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Two Cities, One Coast?Vancouver and Seattle Through Each Other’s Eyes

Première (general) · CEFR LVA B1+ / LVB B1 · Threads: Identity, Ownership, Power

“Why would football fans from two countries invent their own trophy?”

The big question

Vancouver and Seattle share a coast, a history and a border: what do the two cities give each other, and is the exchange equal?

The journey

1. Rivals and neighbours: Discover two cities through a football rivalry.
2. Before the border: the Coast Salish world: Learn who lived on this coast before the two cities.
3. Who wrote Chief Seattle’s speech?: Check a famous text before you quote it.
4. Gold, ships and a gateway: 1897: See how Canadian gold made an American city boom.
5. Children of a common mother: the Peace Arch: Read a monument as a message.
6. Towers, floats and screens: Find what the two cities borrow from each other today, and ask if the exchange is equal.

Sentence starters

• The fans of both cities share…
• Seattle is named after…, whereas Vancouver is named after…
• The first text was published…
• The headline repeats… to create…
• The inscription suggests that…
• Seattle gives Vancouver…, while Vancouver gives Seattle…

Grammar focus

The Peace Arch is older than the Space Needle. Expo 86 is more recent than the 1962 World’s Fair. Both Vancouver and Seattle are on the Pacific coast.

Word bank

a coast · a border · to cross · a neighbour · a rival · Indigenous · unceded · a land acknowledgement · a gold rush · a gateway · a monument · an inscription · a landmark · to stand in for · an exchange · equal / unequal

Game: Cascadia Crossing

A board game that you invent. The board is the coast between Vancouver and Seattle, with the Peace Arch in the middle. Make Fact cards (1792, 1866, 1897, 1921, 2004, 2014) and Compare cards (“Say one thing the two cities share”, “Say one difference with whereas”). To cross the border, a player must answer a card in English. Add Check cards: a player reads a quote and the others decide if it is real, invented or not proven. Write the rules, test them and improve them.

Final task

Podcast in pairs (about 3 minutes): “Two cities, one coast?” Compare Vancouver and Seattle and answer the question: is the exchange equal? LVA B1+, LVB B1.

My effort badges

Bridges

• Builds on: Where Does Your Playlist Come From? Windrush and the Caribbean
• Builds on: Is It Fair? Ruby Bridges and the Right to the Same School
• Leads to: Four Nations, One Kingdom? The UK Through Football
• Leads to: English-speaking Oceania · Hunt for the Wilderpeople

https://parcours-anglais-lycee.netlify.app/premiere/two-cities-one-coast/ · © 2026 Madame Carole Paoli Pompougnac · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0