We promised them and here they are. Our first four Reading Guides are available for books on the 1ère LLCER curriculum by Edgar Allan Poe, George Orwell, Harper Lee and Mark Haddon. Designed for class or home use, they will help pupils successfully meet the challenge of reading their first full fictional works in English. … Continue reading “Reading Guides for Your Students”
The speech young climate activist Greta Thunberg made to the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019 is a great example of a speech for students. It can be added to work on several Shine Bright 1e themes. Greta Thunberg would also be interesting to study in connection with the LLCER literature curriculum The Curious … Continue reading “Greta’s Speech”
A review of the Tolkien exhibition currently on at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris is the occasion for pupils to learn more about the author of The Lord of the Rings and the extraordinary universes he created with languages, maps and illustrations. This B2-level article and its B1 satellite columns can be used for two different … Continue reading “Discovering Tolkien’s World”
Anyone who has read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings knows that JRR Tolkien was a past master at creating astonishing worlds and civilisations. A new exhibition in Paris shows that his published work was merely the tip of the iceberg. Detailed maps, chronologies, and dozens of illustrations give a glimpse of the … Continue reading “Tolkien’s World”
Are you teaching LLCER this year? We can help! Shine Bright 1e has four sequences covering both themes. Look out for LLCER resources on Speakeasy-news. And in November we’ll be publishing reading guides to four of the literary works on the curriculum. Watch our video to find out more! You can find up-to-date resources … Continue reading “Language and Literature: English Speciality”
To mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, Peter Jackson has restored old black-and-white archive footage of British servicemen’s life in the trenches. “They Shall Not Grow Old” takes its title from a 1914 poem and this resource fits perfectly into Shine Bright 1re Advanced File 2: “War will Not Tear … Continue reading “WWI: They Shall Not Grow Old”
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”
JRR Tolkien’s stories of Middle Earth, hobbits, wizards and dragons have captured the imagination of generations. A new film looks at his experiences of friendship, love and war as a young man, and how they may have influenced the man and work. Tolkien the film opens with a young officer, Tolkien, ill with a fever, … Continue reading “Tolkien the Storyteller”
Cécile Sempere-Brun recommends: The Verdun Affair, by Nick Dybeck A novel about love and loss, forgetting and remembering. Reading A Verdun Affair is like travelling through space and time. The novel is set immediately after WWI, in France and Italy, as well as against the more glamorous background of 1950s Los Angeles. As the story … Continue reading “Festival America: Reading Ideas for Literature Classes”
