On 14 October, Australians voted 60-40% against a referendum proposal on a change to the Constitution that would have given Indigenous Australians a greater voice in the legislature. If approved, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice would have been a consultative body to advise lawmakers on issues affecting Indigenous Australians. Labor Prime Minister Anthony … Continue reading “Australia Says No in Indigenous Representation Referendum “
On 3 October, Kevin McCarthy became the first ever Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to be voted out of his role. He had already made the news when had had to face 15 separate votes before being elected Speaker in January – most of the opposition coming from his own Republican Party. The … Continue reading “Wanted: Speaker”
This year’s UK National Poetry Day is on 5 October. A great opportunity to get some poetry into your class, and to explore this year’s theme: Refuge. The National Poetry Day site has lots of poems and teaching resources. We picked out some which are especially well adapted to ESL learners. There are short films … Continue reading “Poetry in the Classroom”
For decades, Rupert Murdoch has dominated the media, first in his native Australia, then the U.K., the U.S.A. and other countries around the world. He started with one newspaper inherited from his father in Adelaide and built an empire that has included at various times Sky TV, The Sun and The Times in the U.K., Fox … Continue reading “Succession: Murdoch Media Empire”
Radio France has an amazing website that provides resources for teachers wanting to have their pupils sing. Logically most of the songs are in French, but there are four in English and several in German. If you check out the songs available on the Ma chorale voix interactive site, click on “plus de filtres” and … Continue reading “Free Resources for Class Singing”
What better moment than the Rugby World Cup to take a look at the 120-year-long history of friendship and rivalry opposing France and Ireland on the rugby pitch? Let’s explore this relationship thanks to the online exhibition set up by the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris. This online exhibition will enable the students to discover more … Continue reading “France vs Ireland: 120 years of Rugby”
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”
We published the first part of an analysis of the 1993 animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas in July. Here are parts 2 and 3 out of 8. We’ll be publishing further parts during the autumn so you can study the film with A2-level pupils in class. The film, directed by Henry Selick and written … Continue reading “Analysing Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Parts 2 and 3”
Akram Khan’s Chotto Desh blends dance, projections and theatre to explore the choreographer’s British-Bangladeshi identity. You can catch new tour dates in October in Paris and Cherbourg. Khan’s work fuses classical Indian dance and stories with contemporary dance. Chotto Desh means “little homeland” (Bangladesh is “the homeland of the Bengali people”). It is a child-friendly … Continue reading “Exploring British-Bangladeshi Identity”
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”
