Manuels Scolaires Anglais Lycée - Infos et contenus

Why Black Friday?

As Black Friday approaches, we wonder why a specifically American date in the commercial calendar has taken over first the internet and now high-street shops aroind the world.

23 Novembre 2021

U.S. culture

thanksgiving

November

Thanksgiving with Wampanoag and Pilgrims

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.

23 Novembre 2021

U.S. culture

Pilgrims

U.S. history

A Native American View of Thanksgiving

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 reality it was a disaster for Native people, who would be decimated and dispossessed of their land and traditions.

21 Novembre 2021

U.S.A.

video

Native American

Sélection culturelle

Go West!

We’re all used to disclaimers at the end of movies saying, “This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.” The new Netflix twist on a western, The Harder They Fall, turns that on its head, opening the film with the disclaimer, “While the events in this film are fictionalised... These people existed.”

20 Novembre 2021

Hollywood

black history

western

Thanksgiving Stories

A Thanksgiving intergenerational project in the U.S.A. would make an excellent language activity anywhere.

19 Novembre 2021

video

audio

celebrations

Sélection culturelle

Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine 2021 to Joyce Maynard!

Joyce Maynard receives The Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine 2021 with for “Où vivaient les gens heureux” (« Count the Ways »), published in France, on August 19, 2021 by Philippe Rey in a translation by Florence Lévy-Paoloni

19 Novembre 2021

America

novels

American literature

Sur la piste des Sioux : the origins of “American Indian” iconography

The exhibition “Sur la piste des Sioux” which opened at the Musée des Confluences in Lyon, takes us back to the origins of the limited and blinkered representation of the “American Indian” in Europe and France, and challenges many clichés .

18 Novembre 2021

U.S.A.

Native American

Lyon

Sélection culturelle

"West Side Story" is Back!

West Side Story – the stage musical and the film – is already a classic. Steven Spielberg wants to make it a more authentic classic for the 21st century. After many delays due to COVID, it's finally arriving in cinemas.

18 Novembre 2021

film

Spielberg

Shakespeare

Sélection culturelle

Colin Kaepernick: Birth of an Activist

"Colin in Black and White" is a new Netflix mini-series directed by Ava Duvernay. It’s ostensibly the story of Colin Kaepernick’s high-school years, before he became an NFL Star and started his “take a knee” protests. In fact, it’s a sort of manifesto with the older Kaepernick using his younger self to illustrate how he came to hold his present views about systemic racism and chose to express them, at the risk of his career.

18 Novembre 2021

U.S. politics

protest

American football

Josephine Baker Enters the Panthéon

On 30 November, Josephine Baker will become the sixth woman, and the first black woman, to enter France’s Panthéon, where the country honours its greatest heroes. The Franco-American dancer and singer was an active member of the Resistance in WWII and civil-rights activist in the U.S.

18 Novembre 2021

Martin Luther King

WWII

civil rights

Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Found Liable for Defamation Over Sandy Hook Shooting

Controversial U.S. broadcaster Alex Jones has been found liable in defamation cases brought in Connecticut and Texas by parents of children killed in the 2012 mass school shooting. Jones has spread conspiracy theories for years saying the shooting was a government hoax aiming at promoting gun control. Twenty children and six adults were shot dead by a lone gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut on 14 December 2012. The gunman also killed his mother, and took his own life. Jones, a talk-radio host, businessman and founder of right-wing websites such as Infowars and Newswars, was sued by parents who are horrified by his claims that they were actors and the tragic events never really happened. The bereaved parents have been victims of trolling and harassment by Jones’ followers. The parents also accused Jones of making financial profit from his claims. In cases judged in Connecticut, and Texas, where Jones is based, judges found him liable of defamation. However, in all of the cases, the judgements were by default, because Jones and fellow defendants refused to provide the court and the families’ lawyers with documents demanded by the court, including financial records. His lawyers claimed that Jones’ statements were protected under First Amendment free speech, but the default rulings mean that those claims were not tested in court. In a bizarre twist, Jones actually admitted in an official deposition for a 2019 case in Texas brought by Sandy Hook parents, "And I, myself, have almost had like a form of psychosis back in the past where I basically thought everything was staged, even though I've now learned a lot of times things aren't staged." Juries in both Connecticut and Texas will now decide the amount of damages Jones will be ordered to pay to the plaintiffs. His defence team has indicated he will appeal. Fake News This is far from being Jones’ only farfetched conspiracy claim. He also says the 2018 Parkland shooting was another gun-control motivated hoax, that 9/11 was perpetrated by the government and the “Pizzagate” hoax he helped spread about Democratic Party officials including then Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton being involved in a child-trafficking ring based in a pizzeria basement is believed to have affected her election results. Jones was banned by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in 2018 for hate speech and abusive behaviour. But he still hosts a popular talk radio show on the GCN network as well as running websites. Much of his funding is believed to come from selling dubious but unregulated health supplements according to reports by the New York Times. This article is an update on the documents on Alex Jones in Shine Bright AMC File 7 Media on screen, page 69. You could also use it as an example in connection with the section on freedom of speech in Shine Bright AMC File 13 The land of the free.

