A blog to help secondary school students improve English. You can find mind maps, worksheets, videos and songs as well as some of the project works and activities done by the students.
Hello! My name's Liliana. I'm a teacher of English (Language and Literature) to Italian teenage stu
3)Colonialism,
Systemic Racism, and Encountering the "Other"
Contemporary Issue: Systemic racism, Eurocentrism, geopolitical
power dynamics, and cultural integration.
Key Authors & Texts:Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe
— the paternalistic master/servant dynamic with Friday)
Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels — Book IV: the
Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos, shifting the perspective on what is
"civilized" vs. "savage", exposing European
superiority as an illusion).
4)The Leader,
Rebellion, and the Fascination with Evil
Contemporary Issue: The rise of authoritarianism, the psychological
allure of antiheroes in modern media, and the boundaries of justifiable
rebellion.
Key Authors & Texts:William Shakespeare (Macbeth —
toxic ambition and the psychological decay of a dictator).
5)Scientific
Revolution, Exploration, and Mapping the World
Contemporary Issue: The loss of philosophical certainty, the thrill
of new scientific frontiers (e.g., space exploration, AI), and the human
need to categorize reality.
Key Authors & Texts: Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe —
the triumph of the empirical method and practical science).
Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels — Book III:
The Academy of Lagado, a brilliant and fierce satire against useless,
abstract scientific experiments detached from real human needs).
6)Love,
Obsession, and Relationships: Beyond the Clichés
Contemporary Issue: Toxic relationships, gender fluidity,
unrealistic beauty standards (social media filters), and long-distance
connections.
Key Authors & Texts:William
Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet — love as a rebellious
force fighting social conventions, toxic family feuds, and generational
gaps).
William Shakespeare(Sonnets 130, 18)
7) Girl Power
·Key authors & Texts Jane Austen (Pride and
Prejudice-love and marriage,social
class and status, gender roles)
1. Il Confine tra Umano e Artificiale:
Scienza, Etica e Progresso
Problema
contemporaneo: L'avvento dell'Intelligenza
Artificiale, la bioetica, l'ingegneria genetica e la responsabilità dello
scienziato.AI ethics, bioengineering, and
genetic editing.
Testi
e Autori chiave:
Frankensteindi Mary Shelley (Il superamento dei limiti
naturali e l'abbandono della "creatura").
Brave
New World (Il mondo nuovo) di Aldous Huxley
(La manipolazione genetica e la felicità artificiale come controllo
sociale).
Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hydedi
R.L. Stevenson (La scissione della psiche e l'uso incontrollato della
chimica).
Spunto
di discussione: Fino a che punto il progresso
scientifico può spingersi prima di distruggere l'umanità stessa?
2. Sorveglianza, Controllo e la
Manipolazione della Verità
Problema
contemporaneo: Fake news, algoritmi di tracciamento
dati (capitalismo della sorveglianza), cyber-guerre e regimi totalitari
moderni.Digital surveillance, algorithmic
bias, and data privacy.
Testi
e Autori chiave:
1984
di George Orwell (La riscrittura della storia, la neolingua e il Grande
Fratello).
The
Handmaid's Tale (Il
racconto dell'ancella) di Margaret Atwood (Teocrazia, controllo del corpo
femminile e limitazione dei diritti).
·Spunto di discussione: Come si difende la libertà di pensiero in un mondo dominato da algoritmi e
sorveglianza costante?
3. Crisi Ambientale e Antropocene: La
Natura Ferita
·Problema contemporaneo:
Cambiamento climatico, eco-ansia, transizione energetica e attivismo
ambientale.
Climate crisis, ecological collapse, and species
extinction.
Testi
e Autori chiave:
The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner di S.T. Coleridge
(La rottura del patto sacro tra uomo e natura e la conseguente
punizione).
La
poesia romantica di William Wordsworth (La natura
come forza spirituale in contrasto con l'industrializzazione).
Hard
Times di Charles Dickens (Coketown come
simbolo della distruzione
Spunto
di discussione: La letteratura può aiutarci a
riscoprire l'empatia verso il pianeta prima che sia troppo tardi?
4. Identità, parità di genere
Problema
contemporaneo: identità sui social media,parità di genere, diritti individualiHuman rights,Social media identity, the influencer
economy
Testi
e Autori chiave:
Mrs.
