Calendrier des cours
Before class: read course information and do the preliminary accent installations, etc.
jeudi, 19 août
First day of class.
Présentations.
Skill: work on describing yourself to others. Here are models.
Master them now and be ready to use them in class:
Je me présente:
Je m'appelle....
J'ai..... ans.
Je suis étudiant(e).
J'ai les cheveux... J'ai les yeux...[adjectives]
Je suis né(e) à ..... [town].
Je suis.....[adjectives]
J'aime....
Je n'aime pas....
Notice how these structures are not the same as English! "My
hair is brown" = J'ai les
cheveux bruns. Notice that the word-for-word *Mes cheveux sont bruns is
absolutely wrong. Start thinking
about how the two languages express the same idea in structurally different ways.
Here are some questions to use after an introduction. Remember that
it's your responsibility to keep the dialogue going by interviewing the
person
who introduces himself. The idea is to find out about the
personality and likes of these new people we're meeting:
Comment vous appelez-vous?
Quel âge avez-vous?
Où êtes-vous né?
D'où êtes-vous?
Qu'est-ce que vous aimez?
Avez-vous une grande famille?
Est-ce que vous aimez la musique?
Start working on a short paragraph description of yourself based on the above model. Write it up in Word, save it as a file on your computer, and send it to me via email by next class period. Note that you must have accents installed correctly before doing this. Print out a copy and bring it to class, too. Watch out for gender of nouns, agreement of adjectives with the nouns they modify, and correct conjugation of verbs. The one you send to me via email will be sent back in Word with suggestions for how to revise them. Here's how that works: the file you get back in Word will have certain words and phrases highlight in yellow. You hold your cursor over that word or phrase and a small window will open with my comments about how to improve what you've said. You fix the problems in each highlighted segment, resave the file with a different name, preferably the filename with 2 after it, and send it to me again. Most of the time, I'll get you text back to you within minutes. You continue this revision process throughout the semester with everything you write, so that you really have an opportunity to get better at it. At the end of the semester, I'll have copies of what you wrote at the beginning and at the end, so we can really see what progress you've made. It's also part of your participation grade. Getting involved in this revision process is one of your first and most important individual duties.
mardi, 24 août
It's so hard to say 'au revoir'. . . let's just say 'hors
d'oeuvre'.
-Randy Newman
Deadline for installation of accents on your computer. Send me
a note to show you have done it, including text with all four accents.
API: Alphabet phonétique international
Regardez le site suivant, étudiez-le, apprenez à vous
en servir.
http://francais-affaires.com/usages/variations/phonemes.htm
Print this out and bring it to class. These are symbols
representing the sounds of French, which are different from the sounds
of English. The trap is that when you see words
written in Latin script [as both English and French are], you'll read
them with English sounds, since those are more natural to
you. Take the word fruit, for example. How did it sound
in your head when you read it? [frut]? But what I wrote was
French: [fRyi]. We're going to learn these symbols as a way of
escaping English pronunciation. Think of other words in
French that have the same sound as each symbol. Learn to use
the IPA and produce the sounds. Learn that certain rules
about French produce certain sounds for certain combinations of
letters,
resulting in the fact that given nearly any written
French word, you can know exactly how to pronounce it, not like
English,
where the sequence -ough, for
example, can have 5
different pronunciations (cough, rough, through, dough, bough)
which must be learned and memorized. In French, you learn the
rules,
and you know how to pronounce any new word, even if you've never seen
it.
The historical 'accident' that caused French to be written with the
same alphabet as English--namely, the Roman Empire--continues to
cause
problems for students of foreign languages. When you see words
written
in Roman
alphabet, even if they're French, your brain is going to want to
pronounce
them as English. But French sounds are
completely different, even if represented by the same alphabet.
Luckily,
there are rules for how sequences of French
letters are pronounced. Take a look at this website, learn the
rules for French
vowels, and practice them daily for five
minutes for a couple of weeks:
http://french.about.com/library/pronunciation/bl-pronunciation-vowels.htm
Dictionaries
You must have two dictionaries at your disposal to learn French: a
physical copy and an online. I recommend that you buy
the following dictionary for the first purpose: The New
College French & English Dictionary, by Steiner, published
by
AMSCO.
