, on any subject. Today, it is a global community, which includes various conferences, an annual prize, and the website TED Talks.

Lost Greek city emerges from the deep

This week's news item, adapted for MEC from a news article originally published in the Guardian Weekly, is about an ancient Greek city that archeologists have discovered under the sea.

You can find this story in the News Items section on your Work Area screen.

Songs are nice additional elements to English classes. It is one of the few listening activities, where students are fully engaged and eager to complete the task.  

If you want to refresh your lessons using songs go to musicANDmuffins. They create great cartoons that go with various songs and they also include lyrics.

How to use it with your students:

Elementary/pre-intermediate classes: You could take screenshots of the video and the students first put them in order and then listen again to finish the lines.

Upper/Advanced classes: At first, you could play only the song and ask students to select key vocabulary to visualise the song. Next they make simple drawings. Finally, they watch the video and check how it differs from their work. It is a good way to practise listening for specific information.

Note: Don’t forget that you can send the links to the particular song in the Publish Web Links option on Campus!

Below is an example of the animation done by musicANDmuffins.

This month on MEC, we published five new web projects, at pre-intermediate and intermediate levels, bringing the total to 52 for both British and American English users.The coming clinic will be giving ideas on how to use it with your classes. In addition, we will see how you could include it as a syllabus item in your course. This will all be tied up with demo lesson ideas.

The clinic will take place on 27th November at 10am and 4pm UK time.

If you or any of your teachers would like to attend all you have to do is send me an email at j.trzmielewska@macmillan.com.

What are MEC clinic?

MEC clinics are short sessions involving groups of no more than 25. They are on a first-come, first-served basis to any MEC teachers.

How much is it?

It is free of charge!

How can it benefit me?

MEC clinics give you an opportunity to develop your knowledge of digital resources. You will have a chance to find out more about online learning, resources and the use of technology in your day to day teaching. After the clinic, you will receive

a certificate of attendance.

How long is it?

The session is 1-1.30 hours long.

What do I need to do?

We will set up and host the sessions. Those attending simply need a computer with internet access, sound and ideally a microphone. Don't forget a cup of tea!