The midterm elections will take place in the U.S. on 8 November. What are these elections held half-way through a presidential term, and what is at stake this year? The midterms are held two years into the 4-year presidential term. They can, and in fact often do, change the course of the Presidency. There are … Continue reading “What’s at Stake in the U.S. Midterm Elections?”
The Irish Central Statistics Office recently announced that the country’s population had surpassed 5 million for the first time since the Great Famine (1845-49). A notable event in a country whose history and culture have been marked by waves of emigration. This excellent infographic would be a great addition to Shine Bright 1e File 9 … Continue reading “Irish Population Returns to Pre-Famine Levels”
We stumbled across this simple visualisation to help pupils remember the spellings of the homophones their, there and they’re. We couldn’t resist sharing. It just shows the power of a well-conceived image. “their” refers to a person or people so there’s a little stick man replacing the “i”. “there” refers to a place so the … Continue reading “Memory Tricks: Their, There and They’re”
International Fact-Checking Day is on 2 April – the day after the annual feast of benign fake news stories and hoaxes that is April Fool’s Day. It promotes fact-checking to combat malicious fake news around the world. The day is organised by the International Fact-Checking Network, a team of journalists around the world coordinated by … Continue reading “International Fact-Checking Day”
If you’d like to discuss the American midterm elections with your classes, we have selected some great teaching resources. This 1’30” video from Voice of America News is short and to the point. It’s usable for written comprehension (there’s no voiceover or dialogue). Usable from A2. This BBC video is 2’25” and is a simple-ish … Continue reading “Talking About the U.S. Midterms”
