Recently my Year 7s challenged me to sing the French national anthem. I’m afraid I chickened out and showed them this version by the wonderful Mireille Mathieu (she’s a tad better singer than me anyway!). Recently, there has been talk in France of changing their anthem, as some think it’s a little too bloodthirsty in its call to arms and battle. Personally, I think it’s one of the more stirring and emotional anthems – imagine listening to it before a big football or rugby match? Maybe THAT’S why the French win so much in sports!
For one of our school’s Theme Days this year, Year 9 are following a Languages-based programme – Chinese, Italian & Dutch lessons, an introduction to handball and Breton dancing & so on. I’m going to enjoy talking to them about Italy, its culture, geography & language. Hopefully, by the end of the day, they’ll be a bit more enlightened than Peter is in this clip from my favourite cartoon!
My Year 8 set absolutely ADORE this series of short programmes aimed at teaching French-speaking children French (so the level is about right for them). When we’ve had a really good lesson, they are allowed to watch an episode – and we’ve watched 8 so far! (Make of that what you will!) Our only worry is what to do once they run out! Anyway, here’s the latest one we saw.
Ok, now I have your attention!
Just joking – you CAN check out the new trailer for the latest Twilight film (called “Tentation” or “Temptation” in French) by clicking below – or better still, go to ALLOCINE, the best French movie site and catch a few other trailers. It’s a great way to improve your French, particularly if you already know the film!
A really neat little device which some students have asked me about in lessons is Wordle. It creates lovely word “clouds” from any text you type/paste in and is great for teachers (nice starters/plenaries) and for students (revision of vocab anyone?). Try it out by clicking the link in my Blogroll – and look at the one I made from the contents of this blog!
Anyone who knows me will tell you how much I adore Paris. It’s my favourite city to visit ( along with New York) and is a place you fall in love with instantly – don’t believe me? Take a look at this.
I’ve just been alerted to this brilliant site, designed for English-speaking learners of French, which has the most amazing resources for practising listening skills. As we all know, listening in French can be tricky – there are usually no visual clues for you to cling on to! – but this site provides clear explanations, great exercises and vocabulary. Make sure you make it one of your favourites!
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Posted by robert green