It's the best French-English, English-French
Dictionary for under $10, it uses IPA, and there's a stack of used
ones at the Book Exchange in Durham. Here's a good online
dictionary:
http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/dictionary/
Bookmark it and learn how to use it. Unfortunately,
French online dictionaries don't use IPA, so when
in doubt about pronunciation,
go back to your Steiner.
jeudi, 26 août
Skill: still working on introducing and talking about oneself.
For this you need principally the present tense of verbs and agreement
of
adjectives. Review where appropriate. Send via email a
revision
of your self-description, which you should continue to augment and
embellish
as you learn more French.
Prononciation et API: learn the symbols for all the French
vowels:
http://francais-affaires.com/usages/variations/phonemes.htm
Start working on all the French vowels until you have them
right. Make sure you know the sequence
of letters which produce each sound. This site has sound recordings for
practising pronuniciation.
http://french.about.com/library/pronunciation/bl-pronunciation-vowels.htm
Print out this list of French words, and hand-write the phonetic transcription of them, bring it to class, and turn it in to me at the beginning of class.
héros
courage
situation
indépendance
préfère
lingerie
chaise longue
mardi, 31 août
Your responsibilities:
1. Make sure that you have solved all accent problems on your
computer
and have learned how to type accented words easily.
2. Be sure you have a good command of the phonetic alphabet, and
pronunciation
of French sounds, especially the vowels.
Skill: still working on
introducing and talking about oneself.
For this you need principally the present tense of verbs and agreement
of adjectives. Review where appropriate. Work on embellishing your
introduction
of yourself and on asking questions about someone you've just
met. To
help,
use this Myers-Briggs test in French. These questions are great
for
our level. Give it a try and note your personality type.
http://www.supertest.com/MB/mb1.cfm
(Note that there is a mistake in the French in the 27th and in the next
to last question.)
Here's how to use this questionnaire:
First of all, there's too much here for one session. Limit your
choice and study well. Read the question and think about what it
means. Then answer the
question in a complete sentence. Then go back and look at
the structure to be sure that you fully understand. Try to
isolate and identify the structure. For example, in Question #1,
Vous vous sentez à l'aise dans
une foule
the structure is <se sentir> 'to feel' [internally, with no
direct object].
Remember
you're changing a question in second plural to an answer in first
singular, so there may be other things in the sentence which will need
to change, too. For example:
When describing your personality, you can use expressions like:
J'ai un caractère _______________ .
J'ai une personnalité____________ .
J'ai un tempérament ____________ .
Je suis ___________ de nature.
where adjectives go in the blanks.
About synonyms:
We went over some adjectives in class and
you each chose one to fit a major aspect of your
personality. Do this again now: choose an adjective
which you think applies to you. Say,
pensif. Look at this synonym
dictionary http://elsap1.unicaen.fr/cherches.html
to see variants which are
shaded one way or another emotionally. Type in pensif and
you'll see that there are lots of synonyms in French, but all have
different nuances. There is a dreamy
overtone to its synonyms rêveur and songeur; an
intellectual overtone to penseur and réfléchissant;
a stressful overtone to
préoccupé and soucieux; a studious
overtone
to absorbé; an emotional and psychological overtone to recueilli;
a
philosophical and spiritual overtone to contemplatif and méditatif,
and yet all these are synonyms of pensif. As your French
improves, you'll acquire more shadings--more nuances--of meaning in
the adjectives you chose.
Normalement...
De temps en temps...
..., mais...
Du point de vue psychologique...., du point de vue physique...
J'ai tendance à être....
Je suis plutôt...
Loin d'être....., je suis décidément...
J'ai l'air...
Les gens me considèrent comme....
Je me considère comme...
jeudi, 2 septembre
Pour améliorer votre vocabulaire en ce qui concerne la
personnalité,
regardez un ou deux de ces sites sur l'astrologie:
http://www.voyance-astro.com/astrologie_signe.htm
http://fr.horoscope.yahoo.com/
http://www.bab-el-web.com/horoscope/
Trouvez votre signe et lisez ses caractéristiques.
