A suggestion from a group of British teenagers is helping food banks serving people who live on the breadline. These two videos are good for discussing the social phenomenon in class. As you can read in our article, a group of Exeter teenagers suggested putting signs on supermarket shelves next to priority items for food … Continue reading “Food Banks Videos”
St Andrew’s Day, 30 November, is the Scottish national day. It’s a time to wear some tartan, listen to some bagpipes playing “Oh Flower of Scotland”, dance a Highland fling and eat some haggis and shortbread with a wee glass of malt whisky! A typical Scottish expression at this time of year is, “The nights … Continue reading “Go Scottish for St Andrews”
The Magna Carta is the foundation of British democracy, with its limitations of the power of the monarchy and the guarantee of habeas corpus, the right not to be imprisoned without a fair trial. Some simple resources from the British Library can introduce your pupils to this important cultural concept. The British Library has provided … Continue reading “Teaching Democracy: The Magna Carta and Habeas Corpus”
The This is England short films festival is returning to the Omnia cinema in Rouen from 12 to 18 November. The festival team includes several teachers and they have concocted a great programmes lycée classes every morning of the festival. Sign up now, and download the teaching pack to prepare for your visits. Short films … Continue reading “Teaching with Short Films: Lycée”
To mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, Peter Jackson has restored old black-and-white archive footage of British servicemen’s life in the trenches. He has colourised it, and has asked lip-readers to help dub in what the soldiers were actually saying. The film’s title refers to a poem by Robert Binyon … Continue reading “They Shall Not Grow Old Film: Bringing WWI to Life”
Cécile Sempere-Brun recommends: The Verdun Affair, by Nick Dybeck A novel about love and loss, forgetting and remembering. Reading A Verdun Affair is like travelling through space and time. The novel is set immediately after WWI, in France and Italy, as well as against the more glamorous background of 1950s Los Angeles. As the story … Continue reading “Festival America: Reading Ideas for Literature Classes”
A new film, First Man, released a few months before the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landings gives an opportunity to look back at a discreet man who marked 20th century history. This B1+-B2 resource about Neil Armstrong’s mission offers an insight into the race to the Moon. Not only does it focus … Continue reading “First Man”
A Star Is Born is so popular with Hollywood that the new version with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper is the fourth feature film based on the “rags to riches” fame story. We thought it would be interesting to compare the trailers for the four versions. The first two versions of the story are set … Continue reading “Teaching with Trailers: A Star is Born”
Pourquoi un calendrier interactif ? L’idée même du calendrier n’est pas de moi. Project Britain, site très apprécié des professeurs d’anglais en collège, en propose un depuis des années. Récemment, certains éditeurs de manuels ont élaboré des posters ou des agendas à destination des enseignants. C’est une conversation sur Twitter avec une collègue d’anglais de l’académie … Continue reading “Interactive Calendar”
We’ve drawn inspiration from Dorothea Lange’s evocative photographs, soon to be on show in Paris, to invent a creative-writing competition for your B1-B2-level pupils. The “Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing” exhibition to be held at the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris (Oct 2018 – Jan 2019) encompasses Lange’s major works including the iconic “Migrant … Continue reading “Dorothea Lange Competition”