"Sure, I know New Zealand. Lord of the Rings, Narnia and all that…"

New Zealand is a large country with a small population: about four million people in a country a little larger than Britain, a little smaller than Italy. This means there's a lot of unspoiled land to explore. In the new millennium, New Zealand's amazing landscapes have been pushed into international focus thanks to the work of Kiwi directors Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) and Andrew Adamson (Shrek 1 & 2, Chronicles of Narnia) but there's plenty more where that came from.

With term time winding down, English teachers are rightly beginning to look towards Christmas for classroom plans and inspiration. Here are some starting points for creating solid lesson plans this Christmas.

Decoration vocabulary

Zealand's biggest city, Auckland, is one of the South Pacific's premier coffee locations thanks to its great diversity of independent cafes and the ability to roast a great bean. This month, our NZ editor offers up his five favourite places to find good espresso in the City of Sails.

Photo cc. Percita

Mezze Bar

Craig Martin of the Indie Travel Podcast is looking for several people
to collaborate on his new book, “Travelling Europe”. This is the first

As the end of University approached I felt somewhat unqualified for the labour market. With a degree in English and Film, TV and Media Studies it was further research or McDonalds and neither really appealed. Luckily I was already married and quite easily persuaded.