The Commonwealth Class education pack is a dynamic, exciting resource for teachers who want to teach young people about Commonwealth values like rights and responsibilities, protecting the environment and what people need to lead healthy lives. The pack contains cross-curricular activities, short films and discussion guides with learning outcomes that link to key skills, curriculum subjects and Commonwealth values. The activities can be used to support lesson planning and teaching across your curriculum. The flexible and wide ranging materials are mainly targeted at 7-14 year olds.

Support a green classroom and Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG) with 20 climate change challenges: Global warming, pollution, sustainability, environmental issues. This free interactive resource is designed for teachers of / and pupils aged between 7 to 19. Challenges are designed to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 13 (SDG 13), to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. By clicking on each of the challenge icons, pupils will access further instructions and free online supporting materials, such as PowerPoint templates and websites with pre-prepared content including video and interactive online tools to support learning. Teachers and/or students can decide to undertake as many challenges as they feel able to and we encourage sharing these activities across the world via #TheClimateConnection . The climate connection challenges can be undertaken without an international partner school, however the pedagogical benefits of collaborating on school projects across different countries are immense, and we highly recommend that using the resource has an international element, as is the global challenge that we are all facing. If you’d like to find an international partner school to work with on these activities, [here’s some information on how the British Council can help you find your match]https://connecting-classrooms.britishcouncil.org/partner-with-schools/before-find-partner Share your classroom actions with schools from across the world via: #TheClimateConnection

The British Council’s Year of the Horse education pack contains classroom resources focusing on China and designed to help introduce primary school children to some of the differences and similarities between the lives and culture of people in the UK and China. The pack was produced by the British Council in connection with the IOE Confucius Institute for Schools. It is also available in Welsh. For more information, to access supporting materials and to download individual chapters, please visit http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/projects-and-resources/year-of-the-horse

The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is the second most important festival in the Chinese lunar calendar after Chinese New Year. In 2019 the festival will fall on 13 September. Each education pack contains lesson plans, an assembly plan, activities and supporting materials to introduce Chinese culture to the classroom, keep your young people engaged and look forward to next year when, according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, we enter the Year of the Horse.

The Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest battles in history. It took place in Northern France around the River Somme from 1 July to 18 November 1916. Now, a century later, our education pack is designed to help teachers introduce aspects of the Battle of the Somme and the ways in which it is being remembered. The pack contains resources to help students develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the conflict. It covers topics including experiences of the Somme from around the Commonwealth, Pals Battalions, conscription, recruitment and remembrance today. The materials are designed to be flexible and adaptable. They can be used as starting points for individual lessons or activities, or form part of a larger cross- curricular project with a partner school overseas. This resource pack has been developed by the British Council in partnership with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme, UCL Institute of Education and Big Ideas Company.

This education resource is packed full of exciting ideas and activities from across the curriculum, helping you and your pupils celebrate Chinese New Year 2020 and the Year of the Rat. Play the sound files and practice saying the names of different Chinese festivals and greetings in Mandarin. Read a traditional story about a pair of ambitious rat parents trying to find a husband for their daughter. Get creative making rat finger puppets, Tangram puzzles and steamed rice dumplings. Learn together about Tomb Sweeping Day, the Spring, Moon and Dragon Boat Festivals and read letters from Chinese children about how they celebrate with their friends and families. This resource is suitable for primary years and adaptable for early secondary years and older. We’re always thrilled to see photos and videos of you using resources in your school. Share and tag us on our new British Council Schools facebook and twitter social channels using hashtag #YearOfTheRat Instructions to use the PDF and activate the sound files: download and save the PDF to your computer. Open the PDF and select ‘Preferences’ from the ‘Edit’ menu. Select ‘3D and MultiMedia Options’ and tick the box ‘Enable playing of 3D content’ followed by ‘OK’. In some browsers a yellow bar at the top of the PDF page will also display providing two options: select option ‘Trust this document always’.**

These education resources are packed full of exciting ideas and activities from across the curriculum, helping your pupils celebrate Chinese New Year 2021 and the Year of the Ox while home learning. These resources contain information and activities to help teachers and pupils learn more about this important spring festival and explore Chinese culture. Your pupils can read a version of the traditional story of the New Year Race, create shadow puppets of the main characters and make a traditional Chinese lantern. The resources are suitable for primary years and adaptable for early secondary years and older.

Life Below Water is fourteenth in the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development, focusing on conserving and using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. This template project will help you to support your pupils in tackling plastic pollution while developing their core skills, such as critical thinking and creative collaboration. These materials can be used either with or without a partner school, and instructions are provided on how best to use the resources. NEW! BITE-SIZED ACTIVITIES FOR HOME LEARNING We also offer this resource in bite-sized activity format, perfect for home learning! Investigate how you use plastic in your daily life, make a marine food web and come up with your own ideas by designing an inventive method or machine to tackle the plastic pollution in the ocean. Download now!