Décrivez-vous
en français. Choisissez des adjectifs qui vous
décrivent
et
trouvez des synonymes dans le dico de synonymes http://elsap1.unicaen.fr/cherches.html
.
Write out a revised and improved paragraph description of yourself
and send it to me as a
Word attachment.
Proofread it for spelling and accents!
A note about proofreading:
this is a skill which few college undergraduates possess, yet one which
is essential to anyone who aspires to an intellectual career.
Start now learning how to look and how to see what is on the paper, not what you think is on the paper. Your
head will tell you it is right but acquire the objective reading skill
that knows how to question what you have written. The
proofreading skill for this class is particularly useful for things
which are different in English and French, i.e., gender of nouns and
articles and agreement of adjectives.
mardi, 7 septembre
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? This is my French
version
of the Dating Game. We'll have three batchelors or bachelorettes,
to answer questions from a field of interviewers who will determine
whether
they are datable or not.
(As in all language-learning activities, you don't have to tell the
truth.)
We'll ask them questions beginning: "Célibataire
Numéro Un..."
So, to prepare for class, do two things:
1. Review how to ask questions in French: http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa022600.htm
http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa022600iw.htm
2. Prepare a short list of questions that you will ask the
batchelors
or batchelorettes in the game in class. If you want help, send it
to me and I'll check it over. Here are some possibilities,
but use what you would like:
jeudi, 9 septembre
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? We play again!
Test: êtes-vous jaloux? [Read the statements, study them,
learn how to ask them as questions]
http://www.canoe.qc.ca/Artdevivre/jaloux1.html
Here again, we'll interview classmates on their feelings about love,
attachment, loyalty, jealousy, etc.
You get ideas for the
questions
from the website.
More tests:
Personnalité: http://www.canoe.qc.ca/Artdevivre/test_personnalite.html
Pour les demoiselles: http://www.canoe.qc.ca/artdevivretests/test-infidele.html
Pour les messieurs: http://www.canoe.qc.ca/Artdevivre/boss1.html
[Read the statements, transform them into questions, learn how to ask
them]
mardi, 14 septembre
Les citations
For this work, you'll need three internet resources: a quotation site, a dictionary, and a dictionary of synonyms, all supplied below.
The assignment: choose a quotation about heroism or heros from one
of
the sites below. Analyze it, look up all words you
don't know,
translate it, transcribe it into phonetic alphabet,
memorize
it, and paraphrase it--be able to explain it in other
words--in French. In other
words, really dig in and understand
how the thing ticks, both in grammar and in meaning. Use
keyword héros,
héroïsme, etc. Note that
héros
is the singular of the word in French, as well as the plural! Note that
the final -s
is not pronounced in the sg or the pl, the word being pronounced [eRo].
Here's how you work: you get a quotation, a short one you
like,
one that appeals to you. You look up the words you don't
know, you
analyze it, you figure it out, and you think about what it
means. Then you try to translate it. Then you try to say
the
same idea in several different ways in French. For example:
L'étoffe des héros est un tissu de mensonges.
-Jacques Prévert
Literally, the stuff of heros is a tissue of lies. = The substance
of
heros is a fabric of lies.
Paraphrased in French: L'héroïsme est un
mensonge. L'héroïsme n'existe pas: c'est une fabrication de
la société. Les
héros sont des hommes ordinaires, qui ont peur, qui ont des
défauts. Le gouvernement, ou la société, les
met sur un
piédestal pour des raisons politiques, et la pensée
du grand public est manipulée par la propagande, etc.
This text explains in detail how to do this kind of work: quotationwork.html
Finally, I want you to write out the phonetic transcription, in IPA, of your quotation and bring it to class to turn in at the beginning of the period.
