MACMILLAN

LIFE SKILLS

Develop the skills

to succeed in
21st Century employment

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
 About Macmillan Life Skills

The Life Skills programme comprises a range of FREE teaching resources that
have been mapped to the CEFR (A1 - C1) and created specifically to help
language teachers bring life skills into the classroom.
Resources include lesson plans, videos and quizzes and cover key employability
topics including:

Critical Thinking
Communication
Collaboration
Creativity Problem-solving
Social and Cultural Awareness
Study Skills

Leadership and Responsibility

Self-awareness and Initiative
Organisation Skills
Time Management
Workplace Readiness

Visit the Macmillan English website to discover and download our resources:
macmillanenglish.com/life-skills

The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the
moment you die, is a process of learning.
Jiddu Krishnamurti

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
Your 2016 Employability Resources

Inside your Life Skills Employability Toolkit:

Self-evaluation quiz: Reflect on your current skills and set your objectives for
the year ahead.

Calendar: Printable monthly sheets featuring professional development

activities and tips.

Monthly review: A flexible tool to help you reflect on your monthly

experiences and goals.

Weekly planner: A photocopiable weekly planner to help you list and

achieve your objectives each week.

Want to receive FREE resources, teaching tips and reminders about our
FREE monthly webinars? Sign up to the Macmillan English email list!

Get set for success

Skills for work: Interview Skills Interview: Chris Hadfield

Discover our new Skills for Work video Launching in February: Watch our exclusive
series on YouTube and pick up top tips for interview and get out of this world career
professional success. tips from astronaut Chris Hadfield!

Macmillan Education ELT

Life is not about the big dramatic long-term dream goal.

Life is about the sum total of each little step you take. MACMILLAN
Chris Hadfield
LIFE SKILLS
 The Importance of Life Skills
Fact: Two years ago, if you searched online for life skills in
education you would find 71 million results.
Today, the same search generates over 200 million results.

Why is there so much

The Assessment and Teaching of 21st century
interest in life skills? Skills (ATC21S) started with a group of more than
The rapid changes brought on 250 researchers across 60 institutions worldwide who
by technology have had a direct categorised 21st century skills into 4 broad categories:
effect on all our lives. However, the
1. Ways of thinking: Creativity, critical thinking,
workplace has been transformed
problem-solving, decision-making and learning
completely. Today, people expect
2. Ways of working: Communication and
to have many different jobs and
collaboration
therefore need to build flexible skills
3. Tools for working: Information and
and be ready to adapt and learn in
communications technology (ICT) and information
a fast-moving world. We all need
literacy
to be able to use new and ever-
4. Skills for living in the world: life, career, personal
changing technology, as well as
and social responsibility
collaborate successfully with people
from various backgrounds in person
Other organisations, including P21.org, have listed
and at a distance.
skills including life and career skills, critical
thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity,
Who defines life skills? and ICT skills.

There are many different lists of In The Global Achievement Gap, Tony Wagner highlighted
life skills, developed by ministries, seven skills which further reinforce key themes:
international organisations, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving; Collaboration
universities and educational Across Networks and Leading by Influence; Agility and
partnerships. Everyone who is Adaptability; Initiative and Entrepreneurship; Effective
interested in the improvement of Oral and Written Communication; Accessing and
education has a view on which Analyzing Information; Curiosity and Imagination.
skills are the ones necessary for
success in the 21st century.

So you can see that similar

themes appear throughout these
and many other lists created by
employers.

The question is, which of the

life skills do you recognise and
want to build within yourself?

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
Self-evaluation Quiz
This quiz is adapted from Palgrave, Skills for Success 3rd edition, by Stella Cottrell.

For each of the following statements, rate your responses as outlined below.

Rating: 0 = strongly agree 1 = agree 2 = slightly agree 3 = disagree 4 = strongly disagree

1 I am certain that I can keep myself motivated towards achieving my next goal 0 1 2 3 4

2 I am confident that I have planned sufficiently to enable me to achieve my goals 0 1 2 3 4

3 I am very clear how my academic achievements fit into my life plans 0 1 2 3 4

I am confident that I can demonstrate the skills, values and behaviours that employers
4 0 1 2 3 4
are looking for

