CIDEB

With «À vous la France!» students set off on a fun and lively journey of discovery of France and French-speaking countries.

»La corza blanca» e «La cruz del diablo» are two of the short stories written by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-70). They are filled with romanticism, mystery and all the elements that make up the Middle Ages.

Die siebzehnjährige Effi heiratet den wesentlich älteren Baron Geert von Innstetten. In der kalten Provinzstadt Kessin, wo sie mit ihm lebt, kann sie sich nicht einleben. Während Innstetten vor allem an seine Karriere denkt, lernt sie den ‘Damenmann’ Major Crampas kennen. Fontanes ‘Effi’ wird hier in vereinfachter und gekürzter Form nacherzählt, um Atmosphäre, Motive und Handlung dieses großen Romans auch dem Deutschlerner zugänglich zu machen.

Valeria, a beautiful and intelligent teenager, is a very good student, but can’t seem to make friends. ‘She’s not one of us’, her neighbours say, convinced that strange things happen in Valeria’s mysterious house on the cliffs. However, when Markus, the most popular guy in the class, becomes interested in her, everything seems like it is about to change. But is Markus the right guy? And what is the mystery that is hiding in that house on the cliffs? A passionate love story set on the shores of the North Sea.

One of the great romances of the Middle Ages, Tristan and Isolde has inspired writers, poets, artists and musicians for centuries. After slaying a dragon and winning a tournament, the young prince Tristan wins the hand of beautiful Isolde for marriage to his uncle, King Mark. But on their journey back to Mark’s court, they drink a love potion that was intended for the king and his young bride. They instantly fall in love — a love that is impossible.

Friendly, honest, idealistic and big-hearted, Don Quijote wants to impose on the world his views on life, guided by love, by justice and by honour. However, the coarse and vulgar society doesn’t understand him and rejects his views. Initially written with the intention of ridiculing stories of chivalry typical of the period, Don Quijote rises, for its deep humanity, as a universal masterpiece.

»English Grammar Framework B2» is designed for students at intermediate level and it is also ideal for students preparing for the Cambridge ESOL FCE exam, Trinity exams grades 7 and 8 and the Communicator level of the City and Guilds suite of exams. Features: • 52 units • Supplementary exercises providing practice for the FCE exam. • Audio CD/CD-ROM which covers all the topic areas of the Vantage learning objectives of the CEFR

Perceval leaves his mother to live a peaceful life in the woods. However, one day he meets a group of knights who have arrived from Camelot, King Arthur’s castle. Perceval then decides to become one of the Knights of the Round Table. Without any experience he must face numerous challenges.

In an underwater excavation site under the lake of Saint-Malo in Brittany, there is the theft of an 18th-century treasure chest. Chief suspects are an archeologist and a diver. Three cousins, Sophie, Gaël and Loïc, accompanied by their dog Surcouf, decide to investigate…

»Pass KET» can be used as a short intensive course or alongside students' regular course at the A2 Waystage of the CEFR. Features: • 8 short easy-to-use units • Grammar Check and Word bank sections in each unit • Exam Skills with exam strategies • 1 complete KET Practice Test • Authentic KET-type listening tasks and pronunciation activities on audio CD • Strong emphasis on speaking skills

Mal mariée à un homme fruste, Thérèse tente d’empoisonner ce mari si différent d’elle. La peur du scandale jette un voile sur cette affaire et Thérèse va bénéficier d'un non-lieu. Tandis qu’elle rentre chez elle, Thérèse laisse défiler pour nous les images de son passé.

Ce récit, enchâssé dans l’œuvre plus ample, «À la recherche du temps perdu» se situe à Paris et narre l’amour de Swann, et sa jalousie, pour Odette. C’est le récit de l’échec amoureux de Swann et sa descente aux enfers. Swann quittera Paris pour entreprendre une espèce de convalescence.

This collection of short stories brings together some of Katherine Mansfield's best fiction, such as Bliss, At the Bay and The Garden-Party. It also charts her artistic development from the young, brash, exciting voice of The Swing of the Pendulum, through the mature, innovative style of Prelude and the structural perfection of The Doll's House, to the measured black humour of The Fly.

