Media Scan

You Don't Own Me (1963) is a feminist song that makes a strong statement in favour of women's emancipation in the second wave of the feminist movement (1960s-1980s), (you can find out more about this on this Wikipedia link). The song is quite easy to understand, here you can find a lesson plan for B1 students with a fill-in-the gap listening task, the full lyrics and a speaking activity which includes a discussion and an sing-along exercise to promote articulatory fluency. I would like to thank my student Cristina T. for sending me the video of this song. In 2015, one month after Lesley Gore died, the Australian singer song-writer Grace released a cover of the song which was a hit in the  music charts of Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Here, you can find a link to Grace's video and compare the two versions of the song:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEt7bnuO5y0

This superb BBC description of Galway's "craic" (which is a kind of light-hearted, mischievous approach to life) portrays the atmosphere of the streets, pubs and people in that Western Irish, bohemian town. In only 12 slides and a video, you will come across words like  bustling pubs, freshly poured pints, lilting music, fiddle, mischief, craic, a local, promenade, odd, damp, to strip down to swimsuits, to plunge into, roiling waters, shivering, dripping, wont, to go with the flow, gale-force winds, counterweight, to breed, laid-back spirit, to foster, layout, an out-of-towner, low-key, to pervade, buskers, winding streets, a month goes by, to distil, pretention, uncontrivedness, breakdown, to edge in, to clutch, to connect with other people, to settle for something .  The text is short, but the vocabulary is very descriptive, so it is suitable for C1 students, although B2+ students can also enjoy the pictures and get the gist of the text.

If you want to feel the "craic" of Galway from your own home, even if your level is B1, you can watch this You Tube video of some Galway buskers performing Hit the Road Jack : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUQaf_kcPK0 But if you prefer something more Celtic, this video of Irish folk music and dance is for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t03aMiKnU4A Here, you can find some buskers playing an anthem, Song for Ireland by James Gallagher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4TYvl6xub4 If you like an unpretentious, young, hippy style, try this cover of The House of the Rising Sun : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkn-RfhyFeU More street talent with a fiddle and some Mexican flavour:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKL1EwoIE0 This video shows the largest performance of the song Galway Girl in the streets of Galway in 2016:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNs0vKDvs0g I hope you have enjoyed Galway's "craic" wherever you are,  But if you still want some more, y...

Rowan Atkinson does not play Mr. Bean here, but he is very funny, too. He plays an Anglican vicar giving a Sunday sermon, the Gospel of St. John. You will come across literary language and archaic grammar structures from the Bible, like it came to pass, he said unto them, waterpots, he knew not, they inquired of him, behold, lo!, wailing and gnashing of teeth, ye ( archaic for you), you shall be known, hearken onto somebody, Pharisses etc, but there are English subtitles, so, it can be accessible to B2 students and above.  

Elisabeth Moss plays the role of writer Shirley Jackson in the movie Shirley, which began to stream on virtual cinema platforms on June 5th.  Here you can read and listen to a 7 minute review of the film by Los Angeles Times critic Justin Chang, broadcast on NPR's Fresh Air . Film reviews are usually very rich in language, and when they are broadcast on the radio, they are particularly difficult to understand for the density of information, as they are usually literary essays read out loud, so both the audio and the text are classified as C2.  You will come across words like bond, fraught, glimpse, to chime, to deserve, script, loosely, insight, bout, to pursue, chore, vicious, to thrive, to get back on track, to root, wrinkle, muse, stand-in, layers, dizzyingly, jagged, close-up, to swerve, handheld, score, to pulse, to grapple with, conundrums, to blur, uncannily, to excel at, exertion, to tease out, odd, tenderness, prickly, to awe, to bind, to cheat on somebody, to endur...