For Black History Month, or any time you want to talk about the civil-rights movement in the U.S., why not use our interactive timeline with some key dates and succinct information about Jim Crow, segregation, Rosa Parks and MLK? You can download the timeline below to use offline. The timeline could be used in … Continue reading “Interactive Civil Rights Timeline”
Will it be a long, cold winter, or will spring come early? On February 2, in Pennsylvania, an animal gives its prediction. Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, has a population of just over 6000, but once a year the sleepy town welcomes up to 30,000 visitors who come to see a groundhog – a North-American marmot. On 2 … Continue reading “Groundhog Day: What’s the Weather Like?”
Not many countries have an annual celebration of their national poet. In fact not all countries have a national poet. But Scotland does and millions of people around the world celebrate him on Burns Night every 25 January. The adoption of Robert Burns (1759-1796) as national poet was a natural, organic process born or real … Continue reading “Toasting Robert Burns”
The Bahamian-American actor Sidney Poitier who died on January 6, 2022 at age of 94, was the first Black person to win the best actor Oscar in 1964. He was also a humanitarian who was active during the civil rights movement. Poitier was the youngest of seven children of Bahamian tomato farmers. They used to bring … Continue reading “Sidney Poitier: Death of a Legend”
To accompany you and your students as they prepare for the Grand oral, there will be a free webinar on the subject on 18 January. Mission Grand oral author Olivier Jaoui will explain how to prepare for, and succeed in the exam, and will also answer pupils’ questions. Webinar: “Comment préparer et réussir le Grand … Continue reading “A Webinar on the “Grand Oral” for Your Students”
Why not encourage your pupils to participate in a competition to video themselves reciting a poem or prose text? Practising recitation can be a valuable activity in any language class. The Académie of Orléans-Tours is organising a competition for pupils to recite texts in the languages they are learning, which is open to pupils and … Continue reading “Ready to Recite?”
The Formula One driver is no longer simply Lewis Hamilton, but Sir Lewis after being knighted by Prince Charles. The driver was awarded a knighthood in the 2021 New Year’s Honours list after he won his seventh World Championship. Hamilton received the award at Windsor Castle on 15 December, just days after missing out on … Continue reading “Arise Sir Lewis!”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu had a unique role in the opposition to apartheid and transition to democracy in South Africa. Because he was not a political figure, but an activist and church leader, he was able to speak out when others were censored. He died at the age of 90 on 26 December. Desmond Tutu was … Continue reading “South Africa Mourns Desmond Tutu”
Eighteen years after The Matrix Revolutions, which we thought was the third and final Matrix film, Lana Wachowski has directed a fourth: The Matrix Resurrections. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are back in black in the iconic roles they made famous: Neo and Trinity. The Matrix franchise primarily consists of a trilogy of science-fiction films written and directed … Continue reading ““The Matrix Resurrections”: the Future is Now!”
If Paul Thomas Anderson’s coming-of-age film Licorice Pizza feels much more real than many films about teenagers, there’s a good reason: it was a project Anderson dreamed up in lockdown. When it was still impossible to do a COVID-compliant shoot, he roped in his kids’ friends and his friends’ kids to make a film about … Continue reading “It’s Not Easy Being a Teen”
