This comic strip about Queen Elizabeth II will get your pupils ready to understand what will be happening for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations that will be concentrated around the weekend of 2-5 June. These two pages are devoted to Elizabeth’s childhood and her first meeting with Philip, and accompanied with activities at A1+ level. A … Continue reading “Queen Elizabeth II Comic Strip”
Kenneth Branagh fait suite à son succès comme réalisateur et vedette d’une première adaptation d’un roman d’Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express, avec Death on the Nile, où on retrouve Branagh incarnant le détective belge Hercule Poirot. Cette fois un meurtre a été commis non pas dans un train mais sur un bateau naviguant … Continue reading “Death on the Nile”
King Richard is a film about a man with a mission: Richard Williams, who decided two years before his daughter Venus was born, that he would have two daughters destined to become tennis champions. This would seem a pretty wild ambition even if Williams had been from a tennis-playing background. However, that couldn’t have been … Continue reading “King Richard”
Our bioboxes are short “Who Am I?” quizzes to help introduce pupils to famous figures in the English-speaking world. This one is on Josephine Baker as she enters the French Panthéon. For more information on Baker, see our article. You can download the biobox below to use it offline with your pupils.
A new biopic of Billie Holiday alleges the blues singer was persecuted by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics over her support for the civil rights movement and her insistence on singing the powerful anti-lynching anthem “Strange Fruit.” Jazz singer Andra Day won a Best Actress Golden Globe for her portrayal of Holiday. The United States … Continue reading “Billie Holiday: Blues and Civil Rights”
The American Library in Paris is continuing to run “evening with an author” events despite the curfew. And the advantage is you can tune in for free from anywhere, and there’s no limit on numbers. On 16 February, it will feature an interview with Pulitzer-prizewinning historian Fredrik Logevall on his biography of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. … Continue reading “Online Talk About President Kennedy”
In this A2 article, your students will learn about Charlie Chaplin’s life and films, and about the importance of music in both his life and his art. Although he could not read music, he was able to compose and play the violin by ear, and even direct an orchestra. Most of his films were silent, … Continue reading “Charlie Chaplin: Music Man”
A new biopic, Vita and Virginia, tells the story of author Virginia Woolf’s relationship with aristocrat Vita Sackville-West, which resulted in one of the most innovative novels of the early twentieth century, Orlando. Apart from an interest in literature and writing, nothing destined Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West to meet, never mind form a relationship. … Continue reading “Virginia Woolf Love Story”
The trailer for the biopic Tolkien is perfect to add to Shine Bright 1re Advanced File 2 “War will not tear us apart” or File 1 “Biopics in Hollywood”. It draws parallels between Tolkien’s childhood friendships and love, his experience of World War I and his later heroic fantasy novels The Hobbit and Lord of … Continue reading “Tolkien, War and Fellowship”
Shine Bright 1re File 16 is on Born-free South Africa: the young generation that was born after the end of apartheid. The legacy of Nelson Mandela’s life and politics is the cornerstone of today’s South Africa. In this B1 article, your students will learn about Mandela and his part in the abolition of apartheid and … Continue reading “South Africa: Nelson Mandela”