2 March is World Book Day, so grab a book, or bring some book-based fun into your classroom. World Book Day is a United Nations initiative but it’s especially big in the UK, where it is an occasion to encourage children in particular to read. Schools sign up for schemes where pupils are given £1 … Continue reading “Time to Read: World Book Day”
Mes classes de 5e ont eu la formidable opportunité de pouvoir visiter Amsterdam, dans l’objectif de découvrir le lieu où Anne Frank a vécu. Une des leçons essentielles qu’ils ont retenues de la lecture du journal et de la visite de sa cachette est ‟n’oublions jamais ce qu’il s’est passé ici”. Le thème de la mémoire … Continue reading “Albums de souvenir”
Two hundred years on, the three Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, are still some of the best-loved novelists Britain has produced. Their enduring classics Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall conquer new readers in each generation and have inspired many other writers and artists. The bicentenary of their births, from … Continue reading “Brontë Anniversaries”
Friday 2 December is Shakespeare Lives in Schools Day around the world, part of the commemorations of the 400th anniversary year of the Bard’s death. William Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616, at the age of 52, in his native Stratford-upon-Avon. Yet his 37 plays are still played constantly around the world, and have provided … Continue reading “Shakespeare Lives in Schools Day”
The British Council has produced various films to celebrate the anniversary, modern, short versions inspired by elements of Shakespeare’s plays. Some are difficult for learners, language-wise, but we’ve selected these two for class use. Plus an interactive film from Shakespeare’s Globe. This film is a satirical homage to Hamlet, and the main character is a … Continue reading “Shakespeare Lives in Schools Webpicks”
The title of the first episode of a new five-film series by Harry Potter author JK Rowling is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The answer, from 16 November, is: everywhere! The new series will no doubt be as popular with pupils as the originals, and it’s set in 1926 New York and features … Continue reading “A New Harry Potter Franchise Hits Cinemas”
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the first episode of a new five-film series by Harry Potter author JK Rowling, is set in 1926 New York and features both Segregation and Prohibition. Our A2 downloadable resource will enable your pupils to find out about the new film and understand the connection with the Harry … Continue reading “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
It’s been nine years since the final book in the Harry Potter series, five since the final film. There have been the exhibitions and theme parks to keep fans busy in the meantime, but now Harry Potter is really back with a vengeance! Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is not strictly speaking an eighth … Continue reading “Harry’s Back!”
For the first time ever, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded not to a novelist, playwright or poet, but to a songwriter: Bob Dylan. The 2016 Nobel was awarded to the 75-year-old folk-rock legend, “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. The singer-songwriter was born in 1941 in … Continue reading “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
Every autumn, Britain breaks out in verse for National Poetry Day, this year on 6 October. We often reach for poetry when we want to say something meaningful, whether it is in a birthday card, a graduation speech, wedding or funeral. The aim of National Poetry Day is to have people encounter poetry in unusual … Continue reading “Say it with a Poem on National Poetry Day”