At the end of the most-watched Women’s World Cup ever, an exciting final pitted the Netherlands against reigning champions the U.S.A. The Oranje held off the Stars and Stripes for the first half, but in the end the experience of the American team showed as goals from Rapinoe and Lavelle gave them their fourth World … Continue reading “Winners!”
Forty-six years after it was filmed, an extraordinary documentary has been released of Aretha Franklin recording her most popular album, and the biggest selling gospel album of all time. The “Queen of Soul” was at the height of her career in 1972, having recorded 11 consecutive Number 1 singles in the pop and R&B charts. … Continue reading “Amazing Grace”
A new documentary film by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson brings the soldiers in the First World War to life to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice. The First World War was the first major conflict after the invention of film cameras. To mark the centenary of the end of the War on … Continue reading “They Shall Not Grow Old”
Photographer André Kertész, considered one of the major 2oth-century proponents of the photographic art, is currently the subject of a retrospective at the Château de Tours. Kertész was born in Hungary in 1894 and died in New York 101 years later, having spent a decade in Paris along the way. Much of his work explores … Continue reading “Outsider’s Eye”
Depuis plusieurs années avec les classes de 6ème, je faisais une séquence qui s’intitulait selon l’inspiration, my bedroom ou my ideal place et dont la tâche finale était une présentation orale en continu d’une boîte représentant ou bien leur chambre ou bien un lieu imaginaire ou réel. Voici un exemple de lieu créé par un … Continue reading “The Mouse Mansion: Working Across Languages or Between Classes”
2019 marks the bicentenary of the births of Britain’s Queen Victoria and her beloved husband Prince Albert. Victoria reigned from 1837 until 1899, the longest reign of any British monarch until the current Queen overtook the record in 2015. Victoria reigned over an era of imperial expansion, ultimately ruling over a quarter of the world’s … Continue reading “Victoria 200”
In 2019, for the first time, the U.S.A.’s poet laureate — the nation’s “official” poet — will be a Native American. Joy Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation from Alabama. She aims to honour both the “Native” and the “American”, saying, “When you grow up as a person in your culture, you … Continue reading “Native Voice”
It’s always great to have an excuse to play Beatles songs in class and the latest one is this summer’s feel-good movie, Yesterday. In it a wannabe pop star from England wakes up from a bike accident caused by a global power cut to discover that he is the only person left on Earth who … Continue reading “Yesterday”
Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë were wonderful storytellers, but their lives have fascinated generations of audiences almost as much as their books. The play Brontë by Polly Teale combines their biographies and their fiction. We talked to Barry Purves, who directed a recent production. Brontë by Polly Teale (2005), intertwines the biography of the Brontë … Continue reading “Staging the Brontë Sisters”
British Prime Minister Theresa May stepped down as leader of the Conservative Party on 9 June, starting the process of electing a new leader, who will take over as Prime Minister. For three years, May has tried to deliver Britain’s exit from the European Union, despite having campaigned for Remain in the Brexit referendum. But … Continue reading “May Leaves”