The House with a Clock in its Walls is a new film adapted from a classic of American children’s literature. This sequence uses one of the film’s trailers to work on Halloween vocabulary and revise clothes vocabulary with A1+ students. Language and structures : a/an plural of nouns pronunciation of the plural “s” ending invariable adjectives … Continue reading “The House with a Clock in its Walls”
Aretha Franklin, dubbed “the Queen of Soul”, was one of the most influential musicians in the U.S. charts. She won 18 Grammy awards but also made a massive contribution to the civil rights movement: her songs would become their anthems. Aretha Franklin grew up in the 1950s in Detroit, where her father was a popular … Continue reading “The Soul of Civil Rights”
For this 44th edition the Grand Prize goes to THUNDER ROAD and two Jury Prizes have been awarded to AMERICAN ANIMALS and NIGHT COMES ON. Who are the winners of the 2018 Deauville American Film Festival? The Jury has given the following awards: Grand Prize THUNDER ROAD By Jim Cummings The story of Jimmy Arnaud, … Continue reading “2018 Deauville American Film Festival winners”
Festival America, the bi-annual event that celebrates the literature of North America, is back for its 9th edition in Vincennes from 20 to 23 September. It offers a weekend where booklovers will be hard-pushed to choose between all the delights on offer. This year, the focus is on Canada, both Anglophone and Francophone. The U.S.A. … Continue reading “Festival America”
A whole range of visions of America and from America will be screened from 31 August to 9 September at the 44th Deauville American Film Festival. Fiction (both films in competition and premieres) and documentaries combine to give fascinating insights into U.S. life and culture as it is, or as filmmakers imagine it. The jury … Continue reading “Welcome to Deauville!”
Spike Lee’s latest film, BlacKkKlansman, is based on the true story of an African-American police officer who managed to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. Incredible as it sounds, Ron Stallworth masterminded an infiltration operation by posing as a white racist on the phone. The film, which won the Grand Prize at the … Continue reading “Spike Lee is Back”
Spike Lee’s new film BlacKkKlansman is based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, a Colorado Springs policeman who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. This downloadable audio interview with Stallworth is excellent for listening comprehension. The 13-minute interview is a downloadable podcast from the BBC World Service. It’s very clear and extracts are understandable from … Continue reading “Teaching with BlacKkKlansman”
As we bask in the summer heat, our thoughts turn to ice-cream. To eat… or to stick on a postcard! This summer the U.S. Postal Service has launched its first ever “scratch and sniff” stamps to add an olfactory treat to your correspondence. “Scratch and sniff” stickers are popular, so why not transfer the technology … Continue reading “You’ve Got Ice-Cream Mail”
Get ahead for the new school year! This A2+-level article can be used in parallel with the warm-up activities implemented at the beginning of the school year, as it deals with the Pledge of Allegiance in every school in the U.S.A, as a daily patriotic ritual, as well as recent protests against the national anthem at … Continue reading “Protesting for Change”
Philip Roth, one of the most admired American novelists, has died at the age of 85. In more than 30 novels, Roth fascinated and scandalised his home country. Roth won accolades for his work from the outset, winning the National Book Award for his first book, the collection of short stories Goodbye Columbus (1959). The … Continue reading “Novelist Philip Roth Dies”
