English in Action

World Music Day 🎶

21st June marks World Music Day, a global celebration of music first launched in France in 1982. Today, it’s celebrated around the world through live performances, street music, and community events.

💡 Activity idea: One Song Forever
Tell students they can only listen to ONE song for the rest of their lives.
Students then discuss:
• which song they would choose
• why it would be their forever song
• whether they think their choice would change as they get older
• what memories, emotions, or experiences make the song important
• whether “the best song” and a “forever song” are actually different things
Finish by having students defend their choice to the class or try to convince others to swap songs.

👉 How do you use music in your English lessons?

🎵 Our Music and Film Resource Pack is also available on the EiA Shop.

National Picnic Week 🧺

National Picnic Week is a UK event celebrating one of the best-known parts of the British summer: eating outdoors with friends, family, and good food. It’s a great opportunity to bring seasonal topics and practical vocabulary into the English classroom.

💡 Activity idea: Build the Picnic - Great for younger learners
Give students a selection of picnic foods using pictures, flashcards, realia, or simple word cards, for example sandwiches, strawberries, crisps, juice, apples, cakes, biscuits, lemonade, pasta salad, and watermelon.

Students work in pairs or small groups to:
• choose foods for their picnic
• explain why they chose them
• group foods into categories
• decide what they can or can’t bring if there is a limit (e.g. only 8 items allowed)

You could extend the activity across the week by practising food vocabulary daily and finishing with a simple outdoor class picnic if possible.

👉 What would you pack in your perfect picnic?

World Environment Day 🌍

5th June is World Environment Day, the UN’s global day for environmental awareness and action. The 2026 focus is climate action and the urgent signals the planet is sending us through rising temperatures, wildfires, flooding, and other environmental changes.

💡 Activity idea: Climate Headlines

Find some real climate-related news headlines, or create your own.
For example:
– “Heatwave closes schools across Europe”
– “City plants 10,000 trees”
– “New offshore wind farm opens”

Students work in pairs or groups and choose one headline. They then respond to questions such as:
• What do you think happened?
• What caused this situation?
• How might people react?
• What could happen next?
Finish by comparing how differently each group interpreted the same headline.

👉 How do you bring environmental topics into your English lessons? Let us know in the comments.

The Hay Festival is one of the UK’s best-known literary events, held each year in Hay-on-Wye, Wales. It brings together writers, artists, thinkers, and performers to celebrate books, ideas, and storytelling.
For teachers, it’s a great opportunity to introduce students to British culture and creativity in a way that feels relevant and personal.

💡 Quick activity idea: My Favourite British Piece

Ask students to choose something created by a British writer, artist, or performer. This could be a book, story or poem, a song, a short video or performance, or even a joke or piece of humour. They then share what it is, what it is about, and why they like it.

If students don’t know any, give them a few simple, age-appropriate options to explore first. You can finish with short presentations or small group sharing.

What British books, songs, or artists work well in your classroom? Let us know in the comments ⬇️

Our new Young Learners EFL Resource Pack is now available to download.

Designed for ages 5–11, the pack is full of practical activities that get students speaking, moving, creating, and using English naturally through play and interaction.

Inside the pack you’ll find:
🗣️ Speaking games and role plays
🎨 Creative classroom activities and crafts
🏃 Movement and active learning tasks
🃏 Collectible reward cards and reward charts
🌿 Sensory-based activities
📚 Printable low-prep resources for younger learners

Perfect for primary English lessons, communicative EFL classes, project weeks, and summer courses.

📍Download link in the comments.

Outdoor Classroom Day is a global initiative that encourages teachers to take learning beyond the classroom and into the outdoors. It highlights the benefits of outdoor learning, from increased engagement to improved wellbeing, and shows how simple it can be to make the most of the space around you.

💡 Activity idea: Nature Walk & Talk
Take students outside and give them simple speaking tasks:
- Name things you can see (tree, sky, grass)
- Describe them (big, small, green, tall)
- Find something and talk about it: “I can see…” / “It is…”
Add simple challenges:
Find something soft / something moving / something colourful

You can find more ideas and resources on the Outdoor Classroom Day website in the comments. ⬇

What are you planning to do? Will you be taking your students outside?