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”
Biopics are quite popular and so are Lego films. What about a Lego biopic then? Pharrell Williams only agreed to a biopic being made about his life if it was a Lego animation. Piece by Piece is the perfect creative way to tell this creative and original artist’s life. Many music stars such as Jay-Z, … Continue reading “Pharrell Williams Lego Biopic”
This short video is a great way to have pupils study how actors express emotions when they speak a text on stage, even something as short as Hamlet’s classic line “To be or not to be”. In this performance for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016, Paapa Essiedu, who was playing Hamlet at … Continue reading “Staging Emotions: Hamlet”
We had got used to election results that took days or weeks to arrive. Not this time. It came clear in the night after polling stations closed that Donald Trump would be returning to the White House, this time as the 47th President of the U.S.A. Although the final results won’t be in for weeks, … Continue reading “Back to the White House”
At 94, Clint Eastwood returns with Juror No. 2, a legal thriller that could mark the end of his prolific career. This 40th film explores the moral dilemmas of a juror who discovers his possible involvement in a crime. The limited release of the film in the United States (about fifty theaters and minimal promotion) … Continue reading “Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror No. 2’: A Final Dilemma”
Maggie Smith passed away on 27 September at the age of 89, after a long and distinguished career in theatre, TV and film. Her talents in both comedic and dramatic acting won her two Oscars and countless awards across the acting world. Smith started acting at just 18 in 1952, and honed her craft on … Continue reading “Maggie Smith’s Amazing Career”
2024 marks the centennial of the birth of James Baldwin, novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, civil-rights campaigner and social critic, as well as self-proclaimed American “Native Son”. Born in 1924 in Harlem, New York, Baldwin grew up in poverty, the eldest of nine children. Harlem was home to many black families who had moved from the … Continue reading “James Baldwin Centenary”