Dallowaydi Virginia Woolf (Il flusso di coscienza come esplorazione
dell'identità)
The
Picture of Dorian Gray di Oscar Wilde
(L'estetismo, la maschera sociale e la doppia vita nell'era vittoriana).
Ulysses
di James Joyce (Il flusso di coscienza come
esplorazione dell'identità)
·Spunto di discussione: Come si è evoluta la lotta per i diritti individuali?
5. Post-colonialismo, Migrazioni e
l'Incontro con l' "Altro"
Problema
contemporaneo: Crisi dei rifugiati, razzismo
sistemico, eurocentrismo e la ricerca di una cittadinanza globale.Xenophobia,
neo-colonialism, and modern migration barriers.
Testi
e Autori chiave:
Heart
of Darkness (Cuore di tenebra) di Joseph Conrad
(La critica e le contraddizioni del colonialismo e dell'imperialismo).
Refugee
Blues di Auden
·Spunto
di discussione:
Chi ha il diritto di raccontare la storia? Come possiamo decolonizzare la
nostra mente?
Ending in -y (y ➔ ily):Heavy, happy, angry, noisy, easy.
Ending in -le (e ➔ y):Gentle, terrible, simple.
Irregular (no -ly):Fast, good, hard.
A student draws a secret adjective from a basket (e.g., Angry).
The other students must yell out a command to the student using the correct adverb form of the adjective . For example:
"Walk angrily around the chairs! Pick up the book angrily!"
Task 1: Fix the Agent's Report
Instructions: A clumsy secret agent wrote this mission report, but they made 5 spelling mistakes with their adverbs of manner. Find the mistakes and write the correct spelling below.
"The mission was intense. I opened the door noisily and entered the room. The laser grid was moving, so I had to jump fastly to the left. I grabbed the hard drive carefuly and stuffed it into my bag. A guard shouted, so I ran noisily down the hallway. I managed to escape easyly through the window, landing loghtly on the grass below. Mission accomplished goodly."
TASK 3 Write 5 sentences describing how an evil movie villain does everyday things. Use at least three adverbs from the box below.
Example: The villain eats his breakfast greedily.
Greedily(eating or taking too much)
• Clumsily(without care or grace)
• Angrily(with pure rage)
• Cruelly(to cause pain or distress)
• Rudely(without manners)
• Lazily(with zero effort)
Task 3 Fill in the blanks with the missing adverbs of manner you hear.
"Day 4 at the villain’s mansion. I sneaked past the security cameras 1 ______________. I knew I had to move 2 ______________ because the guards were patrolling the perimeter. I found the safe and turned the dial 3 ______________. It clicked open! Suddenly, an alarm rang out 4 ______________. I grabbed the documents and drove away 5 ______________ into the night."
Task 4Continue one of these stories (100 words)
Diary Entry A
James walked slowly into the dark room. He looked fearfully around the corners. He breathed heavily as he unlocked the desk drawer noisily.
Diary Entry B
James walked confidently into the dark room. He looked eagerly around the corners. He breathed calmly as he unlocked the desk drawer quietly.
The 4 Golden Rules of Adverb Formation
Rule Type
Adjective Ending
Formula / Transformation
Examples
Rule 1: Regular
Most adjectives
Base + LY
• Quick ➔ Quickly
• Careful ➔ Carefully
• Bad ➔ Badly
Rule 2: The -y Swap
Consonant + -y
Drop -y, add -ILY
• Happy ➔ Happily
• Angry ➔ Angrily
• Easy ➔ Easily
Rule 3: The -le Drop
Consonant + -le
Drop -e, add -Y
• Gentle ➔ Gently
• Terrible ➔ Terribly
• Simple ➔ Simply
Rule 4: The -ic Add
Adjectives in -ic
Base + ALLY
• Automatic ➔ Automatically
• Tragedic ➔ Trag
No CHANGE
ADJECTIVE ADVERB
FAST FAST
LATE LATE
EARLY EARLY
HARD HARD
Speed & Energy
Quickly / Fast ↔ Slowly
Energetically ↔ Lazily
Volume & Force
Loudly / Noisily ↔ Quietly / Silently
Heavily ↔ Lightly
Forcefully / Aggressively ↔ Gently / Softly
Care & Skill
Carefully ↔ Carelessly
Well ↔ Badly
Easily ↔ With difficulty(Note: "Hardly" is not the opposite of easily!)
