The Invictus Games for injured and sick military personnel and veterans was founded by Prince Harry, himself a veteran, in 2014. The Invictus Games 2020, the fifth edition, are finally being held from 6 to 13 April 2022 in the Hague, Netherlands. More than 500 participants from 20 countries will compete. As importantly, they will … Continue reading “The Invictus Games are Back”
A new film details a barely believable operation from World War II involving a dead body designed to fool the Nazis about Allied invasion plans and save the lives of thousands of soldiers. The success of Operation Mincemeat hinged on creating a carefully crafted fiction, which is where James Bond author Ian Fleming came in. … Continue reading “Spies Fooling Spies”
Red Nose Day (18 March in 2022) encourages people to raise money for projects in the UK and the developing world by “doing something funny for money.” But it also aims to raise awareness of poverty, disability and homelessness, particularly among schoolchildren, who are massive supporters, along with school staff, of Red Nose Day. Here … Continue reading “More Red Nose Day Webpicks”
The trailer and the featurette for Belfast are both used in our Ready-to-use resource on the film. Trailer Featurette
Red Nose Day is back on Friday 18 March in the UK. British charity Comic Relief has been encouraging people to don a clown’s red nose and “do something funny for money” since 1988. This year, the event returns to its annual slot and Sport Relief will be back later in the year in conjunction … Continue reading “Put on a Red Nose and Fundraise”
Kenneth Branagh fait suite à son succès comme réalisateur et vedette d’une première adaptation d’un roman d’Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express, avec Death on the Nile, où on retrouve Branagh incarnant le détective belge Hercule Poirot. Cette fois un meurtre a été commis non pas dans un train mais sur un bateau naviguant … Continue reading “Death on the Nile”
St Andrew’s Day, 30 November, is the Scottish national day. Here are a couple of resources to talk about the celebration with collège classes, and a suggestion to get everyone moving! This BBC Newsround article written for children has “Everything you need to know about St Andrew’s Day”. It’s usable from A2. You may want … Continue reading “St Andrews Day Online Resources”
Today, there is growing awareness that the “Thanksgiving story” told to young schoolchildren in the U.S.A., which provides much of the traditional imagery of the holiday, is just that: a story. Many Native Americans denounce the hypocrisy of portraying this origin story of the nation as a peaceful and cooperative meeting of peoples, when in … Continue reading “A Native American View of Thanksgiving”
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”
Damon Galgut had been shortlisted twice before but 2021 was third time lucky. His novel The Promise mixes the history of a family and his country over four decades. The titular promise shows up power, class and racial divisions in South Africa. Galgut, who was born in 1963, explicitly connects the novel to the political … Continue reading “A South African Author Wins the 2021 Booker Prize”