Almost ten years ago, one of our first Elementary Instant Lessons was on Frenchman, Alain Robert who free-climbs sky scrapers. At that stage back in the year 2000, he had 'only' climbed 30 of the tallest buildings in the world. Now we have done a new Elementary Instant Lesson on Robert. ("Spiderman - Third Time Lucky") Nearly a decade later he has climbed more than 80 buildings, including the tallest building in the world, using only his hands and feet. '"As a young boy I was afraid of heights and [did not have] self confidence," said Robert.' Students talk about dangerous activities, do an information sharing speaking activity on dangerous activities and learn more about superlative adjectives.

In the developing world access to electricity is often restricted and many poorer people rely on kerosene lamps for lighting. This is hazardous, bad for the environment and expensive. Various microcredit organizations are making finance available to poor people who want to use solar lights instead of kerosene. In our Advanced Instant Lesson "Shine A Light" students read about projects to supply solar units to people in India and Bangladesh. ' "Salma Mohammad's small corner shop is lit by a solar-powered battery that she bought with a loan of 33,000 rupees from Sewa Bank. "This shop has helped me raise my children," she said. "The solar battery has improved our lives, given us much to be grateful."'

For those of you who enjoy a look at what the wealthy might buy each other for Christmas, our annual Upper Intermediate Instant Lesson "Try Wrapping This" looks at the luxury gifts of the 2009 Christmas catalog of Neiman Marcus, a chain of department stores in the USA. "If you relish intellectual delights, Neiman Marcus will arrange a private dinner party with some of the world's sharpest minds. The $200,000 round table event at New York City's Algonquin Hotel includes dinner and conversation with people like Henry Louis Gates Jr., Christopher Buckley and George Stephanopoulos." We also find out what happened to the even more expensive gifts available in the 2008 catalog.

And on the issue of whether people should be able to wear symbols of their religion at school, our Intermediate Instant Lesson "A Veiled Look" looks at an elementary school teacher in Egypt who wants to keep wearing the niqab, a face veil, despite a religious edict or fatwa being issued "barring women and girls from wearing the niqab in all-girl Azhari schools." As well as this, there's a new Weekly Warmer, a banking vocabulary worksheet with everyday vocabulary of banking and an Instant Workbook. We wish you very happy and productive teaching this month!