17 Novembre 2021

fake news

social media

conspiracy theories

Rendez-vous

Death of F.W. De Klerk: Last Apartheid-Era South African President

F.W. De Klerk, South Africa’s last President of the apartheid era, and instrumental in ending it, has died aged 85.

15 Novembre 2021

Nobel prize

South Africa

Nelson Mandela

Anti-Bullying Week

It's Anti-Bullying Week in U.K. schools from 15 to 19 November. The theme is kindness, how saying one kind word can potentially break the cycle of bullying. It lends itself well to a language activity on expressing kindness.

12 Novembre 2021

citizenship

EMC

videos

Travel to Dublin or Norwich for Language Training Courses

Every year, the Education Ministry finances 400 courses in language and culture in EU countries for language teachers in primary or secondary. Applications need to be in by 17 January 2022.

05 Novembre 2021

UK

Ireland

teaching

Short Films with your Lycée Students

The This is England short film festival in Rouen has a specific programme of short films for lycée classes covering topics from ballet to hip hop, flat earth theory to fox hunting.

05 Novembre 2021

film

animation

festival

Sélection culturelle

Eternals: A Team is Born

The expanse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline is about to get much wider with the arrival of Eternals, whose storyline will span thousands of years. Directed by Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), Eternals is visually distinct from many other Marvel films.

04 Novembre 2021

comic book

superhero

Cinéma

Young Kenyan Activist Asks World Leaders to Open their Hearts to Climate Victims

In a short and moving speech to the COP26 conference in Glasgow, Elizabeth Wathuti highlighted the plight of of populations in sub-Saharan Africa who are suffering the worst effects of climate change, which is threatening their livelihoods and even their lives.

04 Novembre 2021

speech

Kenya

Africa

A South African Author Wins the 2021 Booker Prize

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.

04 Novembre 2021

video

literature

South Africa

Résister à ses automatismes au collège: webinaire

Les études de psychologie et de neurodidactique peuvent fournir des outils pratiques pour les enseignants. Vous pourrez découvrir l’importance du contrôle inhibiteur au collège lors d'une conférence interactive le 24 novembre 2021.

04 Novembre 2021

neurosciences

error

webinar

Photographing the Modern

The interwar period was a highly creative time for the relatively young art of photography. An exhibition at the Jeu de Paume in Paris features an extraordinary collection of photographs from New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

03 Novembre 2021

exhibition

portrait

photography

Guy Fawkes Webpicks

To "remember, remember the fifth of November", as a children’s rhyme says, A1+-level pupils can watch a slideshow about Bonfire Night. At A2-A2+, useful links can be made with the history curriculum It’s worth giving pupils a few basic facts about the failed plot and the annual celebrations. This Powerpoint presentation from the UK Parliament education service also works from A1+ . This article written for kids is a good introduction to Guy Fawkes , usable from A2. The top part concentrates on last year's COVID lockdown starting in England on 5 November, but scrolling down there's more general information. This article about the Gunpowder Plot is can also tackled from A2+. It makes a good link with pupils' history classes, as it emphasises the importance of looking at contemporary source documents. Pupils will no doubt enjoy comparing Fawkes' signatures on arrival at the Tower of London and after questioning – was he tortured and does that explain the differences in the signatures?

02 Novembre 2021

Guy Fawkes

traditions

game

Guy Fawkes: Man in a Mask

November 5, or Guy Fawkes Night, is when British people remember the failed “Gunpowder Plot” to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. Every November, British people light bonfires and set off fireworks to remember the day when the Houses of Parliament, and King James I, were almost blown up by terrorists. In a rather ghoulish tradition, children make “guys”: effigies of the man who came to symbolise the Catholic “Gunpowder Plot”, to burn on the bonfires. The plot was actually led by an aristocrat, Robert Catesby, not Fawkes, a lowly soldier who happened to be the one caught with the 36 barrels of gunpowder. But Guy Fawkes is the one who is remembered, not only in the Bonfire Night tradition which is still going strong, but also as the face of the Anonymous and Occupy protest movements. Occupy now traditionally holds demonstrations on 5 November. He is also mentioned probably every minute around the world: the ubiquitious word for a man or even person, "guy", derives from Guy Fawkes' name. A children's rhyme says: Remember, remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot. I know of no reason Why the Gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot! The British have very long memories. Not only is Guy Fawkes night celebrated every November, but, to this day, when the Queen attends the Palace of Westminster for the annual State Opening of Parliament, Yeomen of the Guard (Beefeaters) ritually search the cellars of the building to check there are no barrels of gunpowder!

