On 16 September 1620, a ship set sail from Plymouth, England on a voyage that became part of the foundation myth of the U.S.A. The Mayflower carried Puritan religious dissenters called the Pilgrims and the colony they founded in Plymouth, Massachusetts has taken on mythical status. Plymouth wasn’t the first British settlement in the future … Continue reading “The Voyage of the Mayflower”
U.S. Independence Day will be a subdued affair this year due to Coronavirus but celebrations will take place. The U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Information Programs decided to mark the event with a video available in English and eight other languages. It’s a simple introduction to the event for students from A1+ (reading … Continue reading “Fourth of July in Lockdown”
The Lumni classes on TV for lycée are continuing — here’s a round-up of the latest programmes. The English classes are on France 4 every Wednesday. Several of the recent programmes have focused on debating and speech making , both as cultural traditions and practical activities to help students improve their own oralexpression. The 20 … Continue reading “The Latest Lumni Classes on TV for Lycée”
On the Come Up is the second novel written by Angie Thomas, after The Hate U Give. It is set in the same universe. Angie Thomas tells us a powerful coming-of-age story about hip-hop, freedom of speech and fighting for your dreams. The story features Bri, a 16-year-old African American girl trying to overcome obstacles … Continue reading “Book Notes: On the Come Up “
The Hate U Give (THUG for short) was published in 2017. The setting, events, and characters of this coming-of-age story are largely inspired by Thomas’s own life. It was a number-one New York Times Best Seller, made the 2017 National Book Award Longlist, and was adapted into a movie in 2018. The protagonist is Starr Carter, a … Continue reading “Book Notes: The Hate U Give”
Little Richard was one of the pioneers — or as he put it, the architect— of rock ‘n’ roll. He was the flamboyant singer of a string of hits from “Tutti Frutti” to “Good Golly Miss Molly”. Had Richard Penniman been white, he probably would have had a career like Elvis Presley’s. But Little Richard … Continue reading “Rock ‘n’ Roll Pioneer”
Joe Sacco has been creating works of comic non-fiction for more than two decades, illustrating conflict, war and human atrocity through the medium of graphic art. For his latest book — “Paying the Land”—Joe Sacco travels to the Arctic regions of Canada and tells us the history of the Dene Nation, an indigenous people living … Continue reading “Comic Notes: Joe Sacco “Paying the Land””
As we have said many times, teachers are finding amazing creative ways to keep providing their pupils with motivating, and feasible, work to do during lockdown. This sequence found on the Académie de Grenoble’s English site can be done entirely in distance learning. It mixes culture and language in a class for 6e about daily … Continue reading “Daily Routine with Rockwell”
Evocative American painter Edward Hopper was to be the subject of an exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland this spring. But since visitors can’t go to the museum, the museum can come to them online. Hopper’s paintings are wonderful jumping off points for creative writing, or, as film director Wim Wenders explains, for … Continue reading “Edward Hopper: Telling Stories”
San Francisco theatre company Word for Word’s annual French tour is being postponed to the autumn. This year their show is a coming-of-age story by Mexican-American writer Octavio Solis, Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border. They will perform it in Nancy, Paris, Angers and Lyon. For 25 years, Word for Word has … Continue reading “Tales of the US Border in Theatres Around France”