Now, here are the sites:
Quotation sites:
http://www.gilles-jobin.org/citations/indexNN.php
My favorite, but there's a lot, and the quotations are longer than in
other
sites, though the quality is dependably high. Either choose a
short one, or try another site. Type in héros in the
search
box.
http://www.citationsdumonde.com/ French quotations by author and topic. Use keyword héros, héroïsme, etc. The great thing about this site is that when you get a quotation, if you click on particular words in that quotation, it will show you other quotations using those words, just like the circular dictionary game and the Legos game! If you will follow where these trails lead in your spare time, you'll learn so much. Type in héros in the subject [sujet] search box.
http://www.les-citations.com/ Quotations by author and topic. Use keyword héros, héroïsme, etc.
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/combes/Art/citation.html In this site, note that the pink Capital Letter at the left is also a link to more quotations on topics beginning with that letter. Use keyword héros, héroïsme, etc.
In order to do the work of understanding and paraphrasing, use
online dictionary of
French
http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/dictionary/
or this one, which has phonetic transcriptions in IPA:
http://www.wordreference.com/
jeudi, 16 septembre
Le plus haut héroïsme, pour un individu comme pour un
peuple, est de savoir affronter le ridicule ;
mieux encore, c'est de savoir se poser en ridicule et de ne rien
craindre de lui.
-Miguel de Unamuno (Le sentiment tragique de la vie, p.360)
Film Ridicule. Nous verrons ce film en classe, mais
vous
pouvez le louer aussi chez Blockbuster. Je vous conseille de le voir
plus
d'une fois.
[You're responsible for seeing it, and preferably more than once,
either in class or on your own, if you miss class. Study up on it
with the sites below before seeing it. You'll write a composition on
Ridicule soon, so start thinking about it and begin immediately sending
me drafts
which I will help you with.]
The plot:
Grégoire
Ponceludon
de Malavoy, petit noble de province sous le règne de Louis XVI,
voit les
paysans de son domaine des Dombes mourir petit à petit des
fièvres pernicieuses
liées aux marécages dans lesquels ils travaillent.
Les marécages sont infestés de moustiques qui
transportent la maladie. Soucieux d’améliorer le
sort de ses gens, il développe un projet d’assainissement
de la région. Pour cela,
il faut gagner le soutien du roi. Grégoire décide
d'aller
à Versailles pour lui présenter le projet. Mais
pour
voir le roi, il faut entrer à la cour
de Versailles. Les difficultés commencent : la cour
est un milieu fermé où
les coteries se disputent la bienveillance du roi.
L’entêtement de Ponceludon
de Malavoy attire l’attention du Marquis de Bellegarde. Ce
dernier, par ses
conseils et grâce à son expérience de témoin
d’un monde qui s’écroule,
introduit Ponceludon de Malavoy dans cette jungle qu’est la cour
vers 1780,
dans ce monde du paraître et de la superficialité, ou le
langage est une arme, et le ridicule tue. La réputation
d'un homme est faite, et sa vie peut être détruite, par
son emploi de mots. Pour Grégoire,
il faut maintenant attirer l’attention de Louis XVI et lui
présenter le
projet d’assainissement des Dombes. Il lui faut éviter les
pièges que lui
tendent des courtisans, dont la Marquise de Blayac et
l’Abbé de Vilecourt.
Jusqu’où peut-il se compromettre ?
Lisez cette revue pour vous préparer:
A la cour de
Louis XVI
A synopsis and discussion: http://sky.prohosting.com/cdccc/ridicule.htm
mardi, 21 septembre
Un homme
d'esprit est perdu s'il ne joint pas à l'esprit
l'énergie de son caractère.
Quand on a la lanterne de Diogène, il faut aussi
avoir son bâton.
-
Chamfort (Maximes et pensées, p.90, Livre de Poche
n°2782)
L'esprit sert à tout, mais il ne mène à rien.
- Talleyrand
Ridicule, cont'd.
Essayez de vous rapeller quelques jeux de mots, jeux d'esprit [puns]
du film.
Here's what one French class did on the film: http://www.cmontmorency.qc.ca/sdp/histg/ridic.html
Read, study, analyze this text written by a student on the film
Ridicule.