5 I am confident in undertaking structured reflection without guidelines 0 1 2 3 4

6 I am confident that I can develop an effective strategy to meet most circumstances 0 1 2 3 4

7 I have a clear understanding of how to evaluate my own performance 0 1 2 3 4

8 I am confident that I know how to improve my performance in most circumstances 0 1 2 3 4

9 I know how to apply and transfer my expertise from one area to a different field 0 1 2 3 4

10 I am confident that I can see myself as others see me 0 1 2 3 4

11 I am confident that I have effective listening skills 0 1 2 3 4

12 I am an assertive person 0 1 2 3 4

13 I am a good self-starter 0 1 2 3 4

14 I am aware of the best roles for me to fill for team work 0 1 2 3 4

15 I am confident at problem-solving 0 1 2 3 4

16 I am confident that I know how to make best use of my mind 0 1 2 3 4

17 I am confident that I will take a creative approach to most problems 0 1 2 3 4

18 I am always very clear about which skills I am developing 0 1 2 3 4

Look at your score. How many items did you circle as 0 = strongly agree?
Look back over the points you gave a score of 1-4: How can you improve your score
over the coming year?

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not

enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. MACMILLAN
Leonardo da Vinci
LIFE SKILLS
January If youre offered a seat on a
M T W T F S S
rocket ship, dont ask what
seat! Just get on.
1 2 3 Sheryl Sandberg

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17
NOTES

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

DATES TO REMEMBER:

13th: Discover Stories with Dex

27th: Get Set For Success Special

Engaging Audiences and Delivering Presentations

Communicating Confidently

Boost your Employability with Life Skills

TRY THIS:

Listening skills
Good listening skills are invaluable to forming rapport What was the situation: what happened?
with others However, skilful listening is about more than
How did you feel?
hearing words. It involves understanding the message, the
situation and other people. There is an art in being able to What did you do?
discover what another person is trying to communicate,
What could the listener or listeners
and this can take many years to perfect.
Think of a recent situation when you felt that you were
have done differently to help you feel
you had been listened to?
MACMILLAN
trying to communicate your point of view and could not
make yourself heard. LIFE SKILLS
(Taken from Palgrave, Skills for Success 3rd edition, by Stella Cottrell p. 135)

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
February Choose a job you love, and
M T W T F S S
you will never have to work
a day in your life.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Confucius

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21
NOTES

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29

DATES TO REMEMBER:

10th: Happy Birthday onestopenglish

24th: Flipping the Classroom

TRY THIS:

Creativity skills
Most people equate creativity with a particular kind What kinds of creativity do you show in
of person. You may have associated creativity with your life?
being an artist, designer, performer or inventor. Most
Do you have your own ways of doing
of us underestimate our capacity for creativity. We
things for certain tasks?
may compare ourselves with great artists, for example,
ignoring all the occasions when we have used our In which areas of your life would you like
minds and resources creatively to deal with a situation to be more creative? MACMILLAN
we are in. We all have our own spheres where our
natural creativity shines.
Do you feel comfortable with the idea of
yourself as a potentially creative person?
LIFE SKILLS
(Taken from Palgrave, Skills for Success 3rd edition, by Stella Cottrell p. 204)

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
March Its not what you achieve, its
M T W T F S S
what you overcome. Thats
what defines your career.
Carlton Fisk
1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20
NOTES

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

DATES TO REMEMBER:

16th: Stories and Scaffolded Learning

30th: Teachers at the Heart #1: Networking

TRY THIS:

Share the vision does everyone know

Collaboration skills what the goal is and how success will be
What are the dynamics in getting people to work together assessed
to achieve an outcome in a workplace situation? It can
Share the stage make sure everyone has
mean everything from knowing how to get the best out of
a chance to share their ideas and feedback
others and motivating them to a common goal, to being
able support colleagues through difficult situations or Share the workload if roles need to be
conflicts of personality. assigned how will this be done and why?
Everyone works in different ways, so being able to have Do you prefer to lead or follow? MACMILLAN
different personalities working together and delivering on a
single plan or goal relies on effective collaboration as well


Share the glory when a successful
outcome has been achieved do you
LIFE SKILLS
as having a tactful approach. recognise all those who contributed and
those who collaborated

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills (Taken from Palgrave, Skills for Success 3rd edition, by Stella Cottrell p. 204)
April Find out what you like doing
M T W T F S S
best and get someone to pay
you for doing it.
1 2 3 Katherine Whitehorn

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17
NOTES

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

DATES TO REMEMBER:

20th: Shakespeare Special

TRY THIS:

Know yourself - defining success

There are many ways of looking at success. Jot down quickly the first ten things (or symbols)
Some people define success in terms of you associate with success
objective materials criteria. (How much
How important is each of those symbols to you
money, how high a position in a company,
personally?
how big a house). Success is a very subjective
matter. It depends on what is meaningful to Are these things you want very much from life?
you and the people around you.
How do you think your list would differ from
MACMILLAN
somebody elses? Compare your list with a friend. LIFE SKILLS
(Taken from Palgrave, Skills for Success 3rd edition, by Stella Cottrell p. 24)