Over the course of six lessons, pupils will have opportunities to develop an understanding of: Covid-19 in the context of some of the world’s most common communicable diseases and pandemics from the past how communicable diseases like Covid-19 may start and spread, and how this is investigated relevant prevention strategies to foster positive physical and mental health and well-being. In doing so, pupils will have the opportunity to develop core skills in critical thinking and problem solving, citizenship, student leadership, creativity and imagination and aspects of digital literacy. This resource will help you make a contribution to a recovery curriculum in schools, and beyond this, by providing interesting, engaging and relevant content that encourages pupils to recall, discuss and process some of their thoughts, feelings and memories. It is designed to support the United Nations’ Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs), in particular Goal 3: Good health and well-being

British Council has joined forces with The FA, Premier League + Football League to commemorate the 1914 Christmas Truce. The pack includes photos, eye-witness accounts + letters from soldiers. Perspectives from British, French, Belgian, German + Indian witnesses are included with activities for English, language, drama, art, sport, history + moral education. Schools are invited to design a memorial with the winner chosen by The Duke of Cambridge + Arsenal/ England forward Theo Walcott to be built at the National Memorial Arboretum. http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/football-remembers

The armistice to end the First World War was signed between France, Britain, and Germany on 11 November 1918 in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiegne, about 60 km north of Paris. It ended a global conflict in which millions of soldiers and civilians lost their lives. This terrible war touched the lives of men, women and children across the globe and continues to have lasting implications in the world today. You can use the pack to teach your pupils more about the Armistice, to reflect on peace and to plan a commemoration of the centenary of the First World War.

Focusing on China, the materials which were prepared in connection with the IOE Confucius Institute for Schools will help introduce primary school children to some of the differences and similarities between the lives and culture of people in the UK and China. Each education pack contains an array of resources for the classroom including; lesson plans, Chinese poems, assembly plans, posters and activities to keep your young people engaged throughout.

This Shakespeare Lives schools’ pack has been created by the British Council in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016. The pack celebrates Shakespeare as a writer who still speaks for all people and nations, addressing big questions and themes about the human experience and what it means to be a citizen in the twenty-first century. This pack encourages teachers and pupils to engage with some of the key issues, themes and ideas in Shakespeare’s plays, and to explore the ways they remain relevant and current in our lives today, wherever we are in the world. Specially designed to encourage learning across the curriculum, the resource is split into five key themes; Leadership and Power, Family and Relationships, Identity and Equality, Fate and Destiny, Justice and Rules. Within each themed section you will find a wide range of activities for pupils aged 7-14. These can be used as starting points in individual lessons or as elements of a cross-curricular project, which could be carried out with a partner school overseas. Shakespeare’s plays have been staged many times since they were written over 400 years ago, and there are still so many different ways of interpreting his work. Each interpretation will draw out different themes and ideas. We hope you and your pupils will enjoy exploring the ones we have developed in this pack, which is available to download now.

The Arab world is a fascinating, diverse geographical region with a rich culture and history. Arabic is spoken by more than 300 million people. The education pack is designed to help primary school teachers introduce aspects of both Arabic language and Arab culture to your pupils, including: well known Arabic fables, teaching students moral lessons. counting to 10 in Arabic perfecting your pronunciation of Arabic greetings exploring the intricate geometric patterns of Arabic mosaics The Arabic Language and Culture pack is an excellent way to introduce young learners to the Arab world while also challenging their preconceptions of Arab culture. This education pack has been created as part of the British Council’s Arabic Language and Culture Programme in partnership with Qatar Foundation.

The Great Languages Challenge can be completed during a planned lesson or also set as a language-themed homework task. We even have a blank version available that students can use to design their own challenges for their classmates or peers in their partner school overseas. Did you know that completing two or more international activities from these resources (or designing your own) will qualify your school for a foundation level International School Award? All you have to do is choose and complete two or more classroom-based activities linked to your curriculum. Apply and get your international work recognised. Sign up to the British Council Schools e-newsletter and be the first to hear about new resources, funding, training and global webinars!

Eleven-year-old Sean has a condition called cerebral palsy. It means his muscles don’t always work properly. This sometimes makes it harder for him to speak and to control his legs. Sean goes to school at Multikids Academy in Ghana. Any child can come here - whether they have special needs or not. There are six children in Sean’s class. About half of them have a special need. Keeping class sizes small means the teacher can give all the children the right amount of attention. Around 1 in every 300 children in Ghana has cerebral palsy, which is caused by complications at birth.

Kofi goes to school at Multikids Academy in Ghana, West Africa. It is unique because it’s inclusive: any child can come here, whether they have special needs or not. Kofi has severe cerebral palsy and needs a wheelchair. There are seven pupils in his class, all with special needs. Extra helpers make sure everyone gets enough attention. Although Kofi’s friends think he&‘s around 16 years old, nobody really knows. He was abandoned near a graveyard three years ago, and he&’;s not able to say where he came from.

As England battles it out against Australia at Lord’s cricket ground, skills both on and off the field are focused on, revisiting some of the greats of the sport’s history along the way.

The Polish Language and Culture pack helps primary teachers introduce aspects of Polish language and culture to their pupils. It contains lesson and assembly plans, factual information and resources to help pupils develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the rich language, geography and culture of Poland. The materials are designed to be flexible and adaptable for use in a variety of settings. They can be used as starting points for individual lessons and assemblies or form part of larger cross-curricular joint projects involving collaboration over a number of subjects. Your pupils can learn how to greet a friend in Polish, get creative making paper cut-outs, and find out about many aspects of Polish culture. This education pack was produced by the British Council and the Polish Cultural Institute in London in partnership with Dwie Siostry Publishing and Templar Publishing.

This education pack is designed to help teachers introduce aspects of Indonesian life, language and culture to their pupils aged 7-11. It contains ideas and activities that can be used in lessons and assemblies,factual information and resources to help your pupils develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the biodiversity, stories and culture of this fascinating country. Your pupils can learn how to greet a friend in an Indonesian language, get creative making shadow puppets, kites and telling stories, cook a traditional recipe and find out about other aspects of Indonesian culture using our wide range of classroom resources and activities. The materials are designed to be flexible and adaptable for use in a variety of settings. They can be used as starting points for individual lessons or form part of larger cross-curricular joint projects involving collaboration with a partner school over a number of subjects. Please note that the interactive elements of this resource will only work when the PDF is downloaded and not when it is opened in browser.