French with Flo

 As you all know, July 14th is the French " Fête Nationale " (National Holiday). Here is a series of videos and other resources that will teach you (almost) everything you need to know about this special day for the French.  (By the way, you can also have a quick peek at my former blog on the topic , from the year 2018. I had focused mostly on "La Marseillaise", the national anthem.) In the first video I shared with the class, Ingrid from FrenchPod101.com gives a quick introduction to this Holiday. The video comes with French and English subtitles, so it's suitable for all levels. The second video we studied in class focuses on the Bastille , the royal prison that was stormed by insurgents on July 14, 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution. This is part of the "Karambolage" series on the German and French channel Arte .  Click here to watch the video.  I also wrote a transcription of the video with some vocabulary notes. Since the above vid...

Bonjour ! I hope everyone is having a very nice dimanche de Pâques (Easter Sunday) despite the shelter-in-place order ( le confinement in French). Since we're all at home, I thought you may enjoy a few fun, Easter-related activities in French. By the way, do you know that Pâques is one of the weirdest French words ? (Yes, I know, that's saying something...) The word Pâque  (no final "s") is a feminine singular when used in the expression " la Pâque juive " (which means Passover). Example: Le pain azyme est un aliment traditionnel de la Pâque juive . (Matzah is a traditional Passover food.) The word Pâques  (referring to the Christian Holiday) is a masculine singular (despite the final "s") when it is NOT accompanied by an adjective. It is never preceded by an article (such as " le "), either. Example: Parfois Pâques tombe en mars, parfois il tombe en avril . (Sometimes Easter falls in March, sometimes it falls in April.) But...

La Chandeleur (Candlemas), on February 2nd, is a very popular Holiday in France. The main reason? You've guessed it, food, once again! More precisely, in this case, crêpes. Candlemas is a religious Holiday (it celebrates the presentation of Jesus at the Temple) and it's also based on older, Roman and Celtic traditions, but to everybody in France, it's mostly known as Crêpes Day . If you want to know more about la Chandeleur and its origins, you can check the videos we watched last year on my previous Chandeleur blogpost . (Note: for the second video, you can find a transcript at the end of the handout.) Since we didn't have time to talk much about crêpes last year, I decided to focus on them this year. The following video explains how to make a very famous recipe: the Crêpes Suzette , which are cooked in citrus sauce and flambéed. The chef in the video uses lemons, but more traditional versions call for oranges, or sometimes tangerines. The alcohol used can be coin...

          1. Happy new year ! Since, in France, it is acceptable to offer New Year wishes until the end of January , I'm still on time! All joking aside, here is what we did for the first class of the year 2020 : Bonnes Résolutions  I made this handout using images and descriptions from documents found at ISLCollective (created by  silvialefevre , freedombird and sylviepieddaignel ). The first page of the handout presents a list of possible New Year resolutions. The second one has images that relate to the resolution list.  Working in pairs, the students asked each-other, about each image, if they wanted or were going to make that resolution. We ended the class by sharing our favorite resolutions, which I found very inspiring!           2. Who Am I? Famous Names in French History I found this series of portraits and quick descriptions of well-known characters in French History on the blog " La cla...

Unsurprisingly, the last class of the year had a seasonal theme! Thank you so much to you all for your cards, gifts and kind words. They mean a lot to me and I'm so happy to have such wonderful students. Thank you also for the amazing food. I'm sure we have the best potlucks in the Senior Center! 😋 This year, I had three Christmas-related handouts: Christmas Eve - Image Description (created by silvialefevre at ISLCollective.com) Christmas Vocabulary  (created by jannabanna at ISLCollective.com) Text - Fill in the Blanks  (created by cranberry2 at ISLCollective.com) Finally, here's a beautiful Christmas song about children and world peace. I hope you'll enjoy it. And here's the karaoke version:

