Balancing work, life, and learning: How adult learners navigate English language learning

If you teach English, you already know the subject is secretly a life skills course in disguise. You don’t just teach grammar and essays; you teach students how to notice, question, empathize, argue, imagine and make meaning. That’s exactly why English is one of the most natural places to weave in sustainability.

Green education doesn’t have to mean swapping your entire curriculum for climate documentaries or forcing every creative writing prompt to involve melting ice caps. It can be quieter (and often more powerful): selecting texts with environmental angles, inviting students to think critically about the language used in climate communication, and encouraging them to write for real audiences and with real-world stakes.

Below are ways to integrate sustainability into English lessons while still meeting literacy goals, plus a note on using AI consciously – because even our digital tools come with an environmental footprint.

1. Start with “green reading”: texts that open doors, not close them

The simplest entry point is text selection. Sustainability themes appear across genres and time periods, and you can choose materials that fit your students’ maturity level and your existing curriculum goals.

Ideas to try:

• Short stories that explore human-nature relationships, scarcity, or future societies shaped by environmental change.
• Poetry that foregrounds place, seasons, biodiversity or loss. Nature poetry is an easy bridge into imagery, tone and figurative language.
• Nonfiction articles on fast fashion, food waste, wildfires, local conservation projects or “greenwashing” in advertising.
• Speeches and opinion pieces that let students analyze rhetoric, claims, evidence, emotional appeals and bias.

A useful approach is to build a “paired text” routine: pair a literary text with a current nonfiction piece. Students can practice comparative analysis while also seeing how themes evolve from art into public discourse.

2. Teach language as power: sustainability is a rhetoric unit waiting to happen

Sustainability conversations are full of persuasive language, sometimes honest, sometimes manipulative. That makes them perfect material for rhetoric and media literacy.

Mini-lessons you can try:

• Greenwashing detective work: bring in ads or brand sustainability statements. Ask: What claims are being made? What evidence is offered? What’s vague? What’s measurable?
• Framing and connotation: compare “climate change” vs. “climate crisis,” “carbon-neutral” vs. “net zero,” “natural” vs. “organic.” What do these terms imply and who benefits?
• Tone analysis: how do different outlets report the same environmental story? Neutral? Alarmist? Dismissive? Hopeful? Students can annotate for diction and bias.

This helps students become more thoughtful readers and more ethical communicators, two outcomes worth aiming for even when the topic isn’t sustainability.

3. Make writing real: sustainability projects with authentic audiences

When students feel their writing has a purpose beyond “hand it in, get a grade”, quality and investment usually rise. Sustainability offers plenty of authentic writing opportunities, even at a small scale.

Writing tasks that work well:

• Letters or emails to the school administration proposing a realistic change (recycling signage, reducing single-use plastics at events, a second-hand uniform swap).
• Op-eds for the school newsletter on an issue students care about (food waste in the cafeteria, bus vs. car drop-offs, energy use).
• Instructional writing: “How to…” guides for greener habits (thrifting, repairing clothes, reducing digital clutter).
• Podcast scripts or short documentary-style narration about a local environmental story.

The trick is to keep the scope manageable. Sustainability writing doesn’t need to save the planet; it needs to strengthen students’ ability to argue clearly, use credible evidence and write with voice.

4. Use storytelling to build empathy and avoid burnout

Many students feel overwhelmed by environmental news. English teachers are well placed to counter “doom fatigue” by using narrative, especially stories that hold complexity.

Try prompts that balance realism with agency:

• Write a scene where a character makes a small decision that has ripple effects.
• Create a “future news report” set 20 years from now, showing both challenges and adaptations.
• Write from a non-human perspective (a river, an old tree, an urban fox) to practice voice and point of view.

The goal isn’t to sugarcoat realities, but to make room for imagination and nuance: people can be contradictory; systems shape choices; hope can be practical, not sentimental.

5. Build sustainability into routine classroom habits (so it’s not just a topic)

Sometimes, green education is less about what you teach and more about how the classroom runs.