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~dfstephe/ridicule.html
You should be sending me drafts for revision.
jeudi, 23 septembre
On n'imagine pas combien il faut d'esprit pour n'être pas
ridicule.
-Sébastien Chamfort (Maximes et pensées, p.71,
Livre
de Poche n°2782)
Monsieur, ce que j'admire en vous,
c'est que vous avez le courage d'être vous-même, avec
tout ce que cela comporte de ridicule.
-Raymond Devos
Ridicule, cont'd.
Here's a nice paragraph on the idea of the film: alaveille.html
Try this fill-in-the-blank exercise: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~dfstephe/ridiculeblanks.html
Composition due by Sunday, September 26 on Ridicule, one page,
double-spaced, in MS Word,
with
correct accents, sent via email. Tips on writing: choose your
verb
tense carefully at the beginning and make sure you remain consistent
throughout.
It's easier to use present tense throughout. After writing, proofread
twice:
once for gender of nouns and agreement of adjectives--take the time to
look up the ones you are not sure of--a second time for verb tense and
correct forms. This composition will be footnoted with
suggestions
and returned. You fix it and continue to sent it back to me until
you're satisfied with it.
The qualities of a good written composition, the criteria by which you will be graded :
Quelques questions sur le film: questionsridicule.html
mardi, 28 septembre
Short story: La dernière classe, par Alphonse
Daudet.
http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/resource/france/annexe/classe.html
Instructions:
1. Print out the story and read the first half rapidly, just to get
the idea.
2. Then look up what appear to be key words for understanding key
moments.
Don't try to look up every single word.
3. Try to answer the questions on the syllabus in French.
4. If you have more time, run through the story and try to make
questions
out of sentences in the story. This will help you
master what's going on. For example, in the
first paragraph, it says:
J'étais très en retard pour aller à l'école, et j'avais grand-peur d'être grondé. [scolded]
You might make questions like this:
Où allait-il? Il allait à l'école.
Est-ce qu'il était à l'heure? Non, il
était
en retard.
De quoi avait-il peur? Il avait peur d'être
grondé.
Here's a quick English synopsis of the story to get you started.
It's the region of Alsace, in the north-east of France, close to Germany. It's 1870, and the Germans (Prussians) have invaded France. This was the Franco-Prussian War, which France lost, the first of three big wars in which Germany invaded France. All the battles of the Franco-Prussian War were fought on French soil, and none on German. The invaders have occupied most of the towns and villages and carry on maneuvres, order people around, etc. In most places the occupying forces have made laws that from now on only German will be taught in schools. No more French classes. The story is about a young French boy, Franz, who took learning French for granted and skipped class a lot, along with all his friends; the villagers, who never bothered to learn much about their language, since they took it for granted; and the schoolmaster, M Hamel, who when it's finally too late, shows them the importance of language to a culture, to the identity of a community.
Do at least the first half of the story for today.
Devoir: Practice answering these questions aloud:
Quand l'histoire a-t-elle lieu?
Où est-ce que l'action se déroule?
Qui sont les autres personnages de l'histoire?
Qui semblent être les personnages principaux?
Quelle est la situation en France?
Qui sont les envahisseurs?
Pourquoi est-ce que tous les gens du village sont à
l'école
ce matin?
Pourquoi cette leçon est-elle si différente?
Est-ce que les petits élèves prennent leurs
leçons
au sérieux habituellement? Et ce jour-ci?
Begin thinking about what to write about for a composition. Start
right away sending
me drafts to comment on. These drafts will help you have
something to say about the story in class. You may send in as
many
revisions
as you like, beginning as soon as you want, but the final copy will be
due Tuesday, October 5. Realize that this is a
process that you have to get engaged in: the sending back and forth of
revisions of your work. This is how you learn. The idea is to get
to a good copy that you can reproduce on the mid-term. Try to
make
simple sentences that reveal the essence of the story economically and
elegantly. Note that this same composition will appear on the
mid-term on Thursday.
jeudi, 30 septembre
Quand un peuple tombe esclave, tant qu'il tient bien sa langue, c'est comme s'il tenait la clé de sa prison.
