Social enterprises trade in order to tackle social problems and improve communities, people’s life chances, or the environment. These learning resources have been designed as six lessons for pupils aged 7-14. Guided by their teachers, pupils explore examples of social enterprises started by children and adults around the world. By the end of this learning unit, pupils will have created their own social enterprise project. At the same time, they will develop a range of important core skills: citizenship, critical thinking and problem solving, creativity, imagination and innovation. An engaging way to learn about social enterprises is to get involved in running one and can improve attendance, behaviour, and enthusiasm among pupils.

World Class provides a robust evidence base that demonstrates the impact of international education work in UK schools on learners, teachers, schools, and the wider community. It draws upon 26 research studies from around the UK, some of which were undertaken by the British Council and some independently by bodies such as the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) and the Institute of Education (at the University of London). Conclusions are drawn from a comprehensive analysis of all documents and the impact is categorized by beneficiaries. A complete list of the benefits identified for learners, teachers, schools and the community can be found in World Class: How Global Thinking Can Improve Your School. Find out more: https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/content/world-class-how-global-thinking-can-improve-your-school

What is Queens of Syria? The Syrian crisis is now in its fifth year and the violence that has forced so many to leave their homes shows no sign of abating. Queens of Syria is the story of fifty women refugees now living in Jordan who came together to create and perform their own version of The Trojan Women, the timeless Greek tragedy about the plight of women in war. Queens of Syria teaching resource In 2016 the Queens of Syria cast and crew will travel to the UK for a series of performances. To mark this occasion, the British Council have developed an education pack to provide teachers with resources that will help them explore the human impact of the conflict in Syria and the realities of life as a refugee.

Explore conflicts across the world through this innovative teaching resource. The Nerve Centre has put together five lessons that describe and summarise conflicts that have taken place in Northern Ireland, India, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and South Africa. In each lesson, students will be provided with information about the country and a background to the issues which fuelled conflict within that country. Each lesson provides students with opportunities to learn through questioning and investigation based active learning methodologies and links to a series of archive images, audio and video. The digital tasks provided will enable students to form creative expressions of the learning that they have developed around international conflict. For the full suite of Teaching Divided Histories resources on conflict and to download individual lessons please see the Teaching Divided Histories website . (The resource has been uploaded with the permission of the Nerve Centre).

Radical Read is a flexible learning resource containing a number of themes exploring the involvement of young people in peaceful protest, inspired by the commemoration of the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester, England in 1819. It includes powerful stories of how young people around the globe have used protest and collective action to promote democratic rights. The pack contains a wide variety of sources to support the delivery of activities. Some of these are original materials that were written by young people, while others are extracts from a range of different sources, from leaflets to young adult fiction and historians’ works. They were selected to help provoke questions, provide context, and stimulate critical thinking. Also included are links to curriculum subjects, the British Council Core Skills and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This session introduces students to the Peterloo Massacre. Students are encouraged to think about the importance of banners to protest movements.

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’.**

Elephants are the earth’s largest land animals, but these amazing creatures are an endangered species. There are currently at least ten African elephants for every one Asian elephant in the wild. The main reason that Asian elephant numbers to drop by 50 per cent in the last 100 years is a massive loss of habitat, and they are disappearing from areas where they once thrived. In Vietnam the number of wild elephants declined from approximately 1,000 in 1990, to fewer than 100 in 2002. The focus of this resource is on Asian elephants. It includes background information, discussion points and activities to inspire learning across the curriculum and a call to action to help protect this endangered species. The activities can be used as starting points in individual lessons or as part of a joint cross-curricular project to develop knowledge, transferable skills and reflections in your classrooms or with a partner school in your country or overseas.

This template project will help you support your pupils in developing core skills, such as student leadership, personal development and collaboration, by exploring issues and solutions to protect our climate and environment. Designed to explore the UN Sustainable Development Goal of Climate Action, you will be able to use the project with a range of subjects across the curriculum, including English, citizenship and geography. NEW! BITE-SIZED ACTIVITIES FOR HOME LEARNING We also offer this resource in bite-sized activity format, perfect for home learning! 3 bite-sized Zero Waste challenges! Find out which countries produce the most waste and the recycling leaders, discover ecobricks and make your own, then take action to raise awareness. Download now!

Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, natural gas, petrol and diesel are continuously burned across the globe to generate electricity, heat buildings, drive industry and power combustion engines in various forms of transport, from cars and trucks, to tractors and ocean liners. As these fossil fuels are burned, they release a complex mixture of solid and liquid particles that are suspended in the air, as well as harmful gases. This course explores the United Nations’ Global Goals for Sustainable Development – specifically Goal 11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Target 11.6 on air pollution. Course materials can be used with or without an overseas partner school, and tips are provided on how best to use the included resources.

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

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 on Land - Understanding Ecological Interconnectivity Take your class outdoors and find out about minibeasts in your local area as part of this brilliant series of activities exploring ecosystems and the natural world. What can your pupils do to improve biodiversity and safeguard species? This fascinating resource includes a full lesson plan, projects and worksheets suitable for KS1, KS2 and KS3 with differentiated activities and a planning template to assist in delivering the unit, enabling you to easily adapt the unit to suit different age groups and contexts. The resource promotes the importance of life on land and encourages its protection. With a focus on ecology and sustainability, it can be used to teach English, science, geography, maths, citizenship and other subjects. The materials can be used either with or without an overseas partner school. You can share your resource work with us on British Council Schools twitter using hashtag #ConnectingClassrooms This resource has been developed in collaboration with Manchester Museum, a proud part of The University of Manchester. The Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning programme offers fantastic opportunities to work with an international partner school on global topics of climate change, plastic pollution, pandemics, gender equality and many more. Our Local Advisors can help you get your collaboration started with free support, online training and resource packs to make your projects world class. For schools wishing to go the extra mile, there is even partnership funding to make your ideas a reality.

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!

Citizenship can be seen as being about a feeling (identity), a status (rights) and a practice (taking action). This unit explores how gender roles and expectations influence identity and rights, and aims to inspire pupils to take action to question norms and dominant masculinities to bring about greater gender equality. Sustainable Development Goal 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. The learning materials that have been created may be adapted to the context of each school and the needs of specific students. Some learning activities can be left out in order to enable deeper learning through other activities. Designed as six lessons of sixty minutes each (which include core and optional activities) for pupils aged 9-13 years, the resource can be used in English, citizenship, geography, history or other subjects.

It is recognised that there is a need for countries to commit to fundamental changes in the way societies produce and consume goods and services. Pupils can explore the multiple issues relating to unsustainable and irresponsible consumption and production and learn about the solutions that exist to overcome it. They can design and implement a mini-project to support more responsible consumption and production in their communities. The learning materials can be adapted to the context of each school and the needs of specific students. Some learning activities can be left out in order to enable deeper learning through other activities. Ten lessons of 60 minutes each designed for pupils nine to 13 years.

Our Zero Hunger template project will help you to support the development of your pupils’ core skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and collaboration. Zero Hunger is the second United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, focusing on the causes and potential solutions to hunger across the world.

This template project illustrates how you can support the development of your pupils’ core skills through the study of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong opportunities for all.’ You can use the project with a range of subjects across the curriculum including English, social studies, geography and languages. NEW! BITE-SIZED ACTIVITIES FOR HOME LEARNING We also offer this resource in bite-sized activity format, perfect for home learning! Learn Malala’s life story, why some children in the world don’t go to school and plan a campaign to change this with three bite-sized creative activities and challenges. Download now!

Our reliance on fossil fuels is making drastic changes to our climate. Nevertheless, renewable energy is becoming increasingly cost effective, particularly in remote areas. One of the creative capacities of the Connecting Classrooms core skills course, creativity and imagination, is ‘envisaging what might be’. The topic of off-grid solar energy offers great potential for students to visualize and design alternative solutions to a range of challenges. These learning materials can be adapted to the context of each school and the needs of specific students. There are five lessons of 60 minutes each designed for pupils aged nine to 13 years.

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