Inspired by Banksy

Teachers tend to burn out. Frequently. Personally, I am not aware of the statistics and its accuracy. I simply look at my colleagues and myself. When you work 100 hours a month or even more, when you get emotinally drained, when you forget to charge up your batteries, the fatigue and boredom can easily block your creative and efficient mode.

So what do I do in order to keep myself energized? Today I will share one approach that enables me get inspired. Once a month I set off to have a small adventure either just for me or dragging a friend along. Last month it was a cultural event - I attended an exhibition: "Find Banksy". 

I had zero expectations and very vague knowledge about the artist or may be a team of artists. To my surprise, during a small tour I managed to grab enough material and interest to carry out a lesson or even its part with my Advanced and Proficiency students. Although lower level would benefit from my class alike.

You can use Banksy's works to stimulate discussion or activate students' schemata if needed talking about street art, vandalism and the cultural phenomenon known as 'graffiti'.

I found out that Banksy tries to react to the current social issues via his art: from ecological issues to immigration, from consumerism to Brexit, from pandemic lockdown restrictions to digitalising of the world. 

The following picture touched me a lot. Regarding it I asked my students:

- What is the boy doing?

- Why does he have this toy?

- What happened to his other toys?

- Why did the artist create this picture?

- Can you think of a name for it?

In our pop culture superheroes are expected to save us all. In reality during Coronovirus outbreak real superheroes lived and worked among us. And the ainting is called: "Game Changer. Tribute to the Health Workers from the NHS".

Banksy locates his works on the walls of houses, above the busstop, in the subway. Once he even put a stone with his carving in the Biritish Museum, where visitors had been observing it for four days until it caught attention and people spotted a fake. Not sure that was 100% legal, but quite witty, right?

I am not sure what future awaits humanity. I hope that even in the most turbulent times we will remember that love and beauty are the key to our survival.

What I especially enjoyed is that the artist combines art and language. For those who study the language his thought-provoking ideas are an absolute must-read.

How would you have finished this phrase above a rat - Banksy's iconic and recognisable signature?

I hope I helped you to get at least a bit inspired as well. Stay tuned for more ideas!

How to reduce stress when learning the language?

Loads of students every now and then face certain psychological issues, fears or barriers when acquiring a new language. Personally, I believe that the environment and teaching methods do not have to be stressful at all. Pleasant and friendly atmosphere combined with authentic relatable material can be the answer to that. Remember, that language acquisition is a process, and thus be gentle to yourself. We all develop and grow at our own speed. Everything will have turned to the best as long as you keep moving. You have to simply keep going at your own pace.

At the first lesson when I have an interview with my potential student, I frequently ask them about their hobbies, what they do for fun, how they relax. It is a working tool to include English into your hobby. It can be listening to English songs or watching films or TV shows, watching videos about your favourite athlete or interviews with celebrities, attending virtual lectures or webinars of professors or gurus who appeal to you. There are infinite opportunities here. From reading blogs, watching vlogs or listening to podcasts to whatever you are into. This way your headway would be more significant and noticeable even to you. It is a scientific fact we tend to excel at what we enjoy doing.

Another universal piece of advice that might lower the level of cortisol in your system when learning English is reading jokes or puns, known mostly as memes. Our brain relaxes when we are genuinely having fun. Of course, our enses of humour vary, but I'm sure you'll find something that will make you smile. This way we can kill two birds with one stone – doing something immature ( so our brain feels relaxed) and combine it with learning new words or phrases in English – win-win, right?

These few pictures in the text I found linguistically useful and hopefully funny. I am sure you can do way better than me - there are so many hilarrious memes that are created daily in the web - use them to your advantage and keep smiling - it prolongs your life and changes its quality for the best!

Photos are curtey of https://ru.pinterest.com/mohammedshafrandj/english-memes/