Small changes can become teachable moments:

• Encourage digital submissions only when they truly help, and be mindful of unnecessary printing (but also avoid assuming digital is “free”; more on that below).
• Reuse materials. Create a “paper bank” for scrap writing and drafting.
• Do a short “language + environment” warm-up once a week: a new word (like “circular economy” or “biodiversity”) used in a sentence, then discussed for nuance.

When sustainability becomes the norm rather than a special unit, students absorb it as part of everyday thinking.

6. A necessary addition: conscious use of AI (because it has an environmental cost)

AI can be a helpful classroom tool, especially for brainstorming, drafting models, generating sentence stems or supporting students who struggle to start. But it’s worth naming what often stays invisible: AI requires energy. Data centers, model training and even repeated daily queries contribute to electricity and water use, depending on how systems are cooled and powered.

That doesn’t mean “never use AI”. It means modelling the same critical thinking we want students to use everywhere else: use it with intention.

Practical guidelines for greener, more ethical AI use:

• Use AI when it replaces a bigger footprint. For example, generating one strong mentor text instead of printing five random worksheets.
• Batch tasks. One well-planned prompt is better than ten quick “try again” prompts.
• Teach prompt discipline. Have students plan what they want first, then query once. This improves learning and reduces unnecessary use.
• Be transparent. Treat AI like a tool with trade-offs: useful, imperfect and not environmentally neutral.
• Prioritize human thinking. AI should support reading and writing, not replace the process that actually builds skill.

Framing AI this way turns it into another sustainability lesson: every choice. digital or physical, has a cost, and responsible people learn to weigh trade-offs.

English is where sustainability becomes personal

Sustainability isn’t only a science topic; it’s a human story. It’s about values, choices, culture, language, power and the way we imagine the future. English teachers already teach students how to read between lines and write with purpose. Integrating eco-conscious tasks simply gives those skills somewhere urgent and real to land.

Start small: a poem, a paired article, a writing task with an authentic audience, a quick discussion about greenwashing, a mindful approach to AI. Over time, your classroom can become a place where students don’t just learn English, they learn how to speak for the world they’re growing up in.

A new calendar year offers a natural reset, an opportunity for your learners to pause, look back and lean forward with purpose. Reflection isn’t just a feel-good exercise; it’s a powerful learning accelerator. It helps students consolidate knowledge, develop metacognition and set actionable goals. It also helps you, the teacher, gain insights into what’s working, what needs adjustment and how to sustain momentum. Below are activities that fit into real classrooms and real schedules, with variations for different age groups and subject areas.

Why start with reflection?

Reflection builds self-awareness and agency. When students name what they’ve learned and where they want to grow, they’re more likely to persevere and achieve. For you, structured reflection provides a clearer picture of learning gaps and strengths, enabling intentional planning. Think of these routines as small investments that pay off in greater engagement, clearer goals and smoother instruction all year long.

Quick wins you can do in one class period

Rose–Thorn–Bud

• Purpose: Recognize successes ("rose"), challenges ("thorn") and emerging opportunities ("bud").
• How-to: Give students three sticky notes or three boxes on a digital form. Prompt: “One thing that went well last term”, “One challenge I faced”, “One idea I want to try”.
• Teacher moves: Sort responses to identify class-wide trends. Celebrate roses. Normalize thorns with a growth mindset. Turn buds into a short list of new strategies to try together.
• Variations: Pair-share for younger grades; content-specific (rose = strategy that helped with fractions, thorn = multi-step problems, bud = practice with word problems).

Start–Stop–Continue

• Purpose: Turn reflection into immediate behavior and study habits.
• How-to: Ask students to list one habit to start, one to stop, and one to continue this term. Provide sentence stems: “I will start…”, “I will stop…”, “I will continue… because…”
• Teacher moves: Have students star the one they’ll commit to this week and set a check-in date. Invite a brief self-assessment after two weeks.
• Variations: Subject-specific (start annotating texts, stop cramming, continue reviewing notes nightly).

3–2–1 Learning snapshot

• Purpose: Capture key learning quickly.
• How-to: Prompt with “three concepts I understand now”, “two questions I still have” and “one resource or strategy that helped me learn”.
• Teacher moves: Use the “two questions” to plan mini-lessons or office-hours topics. Share a class list of “one resource” to build a peer-sourced toolkit.
• Tools: Paper exit tickets or a quick digital form, whatever is easier and quicker for you. 

