This 4-minute video is a simple explanation of Thanksgiving, designed for young learners in the U.S.A. It would work well in an ESL classroom. We’ve indicated the content of the sections if you don’t want to use the whole thing. The voiceover is slow and understanding is helped by the images. You could use sections … Continue reading “Simple Thanksgiving Video”
Anti-bullying actions are taking place in November in the United Kingdom, in Australia, and in France too. Anti-Bullying Week 2023 is coordinated in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the Anti-Bullying Alliance. This year it has the theme “Make A Noise About Bullying” and will take place from Monday 13 to Friday 17 November. The … Continue reading “Bullying Is Never OK”
Long before it made it to the U.S. and Canada, Hallowe’en was an ancient Celtic festival, Samhain*. One of the four major Celtic festivals, it celebrated the dead. One of the major traditions at Samhain was rituals that predicted the future. This is a tasty Scottish way to do that. * /ˈsɑːwɪn/ This Hallowe’en cake … Continue reading “Halloween Cake to Tell the Future”
Although he is most famous for his children’s stories, Roald Dahl wrote intriguing short stories for adults too. Director Wes Anderson, who already adapted Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox as an animated film, has now made four short films for Netflix based on four of the adult short stories. The first to be released, on 27 … Continue reading “Roald Dahl’s Henry Sugar on Film”
The annual Dinard Festival celebrates British film production. This year’s edition takes place from 27 September to 1 October. There are six films in competition as well as a short film section come on an Irish film section and special events: such as a homage to Jane Birkin and a preview screening of Ken Loach’s … Continue reading “Dinard British Film Festival 2023”
26 September is the day the EU celebrates all the many languages spoken in Europe and around the world. They have lots of resources for multilingual fun in schools. This language detective game requires no preparation. There are 40 short texts in 40 different languages each time you have to choose between six possible languages. … Continue reading “European Day of Languages 2023”
If you’re working on detective stories, or scary stories, these two trailers for the new Agatha Christie film A Haunting in Venice would work well in class depending on context. The first one immediately identifies Poirot and that there is a mystery. If you have already worked on detective stories, pupils could be asked to … Continue reading “Teaching with Trailers: Hercule Poirot A Haunting in Venice”
The Commonwealth Youth Awards honour young people from around the world for their work trying to advance one or more of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This year’s winner, Maya Kirti Nanan from Trinidad and Tobago, founded an organisation to help people with autism in her Caribbean island home. The Commonwealth is a voluntary association … Continue reading “Commonwealth Young Person of the Year 2023”
It’s the beginning of the school year and working on school vocabulary can reassure pupils and help them realise they CAN actually remember some of what they learned in previous years. A video and a quiz from the BBC Newsround site are a great way to start the year. Not all of the videos on … Continue reading “Back to School”
After Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie’s detective Hercule Poirot, in the shape of Kenneth Branagh, continues to travel across the world solving crimes. A Haunting in Venice is based on Christie’s Hallowe’en Party, and is suitably spooky to work on at this time of year. Poirot, officially retired, is … Continue reading “Hercule Poirot in Venice”