The back-to-school transition is a pivotal time for families. As always, encouragement and positivity are important to support your child – and clear, enforceable routines and expectations are the secret to helping your child settle back into school. Set your child up for success with these practical, easy-to-follow steps, tailored for each age group.

For primary and elementary school children (Ages 5–11)

1. Set a consistent sleep and waking schedule and stick to it

• Action: At least one week before school starts, set a firm wake-up and bedtime, including a shut-off time for screens – ideally an hour before bedtime. Find soothing activities to help your child relax before bed: for example, if their bedtime is 8:00 pm, you could start the wind-down routine at 7:00 pm by reading a favourite story together and listening to peaceful music. Some children wake naturally, others struggle to get up and may need an alarm clock to help them. 
• Enforcement: Remember to stick to the bedtime routine: no exceptions on school nights. 

2. Practice the morning routine

• Action: Do a rehearsal of the school morning: getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, and being ready to leave the house on time. If your child is attending a new school, it may reassure them to rehearse the journey in advance. 
• Enforcement: Use a visual checklist on the fridge to help your child track which tasks need to be done. Some families prefer no screens at all in the morning, but if you have morning screentime then ensure there's no TV or devices until all tasks are complete.

3. Organize school supplies together

• Action: Label all supplies in advance. Take the time every evening to pack their schoolbag together each evening.
• Enforcement: Let your child be responsible for checking off a packing list before bed. If they forget something, if appropriate and within reason, you could let them experience the natural consequence.

4. Establish a homework zone

• Action: Set up a specific, distraction-free spot for homework.
• Enforcement: Ensure that homework happens before playtime or screen time. Use a timer if needed to keep them focused: most children find it easier to concentrate for a finite period rather than an infinite one (for example, "work until the timer goes off in 15 minutes" is easier for a child to respond to than "work until you've completely finished your homework"). 

5. Practice independence

• Action: Teach your child tasks that are appropriate for their age and ability: for example, this could include tieing their shoelaces, zipping up their coat and opening their lunchbox.
• Enforcement: Don't rush to help if they struggle at first. Remind them of the steps, help them if they need, support them all the way. Praise their effort, even if they can't yet do the task perfectly.

For middle school children (Ages 11–14)

1. Use a family calendar

• Action: Post a large calendar in a common area. Mark it with assignment due dates, tests and extracurricular activities.
• Enforcement: Review the calendar together every Sunday. Give your child the resopnsibility of updating it with new info from school.

2. Set device rules

• Action: Devices should not be in the bedroom overnight: set up device charging points somewhere outside bedrooms, for example in the kitchen, to prevent temptation. Set a “no screens” rule during homework and set a time to switch screens off every evening, preferably an hour before bedtime. 
• Enforcement: If need be, use parental controls or apps to limit screen time. Devices could also be handed in at a set time each night.

3. Encourage self-advocacy

• Action: If your child has a problem at school, support them in resolving it. Don't rush to solve the problem for them, ask them how they could approach the issue and guide them towards a good solution. If need be, coach them on how to email a teacher or ask for help in person. 
• Enforcement: Don’t step in immediately – give them the space and support to devise a possible solution. Support and coach as needed to build their confidence in handling the situation themselves. 

4. Make packing lunch their job

• Action: Teach your child to pack their own lunch the night before.
• Enforcement: If they forget to prepare or bring it, choose the response that's safe and appropriate for your chld's age and abilities. It might be that you need to remind them, or it might be that they need to experience natural consequences and buy their own lunch.

5. Set clear after-school expectations

• Action: Decide together what happens after school: for example, they might want to have a snack before they start their homework, and they might want to do their chores after dinner.
• Enforcement: Together, set the rules that are right for your child. For example, no video games or social media until homework and chores are done.

For high-school students (ages 14–18)

1. Require a weekly planning session

• Action: Sit down every Sunday to review the week ahead. Consider deadlines, activities and work shifts and plan accordingly. 
• Enforcement: If your teen misses a deadline, if appropriate, let them handle the consequences with teachers or coaches.

2. Enforce a “No-phone zone” during study time

• Action: Ensure that phones are placed in another room during homework.
• Enforcement: Use apps that block distracting sites or physically remove the phone.

3. Set a reasonable curfew, even for seniors

• Action: Agree on a curfew for school nights and weekends.
• Enforcement: If the curfew is broken, discuss consequences and follow through. For example, if your teen is one hour late home, the next time they must come home an hour early. 

4. Expect participation in household responsibilities

• Action: Discuss how to split household chores. Some teenagers prefer to take responsibility for a particular chore, such as doing the dishes. Other families may need to split regular chores such as laundry, cleaning and emptying the bin. 
• Enforcement: No privileges such as car keys and allowance until chores are done.

