International Day for the Elimination of Racism

 March 21^st serves as the date for numerous global commemorations such as World Poetry Day, World Down Syndrome Day, International Day of Forests, International Colour Day and International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

To celebrate the latter during a session of English at school you can devote a teaching hour in order to raise learner awareness against racism, especially if you work in an intercultural school or if you have multicultural classes.

A task which taps on learner perceptions, imagination and creativity is to provide half the students with the first part of anti-racist slogans and the other half with the ending. Learners will have to find their match, with whom they will form a pair, by asking around, something which will help them practise vocabulary and syntax at the same time. Once feedback is provided by the teacher, the learners in each pair will work individually to illustrate their slogan according to their perception. This means that there will be two illustrations of the same slogan, something which will bring to light similarities or differences in human perception and creative expression.

In the photos you can have a look at some samples from two different schools, the first one being an intercultural school mainly with Roma learners.

Dreaming in the Present: Creative Writing in the Present Simple

Language learning thrives when imagination and structure intertwine. One of the most engaging ways this can happen is through group-writing projects such as by asking learners to co-create a book about a recurrent dream while practising the present simple tense.

Process

1.    Form groups of learners.

2.   Ask them to brainstorm ideas about a shared dream: What is the setting? Who are the characters? What strange/surreal events happen? How do they get back to reality at the end??

3.   Note down ideas together. Then each learner undertakes one/two scene(s) which he/she illustrates, too, but all scenes have to be written in present simple.

4.   Compile the pages into a “dream book.” Use A4 cardboard sheets for the cover and ask each group to think of an appropriate title, write it and design the cover.

The Learning Benefits

• Grammar in action: Learners internalise present simple by using it to narrate imaginary recurrent events, not just to describe prosaic daily routines.
• Collaboration: Negotiating ideas for a dream pushes learners to use English meaningfully while planning and writing.
• Creativity & ownership: Because the content is theirs, learners become emotionally invested. They want their book to sound right—and that drives attention to the form.
• Memory hooks: Linking grammar to surreal, memorable images makes the rules “stick.”

When learners share their dream books aloud the present simple becomes a living tool. They are no longer completing textbook drills; they are storytellers, creators, and dreamers who happen to be mastering grammar along the way.

Below you can have a look at some book covers of recurrent dreams created by 4^th-grade learners and leaf through two samples.