If you're looking for some inspiring images to use in class why not go to the National Geographic website . There are loads of amazing pictures of nature at work that you could use to start up classroom discussions. As well the pictures you can find videos, articles and quizzes on all sorts of nature based topics.

Global greying will test rich and poor nations

This week's news item, adapted for MEC from a news article originally published in the Guardian Weekly, is about the increasing number of old people around the world and the consequences of this ageing population.

You'll find this story in the News Items section on your Work Area.

A few days ago, the language-lovers' blog Lexiophiles opened the voting for the 2009 edition of its annual Top 100 Language Blogs competition.

The nominees are divided into four categories: Language Learning, Language Teaching, Language Technology, and Language Professionals. In each section, you are able to see all the blogs that have been nominated, listed alphabetically, and to cast your vote.

You will find blogs not only for those who study or teach English as a Foreign Language, but also for Italian, French, German, Russian and more; have a look to check if your favourites have made it – and don't forget to find out who the winners are once they are announced on July 30^th!

Costa Rica is the greenest, happiest country

This week's news item, adapted for MEC from a news article originally published in the Guardian Weekly, is about a report that measures how happy and environmentally friendly different countries are.

You’ll find this story in the News Items section on your Work Area.

This month sees the launch of an excellent new series of resources for English learners in the Hospitality and Tourism industry. The comprehensive lesson plans, by our industry expert Keith Harding, feature step-by-step teacher's notes and student worksheets at two levels.

Calling all summer school teachers! Onestopenglish is packed with hundreds of bright ideas for your summer school programme. We've handpicked a selection of resources that we think will help make for a stress-free summer.

As a special summer treat for Staff Room members, the onestopenglish reporters have been gallivanting around the streets of Stratford-upon-Avon to bring you another great lesson in our Live From ... series of authentic interviews.

And some more summer good news - we're thrilled that onestopenglish has been chosen as TEFL.net's Site of the Month for July!

There's lots more great content - take your time to explore and enjoy another packed edition of onestopenglish!

Click here to find a series of highly entertaining videos you could use with your students. The series is called Ayaka's Surprise English Lesson. In each video Ayaka approaches someone in Japan to ask them a question in English. They're useful videos, you could get your students to correct the English in the videos or answer the questions themselves. They're funny videos because you never quite know how the interviewees will respond. Some respond with delight and some freeze up in horror!

School of hope

This week's news item is our monthly news item for teens. It is about a teenager from the United States who raised money to build a school in Cambodia.

Go to the News Items section on your Work Area screen to find out more about these awards.

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

Whether you are spending some time in London or you are just planning a visit, you can keep up-to-date on what is happening in the city with The Londonist.

The website is written by ''a bunch of London obsessives'', who share their passion for everything unique and exciting about this town. You will find a News section, but also an Arts & Events section and a Food & Drink one – so you can plan a day out, choose a show or an exhibition, or discuss what has been going on in London lately with your class.

We all know that writing and creating stories help learners to consolidate vocabulary as well as grammar. However, the learners are not always so keen on doing it. Maybe creating a cartoon or comics will interest them more.

There are two ways you could do a cartoon lesson.

Option One: If you do not have frequent access to computers during your classes, you can ask your learners to draw their own comics. I recommend Students'Comics , where in the section 'Read comics online' you find three galleries with students comics. It may encourage your learners to create their own comics as well as give them ideas on how to do it.

To find out how you can start your work, evaluate and publish your comics go to Webquest. You can also download the comics in pdf.

Option Two: You can create your online comicstrip by going to Stripgenerator . In the create a strip  section you can choose characters, bubbles and type in your own text. If you want to add it to your strip gallery you need to register.

Bank that loans money to the poor is still a success

This week's news item, adapted for MEC from a news article originally published in the Guardian Weekly, is about Grameen Bank, a bank that lends small amounts of money to poor people. It is also starting to create businesses with a social purpose in Bangladesh.

You'll find this story in the News Items section on your Work Area.

You can find out more about Grameen bank by visiting its website:

Grameen bank

July word games

This month's Witch's Pot topics are 'countries' (Easy), 'school subjects' (Average) and 'containers for liquids' (Difficult).

The Swamp Disaster topics are 'all sorts of things' (Easy), 'things you put things in' (Average) and 'words that follow ''go''' (Difficult).

The Wordsearch topics are 'nouns connected with theatre' (Easy), 'adjectives describing people who are good at things' (Average) and 'humour' (Difficult).

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

Visit the Word Games area to find them all.

Many of you will be about to start teaching in summer camps for young learners. It's always nice to have a few extra ideas to hand so click here to find lesson tips about using fairy tales in the classroom. The lesson ideas come from the British Council's TeachingEnglish site.

You may also like to have a look at MEC's Animals and Culture world by clicking on Interactive Worlds from your Work Area. You will find lots of fables and stories about animals here. All of the resources in Interactive Worlds are compatible with Interactive Whiteboards and work very well with data projectors too. Enjoy!