Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot are commemorated on 5 November every year in the UK on Bonfire Night. Pupils from A2 can discover the background to this annual event. Lycée pupils can investigate how a failed terrorist from the seventeenth century has become the face of the Anonymous protest movement. The British Parliament site … Continue reading “Guy Fawkes Webpicks: Protest and Plot”
If you would like to work on Britain’s referendum on leaving Europe, the following article is a good resource. Pupils from A2+ level can understand this concise article from the BBC Newsbeat site (the news programme of their teen radio station Radio 1). At the end, there are a number of Tweets, which are more … Continue reading “Brexit Referendum Webpicks”
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is an iconic dance troupe, and a fixture in the American cultural scene. The company is residence in Paris for three weeks this summer with some of its most famous works. Nothing destined Alvin Ailey to be a dancer. Born in 1931 in Texas, segregation limited his life choices. But … Continue reading “American Dance Theater in Paris”
The UK General Election that was supposed to consolidate the Conservative majority has a resulted in a hung parliament: no one party has reached the 326 seats needed for an absolute majority. The sitting Conservative government has asked the Queen to form a government with the backing of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party. The … Continue reading “Another UK Electoral Surprise”
The exception seems to be becoming the rule in Britain, where the latest election campaign, just like the last general election and the EU referendum, has not gone the way anyone expected. Britons go to the polls today for the election Theresa May announced on 18 April, and which the Conservatives were expected to win … Continue reading “Britain Goes to the Polls”
This A2-level article enables pupils to understand simply the electoral system in the United Kingdom as both the UK and France go to the polls. It could be part of a topic for an EPI « Information, communication, citoyenneté » on different electoral systems, differences between a monarchy and a democracy, in connection with the parcours du … Continue reading “UK Elections”
The British government, led by Theresa May, has called a general election on 8 June, reversing the promises the Conservatives have made since the Brexit referendum vote on 23 June 2016. Although the Conservative government had called the Brexit referendum, its Prime Minister and many of its ministers campaigned leaving the E.U. When the “leave” … Continue reading “Theresa May Calls for a Snap Election”
There will be a big event in Washington on 21 January. No, not the Inauguration. The day after Donald Trump enters the White House, women’s organisations are calling for women to mobilise to make it clear that they will defend their rights against any threat from the new administration. Donald Trump managed to offend many … Continue reading “Women Unite”
A campaign to get a woman honoured by featuring on an American banknote had even more success than the campaigners hoped. Both women and ethnic minority figures will feature on dollar bills by 2020, the centenary of women’s suffrage in the U.S.! National symbols are a wonderful way into discussing a country’s culture – and … Continue reading “2020: The Year of Women”
Once every four years, a U.S. President is inaugurated. This video gives a succinct summary of the significance of this ritualised event. The video was prepared before Barack Obama’s second inaugural ceremony in 2013, but it gives a good overview of the Inauguration as a U.S. political institution. The second minute, where a historian wonders … Continue reading “Presidential Inaugurations: Video”
