" A girl on a train" - Just sit down and enjoy the ride...

I've heard about this book from some facebook groups I'm in and I've wanted to read this book for a long time and just couldn't find the time for it. Finally, I've got it from my younger sister and started to read it during Passover vacation.

This book is very interesting and tricky but I've got to say that it takes a few turns of pages to fall in love with. It starts with the main character "Rachel Watson" who rides the commuter rail to and from London every day for work. she gazes outside the window and imagines the perfect lives of a couple she sees every day in their own apartment while riding the train. one day she notices something else, she sees another feminine figure with the husband while his wife is gone missing...

This is one of these books that doesn't catch your attention at the very beginning but I highly recommend keep reading through the first quarter although it has a boring routine of train traveling. Once you've passed this part in the book I can assure you would not want to put it down.

 I would like to share with you an amazing experience I had experienced some years ago. More than that, I would like to share an insight of a-24-year-old, inspired by that experience. This post is about had a journey from New York to Florida.

      Today, after traveling for nineteen hours from New York to Florida in a car with five children including two babies, I know that everything is possible. Then, I was sure that I would never get to my destination.

      The first three hours were o.k. There were movies, nosh and good music which created a kind of serenity in the car. But When "Home Alone" was played for the fifth time, I felt I lost my head. I just wanted to scream "stopppppppppppp" but I couldn't.

       At some point, I did not know where to put myself; I didn’t find a place to stretch my legs, a place to lean my head and a place to pull my hands. I just asked myself: "What I am doing here? This journey is the worst mistake ever."

      I was on the brink of crying. The knowledge of the experience I would have in Florida calmed me down. Moreover, the knowledge of the descriptions that my friends were going to hear made me proud. Somehow, I survived until the car arrived at the destination. The week we spent in Orlando was worth it.

On a personal note, you may giggle, why she is making such a big deal, but for me, such a long journey provided an inspiration. Go ahead! Blow your own horn!

Do not forget-

You can do everything.

The impossible in most cases, is possible.

Be proud of yourself.

Life is too short to wear boring clothes. (I put this sticker on my clothes go for it too!)

Celebrate in Israel but feel like in Japan. Barak Zluf

Kisu is my favorite hangout, conveniently located in a small shopping center in Kiryat Ono, near my house. Many friends of mine also like to eat there. The first time I went there was a year ago. I was there with my family to celebrate my mother’s birthday. When we arrived at 8 p.m., it was crowded and a lot of people were waiting. By looking at the people we could understand it is a kind of a place that everyone would go to, like families, a group of friends and even couples for their first date. While we were waiting for our table, the hostess offered us cold lemonade to make the wait more pleasant. The restaurant serves authentic Asian cuisine, so when we were seated each of us chose a different wok dish, and they were all delicious. We also ordered Sushi for starters, which is their specialty. If you are not a sushi fan, I suggest you order the “Nams” dish instead as a starter. It’s a Vietnamese egg-roll filled with your choice of vegetables or chicken, served with crunchy iceberg lettuce and mid-spicy sauce. The rolls were big enough, fresh, light and not greasy, as you usually get in other places. It was outstanding and definitely the best thing on the menu. The dishes we ordered were delicious and reasonably priced.

As I mentioned above, we were celebrating a birthday party so obviously we had to get some drinks. Unfortunately the drinks and cocktails were overpriced and the variety wasn’t as wide as described online. If you have your favorite bottle of wine at home, I think you should bring it with you and pay only 35 shekels for the corkage fee. That would solve the problem.

The service was fast, and the food arrived very quickly. We didn’t have a set waiter, they were all nice and happy to help, kept eye contact, were patient and well dressed in kimono, a traditional Japanese outfit. Overall, we made a good choice. We also had very tasty, though not exactly low-fat, desserts. While we were eating our delicious meal, a nice quiet music was playing in the background. The stylish interior was absolutely beautiful and very modern, designed with wooden floor, big wooden tables, central bar with concrete wall behind and Japanese wall arts. Even the restroom is spotlessly clean.

To conclude, we enjoyed the atmosphere, both the adults and the young kids. We enjoyed every bite, even though the drinks didn't meet the expectations. Overall It’s well worth paying a visit! I suggest you make a reservation ahead if you don’t want to wait.

Relax and Enjoy the Ride

Have you considered where to travel next? Visit Austria and you will never regret it! In this article I will share with you my unforgettable experience of touring around this beautiful country.

