9/11 20 Years On

Posted by Speakeasy News > Saturday 14 August 2021 > In the News

On 11 September 2001, the world watched in horror and disbelief as first one plane and then a second crashed into the Twin Towers of the NYC’s World Trade Center. Then news spread of a third hijacked plane heading to the Pentagon and a fourth that crashed en route to Washington, D.C., thanks to the … Continue reading “9/11 20 Years On”

Activist New York

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 25 May 2020 >

This worksheet guides pupils to explore the online version of an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York.  “Activist New York” looks at the history of protest movements in the city from the 17th Century to today, fights for workers’ rights, civil rights, votes for women or free speech.  The “Political and … Continue reading “Activist New York”

The New Face of Congress

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 18 December 2019 > Ready to Use Shine Bright Lycée

A young Latina woman from the Bronx, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shatters our traditional vision of Congressional Representatives. This article explores her life, both private and public, from the Bronx to Washington, D.C. after the recent midterm elections: how can “one of us” sit in Congress at barely 29 and champion the average working class person’s rights? … Continue reading “The New Face of Congress”

Your Students Have Talent: United Colours of Harlem

Posted by Speakeasy News > Sunday 24 November 2019 >

We always love to read students’ work. Here are some poems pupils wrote as their final task in a sequence from Shine Bright 2e: File 1 United Colours of Harlem. In this sequence,  in Axe 3  Le village, le quartier, la ville, students discovered Harlem and considered what makes it such an inspiring neighbourhood. As … Continue reading “Your Students Have Talent: United Colours of Harlem”

Outsider’s Eye

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 28 June 2019 > What's On

Photographer André Kertész, considered one of the major 2oth-century proponents of the photographic art, is currently the subject of a retrospective at the Château de Tours. Kertész was born in Hungary in 1894 and died in New York 101 years later, having spent a decade in Paris along the way. Much of his work explores … Continue reading “Outsider’s Eye”

Love in Harlem

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 07 February 2019 > What's On

If Beale Street Could Talk,  one of this year’s Oscar-nominated films has impeccable credentials: the first English-language film adapted from one of James Baldwin’s novels, it was both adapted and directed by Barry Jenkins, who won the 2017 Best Picture Oscar for Moonlight. Like Moonlight, and Baldwin’s work, it is centered on a working-class African-American … Continue reading “Love in Harlem”

U.S. School Segregation Today

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 27 September 2017 > In the News

On 25 September 1957, U.S. civil rights activists won the right for African American children to go to the same schools as white children at Little Rock, Arkansas. But 60 years on, many schools in the U.S.A. are still separated along color lines. And one of the most segregated school systems in the country is … Continue reading “U.S. School Segregation Today”