We received thousands and thousands of fabulous entries to our sport-themed creative-writing contest. Here are our favourite college texts entered as B1. They are incredibly varied, which is an accurate reflection of all the stories we received. They cover existing sports from two forms of swimming to basketball and rugby. There is one about climbing … Continue reading “Sports Stories Winners Collège B1”
We felt this video showed a great example of resilience and Olympic spirit. It shows Sifan Hassan, a Dutch athlete who came to the Netherlands as a refugee from Ethiopia when she was fifteen and here we see the final lap of the 1,500m qualifying heat, in which she fell over, stood up and finally … Continue reading “Olympic Spirit”
It’s the final countdown! The Olympics in Paris are about to start and to gather the whole world – and Ireland! – for a few weeks. For this occasion, the Centre culturel irlandais in Paris has prepared an online exhibition reflecting how the Games mirror societal issues and the history of Ireland. The exhibition is … Continue reading “Ireland: 100 years of the Olympics”
A hundred years ago, a Scotsman became famous for NOT running a race at the Paris 1924 Olympic Games. Eric Liddell’s story was immortalised in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire. And a play about his life is coming to Paris for two performances on 23 March. Liddell was an excellent sportsman who played rugby … Continue reading “Chariot of Fire: The Eric Liddell Story”
What are you planning for la Semaine des langues? This year’s edition is from 18 to 23 March and is on the theme of « L’important, c’est de communiquer ! », which we would happily adopt as our motto here at Speakeasy News. The event makes special reference to the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer … Continue reading “Ready for the Semaine des Langues?”
It won’t have escaped your notice that this is an Olympic year. To get into the swing of things, we’d like to take sport as the theme of our annual creative-writing competition. We’d like pupils to use their imagination to write a story about sport in any way they want. They can write about loving … Continue reading “Creative Writing Competition: Sport”
This A2-level short story will allow you to introduce or revise sports vocabulary and have pupils think about the meaning of sport and fair play. Sisters Eden and Stella are competing in a triathlon and Eden really wants to win. But then Stella has a bike accident… Vocabulary and structures sports simple present gerunds This … Continue reading ““Triathlon Time” Short Story”
If you are studying Much Ado About Nothing with your LLCER students, or anything about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, you’ll want to download this long-form interview with actor-director Kenneth Branagh from BBC Radio 4. In the first of a new series called This Cultural Life, presenter John Wilson had a 45-minute conversation with Branagh … Continue reading “In Conversation with Kenneth Branagh”
Postponed by a year because of COVID, doubtful till the last minute, and with no spectators, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have finally got underway. We look at some of the new sports at the games and particularly skateboarding. The postponed Olympic Games are taking place from 23 July till 8 August, and will be followed … Continue reading “A Unique Olympics”
The silent protest of two African American athletes on the podium at the 1968 Mexico Olympics was an iconic moment in civil-rights history. We’ve selected some teaching tools for language classes on the Black Power protest. In 2016, the prestigious Smithsonian opened a new, and long-awaited museum, the National Museum of African American History and … Continue reading “Mexico Olympics Black Power Protest Video”