Where have the last two months gone?? With my apologies for the lateness, here are handouts and links for topics we've covered in October and November 2019.           1. Movie: Demi-paire Demi-paire is a court-métrage (short film) by Yannick Pecherand-Molliex. The movie itself is silent, but we used it in class as a way to practice descriptions. I've adapted my class handout from the document created by the Institut Français . (Their document includes an answer sheet and some information about the film's author. It's designed for the teacher, though, so it's not easy to understand.)           2. Joyeuse Halloween ! Halloween was almost unknown in France fifteen years ago, but now it's everywhere. Cultural enrichment or commercial exploitation? You decide... Here are the activities we did in class: Halloween Vocabulary (created by mafaldita47 at  ISLCollective ), followed by Halloween Crosswords (also by mafal...

Music Day , la fête de la musique , is celebrated on June 21st, the longest day of the year and the first day of Summer. In this video by FrenchPod101.com , Ingrid tells us everything about this special Holiday: In class, we also studied the text " La fête de la musique " (with audio version) from Podcast Français Facile . I reformatted their pdf to create the class handout , which includes a fill-in-the-blanks exercise, vocabulary notes and comprehension questions. We also took this opportunity to study a song in class: "Parce qu'on vient de loin" ("Because we Come from Far Away") by singer-songwriter Corneille . Here is the official music clip: Here are the chords with guitar tabs I used for the class handout . You can also find here the French lyrics with English translation. In order to fully understand this song, it is necessary to know the singer's story. Corneille grew up in Rwanda. At 17, his whole family w...

Since last week's class fell on May 1st, I had of course to talk about the premier mai  Holiday in France. We studied the French Labor Day last year in this post (with a text and a video - check it out if you missed it last time), so this year I thought I'd focus on another May 1st custom : the sprigs of lily of the valley French people gift each-other to bring good luck. Here is my class handout  about the muguet du premier mai , adapted from the website momes.net . I slightly modified their text and quiz and I added a vocabulary list.

During last class, we celebrated (a bit late) International Women's Day. Here is the exercise sheet accompanying the video, with a fill-in-the-blank exercise and comprehension questions. On the last page of this document, you'll find the video transcript with English translation . You might also like these web-based exercises, proposed by TV5Monde: - Women in the workplace (a series of 4 exercices, beginner to intermediate level) - Droits des Femmes: à quand l'égalité?  (other series of 4 exercices, intermediate to advanced level) - Quiz: la Journée de la Femme (also advanced level, but no listening involved so it seems easier 😉)

On February 2nd, the French celebrate  la Chandeleur (Candlemas in English). For Catholics, this Holiday commemorates Jesus' presentation at the temple, but it also corresponds to very old folk rites celebrating the beginning of Winter sowing and the lengthening of daylight. But first of all, for everyone in France, la Chandeleur is Crepes Day ! This video, produced by FrenchPod101.com , explains what you need to know about this Holiday, with both French and English subtitles. We also practiced listening with the next video, aimed at young French speakers. The class handout  that goes with this second video includes Chandeleur-related vocabulary, as well as a fill-in-the-blank exercise and comprehension questions. Finally, after talking about crepes so much, you may feel a bit hungry.  If that's the case, here's the Crepes Recipe ! With pictures and in French, of course... (document created by crisbarto at ISLCollective .)

As we've seen, feasting takes a prominent place in Christmas and end-of-year celebrations in France. So, after all these excesses, in early January, what do French people do? They eat cake! 😂 The "fête des Rois", or Épiphanie, is a popular holiday for French people, no matter their religion (or absence thereof.) The video shown in class, from FrenchPod101.com, gives a very good overview of the subject. Our first handout this week was a crossword puzzle with accompanying vocabulary (adapted from this webpage .) We also worked on a fill-in-the-blanks exercise . You can find here the audio document the exercise above is based on. Scroll up and click on the first video to hear the text. Just under the video is a multiple-choice exercise you may find entertaining, and a little below is the full transcript of the text. And, by the way, how do you make this famous galette des Rois? Well, apparently, it's child's play. Enjoy! 😋

