Can mindfulness improve pupils' concentration?

Mindfulness is a psychological technique which is said to help combat stress. But should it be widely introduced in schools?

The practice of mindfulness - which draws on Buddhist thinking - has become increasingly popular in recent years. There have been calls for brain-training techniques, using breathing to achieve mental clarity, to be introduced in schools.
In October, the Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group said the practice should be made more widely available and recommended the Department for Education designate three schools to "pioneer mindfulness teaching and disseminate best practice".
Political author and former head of Wellington College Anthony Seldon has called for daily "stillness sessions" in schools, saying a decline in traditional religious assemblies has left pupils with little space for reflection in the school day.
So can mindfulness meditation really help pupils concentrate amid the distractions of 21st Century living? A group of BBC School Reporters from Connaught School for Girls in Leytonstone, east London, decided to investigate for the project's 10th annual News Day.
Hannah, 14, says students wanted to establish whether mindfulness meditation could help. "We wanted to find out how it could be beneficial for our GCSEs and help us in situations where we might be very stressed.

Chip and skin: The office that microchips its staff

29 January 2015 

A new office block in Sweden is offering workers the chance to have a microchip implanted under their skin to allow them to access to various services within the building.

A tiny gadget the size of a grain of rice is implanted in employees hands. It then allows them to open doors, or use the photocopier, without a traditional pass card.

Chief technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones went to try it out.

Click here to watch the video and see the complete article.

Chip and Skin_BBC

BBC World News

Now you can watch very short news stories and learn very easily.
They give you some new vocabulary first, and then you listen to the piece of news. After that, you can listen to it with subtitles and then you have the new vocab again.

It's only 2 minutes every day.

Come on, give it a try!

BBC Mundo



 

Spain prepares for Seve Ballesteros funeral

Ballesteros won five majors in a glittering career.
The funeral of golfing legend Seve Ballesteros will take place on Wednesday in his home village of Pedrena in Spain.
The ceremony will be at the San Pedro parish church at 1200 BST.
Ballesteros died aged 54 in the early hours of Saturday morning after a long battle with cancer.
"Seve will be cremated at a ceremony that will be as intimate as possible and at a place that nobody will know," said the Ballesteros family.
"That was his express wish. His ashes will remain at his estate, at his home in Pedrena."
Seve's brother Baldomero Ballesteros was quoted as saying: "The funeral rites will be as simple as those for any neighbour from the village. He was born here and here he will remain."
Miguel Angel Revilla, head of the local Cantabria government, said the region will observe three days of official mourning.
At the Players Championship in Florida this week, the Spanish flag will fly in honour of Ballesteros until Sunday.
Normally, the previous year's winner has his national flag flying over the Circle of Champions but the South African flag marking Tim Clark's victory last May has been replaced.
Ballesteros, one of the most gifted players the sport has ever seen, won three Opens and two Masters in a career that had 87 tournament victories.
He played in eight Ryder Cups, winning 22½ points from 37 matches, as well as captaining the European side to victory in 1997.
His passing has been marked across the world of sport, with silences being held at the European Tour's Spanish Open and at the Wells Fargo Championship in America over the weekend.
South African Thomas Aiken dedicated his Spanish Open victory on Sunday to Ballesteros. He said: "He was everything to the game of golf and I am happy to have won for him - any of us would have won for him."
There was also a tribute before the Madrid Open tennis semi-final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on Saturday, while the Barcelona and Espanyol football teams paid their respects to Ballesteros before their La Liga match on Sunday.