Austria is a huge lovely country with pristine lakes and lush greenery. When my husband and I took a trip to Austria, we rented a car and drove to many remarkable villages. Renting a car was essential so that we could be mobile and spontaneous on our trip. While driving, we were surprised to see that some of the roads were over mountains and through tunnels carved out of rock. Some of the tunnels were so long that it took more than 3 minutes to travel it. During our long drives, we crossed some vast areas of natural beauty. I was excited as a child to see cows, sheep and horses grazing on the open fields. Moreover, on our way to the destinations we pulled over by magical blue lakes and rivers. We also had a chance to see from a distance a waterfall rushing down a snowy cliff, although it was July.

In addition, I was fascinated by the way people live in the peaceful, quiet villages. One of the villages we visited, which was engraved in my mind, was picturesque Hallstatt. There, we walked along the lake to the old town, dined in a famous restaurant and ordered a fish from the lake. On yet another trip in the car, we heard about another magical place called Jägersee. There we rowed a boat in a crystal-clear lake and fed swans and ducks. Then, we enjoyed a delicious meal in a restaurant overlooking the lake.

To sum up, I highly recommend taking a trip to Austria, enjoying long drives through the country and visiting unforgettable villages. But, don’t forget to come back to our precious country which will never be replaced in our hearts.

Jägersee

Hallstatt

Victoria has asked me to post this on her behalf.

I am an English teacher at Harel Junior High School in Holon. I prepared and taught a lesson

about using idioms in both English and Hebrew. I used several YouTube video presentations

about different types of idioms and their translations into Hebrew. During the lesson I used

YouTube Quizzes as technological tools to achieve better understanding of idioms. The reason

why I used these technological tools was to teach the students higher order thinking skills of

comparing and contrasting, distinguishing different opinions , understanding cause and

effect. The students   showed interest in the lesson. They were really enthusiastic towards

the material and participated well. 

The lesson was successful and the topic was interesting. I 'd like to  incorporate more idioms

during my next lessons.  In addition to that I will also use different websites and

presentations about idioms during the whole year while presenting new words and topics to my students.

Finally, I want to share with you the list of idioms that I used in the lesson.

 1. Practice what you preach.
 2. Practice makes perfect.
.3 It’s raining cats and dogs.
.4 Storm in a teacup.
.5 Food for thought.
.6 Like water off a duck’s back.
.7 Speak your mind.
.8 Break a leg.
.9 To have cold feet.
.10 Earning a living.
.11 A drop in the bucket.
.12 Actions speak louder than words.
.13 Buy a lemon.
.14 Haste makes waste
  15. Hold your horses.
  16 Last but not least.
 17        Let the cat out of the bag.
  18 Got up on the wrong side of bed.
     19 Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. 
  20         You can’t judge a book by its cover.

The film Green Book - The Story of an Odd-Couple Bromance

The film that I would like to recommend is the Oscar winner for Best Picture this year, "Green Book".

Green Book is based on a true story that happened in America in the 1960s.  The film captures a road trip across America of a rich black pianist by the name of Don Shirley  and his personal driver/bodyguard,  Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga, a white man who is a streetwise Italian-American trying to make ends meet.

The film deals with the race issue of Black vs White but with a twist. The privileged one is actually the black guy and not the white guy.  In the film both characters have misconceptions about the other’s culture but they manage to overcome them. Thanks to their unique personalities the two form a wonderful friendship. The actors did an excellent job portraying their characters.

On the one hand, the film is your typical American film full of stereotypes and clichés about the issue of racism. It also reminded me too much of another famous Oscar winning film that I like, Driving Miss Daisy. It felt to me like Green Book is the movie Driving Miss Daisy in reverse.

On the other hand, what I liked about this film is that it is what I call a feel good movie. The film portrays the kindness and tolerance between human beings despite their differences.  The story deals with racism which is not an easy subject in films. Also the characters are complexed but at the same time they were very endearing and at the end of the film I left the theater smiling. 

Thumbs up from me.

As a part of my studies on identities , I’ve just read Judith Butler’s article Who Are You?.  According to Butler, the very need to explain ourselves is to make ourselves recognizable and understandable. We create narratives according to social and moral norms. The content might be different, but the framework is similar.