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
May Ive failed over and over and
M T W T F S S
over again in my life. And that
is why I succeed.
1 Michael Jordan

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15
NOTES

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

DATES TO REMEMBER:

11th: Teachers at the Heart #2: Finding Balance

18th: Effective Exam Practice for Teenagers

TRY THIS:

Creative thinking Brainstorm ideas on one topic onto a

large piece of paper: dont edit these,
Creative thinking skills use very different approaches
just write them down.
to critical thinking skills. They involve a much more
relaxed, open and playful approach. This can require Allow yourself to play with an idea whilst
some risk-taking Creative thinking skills are as much you go for a walk.
about attitude and self-confidence as about talent. As Draw or paint a theory on paper, or doodle
you are not looking for one answer, you are likely to around key words
come up with lots of suggestions that are not right. MACMILLAN
LIFE SKILLS
This can be difficult if you are more used to analytical Ask the same question at least twenty times
and logical approaches. and give a different answer each time.
Ask questions such as What if.? Or Supposing.?.
(Taken from Palgrave, Skills for Success 3rd edition, by Stella Cottrell p. 210)

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
June Failure doesnt mean you
M T W T F S S
are a failure it just means you
havent succeeded yet.
1 2 3 4 5 Robert H. Schuller

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19
NOTES

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30

DATES TO REMEMBER:

8th: Summer School Special

TRY THIS:

Work readiness
What is work readiness? Employers say they want Bring a can-do attitude undertaking
students to be work-ready. Having had work, whether reasonable tasks when asked
paid or voluntary, part-time or full-time, helps to
Take pride in your work going the
develop an understanding of what this entails. Work
extra mile and being professional
readiness is hard to define precisely, but employers
want to take on new staff who identify with the needs Use time effectively including being
of their business. punctual MACMILLAN
Be generally helpful and flexible LIFE SKILLS
(Taken from Palgrave, Skills for Success 3rd edition, by Stella Cottrell p. 254)

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
July
M T W T F S S The best way to predict the
future is to create it.
Abraham Lincoln
1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17
NOTES

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

DATES TO REMEMBER:

13th: Using Digital Resources

TRY THIS:

Critical thinking
Traditionally, educational learning has emphasised Understand the criteria (i.e. what decision/action
content over process. We are in transition toward needs to be taken)
an emphasis of process over content. Knowing
facts is no longer as important as being able to List all the options (not just the ones that appeal to you)
analyse, synthesise, prioritise, categorise and Order the options according to the criteria
evaluate information. Life skills in the information
age include the ability to process many types of Evaluate the possible outcomes
information in many ways.
Use this to plan your course of action(s) MACMILLAN
To prepare for success, we need to learn to deal
with a rich array of information types and consider
LIFE SKILLS
how to process the information verbally, visually,
Addressing the Life Skills crisis, Dr. Spencer Kagan, Win-Win Discipline:
logically, intuitively.
Strategies for All Discipline Problems (St. Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing, 2004)

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
August
M T W T F S S The most certain way to
succeed is always to try just
one more time.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Thomas A. Edison

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21
NOTES

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

DATES TO REMEMBER:

TRY THIS:

Time management
Do you feel you have loads of time, or are you How do you manage your time? What % do you
often running out of time? Time management give to the following 4 stages?:
is an essential skill, especially as technology Plan what are you going to do and by when?
seems to provide people with 24-hour access.
Does the activity need to be broken into stages?
There are many tools (on your phone, computer/
tablet) that can help you plan your time, as well Do tackle the task in the time you have allocated
as diaries, schedules and wall planners. What Review if you were to offer advice on the same MACMILLAN
LIFE SKILLS
matters is making a start to plan your time and task to a friend, what advice would you give? How
reviewing and refining how you use that time. would you help them complete the task? Does
the plan, time allocation or outcome need to be amended?
Reflect what did you achieve, what was left undone?

