Le Blé en Herbe

Well there are 7 titles on www.alevelfrench.com so I thought to balance things up I'd better add another book to make 8.  I chose Le Blé en Herbe as I did kind of commit myself to the Welsh board a while back.  I read this book ages ago but haven't ever done it with a class.  So yet another summer romance by a young writer.   Colette's life story is fascinating as is that of Françoise Sagan-either would make excellent studies for AQA.   Colette's life style makes your eyes water and apparently Le Blé was published as a serial and was a scandal.   Certainly from what I've read of Colette the sensuality of Le Blé is very strong for the 20's.   I've finished what is possibly one of the most useful parts for teachers, the vocab list, yet another 20 hours of hard work but haven' started the summary yet.  I love the role nature plays in the novel-I've never had to look up so many words for types of flower, fish and tree.   I'll report back soon-would I study the book?  Yes, I think so if I was study the author too.   So this should be on the site within the next fortnight then I'm concentrating on the AS level developments.

Le Silence de la Mer

I read Le Silence de la Mer getting on for twenty years ago and didn't particularly enjoy it.  I picked it up again recently as it's on the Welsh board spec and thought it would be a good one to do for the A level French resources website.  This time round I enjoyed the story, a quick, but interesting read and one maybe to read as extended poetry, or a prelude to a theatre play than a traditional novel.   There is a certain amount of repetition during at the end of each section and the cumulative effect of this is to make the reader feel like there is an unwelcome visitor standing in their room-you wish he would either sit down and shut up or clear off!    I doubted at first whether it would be possible to actually write a character guide or direct/indirect speech exercise but there was plenty of meat so the standard set of exercises I've been making available on the site are all now ready (just being proofed).  

On my first fairly superficial reading of the novel I hadn't cottoned on to the love story sub-text which on close inspection is obvious from very tiny nuances of behaviour.  Shame on me.   So 40 pages of densely packed political, behaviour and romantic interest to feast on all supported by the new resources on alevelfrench.com.    There are various film/TV versions of the book but personally I think students should battle through and appreciate the poetry of the novel before viewing a film which will distort their understanding.

This is a good example of how the film distorts the orginal.  In the book he is immensely tall, muscular and blond haired and the normal meeting place is in the fumoir infront of the log fire with the German bent over due to height.   There is none of this subtlety here.  Would I study the book with a class?    I think I would do this and something else like Un Sac de Billes if I was looking at the occupation period to give a broader perspective.

Le silence de la mer (2004) - 9/10

Novel or Films or both

Following the first round of A2 examinations I wonder which route teachers think has proved the more profitable-film or novel.  I know the intention is to read material about the film maker and the back ground to the film in the foreign language but there is an essential underlying difference.  To read a novel from start to finish is a differing experience to viewing a film, particularly if the subtitles are switched on in English.  In my opinion the later experience is skating over the surface of the water whereas reading is like getting into the water.  

The A level French resources I have just been creating on Un Sac de Billes by Joseph Joffo remind me just how much difference there is between novels.  The word list for Un Sac de Billes is three times as long as some of the books.   Is there an implication here for how much vocabulary a student could take in and inwardly digest?   Certainly by the end of the 260 pages scribing down the vocabulary there was not much left that wasn't repetition of what had gone before. Looking at this scientifically would be interesting to see what the final effect was for students on depth of vocabulary and ability to understand idiom.

The other issue is the breadth of vocabulary.  In the course of Un Sac de Billes every part of the body, internal and external is mentioned, every form of transport with its nuances, every type of food..the list is endless.   Surely the experience gained by tackling a book like this must give greater benefit than simply watching a film..I would advocate a mixed economy.  That I'm sure is what people are doing.

The summary of the book that will be on the site alongside the vocabulary list are the key elements for giving students the feeling of success they need.   By having the page-numbered vocab list they can feel confident they will not get out of their depth in the novel, while staying in the target language as far as possible.  Full vocabulary lists have not existed before because they have been such a pain to produce.   I have put in probably 20 hours on Un Sac de Billes and I have been using two online dictionaries Collins and Reverso.  This is much faster than using a paper dictionary by a factor of x10.  As I touch type I guess my conclusion would be that it would unlikely that a practising teacher would have time to do this.  I produced a list for un Sac de Billes ages ago but there was no way it was as comprehensive as this.  Also it is so much easier to find the idioms on line-all kind of nuances became apparent.   If you haven't read Un Sac de Billes prepare to be impressed-and yes there is a film of it.  Cheapest version 199 euros!