Look at the following answers. Write the question that would prompt each specific response. Pay close attention to the irregular verbs!
Answer: No, I didn't go to the party last night.
Answer: I saw a documentary about space on TV.
Answer: They went to Paris for their honeymoon.
Answer: She bought that dress because it was on sale.
Answer: He came home at midnight.
Answer: I ate a sandwich for lunch.
Answer: We found the keys under the sofa.
Answer: My mother gave me this watch for my birthday.
Answer: Yes, he drank all the orange juice.
Answer: They wrote three letters to the manager.
The Rule: Subject vs. Object Questions
1. When to use "DID" (Object Questions)
We use did when the interrogative pronoun (Who, What, Which) is the Object of the verb. This means the Subject is someone or something else.
Formula:Question Word + DID + Subject + Base Verb?
Example: "Who did you see?"
Subject: You
Action: Saw someone
Who: The person you saw (the object).
2. When NOT to use "DID" (Subject Questions)
We do not use did when the interrogative pronoun is the Subject of the verb. The question word is the person or thing performing the action. In this case, we just use the Past Tense form of the verb.
Formula:Question Word + Past Tense Verb?
Example: "Who saw you?"
Subject: Who (someone performed the action of seeing you).
Action: Saw
Object: You.
Summary Table
Question Type
Focus
Helper?
Example
Object Question
You want to know who/what received the action.
Yes (did)
What did you buy?
Subject Question
You want to know who/what performed the action.
No
What happened?
Exercise: "Subject or Object?"
Instructions: Fill in the blanks. Decide if you need the auxiliary did + base verb, or just the past tense of the verb in brackets.
Who __________ you __________ at the mall yesterday? (to meet)
Who __________ to the party last night? (to come)
What __________ that loud noise? (to make)
What __________ you __________ for dinner? (to make)
Which team __________ the game on Sunday? (to win)
Who __________ this beautiful picture? (to paint)
Which car __________ you __________? (to choose)
What __________ on the news this morning? (to happen)
Who __________ you __________ about the secret? (to tell)
Asking about people, or saying "it doesn't matter who."
Anything
Things
Qualsiasi cosa / Nulla
Asking about objects/actions, or saying "it doesn't matter what."
Exercise 1: Choose the Correct Word
Pick between anyone/anybody (people) and anything (things).
I’m bored. Is there _________ interesting to do today?
Does _________ know what time the bus arrives?
I went to the store, but I didn't buy _________.
You are so smart; you can learn _________ if you try!
The room was empty; I couldn't see _________ at all.
Exercise 2: Positive, Negative, or Question?
Fill in the blanks using anyone or anything. Pay attention to the sentence type.
(Negative) I am so tired that I don't want to do _________ tonight.
(Affirmative) This task is very simple; _________ can do it.
(Question) Did _________ call me while I was in the shower?
(Affirmative) You can sit _________ you like; all these seats are free.
(Negative) He was very quiet; he didn't tell _________ his secret.
Translation Exercise: Work & Technology
Non ho detto niente (qualsiasi cosa) al mio capo riguardo alla riunione.
Chiunque può imparare a usare questa nuova applicazione; è semplicissima!
C'è qualcuno (chiunque) in ufficio che sa come riparare la stampante?
Se hai bisogno di qualsiasi cosa per il tuo progetto, mandami un'email.
Non ho visto nessuno (chiunque) rispondere al telefono stamattina.
Puoi chiamare chiunque nel team se hai un'emergenza durante il weekend.
Il tecnico non ha trovato niente di strano nel mio computer.
Non dare la tua password a nessuno (chiunque), nemmeno ai colleghi.
Hai sentito qualcosa (qualsiasi cosa) riguardo alla nuova posizione lavorativa?
Chiunque voglia candidarsi per il lavoro deve inviare il CV entro venerdì.
The "-ever" Forms (Whoever & Whatever)
While anyone and anything are the most common, we use whoever and whatever when we want to emphasize "no matter who" or "no matter what," often acting as a connector between two parts of a sentence.
Whoever (Chiunque): "Whoever broke the window must pay for it."
Whatever (Qualsiasi cosa): "I will do whatever it takes to win."
Fill in the blanks with anyone, anybody, anything, whoever, or whatever.
Does _________ have a pen I can borrow?
You can choose _________ you want from the menu; it's my treat!
I’m so hungry, I’ll eat _________.
_________ called me left a very strange voicemail.
