The amusing articles in this series have been collected from (Manchester) Guardian Weekly Learning English supplements and originally are taken from the wealth of material on the MacMillan Education on-line teaching resource site - under the colophon "one-stop english". Having a local copy of our own makes it much easier to access - and avoids registering with Macmillan's. Otherwise the site is very good indeed - full of examples, tests, resources, etc of all kinds for all kinds of English teaching.

The links below come from a group of light-hearted articles reflecting on some of the quirky uses of English in business, by non-English speakers, by teenagers, etc. Well worth a 'stop' to read!

• Genetically Modified - this article looks at one aspect of the British tendency to 'understate' things - with a little learning thrown in.
• Recycling is the answer - a look at some of the niceties of business English.
• e-loud and clear - some thoughts about the style of writing which is becoming more and more common in business correspondence - e-mail (or email, if you prefer).
• Unnatural selection - an interesting look at the non-English user of business English - and why they may not understand the native English speaker!
• Ban and be damned - a humorous insight into whether we should advise students what expressions to use - or merely ban those which might not be helpful.
• Exploring the final frontier - some ideas about lessons involving space and NASA which could help conversational teaching.
• Give peace a chance - ways of motivating teenagers to think about peace.
• Guess who's coming to class - some notes on how to get the best out of a visitor to your class; some of the things the students can do.
• How to be so last year - More teen talk giving a light-hearted look at end-of-year news quizzes for class use.
• Hung up on phone culture - a humorous approach to getting rid of unwanted callers!
• Speaking by numbers - a quirky look at a little bit of numerology!
• Metaphorically speaking - finding humour in the (possibly excessive) use of metaphor in today's 'business speak'!
• The less appealing text - a new twist on texting - for international business messages!
• Sensational sales speak - a tongue-in-cheek look at some 'sales speak'!
• Extreme makeover - does business English really need an extreme makeover?
• Teen Talk - Using the summer silly season newspaper articles as a reading source for students.
• More teen talk - exploring ideas for classes in relation to Facebook 'status update's!
• European football championship - a look at ideas to do with the finals of the Euro football championship and classes in English.
• Coming to a cinema near you - a look at films and how they are advertised - with a few activity suggestions thrown in!
• What's happening on 4th November - using the US election to motivate students to explore the politics of the USA.
• Cash in on the crunch - getting interested in money matters - for teenagers.
• Heating up class discussions - some guide-lines on how to arrnage that a group of students can hold effective discussion about controversial issues of the day.
• Television's got talent - some suggestions how television may be used as an out-of-class resource when teaching.