Peer reflection interviews

• Purpose: Build belonging and metacognition through conversation.
• How-to: In pairs, students ask: “What’s one thing you’re proud of from last term?”, “When did you feel stuck – and how did you get unstuck?”, “What’s a goal you have for this month?”
• Teacher moves: Teach active listening (eye contact, paraphrasing) and capture themes. Close with a 2-minute write: “One insight I gained from my partner.”
• Variations: Record short audio or video reflections for classes using multimedia tools.

Two stars and a wish (Portfolio refresh)

• Purpose: Reflect using evidence.
• How-to: Students choose two artifacts from last term to highlight ("stars") and one area to improve ("wish"). They attach a brief reflection: what it shows and why it matters.
• Teacher moves: Model with your own sample. Provide a rubric for reflective depth (specificity, evidence, next steps).
• Variations: Early grades can draw or use photos; older students link to digital artifacts.

Deeper dives for week-one routines

Personal learning timeline

• Purpose: See growth over time and connect effort to outcomes.
• How-to: Students draw a timeline of the term: key topics, pivotal moments, breakthroughs, setbacks and supports that helped. They mark future milestones: “By Week 4, I will…”
• Teacher moves: Guide students to identify strategies that worked (study groups, retrieval practice), then add them to their plan. Create wall or digital gallery for optional sharing.
• Extension: Have students revisit the timeline mid-term to add new milestones.

Goal-setting conferences

• Purpose: Craft specific, measurable goals with support.
• How-to: Provide a short goal sheet: “My priority skill”, “Evidence I’ll use”, “Daily/weekly actions”, “Support I need”, “Check-in date”.
• Teacher moves: Rotate through 3-minute conferences to coach students toward clarity and feasibility. Encourage process goals (such as practicing 10 minutes daily) alongside performance goals.
• Variations: Small-group coaching if individual conferences aren’t feasible; student-led with peer feedback for time efficiency.

Class norms refresh (Community agreements)

• Purpose: Re-center your classroom culture.
• How-to: Invite students to propose two norms that helped learning and one to adjust. Synthesize into 5–7 concise agreements.
• Teacher moves: Co-create routines that enact the norms (silent start, exit reflections, peer tutoring). Post and practice with brief weekly check-ins.
• Equity lens: Ensure norms protect voice and belonging, not just compliance.

Make it stick: Implementation tips

• Keep it short and regular. Even just 5–10 minutes a week builds powerful habits.
• Use sentence stems to reduce cognitive load: “A strategy that helped me was…”, “Next time I’ll try…”
• Celebrate progress. Highlight student reflections that show growth, not just perfection.
• Close the loop. Bring reflections back into instruction: “I noticed many of you asked about synthesizing sources—let’s start with a mini-lesson.”
• Make it visible. A reflection wall or digital board keeps goals at the forefront.

Inclusive informed considerations

• Offer multiple modalities: writing, drawing, audio or a private form. Choice increases safety and authenticity.
• Normalize struggle and curiosity. Use language that validates effort: “Challenges are data, not defects”.
• Protect privacy. Invite, but don’t require, public sharing. Summarize themes anonymously.

Using tools you already have

Many of you use courseware, dashboards and assessment reports. Use them to ground reflection in evidence:

• Pull a quick progress report to anchor 3–2–1 reflections in actual performance trends.
• Use item analysis to identify common thorns and plan targeted practice.
• Invite students to look at their data with you during goal-setting conferences.

A quick start plan for week one

• Day 1: Rose–Thorn–Bud plus a short norms refresh.
• Day 2: 3–2–1 Learning Snapshot tied to last term’s key skills.
• Day 3–4: Goal-setting conferences; peers do Two Stars and a Wish.
• Day 5: Personal Learning Timeline and a brief share-out; set check-in dates.
  

Reflection is a powerful tool. Begin small, stay consistent and let students’ feedback guide you. With clear prompts, support and the right tools, including Pearson’s, you can turn New Year’s energy into steady progress for your class.

What are the benefits of inquiry-based learning?