Kiffe Kiffe Demain

I know it's not now generally considered that reading a novel is appropriate at AS but the more I look at the AQA syllabus the more I think that reading appropriate parts of Kiffe Kiffe Demain (maybe there are other equally good texts) would complement the topic side of things very well.
I have produced a wide range of resources to accompany the book on the A level French resources site and the matching up exercise with this spec I am going to do as soon as possible.

I think reading or hearing journalistic language is one thing but that reading a third party's experiences in a literary way adds a lot to the mix.  By using one text such as this for relating a range of topics to makes for building up empathy. 16/17 years olds are not noted for having loads of opinions so using a character such as Doria in Kiffe Kiffe Demain gives a focus.

The locus in Kiffe Kiffe Demain is around a differing culture with Doria's background being Islam.  It is also about poverty.    Many of our students particularly those studying languages will not have much experience of either of these phenomena so the results could be interesting.

Quatre bouquins de finis

I've finally finished all the exercises for each of the four books I decided to take on to provide A level French resources for teachers who would prefer to do literature.  I believe that it is only by really getting stuck into a book students get fully immersed in the language.  When I was a students in the early seventies the teacher simply went through every word with the class and we scrabble down the vocab as we went-the idea of the guides I've produced is that the full vocabulary will help the student work through at his/her own pace without having to have a massive dictionary. The four books done so far are L'Etranger, Les petits enfants du siècle, Kiffe Kiffe Demain and La neige en deuil.

The summaries of the book are in simple language and the vocab for this is given too.  The twist in the tale is that only the infinitive of verbs is given so students have to check out all the different types of verb form.

Other exercises are:-

Character guide with full range of adjectives appropriate to each book's main characters with translation exercises
The A factor exercises in context of the relevant book, practising the present participle, passive and subjunctive
Direct and indirect speech
The tensinator a multi-tense exercise putting each tense in context
ThemesRus, an exercise requiring that quotations be classified into categories
An exposé preparation guide
An essay planning tool with sample
A sample essay based on the plan

So everything need to get the best out of students is there.   The resources can be used either in AS or A2 as there is plenty of language practice of the basic concepts.   Just contact Steve at www.alevelfrench.com  for more information about subscribing.

Direct Nice newspaper with downloadable pdf

The recent trip to Nice was punctuated with several newspaper reading sessions our favourite cafe on the Cour Saleya. The new (or new to me) Direct Nice paper is a bit like metro but smaller and apart from nice short articles on Nice related and national themes it also has some meatier ones from the bigger papers. It was perfect for reading between gulping coffee and people watching.  Go to the Direct Nice site-you can also get the Direct papers for many other towns.

Lo and behold there is the pdf version which can be downloaded. These go right back to February 2009. I don't know how much longer this is going to last but it might be worth a look for some good meaty comprehension material. I guess for those lucky enough to have an ipad it would be nicely readable on there.

I don't doubt that there will some be frequent references to this in my A level French resources site. 

Resources galore from Nice

A beautiful week in Nice in a flat overlooking the harbour with plenty of balcony time has reminded me of all the things I love about the country after staycationing last year.  Having now got back into creating resources for alevelfrench.com of course I was on the hunt for good stuff to recommend or convert and picked up some good dvds particularly.    Number one was a TV series I hadn't heard of and which I hope is going to be good Un Village Français Series One and Two.   It cost me 35 euros from Carrefour-although it's 4 dvds and 10 programmes I think. It also has some pedagogical stuff on it too on a number of areas.

Second very interesting film is Home a birds eye view of the history of our world which brings current environmental issues into perspective.  It's absolutely beautiful down to the use of language and a high level (literally!) scientific overview.  I think many students would get a lot out of this especially if they haven't been watching all the BBC scientific epics.

The third video is a four part series "Musulmans en France" taking the long view of Muslim influence in the country.    Unfortunately there isn't a trailer for this online.