ENHANCING COGNITIVE SKILLS WITH MULTILINGUISM: INTERACTIVE VIDEO ACTIVITY

Our latest interactive activity is about the fascinating world of multilingualism and its impact on cognitive skills. In this activity, we'll explore a video that reveals the cognitive benefits of being bilingual and the advantages of learning foreign languages. To make this learning experience more engaging, we've crafted a set of questions to test knowledge and understanding as well as stimulate thoughtful discussions.

EMMA WATSON ON GENDER EQUALITY

Watch the video below and answer the questions in the worksheet HERE

Full transcript of the speech
HeForShe

BYRON IN ITALY

Watch the video and complete the tasks in the worksheet

This video clip is taken from the BBC drama series BYRON (2003)

WORKSHEET BYRON IN ITALY

CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE - ANALYSIS OF FRAGMENTS FROM BOOK III

BELLE - A MOVIE & A TRUE STORY FROM THE 18th CENTURY

Belle: The mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral is raised by her aristocratic great-uncle in 18th century England.

SEBASTIAN FAULKS ON ROBINSON CRUSOE: VIDEO + WORKSHEET

WORKSHEET

MARTIN EDEN

Image from the Italian movie Martin Eden (2019)

Martin Eden is a 1909 novel by American author Jack London about a young proletarian autodidact struggling to become a writer. It was first serialized in The Pacific Monthly magazine from September 1908 to September 1909 and published in book form by Macmillan in September 1909. 
The Plot
Martin Eden is an impoverished sailor who pursues, obsessively and aggressively, dreams of education and literary fame.
He educates himself feverishly and becomes a writer, hoping to acquire the respectability sought by his society-girl sweetheart. She spurns him, however, when his writing is rejected by several magazines and even more so when he is falsely accused of being a socialist. After he achieves fame, she tries to win him back but Martin realizes her love is false. Financially successful and robbed of connection to his own class, aware that his quest for bourgeois respectability was hollow, Eden travels to the Pacific as a sailor again.

TOM HIDDLESTON ON COMPASSION

What is compassion to you? Let's reflect on what compassion means with Tom Hiddleston, who's come to Hollywood fame as Loki, Thor's evil brother in The Avengers. 

Tom Hiddleston is a British actor, he was born in London in 1981.

Do you know that he screen tested for the title role in Thor (2011), maintaining a strict diet and gaining 20 pounds in muscle?However, Kenneth Branagh, the director,  decided he was more suitable for the role of Loki.

Below you find 2 videos  to work with. As usual   I have also prepared a worksheet that you can use and download.

You'll find the worksheet HERE or in the SHARING BOX ON THE RIGHT. The worksheet includes listening and reading comprehension activities, writing tasks .   

FLATMATES - BEGINNERS 1-6

Watch the video, take notes in your notebook correcting the spelling mistakes you notice in the subtitles, translate the new words and new expressions,  work on pronunciation and memorize the new  vocabulary.

SHAWN MENDES ON ANXIETY, SUCCESS AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD (B2 ACTIVITIES)

Shawn Mendes is a global phenomenon. He began his meteoric rise to fame as a teen posting song covers on Vine and YouTube, then as a young artist on Island Records. He is only 19 and earlier this year was named one of Time's most influential people in the world.

HOW CAN WE FACE THE FUTURE WITHOUT FEAR? - LAYOUT OF A SPEECH

It's a fateful moment in history. We've seen divisive elections, divided societies and the growth of extremism -- all fueled by anxiety and uncertainty. "Is there something we can do, each of us, to be able to face the future without fear?" asks Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. In this electrifying talk, the spiritual leader gives us three specific ways we can move from the politics of "me" to the politics of "all of us, together."

WILL: 21st CENTURY SHAKESPEARE

Jamie Campbell Bower and Laurie Davidson as Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare in TNT drama series

William Shakespeare is one of the most widely known authors in the world and in history,  but we actually know very little about the man. For instance, we know very little about his life during two major spans of time, commonly referred to as the "lost years": 1578-82 and 1585-92. The first period covers the time after Shakespeare left grammar school, until his marriage to Anne Hathaway in November of 1582. The second period covers the seven years of Shakespeare's life in which he must have been perfecting his dramatic skills and collecting sources for the plots of his plays.  The TV series “WILL”, which premiered on TNT on 10th July 2017, in a very imaginative way, tries to fill in the seven years’ gap. 

WILL tells the wild story of young William Shakespeare's  arrival onto the punk-rock theater scene in 16th century London -- the seductive, violent world where his raw talent faced rioting audiences, religious fanatics and raucous side-shows. It’s a contemporary version of Shakespeare's life, played to a modern soundtrack that exposes all his recklessness, lustful temptations and brilliance. 

HARRY POTTER: LEARNING TO FLY

WORKSHEET

BECAUSE I LOVE ANIMALS!

Task 1. Copy and translate what the little girl says Task 2. Why is the child so sad? What is she talking about? 