28 Octobre 2021

Guy Fawkes

Gunpowder Plot

bonfires

Poppy Day

Any image of people in the UK, Canada and Australia in November is likely to include some who are wearing a red paper poppy in their lapel. The Poppy Appeal for war veterans in the run-up to Remembrance Day began in the aftermath of World War I. Today, as the British and Commonwealth armies commemorate the centenary of the terrible loss of life in the Battle of the Somme, the poppy is a poignant link to the past.

28 Octobre 2021

war

remembrance

World War I

Trick or Treat to Do Good

Halloween is an important fundraiser for UNICEF U.S.A. Trick or Treat for UNICEF was started in 1947 and 31 October was declared UNICEF Day by President Lyndon B. Johnson 20 years later. It allows kids "put some meaning in their Halloweening" by collecting money for the United Nations Childrens' Fund.

27 Octobre 2021

U.S.A.

united nations

charity

Sélection culturelle

Love Letter to France

Wes Anderson’s latest film "The French Dispatch" is a homage both to his adopted country and to the amazing writers nurtured by "The New Yorker" magazine, of which Anderson is an avid reader. As with his earlier films like "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "Moonrise Kingdom", he has assembled an amazing cast.

26 Octobre 2021

video

movies

Frances McDormand

Irish Legends: Wolfwalkers

Tomm Moore’s animated films are rooted in Irish folklore and history. After fairies in Brendan and the Book of Kells and selkies in Song of the Sea , the heroes of his latest film are wolfwalkers, which he describes as “benign Celtic werewolves”. The film is set in 1650, when Cromwell’s English army had put down an Irish rebellion and the colonisers were imposing urbanisation and destroying forests Robyn is English. She and her father have come to Ireland with the Cromwellian figure of the Lord Protector. Her father is an experienced wolf hunter and Robyn usually hunts with him but here, in a colonised Irish town under siege, she is as much in danger from the locals as wolves and is forced to remain in the village while her father goes hunting in the woods which are being cut down on English orders to “civilise” the area and prepare it for organised agriculture. Robyn hates being stuck at home doing domestic tasks and defies the ban on going into the woods. There she meets Mebh, who is a wolfwalker. When she is awake she’s a girl but when she sleeps she becomes a magical wolf who the real wolves obey. Mebh accidentally bites Robyn, who becomes a wolfwalker too, torn between her father the hunter and the wolves her friends. She swears to help Mebh find her missing mother but soon faces difficult choices. https://youtu.be/d_Z_tybgPgg All three films in the trilogy, which are traditional hand-drawn animations, have been nominated for best feature animation at the Oscars. They draw on Irish motifs and designs from pre-Christian times. This would make an interesting complement to the escape game in Shine Bright 2e SnapFile 18 Celtic Legends , or could widen out the escape game on Scottish legends in our escape-game pack.

25 Octobre 2021

Ireland

Irish history

film

Barbados Elects its First President

On 21 October, the Caribbean nation of Barbados took the first step towards becoming a republic when the joint houses of Parliament chose Dame Sandra Mason as the country’s first president, to replace Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. Ms Mason, a trained lawyer and former magistrate, has been the Governor-General of Barbados since 2018: the representative of the British Crown on the island. Barbados will officially become a Republic on 30 November, its annual Independence Day, joining three other former British colonies in the Caribbean which have replaced the British monarch with an elected official: Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominica. All three remained members of the Commonwealth, which Barbados also intends to do. A committee is currently working on a new citizens' charter for the new President to read out on Independence Day, and next year Parliament will make proposals for new Constitution. When the decision to move toward Republic status was approved in 2020, Governor General Mason, delivering a speech on behalf of the country’s Prime Minister Mia Mottley, said, “The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind.” Barbados was a British colony from 1627 century until independence in 1966. Colonists resorted to slave labour to produce sugar, with the result that today the population is in large majority descended from enslaved African people. Today it has a population of 285,000 and an economy based around tourism, finance and sugar production. This would be a good update for Shine Bright 1e File 7 Caribbean Vibes or Shine Bright LLCER File 8 From Isle to Isle.

22 Octobre 2021

colonisation

UK history

Caribbean

Rendez-vous

Jack Kirby: the Man who Created the Eternals

The Eternals movie is based on the Eternals comic and characters created by Jack Kirby, which was first released in 1976.

21 Octobre 2021

comic book

superhero

Marvel

The Earthshot Prizes: Working with Videos

The Earthshot Prizes website has great short videos on the five ecological challenges the prizes aim to tackle. They are perfect for class use, either picking a theme or having groups work on different videos and share information.

20 Octobre 2021

ecology

environment

climate change

Short Films with your Collège Students

The This is England short-film festival in Rouen has a specific programme of short films for collège classes covering topics from food poverty to sharing, coming-of-age to fossil hunting.

20 Octobre 2021

film

festival

farming