Lion is based on a true story, and these two videos work well together, showing the fiction with the trailer, and the reality, with a Public Service Announcement by star Dev Patel for donations to charities helping lost children in India, like the film’s hero, Saroo. In the film, Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) plays Saroo, a … Continue reading “Teaching With Trailers: Lion”
Nominated for seven Oscars, Moonlight is a coming-of-age movie about Chiron, an African-American boy growing up in the 1980s and 1990s in a poor housing project in Miami. A short video gives a fascinating insight into how the film was made, and is perfect for working on éducation aux médias et à l’information. We wouldn’t particularly … Continue reading “Media Education: Moonlight”
Loving tells the astonishing true story of an American couple who married in 1958 and spent the first nine years of their marriage fighting the segregationist laws that found them guilty of the crime of loving someone who was a different colour. Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter were childhood sweethearts in Virginia. When Mildred became … Continue reading “Fighting for the Right to Love”
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”
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”
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”
Tuesday 7 February is Safer Internet Day. On that day, and every day, it’s time to get pupils thinking about what they post on the Internet, and what it says about them. This year’s campaign focuses on images. Online life is an important part of the parcours du citoyen, and l’éducation aux médias et à … Continue reading “Safer Internet Day”
What does a pupil understand when a teacher says, “Learn today’s lesson for next time”? What exactly should the pupil do? Read the work over, copy it out, memorise the new words or expressions, use them in context to produce a message…? Which tools should be used (notebook, textbook, school homework website…)? And how will … Continue reading “Learning to Learn”
Ben Affleck’s gangster film Live By Night is a great opportunity to introduce your classes to the period of Prohibition. Live By Night centres on the organised crime gangs which profited from Prohibition by producing or importing illicit alcohol and running underground bars called speakeasies. The Bill of Rights Institute has free downloadable teaching resources … Continue reading “Prohibition”
These videos will help you discuss Martin Luther King Day in class. The third Monday in January, close to MLK’s birthday on the 15th, is a federal holiday and a day of service when citizens are encouraged to volunteer in their communities. This 60-second Public Service Announcement for the day of service s simple – … Continue reading “Martin Luther King Day on the Web”