The Face of Money: U.S. Banknotes Get a New Look

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 20 February 2017 > Ready to Use

This A2-level article will enable your pupils to understand the historical significance of portraits on American banknotes, and to compare with other currencies. The presentation of new notes featuring Harriet Tubman and other African-American and women’s suffrage activists includes suggestions for  an EPI with history. Vocabulary and structures Verb tenses: simple past and simple present … Continue reading “The Face of Money: U.S. Banknotes Get a New Look”

Fighting for the Right to Love

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 16 February 2017 > Webpicks

Loving tells the astonishing true story of an American couple who married in 1958 and spent the first nine years of their marriage fighting the segregationist laws that found them guilty of the crime of loving someone who was a different colour. Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter were childhood sweethearts in Virginia. When Mildred became … Continue reading “Fighting for the Right to Love”

Jackie

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 03 February 2017 > What's On

Seen through the eyes of the iconic First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (Natalie Portman), Jackie is an intimate portrait of one of the most important and tragic moments in American history: the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. President Kennedy’s assassination was a generation-marking event not just for Americans but for the millions of people … Continue reading “Jackie”

Prohibition

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 17 January 2017 > Webpicks

Ben Affleck’s gangster film Live By Night is a great opportunity to introduce your classes to the period of Prohibition. Live By Night centres on the organised crime gangs which profited from Prohibition by producing or importing illicit alcohol and running underground bars called speakeasies. The film’s website has a perfect lesson on Prohibition ready … Continue reading “Prohibition”

Everything You Need to Know About: U.S. Presidential Inaugurations

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 11 January 2017 > In the News

On Friday, 20 January, Donald Trump will become the 45th President of the United States at his Inauguration in Washington D.C. What does the Inauguration involve, who participates, and what does it cost? The first Inauguration was George Washington’s in New York in 1789. The newly independent United States hadn’t built its new federal capital … Continue reading “Everything You Need to Know About: U.S. Presidential Inaugurations”

Montgomery Bus Boycott: A Victory for Civil Rights

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 28 November 2016 > Celebrate

Sixty years ago, on 20 December, 1956, Martin Luther King and his fellow campaigners won a first victory in the long battle for African-American civil rights. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, which had begun when Rosa Parks famously refused to move to the back of the bus, finally ended after 381 days, when the Supreme Court … Continue reading “Montgomery Bus Boycott: A Victory for Civil Rights”

Civil Rights: The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 25 November 2016 > Ready to Use

Sixty years ago, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which had started on 5 December, 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat, finally ended. It was the first victory for Martin Luther King on the road to civil rights for African Americans. This B1-level article recapitulates the beginnings of the Civil … Continue reading “Civil Rights: The Montgomery Bus Boycott”