-Alphonse Daudet, La dernière classe
Devoir: write out this quotation in phonetic transcription to turn in at the beginning of class.
Lisez la seconde partie de La dernière classe.
Devoir: Ecrivez une composition sur La
dernière
classe
et montrez comment l'histoire souligne l'importance culturelle
d'une
langue.
Monsieur Hamel, le héros de l'histoire, c'est
un héros ou non? Qu'est-ce qu'il essaie d'enseigner aux
gens
du village?
Qu'est-ce qu'il
nous enseigne? Envoyez votre composition par
email. [one page, double-spaced, MS Word, with correct
accents, proofread twice,
once for gender of nouns and agreement of
adjectives, again for verbs, as with Ridicule.] (Hint: even
if you choose to retell the story
in the present tense, at least
practice
retelling it in the past, using passé composé, imperfect,
and
pluperfect.)
For example,
Imperfect
: Pourquoi est-ce que Franz courrait? Il était
en
retard.
Imperfect and pluperfect:
Pourquoi cette classe était-elle la dernière? Parce
que les Allemands avait envahi la
France et ils avait interdit l'apprentissage du français.
Passé
composé: Qu'est-ce que M. Hamel a écrit au tableau
à
la fin de la leçon? Il a écrit: 'Vive la
France!'
Due date for the composition: You may send in as
many
revisions
as you like, beginning as soon as you want, but the final copy will be
due Tuesday, October 5. Realize that this is a
process that you have to get engaged in: the sending back and forth of
revisions of your work. This is how you learn. The idea is to get
to a good copy that you can reproduce on the mid-term. Try to
make
simple sentences that reveal the essence of the story economically and
elegantly. Note that this same material will appear on the
mid-term on Tuesday.
Matière à réflexion : Imaginez comment vous vous sentiriez si les Etats-Unis étaient envahis et qu'il vous soit interdit d'apprendre l'anglais ou de vous en servir comme langue. Quelle est l'importance d'une langue pour une communauté, une société, un peuple?
mardi, 5 octobre
Mid-term exam:
1. A couple of quotations to explain and paraphrase in French.
10pts each.
2. A composition on the movie Ridicule. 20pts
3. A self-description, physical and psychological. 20pts
4. A description of your ideal mate. 20pts
5. Questions on La dernière classe.
20pts questionsdernièreclasse.html
Note that this exam is just what you are supposed to have been
working on all along and is an opportunity for you to show off what you
have acquired. Emphasis throughout is on gender of nouns, correct
adjectival
agreement,
correct accents, and correct forms of basic
verbs in present
tense, imperfect,
passé
composé, and pluperfect.
The best grades will be given to those who are getting these concepts
and who have learned new vocabulary and expressions.
jeudi, 7 octobre Fall Break
mardi, 12 octobre
L'amour, c'est offrir à quelqu'un qui n'en veut pas
quelque
chose que l'on n'a pas.
-Jacques Lacan
L' Amour est l'état dans lequel les hommes ont le plus de
chances de voir les choses telles quelles ne sont
pas.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
To prepare for Amélie, let's do love. First of all, translate the two quotations above into English, then into good English. Note how certain expressions work differently from one language to the other. For example, in the first, would you say "Love is to offer..." ? or would you say "Love is offering..." ? This tiny thing tells us much about the function of an infinitive in French.
Next, choose a quotation about love from this site or another that
you like. Use keyword amour.
Apprendre une citation sur l'amour, trouvée sur un de ces
sites.
http://www.citationsdumonde.com/ French quotations by author and topic. The great thing about this site is that once you've got a quotation, if you click on particular words in that quotation, it will show you other quotations using those words, just like the circular dictionary game and the Legos game! If you will follow where these trails lead in your spare time, you'll learn so much.
This is a good site, but it maybe has too much, what the French call
l'embarras du choix:
http://www.gilles-jobin.org/citations/indexNN.php
It will be good for those of you who have time and are willing to do
some searching. When you're looking for a good
quotation, go for one that is short. These always have more
punch.