For our last class of the year, here is a series of Christmas-related links and resources.  I hope you'll find them interesting and entertaining.  🎄 Joyeux Noël à tous, et à l'année prochaine ! 🎄 Here is the first video we watched in class, explaining how Noël is celebrated in France.  The video is in French, with both French and English subtitles. It is produced by FrenchPod101.com. The second video we watched comes from a language school in Germany. This one is only in French (with a little bit of German.) But don't worry, it's not difficult ! Clic Here  for the class handout that includes questions about the video, as well as a full transcript. I also recommend the following videos: Christmas in France: So. Much. Food! (video in English) Easy French: Noël in France (Interviewing French people about Christmas. A great way to hear the way regular people talk. In French with both French and English subtitles.) Easy Fren...

On July 14th , the French celebrate the " Fête Nationale ," the French National Holiday. If you'd like to learn more about this Holiday and how we celebrate it in France, I recommend you check out  this page .  (In English, with French vocabulary and short texts.) One element of the celebrations is the French National Anthem, which is called " La Marseillaise ". So why, then,  is this blogpost's title " Les Marseillaises "? There is only one official " Marseillaise ," composed during the war that followed the French Revolution, but over the decades many people have complained about its violent, belligerent lyrics, and some have proposed alternative versions. In our class handout, you'll discover, on top of the official song, two of those alternative, more pacific (but unfortunately almost unknown)  Marseillaises . 1. La Marseillaise de Rouget de Lisle The first song in the handout is the first stanza and the choru...

En France, le 1er mai est un jour férié. Les français célèbrent la fête internationale des travailleurs. In France, May 1st is a national Holiday. The French celebrate International Workers' Day. Voici une vidéo sur le sujet, avec sous-titres en français et en anglais. Here is a video on that topic, with French and English subtitles. Et voici un lien vers le texte que nous avons étudié en classe, avec la version audio : And here is a link to the text we studied in class, with the audio version: https://www.podcastfrancaisfacile.com/podcast/la-fete-du-travail.html Le muguet du premier mai. Pour les français, c'est un porte-bonheur ! Lily of the Valley, offered on May 1st. For the French, this is a lucky charm!

Graeme Allwright est un chanteur français né en Nouvelle-Zélande. Il est connu pour avoir traduit en français les chansons de Leonard Cohen, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger et autres chanteurs folk américains. Graeme Allwright is a French singer born in New Zealand. He is known for having translated in French songs by Leonard Cohen, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and other American folk singers. "Petit garçon" est un chant de Noël dont voici  les paroles . "Petit garçon" is a Christmas song. Here are the words. Cette chanson est une traduction de  Old Toy Trains  par Roger Miller. This song is a translation of Old Toy Trains by Roger Miller. Voici la chanson originale : Here is the original song: *** 12/20/18 UPDATE You may also be interested in this Karaoke version of "Petit Garçon" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTs0SLlGsNY

Si vous avez manqué un cours (ou perdu une feuille), voici ce que nous avons étudié lors des cours précédents. If you've missed a class (or lost a handout), here is what we studied during the previous classes. Dialogues Le petit déjeuner   ( Breakfast) (source: podcastfrancaisfacile.com) À la boulangerie   (At the bakery) (source: ISLcollective, créé par sarahISL) Grammaire (Grammar) Les articles (source: grammaire française Larousse) Exercice: articles partitifs   (source: podcastfrancaisfacile.com) Grammaire : articles partitif ou pas ? (source: ISLcollective, créé par arliette) not either/not anymore Women's professions and titles Fêtes et culture  ( Holidays and Culture) La Saint-Valentin   (Valentine's Day) (source: podcastfrancaisfacile.com) Jeux olympiques d'hiver   (Winter Olympics) (source: ISLcollective, créé par silvia lefevre) Lexique du printemps   (Spring Vocabulary) (source: ISLcollective, créé pa...