Valentine’s Day

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 03 February 2017 > Ready to Use

This A1+-level article will shed perhaps a different light on what your pupils think of Valentine’s Day in the U.S.A and in the U.K. The audio activity distinguishing kind and mean messages in Valentine’s poems fits into the media education and citizenship curriculum. Vocabulary and structures friendship, love simple present simple past: irregular verbs rhymes … Continue reading “Valentine’s Day”

Jackie

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 03 February 2017 > What's On

Seen through the eyes of the iconic First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (Natalie Portman), Jackie is an intimate portrait of one of the most important and tragic moments in American history: the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. President Kennedy’s assassination was a generation-marking event not just for Americans but for the millions of people … Continue reading “Jackie”

A Giant Fell

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 02 February 2017 > In the News

The iconic Pioneer Cabin Tree, a giant sequoia tree with a tunnel carved through its base, fell on Sunday 8 January during heavy rains. The tree’s home was in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, 100 miles southeast of Sacramento, California. The giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) can grow taller than 100 yards, or more than the length … Continue reading “A Giant Fell”

National Parks and Sequoia Tunnel Trees Webpicks

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 02 February 2017 > Webpicks

The U.S. National Parks Service celebrated its centenary in 2016. Although the first park, Yellowstone, was founded in 1872, the park service and rangers date from 1916. The U.S. was the first country to legislate to protect areas of national beauty, and National Parks are popular with American and foreign visitors alike. These resources allow … Continue reading “National Parks and Sequoia Tunnel Trees Webpicks”

Weather Webpicks

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 31 January 2017 > Webpicks

Groundhog Day, 2 February, gives lots of possibilities for revising vocabulary for weather and seasons, considering weather proverbs in English and French, and getting a bit of science into English class. The weather, like Groundhog Day, comes back around regularly, and discussing the tradition can serve as a handy reminder of weather terms. Or pick … Continue reading “Weather Webpicks”

U.S. Trips for Low-Income Lycéens

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 31 January 2017 > Pedagogy

Every year, the American Embassy Youth Ambassadors for Community Service programme allows 20 French lycéens from low-income families to go on an expenses-paid two-week trip to the U.S. The trips, for 20 high-school students and 10 youth leaders involved in community work, aim to develop intercultural links between French and American young people, and develop … Continue reading “U.S. Trips for Low-Income Lycéens”

La La Land: Singing and Dancing all the Way to the Oscars

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 25 January 2017 > What's On

“La-la Land” is usually an affectionately insulting nickname for Los Angeles, home of Hollywood and purveyor of unrealistic dreams. The film La La Land, however, is a hymn to the City of Angels, the golden age of cinema and musical comedies. La La Land is making a sensation, having won seven Golden Globes, more than … Continue reading “La La Land: Singing and Dancing all the Way to the Oscars”

Drama and Cabaret with Footsbarn Theatre

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 24 January 2017 > What's On

The wonderful itinerant Footsbarn theatre company has taken up residence at the Cirque Romanès in Paris till 26 February with two shows: a drama, Cuckoo’s Nest, and a cabaret, Shakespeare Celebration. Footsbarn began in Cornwall but has been based in France (in La Chaussée (03)) for years. If you’ve been lucky enough to catch one … Continue reading “Drama and Cabaret with Footsbarn Theatre”

Women on Stage: How Shocking!

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 24 January 2017 > What's On

For three nights only, a play about the pioneer women actresses who were the celebrities of Restoration London in seventeenth century. In Shakespeare’s plays, the women’s roles were played by boy actors. In Puritan England, the idea of a woman acting on stage was considered scandalous. In fact theatres in general were considered immoral, and … Continue reading “Women on Stage: How Shocking!”

Supreme Court Rules on Brexit Launch

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 24 January 2017 > In the News

Britain’s Supreme Court has ruled that Parliament must vote on the government’s plans to trigger Article 50 of Lisbon Treaty, to start the process of leaving the European Union. The Supreme Court was hearing the Government’s appeal against the October High Court ruling that the government couldn’t trigger Article 50 and start Brexit negotiations without … Continue reading “Supreme Court Rules on Brexit Launch”