You may know him best as Captain Picard in the series Star Trek, or Professor Xavier in the X-Men films, but Sir Patrick Stewart is a classically trained actor who was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for 16 years. Currently in lockdown in Los Angeles, Stewart decided to start reciting a Shakespeare sonnet … Continue reading “Patrick Stewart Reads Shakespeare”
2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day marches to support the environmental movement. Like so many events in 2020, the marches and events planned to mark the anniversary on 22 April will have to become virtual. But these videos of 50 Voices for Earth Day, from age 8 to 80, from around … Continue reading “50 Years of Earth Day”
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”
William Shakespeare is believed to have been born and died on 23 April (in 1564 and 1616 respectively). Which is why the UK celebrates World Book Night on that date (and St George’s Day, England’s national day!) Normally, World Book Night is filled with book readings and events, as tens of thousands of books are … Continue reading “Celebrate Shakespeare’s Birthday on World Book Night”
One of the nice results of the current lockdown, from an audience point of view, is that the UK’s National Theatre is going to be making selected shows available for a week at a time on YouTube. The National Theatre has announced a show a week for the month of April. They are filmed shows … Continue reading “Watch UK’s National Theatre Productions at Home!”
This short video by Banksy is a great addition to Shine Bright 2de SnapFile 8 Will you get Banksy-ed?. Like the prank studied in the file, when a Banksy work that had just been sold at auction disappeared into a shredder at the bottom of the frame, it questions the art market and what is … Continue reading “Banksy in Venice”
International Fact-Checking Day is on 2 April – the day after the annual feast of benign fake news stories and hoaxes that is April Fool’s Day. It promotes fact-checking to combat malicious fake news around the world. The day is organised by the International Fact-Checking Network, a team of journalists around the world coordinated by … Continue reading “International Fact-Checking Day”
Judy Garland was a child singing star and a global star of stage and screen. Her starring role in The Wizard of Oz at 17 made her a household name. A new film stars Renée Zellweger playing Garland in the final year in her short life, when stardom and the Hollywood studio system had taken … Continue reading “Judy Garland”
A new film adaptation of Jack London’s famous novel returns to the original story and focuses much more on Buck, the dog, than previous films. Pupils will also enjoy recognising Harrison Ford and Omar Sy. The activities below include watching the film trailer without, then with sound, and reading a short, simple article. Language and … Continue reading “The Call of the Wild”
Brits are gearing up to raise money for charity with Sport Relief on 13 March. The high-energy version of Comic Relief is asking people to lace up their running shoes, put on their swimsuits or get on their bikes to tackle issues such as mental health stigma, domestic abuse, homelessness and poverty, both in the … Continue reading “Be a Sport!”