One of the most famous British poets is celebrating his 250th birthday in April! Why not introduce students to him by studying one of his iconic poems, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” (also known as “Daffodils”), a perfect start to spring! The following activities will help your students discover Wordsworth himself, through a Biobox … Continue reading “Wordsworth: I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
William Wordsworth was a leading light of the Romantics, famous in habitant of the Lake District, and Poet Laureate. 2020 marks his 250th anniversary. Wordsworth (1770-1850) is chiefly remembered as a nature poet in his beloved Lake District, where he was born and lived much of his life. But he was also a radical in … Continue reading “He Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
The Tate Britain exhibition on William Blake explores this talented 19th century artist whose poems and paintings are strikingly modern and pregnant with meaning. Differentiated activities from A2+ to B2 will allow you to add Blake to a sequence on the Gothic or the Romantic movements, for example Shine Bright 1ère Advanced File 1 “Freaky dreams”. … Continue reading “William Blake: Visionary”
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”
We always love to read students’ work. Here are some poems pupils wrote as their final task in a sequence from Shine Bright LLCER: File 5 War Will Not Tear Us Apart. In this sequence for Première LLCER, in the theme Rencontres Axe 1 L’amour et l’amitié, students considered how World War I intensified human … Continue reading “Your Students Have Talent: War Will Not Tear Us Apart”
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”
In 2019, for the first time, the U.S.A.’s poet laureate — the nation’s “official” poet — will be a Native American. Joy Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation from Alabama. She aims to honour both the “Native” and the “American”, saying, “When you grow up as a person in your culture, you … Continue reading “Native Voice”
Why did the First World War inspire so many participants to write poetry? And what effect does the work of poets like Wilfred Owen, Vera Brittain, Siegfried Sassoon or Rupert Brooke have on our vision of that war today? Author Simon Davies will address these questions in a public talk at the British Council Paris … Continue reading “Talk in English: World War I Poets”
While most countries involved in World War I commemorate those who served in that and later wars on 11 November, the date the War ended, in Australia and New Zealand, the main commemoration is ANZAC Day, 25 April, the day in 1915 when their servicemen first saw action, in the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign. When Britain … Continue reading “ANZAC Day”
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. He has colourised it, and has asked lip-readers to help dub in what the soldiers were actually saying. The film’s title refers to a poem by Robert Binyon … Continue reading “They Shall Not Grow Old Film: Bringing WWI to Life”