Then let keywords pull your attention. It may take reading
through ten quotations before you find one that 'speaks' to you.
1. Expliquez cette citation en français. Qu'est-ce qu'elle veut dire ?
2. What does the word elles refer to in this quotation? What would a good French synonym be for servir in this context?
3. Voici un poème sur l'amour:
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~dfstephe/lesenfants.html
Traduisez-le en anglais, littéralement, et puis essayez de
capter
la poésie. Soyez capable de lire le poème en
français
à haute
voix.
[Be able to read the poem aloud in French...better yet,
memorize it, and produce a good English translation.]
Mardi, 19 octobre
La semaine du 18-22 octobre: voir le film Le fabuleux
destin
d'Amélie deux fois.
Vous pouvez le voir au Media Center de la Bibliothèque.
[It
will be shown in the Media
Center
on the 2nd floor of Erdahl-Cloyd Wing of the NC State Library M-Th at
4PM and 7PM and on Fridays at 3:30 PM ONLY. Media Center phone
number: 515-2977. You have
six opportunities to see it, not counting video rentals, so see it at
least
twice.] Sinon, louez-le dans un magasin vidéo.
Regardez bien
attentivement,
et repassez les parties que vous ne comprenez pas très
bien ou qui vous semblent importantes. Après avoir vu
le film, travaillez sur ce site: http://www.ecrannoir.fr/films/01/amelie/
2. http://www.ifrance.com/ameliepoulain/
First click on Entrez dans l'univers
fabuleux..., then click on Le
film, then on Histoire,
and you'll have a good
resumé. Then go to Personnages
for good descriptions of
the characters. Work on these.
jeudi, 21 octobre
See Amélie, again, if possible.
Continue to use these sites, using whichever ones you have not yet
used:
1. http://amelielefilm.online.fr/accueil.html Use Le film and les Personnages.
2. http://www.ifrance.com/ameliepoulain/ First click on Entrez dans l'univers fabuleux..., then click on Le film, then on Histoire, and you'll have a good resumé. Then go to Personnages for good descriptions of the characters. Work on these.
And this one:Préparez une description
écrite et orale des personnages
principaux (Amélie,
Nino, Mr Dufayel-l'Homme de Verre,
Georgette, et al), en utilisant le matériel dans le
website.
[Oral presentation for grade.]
mardi, 26 octobre
Devoir: Composition sur Amélie. Résumé oral en classe et discussion des personnages du film et du film lui-même. Qui sont les personnages principaux du film? Quel est le problème ou le dilemme particulier de chacun? Comment est-ce qu'Amélie résoud ce problème? Et le problème d'Amélie elle-même? Et la résolution de son problème à elle?
First draft of Composition on Amélie due today, via
email
attachment in Word, final version by Thursday morning, October 28.
You
may send as
many
drafts for advice as you like.
Here's a model composition on Amélie:
améliemodel.html
Learn the structures and be able to use them in your composition.
Les citations
To prepare for Cyrano, let's do courage.
Choose a quotation about courage from this site or another that you
like. Analyze it, look up all words you don't know,
translate it, transcribe it into phonetic alphabet, memorize it, and
paraphrase it--be able to explain it in other words--in French.
In order to do the paraphrase, use the Hachette online dictionary
of French,
http://www.francophonie.hachette-livre.fr/
in which clicking on any word of a definition will give synonyms and
explanations,
and your dictionary of synonyms: http://elsap1.unicaen.fr/cherches.html
Apprendre une citation sur le courage, trouvée sur un de ces sites. Tapez le mot-clef courage.
http://www.gilles-jobin.org/citations/indexNN.php
A good site with many quotations--my favorite--but look at the other
two sites, also.
http://www.citationsdumonde.com/ French quotations by author and topic. The great thing about this site is that when you get
a quotation, if you click on particular words in that quotation, it will show you other quotations using those words, just like the circular dictionary game and the Legos game! If you will follow where these trails lead in your spare time, you'll learn so much.
http://www.les-citations.com/ Quotations by author and topic.mardi, 2 novembre
Cyrano de Bergerac, shown the week of November 1-5.
