Bienvenue a notre classe de Francais 1

Welcome to our French class!
The words "bienvenue à notre classe de français" literally translate as "well came to our class of French."
Note: today you are to print the course syllabus, found under the "Handouts" tab.  Then I'd like you to read it, sign it, and use gentle prodding to convince your parent or guardian to sign it.  Return by the end of the week, please.

This BLOG is my "website" for our class.  Here you will find:

• My posts, which you can comment on
• Handouts for the course
• Assignments
• Projects
• Learning resources
• and links to all sorts of other cool stuff. (And if you find something cool, tell me, and I'll add it)
  

When I was you age and signed up for my French1 class, I was thrilled.  It seemed to me that I was going to learn a secret language that would enable me to enter a new world where I could speak my new code language with friends.  And a new world it is!  It's important to realize that the French-speaking world is different from the world you are growing up in, and this new language will give you access to that world and it's marvelous way of looking at life. 

In what ways is the French world different from my world here in Salem?  I think that it's fair to say that the French value quality of life over quantity of things that can be earned in life, as is exemplified by the fact that they have a 35-hour work week instead of our 40 hours, and they spend 14% of their disposable income on  food, nearly three times our 5%.  And why is this?  They want to eat delicious food and won't settle for the mediocre stuff we find in most of our supermarket aisles.  There are many other differences that you will see between yourselves and the various peoples of the French-speaking (francophone) world, and you will see more and more of this as the year progresses.

Let me just end by saying that I love teaching French.  The thing that I like most about it is that by the end of the year, I can look at all of you and say, "Wow, all of the French that these guys speak was learned in my class." 

So, let's embark upon this new adventure together!