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
September Dreams are extremely
M T W T F S S important. You cant do it
unless you imagine it.
George Lucas
1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18
NOTES

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

DATES TO REMEMBER:

14th: BACK TO SCHOOL SPECIAL

Classroom Routines for Young Learners

Evaluating Online Information

Managing and Motivating Teens

TRY THIS:

21st-century study skills Begin by looking at the task and divide it into phases
research, 1st draft, review, 2nd draft, final and put these
Are your study skills up-to-date? With modern into your outlook calendar/schedule: it will remind you
technology there is a lot more support available what to do and you can update as you progress.
at the touch of a button. Often its not the Set a realistic time frame for each phase and use your
amount of time you spend studying, but how mobiles alarm to keep a track of time
effectively you use that time. Study skills arent Work with other students using email/social media or
just for exams; study skills can help in preparing other links
for meetings, and when creating or reviewing
work. Have you made the most of your mobile
Bookmark useful pages as you find them
MACMILLAN
phone, tablet or computer to develop these skills? Make use of the recording feature. Read your work aloud
and listen back to it. If youre bored or cant follow the
argument, what will the final reader of the piece feel? Use
LIFE SKILLS
the playback feature to find what points to stress, what to
delete and what to review

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
October
M T W T F S S If you can DREAM it,
you can DO it.
Walt Disney
1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16
NOTES
17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31

DATES TO REMEMBER:

12th: SPEAKING WITH IMPACT

TRY THIS:

Teamwork
Teamwork skills are life skills. More people lose How can you develop empathy?
their first job for lack of ability to get along with
Demonstrate clearly that you are listening
others than for lack of technical skills. Social
skills are core to all the life skills frameworks. Listen for the underlying message: what does the
The most fundamental social skill is empathy. person really mean? What do they really want you to
Understanding communication, friendship, caring, hear or to know?
diversity skills, leadership skills, and teamwork Leave silences this enables other people to enter MACMILLAN
LIFE SKILLS
skills all hinges on the ability to feel what it is like the dialogue or to work out their own position
to be the other person.
Use appropriate body language and facial expressions

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
November
M T W T F S S Its not the days in your life,
but the life in your days that
counts.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Brian White

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20
NOTES

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30

DATES TO REMEMBER:

8th12th: The Macmillan Education Online Conference

TRY THIS:

Leadership skills
Being a leader demands a lot from anyone, often How often should you meet with the team?
including prioritisation, people management, Should a leader be visible by their absence?
delegation, negotiation, development and
Communicate with the team (and not just the negatives).
intervention. Personally, there will be the
What communication style do you prefer and how is this
need to manage the stress of the job and the
viewed by your team?
expectations of those in the team.
No matter if youre a leader already or just part Do you leap in and do and when do you delegate?
Who to?
MACMILLAN
LIFE SKILLS
of a team, think about how you want to be
respected. Do you give feedback how often do you ask for
feedback from others?

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
December
M T W T F S S Success is how high you
bounce when you hit bottom.
General George Patton
1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18
NOTES

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

DATES TO REMEMBER:

7th: Teachers at the Heart #3: Careers

14th: NEW FOR 2017

TRY THIS:

Self-awareness
Either we learn to manage our emotions or we are What does assertiveness mean to you?
managed by our emotions... Daniel Goleman eloquently
How often are you assertive? How does it
makes the case for the importance of affective skills
make you feel?
(growth in feelings or emotional areas). Affective skills
include knowing and dealing with ones feelings. We may How do you feel when you think you have not
not be able to choose whether we are angry or not, but been respected or listened to?
we can choose what we do about our anger. Without
How does this affect your emotions? MACMILLAN
LIFE SKILLS
affective skills we act out our feelings rather than act
from our feelings. How does that impact on your colleagues?

Addressing the Life Skills crisis, Dr. Spencer Kagan, Win-Win Discipline:

Strategies for All Discipline Problems (St. Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing, 2004)

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
 Weekly Priorities
W/C

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Anyone who has never

made a mistake has never
tried anything new.
Albert Einstein

MACMILLAN
LIFE SKILLS

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
 Monthly Review
Month

The 3 words that best describe my month: The life skills I used most (and how) are:

The key things I have achieved are:

Next month I want to focus on:

MACMILLAN
LIFE SKILLS

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills
More Life Skills Resources

Gateway 2nd Edition Beyond (British English)

This 6-level course offers information-rich content for A 6-level course for teenagers. The big focus of the series
exam success as well as a strong life skills syllabus helping is to equip students with skills and strategies they will be
teenage students become independent learners. Designed able to transfer into other areas of their education and
with the option for blended learning through flipped lives. Available as Go Beyond in American English.
classroom activities. CEFR levels A1+B2+ CEFR levels A1B2+

Skills for Success

Whether youre just starting
at college or university, or
about to leave a post-graduate
programme, Skills for Success will
help you to think creatively and
constructively about personal,
academic and career goals.

Open Mind (British English)

A 6-level communicative course for adult learners, with a
strong focus on developing language skills and life skills
for work and career, study and learning, self and society.
Available as the Mind series in American English.
CEFR levels A1C1

REPLACE

macmillanenglish.com/life-skills