Dans ces récits contés, l’âme angoissée de Maupassant peint les hommes, leurs mœurs et leurs bassesses. Douze contes brefs d’inspiration naturaliste ou fantastique, où les personnages prennent la parole pour raconter la réalité quotidienne, souvent insolite. Trois chroniques où l’esprit d’observation, le style concis et incisif de Maupassant conteur révèlent aussi ses dons de journaliste.

A stimulating selection of short stories from the United States (Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Washington Irving, Dorothy Parker and O. Henry), Australia (Henry Lawson) and South Africa (the Nobel Prize-winning Nadine Gordimer) is the cultural springboard for a detailed analysis of this often neglected literary form. Students are guided towards a challenging approach to the texts: looking at literary categories (setting, characters) and literary devices (style, narrator viewpoints) and exploring thematic aspects – all leading towards the production of individual creative writing.

Dans cet épisode intitulé «La Dame blonde», le célèbre détective britannique parviendra-t-il à déjouer l’habileté de l’astucieux et populaire cambrioleur français? Un secrétaire d’acajou volé, un baron assassiné, un diamant bleu subtilisé: l’Anglais saura-t-il résoudre toutes ces énigmes et démasquer le génial Lupin?

»Sweet and Sour» is an involving and varied collection of gripping and enjoyable short stories whose captivating storylines greatly enhance readers’ enjoyment. All of them feature light and dark sides of human nature. Some stories have a devilish or unpredictable twist in the tale, some show how ordinary people are driven to murder, revenge and deceit by unexpected circumstances or odd events. Sweet and Sour includes stories by Vivien Alcock, Margery Allingham, Isaac Asimov, Bernard Capes, Roald Dahl, W. W. Jacobs, Alison Lurie, Katherine Mansfield, Ruth Rendell, Salman Rushdie and Saki.

This selection of ten short stories about women by modern writers (James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, Roald Dahl, James Thurber, Edna O’Brien, Anne Cassidy, Malachi Whitaker and Janet Frame) from different English-speaking countries – England, Ireland, America and New Zealand – explores such themes as love’s dilemma, loneliness, crime, myths and nostalgia. Dictionary work, the role of the narrator, setting, story and plots, speech modes and characterisation are all featured in the analysis sections of each story.

A stimulating selection of extracts from important works and short stories by major authors of the 19th and 20th centuries – Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë, R. L. Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and George Orwell – which aims to improve students’ linguistic competence and introduce them to concepts of literary analysis through a wide range of activities. Each chapter also includes a chronology of the author’s life and a synoptic table to help students to contextualise what they read.

Doctor Faustus, a brilliant scholar, enters into an agreement with the Devil. He agrees to sell his soul in return for twenty-four years of knowledge, power and riches. But he realises the full implications of his rash action.

»Le Morte d’Arthur» tells the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The tale begins with Arthur’s birth, his education, and his rise to the throne. It also recounts the tragic love story of Sir Lancelot and Guinevere, the destruction of the Round Table and Arthur’s mysterious disappearance or death.

In Genoa, the death by poisoning of a Milanese doctor upsets the peaceful atmosphere of the guest house, ‘Quarto dei Mille’, where Dr Capri spent the last night of his life. There isn’t enough evidence to think that it was suicide and the story has many mysterious aspects to it: why did someone who lived in Milan make an appointment with a lawyer in another city? And why did a rich man stay in a modest guest house and not in a 5-star hotel? Try to discover, with little Anna, the motives behind this mysterious death?

These stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, R. Austin Freeman, Edgar Wallace, Edmund Crispen and Geoffrey Bush, Margery Allingham and Julian Symons focus on the development of the detective genre: from the rationality of the Victorian investigator to the modern theme of the criminal as anti-hero.

A telephone number on a fifty-euro banknote, a bunch of red roses, a suspicious florist. All apparently commonplace things, which could go unobserved by anybody... but not the eyes of the attentive and alert Grandini, a retired police commissioner. Is the telephone number a cry for help, or does the commissioner simply see mysteries everywhere? Let yourself get involved in this adventure and help the commissioner solve this enigma!