Bringing Europe Into Your Classroom

Macron Leads Polls but Turnout a Big Question in French Vote

Photo by: Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP, File

By Sylvie CorbetTues 6 April 2022

President Emmanuel Macron is the clear favorite in France’s presidential race Sunday yet a big unknown factor may prove decisive: an unprecedented proportion of people say they are unsure who to vote for or don’t intend to vote at all, bringing a large dose of uncertainty to the election.

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Son of Svea: A Tale of the People’s Home

by Lena Andersson · 2022

From one of Sweden’s most astute cultural critics, a razor-sharp comedy of the progress and ruin of the industrial welfare state, told through the story of a single family.

In Son of Svea, Lena Andersson offers a characteristically funny, wise, and moving family chronicle about the social transformations that unite and divide us, and about finding the courage to be true to oneself.

The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem

Discover the true story about the determined engineer who fixed London’s pollution problem in this funny, accessible nonfiction picture book featuring engaging art from the illustrator of Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine.

With tips for how to prevent pollution today, this fascinating look at science, history, and what one person can do to create change will impress and astound readers who want to help make their planet a cleaner, happier place to live.- Simon and Schuster. The book is illustrated and intended for readers aged 5 and up, but is informative for readers of all ages.

Fall 2021, Germany, East Germany

All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler
by Rebecca Donner

Flight for Freedom:
The Wetzel Family’s Daring Escape from East Germany
By Kristen Fulton

Spring 2021, France, Senegal, and Germany

At Night All Blood is Black 
by Amadou Diop

Fall 2020, Belgium and the UK 

Nowhere Boy
By  Katherine Marsh

Exit West
By, Mohsin Hamid

Spring 2020, Estonia

The Man who Spoke Snakish
By Andrus Kiviraehk

Fall 2019, Ireland 

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
By Patrick Radden Keefe

BBC (UK)

Spiegl (Germany)

Le Monde (France)

Independent (Ireland)

Nordstjernan (Sweden)

El Pais (Spain)

Resident (Portugal)

Polskie Radio (Poland)

Flanders News (Belgium)

Politiken (Denmark)

EU Confidential (Politico): A weekly podcast featuring keynote interviews on the forces shaping Europe.

Talking Politics: Launched after the Brexit vote in 2016 by Cambridge University professor David Runciman, Talking Politics is a weekly podcast that covers international and domestic affairs.

The World in 30 minutes with Mark Leonard: Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, explores the big issues in foreign policy and Europe’s role in the world.

The Europeans: An award-winning podcast looking at politics and culture around the continent. It delves into stories that don’t get attention in the national media and interview fascinating people across Europe, from writers to activists, scientists to chefs.

The Political Party: Comedian and former political advisor Matt Forde interviews figures from the political world, such as current and former MPs, journalists and diplomats from all parts of the political spectrum.

How to Invent a Country: When did countries become countries? Misha Glenny speaks on the borders, the stories and the people of countries, with a focus on European nations.

The History of Rome: A weekly podcast tracing the history of the Roman Empire, beginning with Aeneas’s arrival in Italy and ending with the exile of Romulus Augustulus, last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

The British History Podcast: The BHP is a chronological retelling of the history of Britain with a particular focus upon the lives of the people.

Comedy

Call My Agent! (France): At a Paris talent firm, A.S.K, agents attempt to save their flailing business while confronting realities like sexism, ageism, and the gender pay gap in movies and TV.

A Very Secret Service (France): A posh series that lampoons Cold War-era politics and bureaucratic absurdity with dry wit. The French secret service inducts the main character, André, without warning or training, and we follow him as world paranoia boils and the fight for Algerian independence turns France on its head.

Fallet (Sweden): A spoof of police procedurals with spunk, verve, and a lot of heart. The Swedish series follows a Stockholm homicide detective and British chief inspector, both uninvested and incompetent, who are paired up to investigate the murder of an Englishman at a last-ditch effort to save their jobs.

Rita (Denmark): Rita, a Danish teacher, is “too cool for school,” but in this comedy, she actually cares about her students, and her unorthodox attitude is a hallmark of her equally unorthodox approach to her pupils.

Merlí (Spain/Catalonia): A free-thinking firebrand lands a gig teaching high school philosophy just as bankruptcy forces him to move back in with his mother. Complicating matters is his son, whom Merlí’s ex drops off just as he’s evicted, and who turns out to be a student in his class.

Drama

Dark (Germany): Dark clouds loom over the nuclear power plant that dominates the town and hangs over the complex storyline. Teenage boys start to disappear from the town, and these events prove to be the threads that reveal the dark, interconnected relationships of various citizens and the secrets they hold.

Occupied (Norway): In the not-so-distant future, the Norwegian Green Party, an environmentally friendly political formation, has taken control of the country, and has used their power to totally cease production of fossil fuels. When the oil stops flowing, the EU authorizes Russia to conduct a soft invasion of Norway and the geopolitical intrigue begins.

Money Heist (Spain): “The Professor” rounds up a group of talented criminals in hopes of pulling off the biggest heist in history. With high stakes, it’s a pulse-pounding action that manages to frame the story as thoughtfully as possible between gunshots and car chases.

Elite (Spain): Described as Riverdale meets Gossip Girl meets Big Little Lies, this show is full of teen melodrama. However, the material is elevated thanks to an inventive story structure that plays with the timeline, a reinvention of character tropes, and a murder mystery intertwined alongside the typical teenage drama.

Suburra: Blood on Rome (Italy): Instead of drugs or money, it is land that is at stake in this particular crime drama. A small group of young upstart criminals hatch a plan to get some land and establish themselves as underworld players. Our antiheroes quickly discover that there are many more experienced and more powerful hands playing this game, and that they might just be in over their heads.

• EU Simulation (The Chocolate Simulation)
• Parental Leave Simulation
• Migration Simulation
• Climate Change Simulation