SCHOOL & EDUCATION - SOMEONE HAS TO TELL US WHY ...

Video 1. Clip from the movie An Education

WORKSHEET

Video  2. Prince EA - I just sued the school system

   WORKSHEET 

SUMMER ACTIVITIES 3 - PETER NORMAN, THE FORGOTTEN BLACK POWER HERO

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The Olympic Games 2016 in Rio, Brazil, end today. What about celebrating the many emotions and athletic achievements we have witnessed with a compelling story from the past connected to the 1968 Games in Mexico?

The picture above is  perhaps the most iconic sports photograph ever taken. Captured at the medal ceremony for the men's 200 meters at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, U.S. sprinter Tommie Smith stands defiantly, head bowed, his black-gloved fist thrust into the thin air. Behind him fellow American John Carlos joins with his own Black Power salute, an act of defiance aimed at highlighting the segregation and racism burning back in their homeland. It was an act that scandalized the Olympics. Smith and Carlos were sent home in disgrace and banned from the Olympics for life. But they were treated as returning heroes by the black community for sacrificing their personal glory for the cause. History, too, has been kind to them. Yet few know that the man standing in front of both of them, the Australian sprinter Peter Norman who shocked everyone by powering past Carlos and winning the silver medal, played his own, crucial role in sporting history.  (from The third man: The forgotten Black Power hero) 

Read his story in this article from CNN and complete the tasks in the worksheet

SUMMER ACTIVITIES 2 - TO THE MOVIES! FANTASTIC BEASTS & ME BEFORE YOU

1. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

“Harry: This book belongs to Harry Potter. 

Ron: Shared by Ron Weasley, because his fell apart. 

Hermione: Why don't you buy a new one then? 

Ron: Write on your own book, Hermione. 

Hermione: You bought all those dungbombs on Saturday. You could have bought a new book instead. 

Ron: Dungbombs rule.”

― J.K. Rowling, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

This movie will come out in November 2016. It is based on the adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York's secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school. The screenplay has been written by J. K. Rowling herself. 

Within the Harry Potter universe, Newt Scamander's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" was first published in 1927 and became a massive bestseller, as well as an approved textbook at Hogwarts. By the mid-1990s, when the Harry Potter series is set, it was in its 52nd edition. Scamander also has the distinct honour to have his own Chocolate Frog Card.

SUMMER ACTIVITIES 1 - YUSRA MARDINI, SWIMMING FOR HER LIFE ALL THE WAY TO THE OLYMPICS

The first refugee team to ever compete at the Olympic Games has been revealed, with 10 athletes given the dream opportunity of going for gold in Rio. Yusra Mardini, a teenage Syrian swimmer living and training in Berlin, is one of them. Read and watch her story and complete the tasks in the worksheet. 

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"There are those whose footsteps we would not want to follow, whose shoes we would not want to be in - yet we strive to have their character, their strength, their drive and their courage. It is from them we learn that the worst of humanity can bring out the best in humanity"  

EARLY BRITAIN - THE SAXONS & THE DANES

Alexander Dreymon as Uthred in The Last Kingdom

The Last Kingdom is a British historical fiction television series based on Bernard Cornwell's The Saxon Stories series of novels. The series is set in the 9th and 10th centuries, during the Viking invasions of England. It tells the story of Uhtred, a Saxon warrior who is captured and raised by the Danes. Uhtred is torn between his two loyalties as he fights to reclaim his birthright and defend England from the invaders.

The Last Kingdom is a well-made and exciting series with strong characters, stunning visuals, and epic battle scenes. It is also a historically accurate series that provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of Anglo-Saxon England.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI, A PRESENT DAY TEEN HEROINE

Who's Malala Yousafzai? Discover  her story reading  this article from The Guardian on line, then answer the questions on the worksheet . Then move to this article and complete the tasks. 

ARE YOU ITALIAN? DO YOU SPEAK ITALISH?

Italish (Italian+English) is a word I often use to joke about us Italians speaking English. Our former Prime Minister, Mr Renzi, showed off his own Italish around the world and his videos went viral, but there are other examples and some versions of Italish can be very good, you know?
I've chosen a couple of clips to start the new school year with a smile and some music. Which Italish do you want to speak, Tanino's or Andrea's?

Tanino's Video - Transcript  

"My name is Tanino" is an Italian movie directed by Paolo Virzì in 2002. It's the story of naive Sicilian Tanino (Corrado Fortuna) who finds himself taken with Sally (Rachel McAdams), a sophisticated rich girl vacationing in Italy. The feeling is mutual -- she's thrilled with the idea of a summer fling -- but, when she goes home, Sally assumes her tryst with Tanino is a thing of the past. Tanino disagrees, and he tails her back to the United States. For Tanino, his reunion with Sally is just the first chapter in what turns out to be an eventful international excursion. 

Andrea's Video - Transcript 

Andrea Faustini and his adventure at The X Factor UK