5. Monitor academic progress, but don’t micromanage

• Action: Check grades and other school feedback together regularly. Ask about upcoming tests and projects.
• Enforcement: If their grades slip, find out if there's an underlying reason and offer support. Your child may require a study plan or a limit on their extracurricular activities until improvement is shown.

Universal tips for all ages

• Consistent mealtimes: Eat a meal together regularly, if your schedules allow. Some families meet for breakfast, others for dinner. Make sure your child is not skipping meals, especially on school days.
• Limit extracurricular overload: One or two activities per term is plenty. Be sure to protect their downtime.
• Model organization: Use lists, calendars and reminder apps and show your chldren how they help you stay organized.
• Open communication: Have a daily check-in if possible. Ask about the best and most challenging parts of their day.

Returning to school doesn't have to be stressful for children: it's a great opportunity for them to learn new skills and develop their confidence. Finding rules and routines that work for your child, and enforcing them consistently, will encourage your child's sense of responsibility and boost their skills – benefiting them both inside and outside the classroom. 

Many people can't tell the difference between the hyphen (-), the en-dash (–), and the em-dash (—). They may look similar but they can all help ensure that your writing looks professional and is easy to read. As an overview:

• Hyphens improve clarity: there is a big difference between "a man-eating shark" and "a man eating shark".
• En-dashes and em-dashes share a lot of the same functionality – including allowing for explanations and examples to be shared, and separating clauses – however, they are not interchangeable and their use is often down to personal preference. 

Let's explore what these three different dashes do and how they could improve your writing. 

Why did I want to learn English? When I was 9 years old, I became sick of French at home and I decided to go for the "opposite": English. I fell in love with it the moment I started learning. Though I could not see the point in many activities we were asked to do, such as turning affirmative sentences into negative and questions, or transforming conditional statements, I was good at it and hoped that at some point, I would find the meaningfulness of those exercises.

Overcoming challenges in English language learning

I kept on learning English, but the benefits were nowhere to be seen. In my school, classes are monolingual and teachers and students all share the same mother tongue. However, translanguaging was not an option. I even remember being told to forget Spanish, my mother tongue, which was as ridiculous and impossible as asking me to forget I have two legs. Before I finished secondary school, I knew I wanted to take up a career that had English at its core.

From student to teacher: Finding purpose in teaching English

I started the translators programme, but soon I saw that it was teaching that I loved. I changed to that and I have never stopped teaching or learning. All the pieces fell into place as I was asked to use English meaningfully, as I started focusing on meaning rather than on grammar. And I made this big learning insight one of the principles and main pillars of teaching. Some heads of school wondered why I would not follow the coursebook. My answer, since then, has been: I teach students, not a book or a syllabus. Because I was focusing on using English with a purpose – using it meaningfully – the results were excellent, and my students were using the language. And they passed the tests they needed to take.

Teaching English with meaning: Moving beyond the coursebook

I used coursebooks, as every other teacher did, but continued to make changes that I thought would be beneficial to my learners. As I taught Didactics at university in the Teacher Education Programme, I was invited by some publishing houses to give feedback on new coursebooks. As I was told, the feedback proved to be useful, and I was asked to start modifying international coursebooks to fit the local context and design booklets to provide what was missing in these adaptations, until I was finally invited to write a series for Argentina.

In all the series I’ve written, my first comment has always been:  “This is the result of my experience in several different classrooms, with different students from various backgrounds. This is a series by a teacher and for teachers and their learners. The focus is not on teaching, but on what is necessary for students to learn."

Flexibility has always been at the core of these series and my teaching as well. Sometimes students need more work on something, and in the Teacher’s book I included several suggestions for further activities, which I called “building confidence activities”.

Flexible teaching strategies and confidence-building activities

As I got involved with the GSE, I saw how it can help students learn much better, and how it can support teachers as they help learners. How so? Because it starts with a focus on using English rather than on learning about it, that is, learning about its grammar. I’ve shared my views on it with every colleague I can and it has been the topic of several presentations and national and international conferences. It’s a fantastic resource for both teachers and learners, but also for the wider educational community. When the scales were finally published, I remember thinking, “Oh my, I was born in the wrong century!”

I am still teaching English – working at schools as a consultant, designing professional development projects and implementing them, and yes, actually working in classrooms, teaching learners. After many years of teaching English, and still loving it, the best advice I can give is this:

Advice for English teachers

Teachers, we’re blessed in that we do what we love, and despite its challenges and hard times, teaching is absolutely rewarding. Nothing can compare to the expression on a student’s face when they've "got it".

Remember to focus on meaning, help learners become aware of what they already know and set a clear learning path that will keep you and them motivated. The GSE is the best resource and companion for this.