It
will be shown in the Media
Center
on the 2nd floor of Erdahl-Cloyd
Wing of the NC State Library M-Th at 4PM and 7PM and on Fridays at 3:30
PM ONLY. Media Center phone number: 515-2977.
You have
six opportunities to see it, not counting video rentals, so see it at
least
twice.
Another great French hero, semi-fictional: Cyrano de Bergerac:
http://midi.occitanie.org/cyrano/
This site gives a good resumé of the play and the movie, and
shows
the famous nose tirade
and even supplies a click-on glossary.
http://www.ecrannoir.fr/films/90/cyranob.htm
A little about the film.
A little model text to help you with Cyrano. Read, make questions,
ask
questions, try to say things about him.
cyrano.html
Remember the great movie Roxanne, with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah? Read and translate this passage on the film:
Une comédie sur le
thème de Cyrano de Bergerac,
très
drôle et très réussie. C.D. Bales (Steve MARTIN)
est
le chef d'une
section de pompiers. Il a pour
particularité un nez long de
25 cm qui, pense-t-il, l'empêche d'être aimé... Il
accepte
de servir
d'entremetteur à l'un de ses
hommes (Rich ROSSOVITCH), un
bellâtre
stupide, amouraché d'une ravissante astronome (dont
il est lui-même amoureux!),
Roxanne (Daryl HANNAH).
Start the Cyrano composition and send your drafts. Final
version due Thursday, November 11.
jeudi, 4 novembre
Voir Cyrano une deuxième fois. Regardez ce site et travaillez....Débat par équipes en classe Est-ce
que Cyrano
est un héros?
Choisissez un point de vue à défendre, pour ou contre
ce thèse. Oui, ou non, et pourquoi.
Préparez votre argument.
[Prepare some things to say in defense of your position, and some
examples
from the film to prove your point.
Your presentations will be
graded
in class.]
Continue working on the Cyrano composition and sending drafts.
mardi, 9 novembre
Composition sur Cyrano, sa personnalité et son problème, final version due Thursday, November 11.En voyage, de Maupassant. Read part I.
http://un2sg4.unige.ch/athena/selva/maupassant/textes/voyage.html
Read, look up all the words you do not know, and prepare an oral
exposé,
no notes as usual. You should be
able to answer questions like these: Qui sont les
personnages
principaux du récit? Où se rencontrent-ils?
Quelles sont leurs premières impressions l'un de l'autre?
Start working on a composition, one page, double-spaced, in MS Word, to be sent via email, as usual. You may begin sending drafts whenever.
mardi, 16 novembre
Terminez En voyage.
Répondez à ces questions et envoyez-moi vos
réponses
par email, en Word:
1. Quelle est l'origine
sociale de la femme dans le train?
2. Où va-t-elle et
pourquoi?
3. Décrivez
les femmes russes selon le narrateur.
4. Décrivez
l'homme dans le train, la première fois que la comtesse le voit.
5. Selon vous,
qu'est-ce
qui les attirait l'un à l'autre?
6. Quelle promesse
fait-il à la comtesse, et pourquoi?
7. Pourquoi la
comtesse
ne lui parle-t-elle jamais?
8. Est-ce que ces
deux s'aimaient? Ou est-ce qu'ils étaient
complètement
stupides?
9. Quel est l'avis
du médecin? (dernier paragraphe)
10. Quel est l'avis
de la femme qui écoute l'histoire? (dernier paragraphe)
jeudi, 18 novembre
Oral presentations on En voyage.mardi, 23 novembre
jeudi, 25 novembre Thanksgiving holiday
Le jour de Merci Donnant
jeudi, 2 décembre Révision et
synthèse "La dernière classe..."
mardi, 7 décembre
Examen final, 18-21 heures,
salle: 216 POE.
1. explain and paraphrase, in French, one of three French
quotations.
2. answer some questions about the short story En
voyage.
3. analysis, commentary, or translation of a French poem.
4. composition on Amélie.
5. description of Cyrano's character and problem.