Cross-Curricular Activities With Talented Students In English Classes

In a group of average talented students, there are always some, who stand out with their intelligence and higher thinking abilities. It is a teacher’s responsibility to recognize such students and motivate them to upgrade their knowledge. In English classes, we try to make the students understand all aspects of the language, which means that they develop their communication abilities as well as the cultural understanding of the social setting. With that in mind, the teachers of Slovene, English, German and French, decided for cross-curricular activities with talented students and motivate them for some extra activities, the result of which was higher self-esteem, cooperative learning and higher level of foreign language abilities. The project was originally called ‘Zajtrk’ or in English ‘English breakfast’. Besides vocabulary, the students who prepared the English part learned about different cultural aspects and the history of English cuisine, and they also upgraded their knowledge of the use of information and communication technology since they made a video where the showed what a typical English breakfast is and how to make it. Finally, they had to prepare a presentation for their classmates and provide handouts with basic information and terminology. The activity of students was on an extremely high level and consequently, so was the knowledge they acquired.