Raise the Flag

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 09 June 2021 > Celebrate

14 June every year is Flag Day in the United States. It commemorates the date in 1777 when the United States approved the design for its first national flag, a version of the familiar red, white and blue “Stars and Stripes” that survives today. On June 14, 1777, future President John Adams discussed the flag … Continue reading “Raise the Flag”

Trooping the Colour

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 09 June 2021 > Celebrate

Among many other special qualities, Queen Elizabeth II has two birthdays every year: the real one on 21 April (she was 95) and her official one on the second Saturday in June. That is marked by one of the great moments of British pageantry: the Trooping the Colour ceremony. Since 1748, the monarch’s official birthday … Continue reading “Trooping the Colour”

Collective Storywriting: Well Done!

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 03 June 2021 > Pedagogy

As part of the Semaine des langues 2021, schools in the Académie de Nice took part in a collaborative writing project, Histoires communes in English, German, Italian and Spanish. Stories written collectively, often remotely, and across languages and/or across borders. There were three challenges: « Il était une fois dans la forêt… »,  « Mon … Continue reading “Collective Storywriting: Well Done!”

Memory Tricks: Their, There and They’re

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 03 June 2021 > Pedagogy

We stumbled across this simple visualisation to help pupils remember the spellings of the homophones their, there and they’re. We couldn’t resist sharing. It just shows the power of a well-conceived image. “their” refers to a person or people so there’s a little stick man replacing the “i”. “there” refers to a place so the … Continue reading “Memory Tricks: Their, There and They’re”

Escape Games Webinar

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 28 May 2021 > Pedagogy

Thank you for all your interest in our new Escape Games pack for collège. Now it’s time to find out more as two of its authors present the concept and answer your questions in the replay of our 2 June webinar. Emma and Patrick describe their experience testing the games in class with their pupils … Continue reading “Escape Games Webinar”

La mémorisation en présentiel en langues vivantes grâce aux roues numériques

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 25 May 2021 > Pedagogy

Le travail de mémorisation en présentiel n’est malheureusement pas assez pratiqué dans les cours de langues. Est-ce par manque de temps ? Pourtant, les sciences cognitives préconisent un effort conséquent en tout début d’apprentissage pour une meilleure rétention des notions. Cet apprentissage, rebutant pour certains élèves, peut, en réalité, se faire de manière ludique grâce à … Continue reading “La mémorisation en présentiel en langues vivantes grâce aux roues numériques”

Acquérir et retenir du vocabulaire

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 25 May 2021 > Pedagogy

Il est indéniable que, bien souvent, l’autonomie langagière et la capacité à communiquer se mesurent davantage à l’étendue et à la richesse du lexique qu’à la correction grammaticale même si cela peut sembler contre-intuitif dans un pays où les progressions pédagogiques en cours de langue ont longtemps été déterminées par « les points de grammaire » à … Continue reading “Acquérir et retenir du vocabulaire”

Five Eyes

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 25 May 2021 > In the News Shine Bright Lycée

The Five Eyes Alliance is a very discreet intelligence-gathering agreement between five major Anglophone countries: the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It was created during the Cold War with the former Soviet Union. But it is currently in turmoil over the five nations’ relations with China. The Alliance has existed in its … Continue reading “Five Eyes”