Easter traditions are fairly similar from one English-speaking country to another, but it’s nice for pupils to discover them and compare them with their own traditions. Although originally a religious festival, many of the popular traditions such as chocolate eggs and the Easter bunny have more to do with secular celebrations. New York City’s Easter … Continue reading “Easter Traditions”
Red Nose Day is back on Friday 21 March in the UK. And this is incredibly the charity Comic Relief’s 40th birthday. They’ve been encouraging people to don a clown’s red nose and “do something funny for money” since 1985. The charity was founded by comedian Lenny Henry and romcom scriptwriter and director Richard Curtis … Continue reading “Red Nose Day is Celebrating a Big Birthday”
A Complete Unknown is a biopic about the early years of Bob Dylan’s musical career. Timothée Chalamet plays the singer-songwriter when he arrives in New York City in 1961 from Minnesota with a guitar, some songs and not much else. This B2 resource will familiarise students with Dylan’s music, the folk and protest scene he … Continue reading “Bob Dylan Biopic”
Talking about emotions can be hard when you are a teenager — even more so when the feelings are about love and romance, and you have to talk about it in another language! This video of American teenagers talking about crushes is an excellent conversation starter for A2-A2+ classes. Why not use it for Valentine’s … Continue reading “Valentine’s Day: Talking about Feelings”
Although a well-loved character from British children’s literature, Paddington Bear is from Peru in South America, and in the third film in the series about him, he returns to his home country to visit his Aunt Lucy. His adoptive family, the Browns, join him on his journey. This trailer for Paddington in Peru would be … Continue reading “Paddington Goes Home”
2025 is the year to catch up on your Charles Dickens classics on ARTE. There are four TV adaptations of Dickens’ works on the station’s platform until 25 November. Oliver Twist Like the 1948 musical film classic by David Lean, this 2007 mini-series adaptation tells the story of an orphan, Oliver, who runs away to … Continue reading “A Year of Dickens on ARTE”
The National Theatre’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring the current Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa, recently wowed audiences in London’s West End. If your students are studying the play for LLCER, the trailer for the production would be a great addition to their portfolios. The trailer has no dialogue apart from Lady Bracknell’s … Continue reading “Teaching with Trailers: The Importance of Being Earnest”
Do you have a language assistant in your school this year? Do you work in partnership with them? Then you could take part in a competition to create videos showing the collaboration between a language assistant and a class teacher. The concours En Duo is organised by France Éducation International and open to either foreign-language … Continue reading “A Winning Duo!”
Once every four years, a U.S. President is inaugurated. This video gives a succinct summary of the significance of this ritualised event. The first 1m30 gives an overview of the day from the oath to the speech and the inaugural balls, with some short extracts from Abraham Lincoln’s and John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speeches. Then … Continue reading “Presidential Inaugurations: A Video”
Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju just made history by becoming the youngest ever World Chess Champion at the age of just 18. Gukesh defeated China’s Ding Liren, a grandmaster and the defending champion, at the World Championship in Singapore on 12 December. Previously the youngest champion was Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he won. Gukesh … Continue reading “Youngest Chess Champ”