Butler then goes on to discuss the concept of exposure. She says if the story of a person is the story of exposure to others, then we have a mutual dependence on each other. She refers to Levinas’ “The anthropology of fragility”, in which he claims that when a face of the others is completely naked, you have the potential ability to hurt them.  We should be aware, then, of this and try to live our lives without hurting other people.

Is it possible to live a life without harming others? I’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

My Thoughts on Class Size

I teach in a small special high school for students with learning disabilities.

Unlike "regular" schools, I teach classes with 6-10 students.I have been working there since I began teaching 4 years ago and I can't imagine myself teaching classes with 30-40 students. In each of my four classes there are students with a wide range of disabilities – dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADD, students on the autism spectrum etc.These students have experienced failures in different schools and for some of them we are the last option to succeed in the educational system.I teach classes which are tested for 4-5 points "bagrut" and these students usually do very well in their exams.Teaching these students is very challenging yet very rewarding.

I want to focus a bit on the class sizes. Small classes enable us to help every student, teach each of them "according to his/her way", and see them and their difficulties.

I look around and see my friends who are teaching huge classes and my kids who are studying in these type of classes and think that it is wrong in so many ways. There is no way that a teacher can see the student as an individual while there are 35 or 40 faces in front of her. My daughter tells me that some of the teachers don’t even remember her name at the end of the year. That is so sad!!

I think that a reasonable class size is a basic condition for teaching and learning effectively. Furthermore, I believe that every child is entitled to be seen.In my opinion, limiting the classroom size to 20-25 students is the first thing that should be done in the Israeli school system.

oral skills

B"H

I would like to share with you what I do with my 10^th grade students. I teach the weak group and my students are afraid to speak in English, especially in front of the rest of the group. Therefore, I have decided to dedicate between a quarter and a- half of one of our lessons to this purpose:; working on their oral skills. Once a week they have to speak for one-two minutes about the given subject, for example; traditional food, hobbies, friends, etc.

The first few times, some of my students did not speak, they came unprepared and were afraid to speak. However, I am happy to say that I can see them change for the better, and they feel more comfortable than before.

I do not correct their mistakes. We just listen to what they have to say.

In my opinion, it works great, and thanks G-d, I can really see an improvement.

It is important for me to add that I have a very small group (eight students) so I do not know how it would work with larger groups since sometimes it might be boring to hear 20 students speaking on the same topic..

Would like to hear what you think about it,

Chani Neiman

Meaningful Learning

I believe that when learning is meaningful and relevant to students, they get more out of the learning process and can have fun doing it.

Therefore, I try my best to think of ways to motivate and stimulate students to give them an added value. I combine technology, card and online games inside and outside of the classroom to that end.  

In order to make the process of learning literature more meaningful, I decided to have the students more involved in it. While teaching the poem Count That Day Lost, I encountered some confusion among the 10^th graders who could not really grasp the poetic language. One evening I watched a lovely news report about an Israeli English teacher, who did a project with her students to encourage them to do good deeds. I immediately felt that this was the opportunity to link the material learned in class to the students' reality. Ever since I showed the news report to the students, our good deeds project went viral. The students were asked to send pictures of videos of them doing something good to our Whatsapp group to make the day "well spent", as the poem learned in class suggested. Each student thought of an act of kindness to family members and passersby and tried to be creative. One student gave a flower to an old lady, another made breakfast for her little sister, while yet another student washed the floor instead of his mother; some others arranged chairs in the classrooms and more. Every time I got a new picture/video I was excited. The students enjoyed the process and made the connection between their good deeds projects to what we learned in class.

This experience was a proof for me that as a teacher it is essential to make learning meaningful and there is no limit to the ideas.    

Your second, personal blog post

Now that (most of) you have posted your first, professional post we're going to move to the second blog post, which should be of a more personal nature, specifically a review. Read on to find out what you can review and how to go about it.

My favorite speaking activity

There are four language skills that an EFL learner has to master: writing, reading, listening and speaking. Some might say that the skill of speaking is the most infamous one. In other words, speaking is considered to be the most challenging one to teach and to acquire.

Pedagogically speaking, the EFL teacher has to acknowledge two main things. First, providing the students with various opportunities to speak is fundamental. There must be different types of speaking activities throughout the lesson. Second, speaking is hard to master mostly because it has a lot to do with confidence, or the lack of it. The teacher has to make sure the students feel comfortable enough to speak freely and confidently within the classroom by providing a tolerant, safe atmosphere for them to explore and make mistakes.

