Lucie Aubrac-Occupation

I got truly into the occupation in the 80/90s and became so obsessed that I tried to read and watch everything relevant. After a few years off I seem to have got back into the groove again and have become equally obsessed!  Lucie Aubrac about whom a fictional film was made wrote an excellent book La Résistance expliquée à mes petits-enfants which really hits home because that woman so hated being occupied by the Germans-it comes through.  



The book is a perfect backup for those studying Le Silence de la Mer or Un Sac de billes for which there are comprehensive language resources on www.alevelfrench.com/home     Here is a flavour of Lucie Aubrac, a feisty lady to say the least.

The book is made for younger kids but would not be in any way patronizing for A level students particularly with its use of the perfect and imperfect tenses which would help embed language for the average student.

Du Rêve pour les oufs

I enjoyed very much Kiffe Kiffe Demain with its whimsical humour and true to life background and was very pleased to see that Faïza Guène has come up with another novel Du Rêve pour les Oufs.   A good quick 150 page read it is a short period in the life of Alhème an Algerian girl living in the Paris area.   The mingling of verlan, Arab words and racy French makes for a breakneck rush through life for Maghrébins in France today.  The Alevelfrench.com resources on Kiffe Kiffe Demain have been very popular and I can see this book being partnered with the new one to provide a compelling cultural topic.  

Much more confident than Dora, Ahlème has problems landing a job;  she spends much of her time trying to keep her brother out of the hands of the law.   I guess in someways the situation is stereotyped but it does provide a more life affirming slant on immigrant life in France than the negativity of La Haine.    If any one thinks that Faïza Guène would make a good subject for cultural coverage I would be only too happy to cover her on alevelfrench.com.   Just visit the site to buy the new book Du Rève pour les Oufs.

No et Moi is happening on alevelfrench.com

We're off.   Well I've decided to start doing the vocab for No et Moi.   An evening in on my own so I've sorted out the first 20 or so pages.  Some would say you shouldn't give so much help but my opinion is that A level French resources should be comprehensive so that the student can read the page without looking up then just double check any words/expressions he has guessed.  If everything is there this will increase confidence.  Also it is intended that students should not need to use a translation-once they have a translation most aren't going to read the book again, thereby losing out on the benefits of familiarising themselves with the language.

I have also identified a sequence of text for reading comprehension for each of the 12 AS topics in the new Attittudes French course which will be coming out at the end of spring.    My theory is that reading a straightforward book at AS will bring students on much better than a succession of journalese.   Alevelfrench.com is built with the aim of improving the attitude to French culture and books such as No et Moi particularly if accompanied by a film can give a much deeper insight into the essence of being French.

So watch this space - a combination of lit and film for improving students' appreciation of language.   "No way" you may say and I respond no, "The No Way"!!

Attitudes

No et moi

No et Moi

In my meanderings through the web I came upon details of a new film due out shortly called No et Moi based on a book by Delphine de Vigan.   I read the blurb and it looked very interesting so I have purchased it;  about a bright girl who befriends a homeless girl called No it seems to have much to recommend it being rooted in the present.    Infact it is so rooted in the present that it is literally written in the present tense with perfects etc but definitely no past historic.   I've started reading it and am very optimistic that this is going to be a winner in terms of a related book and film which really will help A level students identify with modern day France.   While Entre les murs/La Classe is interesting sociologically I think this may be more engaging as a story.   Having said that I thought that for La Rafle film which turned out to be a bit flat.

So I think we shall see before long a comprehensive set of A level French resources on the site.  It's another quite time consuming book to do as it's about 250 pages but it should be rewarding.    Link to film on ImDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1600428/

Candide Voltaire

A teacher from Lincolnshire contacted me to ask whether I would be doing Candide by Voltaire in the series of book resources on www.alevelfrench.com.  This is very tempting-I read the book many moons ago and I decided to download it to read in the kindle app on my smartphone on holiday at the same time as downloading the free mp3s from the http://www.litteratureaudio.com/ site.  This site has lots of well known novels read by amateurs and recorded in mp3-lots of de Maupassant particularly.  A great place to get audio books.  The lady reading Candide is doing a pretty good job - I can keep listening anyway!

L'étranger is the A level resource which is proving the most popular with the school teachers-it must be attracting more interest than the rest of the books put together, excluding Un Sac de Billes.   A very difficult decision which book to choose-I must say I would probably prefer the latter-I just think it's a shame that students don't still have to do four.  I'm old-fashioned and a book worm and it would suit my website for this to be the case ;-).   

AS level materials

If you've not logged onto the AS resources site www.alevelfrench.com  then it's time to email Steve at alevelfrench@googlemail.com to take a look at the great listening materials which have just gone up onto the site.   These are ultimately going to become part of a podcast but not yet-at the moment they are up as mp3s with transcripts and with some cases with exercises.  Work and education are very interesting areas with lots of authentic material and particularly the career guidance can be useful to the students for their own research.   There are templates to download int the Teaching and Learning section based on all the exam boards so that you can set your own questions in the exam board format with no hassle.