Have yourselves a merry little Christmas...

CHIC TEACHER would like to wish you all a beautiful Christmas. May your festive parcels contain everything that you dreamed of and if they didn't, the Boxing Day sales will be upon us in no time!

Don't spend all of your festive break working; us teachers need time to fully recharge too. Chic Teacher will see you in the new year, fresh with more teaching tips and lifestyle ideas.

Look after yourself and yours...

Nailing festive glamour...

So it's Christmas eve and I've taken a break from wrapping presents to share my eye-catching ‘press ons'. After priming my nails, these little gems were simply applied. I've had endless compliments and I think they offer an alternative to festive red or gold nails.

No fuss. No faff.

That leaves you with plenty of time to get back to wrapping.

 Elegant Touch is the brand and Kaleidoscope is the shade/pattern.

Eye-catching embellishments...

   As you know, ChicTeacher loves adding sweet little notes and touches where she can. This pack of Lotta Jansdotter stickers and labels for stationary certainly satisfies my embellishment cravings. I like to add a little something to the tip of an envelope seal  or gift. Lotta's designs are bold, vibrant and vivid - a perfect way to liven things up.

I wish I could take the credit for this lovely little product but that's too caddish. If you're interested, visit the link below:

Buy Lotta Jansdotter stationary labels and stickers here.

Pure magnetism...

   So I nonchalantly glanced over at my fridge this morning and realised even that isn't immune to the teacher touch! I'd like to point out that I have a very busy fridge exterior; drawings, photos, memos and...teacher-ish magnets.

   I bought the Shakespeare quote magnets years ago from the Globe Theatre. For those of you that don't know, the Globe was part owned by Shakespeare himself and is situated in Southwark, London. The magnet fashioned in the image of Fagin from ‘Oliver Twist' is a memento of a school trip. It harks back to a time when I was crazy enough to take 100 students (you heard right) to watch a performance in London. Apart from the timeless story, the big draw was that Rowan Atkinson was playing the villain of the piece. The students' rapturous delight when he walked on for the first time was unforgettable. 

   It's not so much the magnets, but the memories and feelings they invoke that make them a permanent feature on my fridge.

    

Chain reaction...

‘I wear the chain I forged in life'

So uttered the ghost of Jacob Marley. The links in his ponderous chain represented his preoccupations, wrongdoings and sins. To put this idea to my learners in a thought-provoking way, we ‘forged' a class chain. Each student was given a strip of paper and on this they wrote their regrets and wrongdoings. I promised anonymity and received some downright hilarious (and slightly worrying) confessions. The links were put together and stuck up in my classroom.

I can't take credit for this lovely idea; it comes from an equally chic friend and colleague of mine.