Inquiry-based learning is all about using questions to generate interest. Starting a class with a question helps young learners engage with the topic straight away. Introductory questions can be big or small, and here are some examples of big questions: 

• What makes someone a hero? 
• Why do we go to school? 
• Why do people live in cities? 

These open questions get students thinking about lots of different aspects of each topic. However, small questions can work as well: 

• What is your favourite superhero called? 
• Do you like your school? 
• Do you live in a village or a city?

These closed questions don’t necessarily lead to further discussion. However, they are a way to introduce a topic and give learners an easy way to contribute without the pressure of getting an answer right or wrong. 

When students are invited to share their opinions, they feel that their contributions are valuable. It also lets the teacher gain insight into what the learners already know. 

How can we help students explore big questions?

Inquiry-based learning can support students to answer these big questions in an easy and satisfying way, including:

• Making notes on their ideas, or drawing a sketch
• Working in pairs or groups to share ideas
• Using a bulletin board

A bulletin board fits in well with the concept of inquiry-based learning. The teacher pins a big question to the center and then encourages learners to add their notes, sketches and ideas to the board. 

Because there are many possible answers to the big questions, it’s important to emphasize that learners can change their minds as they learn more: after all, that’s the whole point of learning.

The Now I Know! series follows this structure. Each unit has language aims based around a big question to get learners thinking more deeply.

How can inquiry-based learning work in practice?

You can put it into practice in your own classroom by starting off with a topic, and then thinking of a big question to get things started. So, for example, if your topic is outer space, your big question could be: Why do we explore space? 

That will get your students thinking and sharing their knowledge about space travel, moon landings, astronauts, aliens – you might be surprised at some of their answers. Ask them to write notes, do a sketch or do a mind map, then pin their contributions to your bulletin board. 

There are lots of options for follow-up activities: 

• Assign pairs a planet from the solar system to research
• Share an interesting fact about an unnamed planet and encourage students to research which planet it is
• Allow students to play to their strengths: one student can draw the planets and another can name their order from the sun (for example)
• Create a game: get learners to write two false facts and one true fact about their planet, and the rest of the class has to guess which is which

Once you’ve piqued their interest and the students are excited about the topic, it’s time to channel that enthusiasm into a more focused activity. For example, you could introduce the story of the Golden Record on the Voyager space probe. At the time of the Voyager launch in 1977, a phonograph record was included onboard which contained, in the words of then-president Jimmy Carter, “a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings.” The record included music from different cultures, greetings in 55 languages and sounds of the natural world. There were also 115 images of life on Earth, many annotated with explanations. 

Bring it back to inquiry-based learning, and instead of telling students what is on the record, ask them what they think might have been included. Again, they can add their ideas to the bulletin board. 

Follow-up activities could include: 

• Making their own recording for an interplanetary space voyage
• Doing a sound quiz where students record sounds and ask their classmates to guess what each sound is 
• Making a modern playlist for aliens to listen to 
• Taking photographs of their daily lives and adding comments, just as the NASA committee did, and doing more research into the Voyager space probe
• Checking its progress through interstellar space on the NASA website

This is just one example of a topic, but any topic can be treated in the same way. If you, as a teacher, share your curiosity and enthusiasm with your students, they’ll pick up on that and become enthused in turn.

How do we nurture enquiring minds?

The spirit of enquiry is one of the most important things we can instill in our young learners. Inquiring minds are innate - just think of the way toddlers ask “Why?” about everything. The mistake that adults can sometimes make is to reply to the ‘why’ questions with an answer, when actually, sometimes children just want to have a discussion. 

As educators, it’s important to reply to children’s questions by opening up a discussion, no matter how abstract the question. For example, if a toddler asks something like “Why a leaf?”, you can expand that conversation to talk about colours, trees, nature, things that grow... the possibilities are endless. 

In fact, this is our main role as educators: to facilitate and continue those conversations, to pique our learners’ curiosity, to share our enthusiasm and wonder rather than simply teach the correct answer.

Show your students that you don’t have to find immediate answers, that there’s no such thing as a silly answer. It’s okay to wonder and muse. In your lessons, focus not on giving students the answers but on equipping them with the tools to research and find them themselves. In this way, you’ll create lifelong learners with a passion for education.