In my classes, I try to encourage my students to speak as much as possible even though it is not always easy. When I was a college student, I was observing an amazing English teacher in an elementary school in Holon and she had a wonderful speaking activity, which I adopted, Each student receives a sheet with common personal questions, such as Where do you live? What is your favorite season? When is your birthday?. There are between 30-41 questions, depends on the grade level. Firstly, we go over the questions together and the students write down their answers. Then, the students practice asking and answering in pairs or groups. Later on, each lesson a student is given the chance to be the "Pupil on Duty", in which he is to answer the other pupils` questions without looking at the sheet. Thus, the pupils get the opportunity to speak English freely using memorized chunks.

Over the years I have seen that this activity is very relatable and enjoyable for all ages since the students get to speak about themselves, their habits and their interests. Also, the teacher can adapt the content to the learners` level. Another reason I like this activity is that being able to ask and answer personal questions in English is something that can help them in various situations in life.

What is your favorite speaking activity?

Tomer

Barak Zluf - class experiment

Introduction:

When our students just look at us and listen to what we are saying they remember only 10% of the given information. When we ask them to write it down they can increase the amount of information they remember up to 50%, but when we ask them to actually practice, they can remember even 90% of the information!

I always think of how to integrate students’ participation in class and truly feel like the textbooks give us great opportunities for that. We, as teachers, have to use them.

Hypothesis:

Last month I started the second unit in the textbook with my 11th grade, 5 points. This unit talks about gender. We read a text about the effects of gender stereotypes and the fact that girls don’t speak up in class as much as boys.

One of the proposed tasks, after reading the text, was to let the students choose a lesson in any subject, and run a class experiment to find out if it’s true and who really contributes more to the lesson; boys or girls.

I found it very beneficial for the students. First, if they run the experiment they can easily learn more new words from the text and additionally great vocabulary related to experiments. That would help them with unseens, most of which describe various studies and their results. Second, using their new vocabulary orally by presenting their results to their peers in class can build their confidence. And at least, to remember what we have learned.

Procedure:

So I prepared an experiment sheet (attached picture) and handed it out to each student. I asked only 5 to make a big presentation and the rest were asked to share their results afterwards, in the final discussion in class.

Conclusion:

When I shared it with my colleges, other English teachers, they said they didn’t even notice that task in the textbook or avoided it since it sounds too complicated. So when you have new ideas, share it! For my students, they enjoyed the research they conducted, remembered the new vocabulary much better and the correct way to use it.

And for myself, I’ll keep thinking about more ideas to make my students more active in order to help them remember the material. It surely works!

Thank you for reading!

Barak

Teaching like you like it

Well, this is my third year as a teacher and every day I wonder,

sometimes I'll keep to myself and at times I'll give it voice or write it:

Do I want to be a teacher? The kind that goes to school every morning?

The kind that deals with all the paperwork to keep track of students and

their progress or lack of progress? The kind that walks into classes of

almost 40 students to hear their complaints about their friends, the

homework or even me, yes me?

And then the day begins, I walk from one class to the other, some are

greater than others, looking at their creations and desire for learning

and I say, “Oh well, I can stay for a little longer and then decide”. And to

be honest, it gets better every year.

I noticed one extraordinary thing I lack. My publicity skills. Not like Hollywood

actors and actresses but close.  We can be sort of public figures, in our school

realm, if we play our cards right. Especially us, English teachers.

During the last two weeks, I have been working with my students on creating

English games. I have noticed that when kids work, look for information and

create, they are happy and learning and so am I.

Socrative

In order to help me keep track of my students' progress (or lack of it) and reduce my workload, I use Socrative Teacher. Socrative is a website and also an app that enables you to design online quizzes, short surveys and games. I use Socrative to design weekly tasks that my students do as classwork with or without a grade.

I use it to sum up the material that we have studied during that week or review the material before a test. I even use Socrative to check reading comprehension (I photocopy the text and they answer the questions on Socrative).

So what's so great about Socrative? Well, I only” have to” prepare the quiz / task and the minute students finish doing it and I press on the FINISH button, I get the results. That's what is so awesome about Socrative ( I know that there are other apps/tools that do the same, like Google Forms). I do not spend time checking each student's work. It is done automatically. My students also like using Socrative very much and one of the reasons is that they get immediate feedback from me.

