Interactive Civil Rights Timeline

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 03 February 2022 > Ready to Use Shine Bright Collège Shine Bright Lycée

For Black History Month, or any time you want to talk about the civil-rights movement in the U.S., why not use our interactive timeline with some key dates and succinct information about Jim Crow, segregation, Rosa Parks and MLK? You can download the timeline below to use offline.   The timeline could be used in … Continue reading “Interactive Civil Rights Timeline”

400 Years of Thanksgiving

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 25 November 2021 > In the News

This year sees the 400th anniversary of the ancestor of today’s Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.A. 400 years after the meal shared by Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians in Massachusetts, efforts are gaining ground to see the event from the points of view of both communities. When the Mayflower brought 102 Puritans to New England in … Continue reading “400 Years of Thanksgiving”

Thanksgiving with Wampanoag and Pilgrims

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 23 November 2021 > Webpicks

For many years, the Native Americans at the first Thanksgiving dinner were reduced to generic “Indians” in the national story. Today, the Plimoth Patuxet living-history museums at the site of the original Thanksgiving have created an online game to help school children learn about both the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag. The former Plimoth Plantation had … Continue reading “Thanksgiving with Wampanoag and Pilgrims”

Thanksgiving Stories

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 19 November 2021 > Webpicks

A Thanksgiving intergenerational project in the U.S.A. would make an excellent language activity anywhere. StoryCorps is an innovative oral history project that has been recording ordinary Americans having conversations with people they love since 2003. The concept is simple: the mobile StoryCorps recording booth sets up in a town. Anyone who wants to can come … Continue reading “Thanksgiving Stories”

Before Rosa Parks

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 11 October 2021 > What's On

Rosa Parks is known the world over as the African American who refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. But nine months before Parks, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin did the same thing. She’s the subject of a play (in French), Noire. Maybe the time wasn’t … Continue reading “Before Rosa Parks”

Creative Writing Competition: Vivian Maier’s Photography

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 30 September 2021 > Pedagogy

Vivian Maier’s extraordinary photos of New York and Chicago streets, portraits and self-portraits, were discovered by chance in 2007. A selection is currently on show at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris and we’d like to challenge your pupils to write stories inspired by the images. This competition is now closed. Thank you so much … Continue reading “Creative Writing Competition: Vivian Maier’s Photography”

Vivian Maier: Portraits of America and Self

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 23 September 2021 > What's On

Vivian Maier is now considered a major American photographer but she never published her work and died in obscurity, not knowing the interest her work would provoke. Maier was born in New York City in 1926. She spent her childhood and early twenties between the States and France, her mother’s home country. She returned to … Continue reading “Vivian Maier: Portraits of America and Self”

Happy Uncle Sam Day!

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 10 September 2021 > Celebrate

“Uncle Sam” is commonly used as a symbol of the United States, but where does the name come from? The name, which happens to have the same initials as the country, has been around since the War of 1812 (which actually lasted from 1812 to 1815) between the U.S.A. and the U.K. The officially sanctioned … Continue reading “Happy Uncle Sam Day!”

20th Anniversary of 9/11

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 09 September 2021 > Ready to Use

9/11 … a date etched in everyone’s memory forever. 20 years ago, the world changed tremendously in a few hours. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were as unexpected as life-changing for the whole world. Commemorations and various events are to take place in the U.S. to pay tribute to those who lost … Continue reading “20th Anniversary of 9/11”