Robert Burns Digital Resources

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 25 January 2018 > Webpicks

Scots celebrate their national poet, Robert Burns, on 25 January each year. These ebooks are useful for classroom work about the poet and the event. To find out more about Burns Night, check out Visitscotland’s ebook “Hold Your Own Burns Supper”, which includes recipes, information about the poet and a great video of traditional ceilidh … Continue reading “Robert Burns Digital Resources”

Creative Activities for National Poetry Day

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 26 September 2017 > Webpicks

The organisers of National Poetry Day in the UK, 28 September, have a treasure trove of poems and teaching activities on their website, including  a free ebook of poems to download. This year’s theme is freedom. We’ve made a selection of those that work best for language teaching, with teaching suggestions. The Freedom Films page … Continue reading “Creative Activities for National Poetry Day”

Freedom Poems for National Poetry Day

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 26 September 2017 > Celebrate

This year’s UK National Poetry Day is on 28 September. A great opportunity to get some poetry into your class, and to explore this year’s theme: Freedom. The National Poetry Day site shows the amazing variety of experiences that simple word can evoke, from “Invictus”, the poem that inspired Nelson Mandela in prison, to Edward … Continue reading “Freedom Poems for National Poetry Day”

Peter Brook: The Valley of Astonishment

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 07 December 2016 > What's On

Back by popular demand, the legendary director Peter Brook’s  The Valley of Astonishment in Paris. The play examines the joys and dilemmas of people with exceptional perception and memory: who experience synaesthesia, where the senses become mixed and a person can taste colours or see sounds. And in particular those who can apparently remember everything … Continue reading “Peter Brook: The Valley of Astonishment”

The Times They Are A-Changin’

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 13 October 2016 > In the News

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’”

Paris-New York Weekend

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 07 October 2016 > What's On

The Théâtre de la Ville in Paris is turning all New York for a mini-season and particularly the weekend of 8-9 October. The Théâtre de la Ville has pioneered an exchange with the Brooklyn Acadamy of Music, a cutting-edge performance venue in the super-trendy borough of New York. The Paris end of it runs till … Continue reading “Paris-New York Weekend”

Free Poetry eBook for National Poetry Day

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 06 October 2016 > Webpicks

In honour of National Poetry Day 2016 in the UK, on 6 October, there is a free ebook of poems to download from the National Poetry Day website. We’ve made a selection of those that work best for language teaching, with teaching suggestions. You can download the ebook in epub, Kindle or pdf formats. A1+ … Continue reading “Free Poetry eBook for National Poetry Day”

The Beat Generation on the Web

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 02 September 2016 > Webpicks

The Beat Generation exhibition at the Paris Pompidou Centre looks at the legacy of these anti-conformist writers from the 1940s-1960s. It fits well into a lycée theme on Mythes et héros or L’idée de progrès. Or in LELE, the themes Voyage, parcours initiatique, exil or L’écrivain dans son siècle. See our article about the exhibition. … Continue reading “The Beat Generation on the Web”