So, how do you prepare a Socrative quiz?
1. Sign up on Socrative Teacher.
2. Go to Quizzes and press on "Add Quiz" and then on "CREATE NEW".
3. Give your quiz a title.
4. Start inserting questions. I suggest you only use multiple choice and true/false question types.
5. Type the question and the answers.
6. Once you finish typing a question press SAVE and move to the next question. When you finish typing the whole quiz press on SAVE AND EXIT.
7. To make the quiz available to your students, you have to "launch" it. Choose your delivery method and settings. Your "room" will open and all you have left to do is to invite your students to go to Socrative Student> type their name and the room name... and start working.

What's in a Grade? 

Since I'm in the midst of doing final grades for the semester this is the burning issue that I want to share with you. Our school decided that in 7^th grade we will not use numeric grades in the report cards this year. Instead, we have to do an alternative written assessment. The report card should consist of comments written by the teacher and the student.

The learning goals of this period should be defined and the assessment should reflect the students' performance according to those specified goals. I should also add a few sentences with explanations of what exactly was covered and how the student performed in each area. The parent and student should be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses so as to allow the student to focus on what was difficult for him or what he/she didn't manage to achieve.

I 'm also going to include a remark on effort and motivation, especially to encourage the students and show them that their efforts are noticed and appreciated.

As for the students' part, they are supposed to reflect on the last semester, what they have learned and how have they performed in class and set goals for themselves for the next semester.

I started working with the students this week on their part for the report card and they are facing difficulties. The students are too young and they have never reflected on themselves before. This is a learning skill that they have to acquire and practice in advance and we haven't done it up until now. Also they are having issues with expressing themselves. What they write should be printed in their report card but their expression in writing is inadequate.

This process of making report cards has become a big challenge and the work load is pretty exhausting.  Have you ever had to do something similar?

Blog

I want to share with you my experience reading a post written by a teacher. I find this post very exciting and touching.

Surprisingly, the teacher who wrote the post has the same name as I have.

The teacher describes the most significant lesson in his life in 15 years and this is what he says-

Towards the middle of the year teachers are asked to write assessments for each child. 

The teacher offered the children an exercise to write an assessment about themselves in the third person. He asked them to write at least one page, and only good things. They began to argue with him. "I do not have anything to write" "I'm willing to write only one line" "Where do I know what to write”.

They began to squirm. They began throwing into the air all sorts of positive judgments in a dismissive and cynical tone. The teacher began to think that perhaps he was offering them something bigger. Or maybe it's an exercise that gets them bored. And he almost gave up. Then he realized he had two voices. One voice who knows this is a formative exercise. An exercise that he wishes he could have done when he was a child. An exercise that can enable them to experience something that may be possible only when they reach a workshop at the age of 40. An exercise that will break the wall of self-image based on external approval.

The second voice in him was the voice of an ego that was afraid it was boring. Afraid that he will not be able to attract their positive attention. A voice that suggested that he should do something else with them, something "more fun."

He knew instinctively that their reaction was due to embarrassment. But the little boy in him, afraid of being bored, almost gave up the exercise. As soon as he caught these two voices inside him, he stopped. He felt a deep pain in his little boy who did not hear how amazing, beautiful, wise, successful and loved he was in such a way that it would convince him for the rest of his life.it was a pain that the child in him could not believe what good things are said about him also today as a grown up.

The teacher insisted and said - “You are about to receive the greatest gift I can give you this year ... Look how absurd this is! I suggest you to write about yourself good things, and you argue with me that you do not want to. Do you get what's going on here??? "

The students fell silent. He shared this is what he felt. He told them about the little boy inside him who is seeking external validation, because there is no voice in him that plays him what he so longs to hear. No one has trained him to talk about the best in him. He told them that he was a footballer who was physically excellent, but he had an inner voice that he always felt was not good, so he retired at a young age.

 It was the sound of a wound that goes through deep healing. They were silent. One of them insisted that he would not do this exercise. And folded the page. The teacher told him that he could write ten full pages about him, how smart and sensitive he was and how successful he was during the year and a half they’d known him. The student looked at him with a look of” I can’t let myself believe you.”

 One girl said she would write, but it's very hard for her because immediately she had the voices of others who would tell her she was arrogant. He offered her a point of view on why. He said that maybe those who tell her she is arrogant feel difficulty and there is nothing wrong with telling the truth. On the contrary, we owe ourselves this truth. She watched and there was a small smile of understanding.

