Florence Nightingale: Nursing Pioneer

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 06 May 2020 > Celebrate

Florence Nightingale is one of Britain’s most recognisable names. The Victorian nursing pioneer and statistician left an indelible mark on the world of medicine. The first woman ever to be featured on a British banknote, her influence is such that 200 years after her birth, the emergency hospitals created for the coronavirus pandemic in the … Continue reading “Florence Nightingale: Nursing Pioneer”

Florence Nightingale

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 06 May 2020 > Ready to Use

2020 is Florence Nightingale’s bicentenary. After she and a team of nurses managed to significantly reduce the death count by improving the appallingly unsanitary conditions at a British hospital during the Crimean War, she became an authority on public sanitation issues. She also earned a reputation for her statistician’s skills, and her charts would influence … Continue reading “Florence Nightingale”

Downton is Back

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 20 September 2019 > What's On

Britain’s favourite aristocratic household is back — this time on the big screen. Downton Abbey is a flurry of activity in preparation for a royal visit. Downton Abbey is one of the most popular British TV series worldwide. The series, which first ran from 2010 to 2015, is set in post-Edwardian England and explores the … Continue reading “Downton is Back”

Downton Abbey

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 20 September 2019 > Ready to Use

This document aims to allow you to work on the trailer of the upcoming movie Downton Abbey at a B1 level. Downton Abbey was originally a British historical period drama television series that aired from 2010 to 2015. It was set as a fiction based in a historical landscape between 1912 and 1926, in the … Continue reading “Downton Abbey”

Spooky Britain

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 26 June 2019 >

Our first resource for Shine Bright 2de accompanies File 4: “Mysteries in the Countryside”. You can find the illustrated map “Spooky Britain” in the textbook. This A2+-B1-level resource will guide your pupils to find out more from the tourist website that gives information the locations on the map. A group activity aimed at enriching pupils’ … Continue reading “Spooky Britain”

Queens on Screen

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 21 February 2019 > What's On

Films about Stuart queens are like buses — there are none for ages, then two together, just in time for the Oscars. Mary Queen of Scots and her descendant Queen Anne are both gracing our screens in radically different biopics, both diverging from history as it has traditionally been portrayed. The Favourite portrays the reign … Continue reading “Queens on Screen”

Two Queens

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 27 February 2019 > Ready to Use

This article explores the fates of two queens who reigned in neighbouring kingdoms in the 16th century. Both linked and opposed, they had to rule in a man’s world, in a conflict-ridden society, where religious and political unrest were rife and conspiracy and treason were the norm. Through the new biopic, Mary Queen of Scots, … Continue reading “Two Queens”

Victoria 200

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 24 June 2019 > Celebrate

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”

Saving the Magna Carta

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 31 October 2018 > In the News

On 25 October, a man was arrested in Salisbury Cathedral in England. He was trying to steal the cathedral’s copy of the Magna Carta, a major symbol of democracy. The Magna Carta (1215) is one of the most important documents in British, not to say world history. It represents the first time a British monarch … Continue reading “Saving the Magna Carta”