The teacher insisted that everyone writes and they started doing that. Some had difficulties so the teacher and the rest of the class gave them compliments.

One student wrote only 3 lines so the teacher completed his assessment. The teacher said many good things and the other students added other compliments. This student started crying silently after those warm words.

 Another boy just wrote- “I AM A BOY WHO…” so the students completed his words. The child’s eyes sparkled with joy and happiness. Eventually everyone happily talked while standing on a chair. Every time someone read about himself or herself the whole class cheered and everyone was very excited.

This exercise illustrated what we sometimes forget. The children’s self-image is a direct outcome of what we- adults, tell them about themselves. Therefore, it’s crucial for us to build up the children’s self-image by teaching them to be aware of their strengths and uniqueness.

What are your thoughts on this?

The Dancing Classrooms project

Four years ago our 4th graders started a new school project. They  took part in the “ Dancing classrooms” program. I was lucky to attend some ballroom dancing lessons to get fully involved in the practice and to be a part of this great event outside the dancing classes. From the very first lessons I realized that dancing lessons helped my students solve social problems. It helped them learn about honor and respect, improve self-confidence, cooperate, listen to others.

The pupils learned to behave in “ a lady- gentleman” way even outside the dancing lessons. Students were taught the vocabulary of various dances in a classroom setting. The vocabulary was presented and taught  in English by the dancing teacher,which made the dancing program multidisciplinary .There was a unique and successful combination between English lessons and a dancing practice.  My  teachers colleges and I decided to do something more than just repetition and learning the dancing vocabulary. We decided to turn this dancing program into an interdisciplinary project. The kids wrote a story with the “dancing plot” in Hebrew. I translated it into English and the 4th grade student Ella Gavor brilliantly illustrated it. This is how the scrapbook “Everybody, dance now” came to life It was successfully presented at the school dancing ball along with the other materials in English and Hebrew that were created in the classes who took part in the dancing program. After the ball I was asked to send all the materials to the Dancing Classrooms headquarters in Netanya. Then they were sent straight to NYC Dancing Classrooms manager Alee Reed. This is a short quote from her email :

Thank you for doing this so fully – and more!  I love that you created a way to enhance English studies with ballroom by teaching the dance vocabulary in the classroom, and that the repetition in the ballroom lessons helped reinforced what they learned.  And you made it fun, too, by combining creative writing with art, and even word puzzles! I am giving you a standing ovation right now!!!

For me as an English teacher “The Dancing classrooms” program was an unforgettable experience and a new challenge . It was also a fun activity as well. The unique combination of several school subjects made it the most educational, inspiring and memorable school event ever!

A Creative English Teacher – Lead the Way!

A Creative English Teacher – Lead the Way!

Benjamin Franklin said: "Tell me and I’ll forget. Teach me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll learn."

A good teacher has to be able to activate the pupils, raise their curiosity and boost their motivation.
A good teacher nowadays has to be interesting, versatile, innovative – like a juggler or a magician!
A creative teacher can achieve all of the above and Rania Essa is such a teacher.

Some of her activities require some preparation: a Gallery Walk, Interactive notebooks, Quizlet games, videos (such as Learning English Idioms is a piece of cake), PowerPoint presentations, Powtoon videos, Bitmoji…But other activities that she creates are quite simple to execute in class and hardly demand any preparation.

Gamification is an educational approach whose goal is to motivate students to learn by using video game design and game elements in learning environments and to increase pupils' involvement and joy while studying. Gamification, in Rania's book, can also apply to simple, non-elaborate games.

Take, for example, the game "Who is the winner?!" Stick blank post-it notes on a board, divide the class into teams or groups and address questions in turn to each group. If they answer correctly, a representative comes to the board, chooses a blank note and lifts it. On the back of the note there are points. Most are 'plus' points (+5, +10…) but some are 'minus' points (-3, -5…) and this can create a 'twist'. It's a non-predictable element which turns it into an exciting game since everyone likes winning, but the surprise factor – "Lady Luck" - may turn the whole thing around and there's no way of predicting who the winner is going to be.

Luckily for us, Rania Essa's motto is "Caring is Sharing." She shares her ideas constantly on her website, on Facebook and in several teachers' groups.

Rania leads the way and inspires many teachers and those who follow her are no doubt all the better for it.