February 8, 2013

And so we embark upon a second semester of French, learning a new language that will enable us to speak of new things.  I've always liked to think of learning a second language in terms of learning a secret language, almost a code of sorts that enables us to talk about things that most people simply don't understand. 

One of the reasons that a new language does this is that a different languages have their own unique ways of expresing things, so the experience of speaking and hearing that language is simply different.  For example, French is typically thought to be a beautiful sounding language, even the language of love.   Many English speakers enjoy saying "Je t'aime" because it sounds more intimate than "I love you."  The words flow off the tongue in a lyrical, melodious way.  In French I can even insult a non-French speaker and he or she will think I'm saying romantic things: "En regardant ton visage, je me rappelle d'un chien très laid."  Or perhaps, "Il faut que j'aille au toilettes, s'il vous plaît."

Along these lines (the true romance of the language, that is), let's head into the Valentine's Day season by listening to a great song that Sam introduced me to.  Here it is:

Comme des Enfants  by Coeur de Pirate

Class today:
Interview one another and introduce your partner (en français, bien sûr!)
Generate ideas for fun French Valentine's Day cards
Listen to Comme des Enfants
Homework:  1) Text: xc .6; 143.7; 145.9; 146.13

1. Don't talk; be quiet please.
2. Take out a pencil and write on a sheet of paper.
3. Bring me a book and read it.
1. ne parle pas; tais-toi, s'il te plaît
2. Prends un crayon et écris sur une feuille de papier.
3. apporte-moi un livre et lis le.



3. 

FINAL EXAM Preparation

The final exam is fairly difficult.  It's mandatory ("facultatif") that you know how to translate the following sentences backwards and forwards.  Work in groups of four to translate them.  Refer to pages 116 and 117 for help.  Pay particular attention to the following which you MUST know for the final:

Verb endings for "-er" verbs we've studied.  See pages 94 and 96
Negation      je + ne + parle + pas   See page 98
"I no speak no French"
Two verbs, such as I like (verb 1) to eat (verb 2) French fries
                              j'aime            manger     les frites
Notice that if we have the word "to" in front of the verb in English, we leave the "r" at the end of the verb in French.

Be sure that you understand why the following English sentences are written the way they are in French.                            
I want to dance but my friend Jean doesn't dance very well.
Je veux danser, mais mon ami Jean ne danse pas très bien.

Too bad!  You should/must/have to be my friend.  I dance a lot.
Domage!  Tu dois (devrais, actually) être mon amie.  Je danse beaucoup (or souvent)

Where, with whom, and when you dance?
Où,  avec  qui, et quand est-ce que tu danses?

In town, with my friends at seven o’clock.
En ville, avec mes copains à sept heures.

But I can't dance today or Saturday because I work at the restaurant.
Mais je ne peux pas aujourd’hui ou samedi parce que je travaille au restaurant.

Ok.
D’accord

*******************
Drop by after school if you need help!  Or email me, even at home, d'accord?  C'est très important, n'est-ce pas?

January 14th

Quiz, pages 84-88

Translate the following to French

1. They are in Paris.

2.  Yes.  My brother is in France, too (also).

3. Darn!  I am in class but they are in France!

4. Do you want to visit (“visiter”) France?     Of course!

5. France is cool, isn’t it?

5 point quiz tomorrow!!!!

Most of you need to study a LOT

Yay! Winter Break!

Finish up your skits over winter break.  They are due Thursday after we get back.  Have fun with it.

I'm worried that you might now understand how hard I will be grading these.  From what I've seen so far, we'll probably have some B's and C's, so you don't want that to happen.  Take a look at this example again to get some ideas of what you need to do to get a strong "A."

Restaurant Skit on YouTube

A Great Example Restaurant Skit

Here's a Google Doc with the vocabulary from the skit
and This Restaurant Skit is a Cartoon
Here's a video showing how an adult would order a meal in France:
Eating Out


One of your requirements is to use at least 5 vocabulary words from lessons 5-8.  Take a look at this list of words and the pages they are found on.  I think that you'll see that you will be able to fit these words into the small talk that you engage in at the dinner table (or any other place, if you've got a creative presentation, like a dinner cruise on the Willamette Queen when someone falls overboard!).

Words and Phrases from Lessons 5, 6, 7, and 8

Be sure to take your textbook home!
If it turns out that you're unable to get together with your group, you'll need to figure out a way to do a skit on your own.  Here are a couple of ways that it could be done:

• PowerPoint or Prezi presentation where you use slides
• Comic Book (there are apps on the Internet that will do it)
• Xtranormal video

December 17th

If you're doing your own presentation (without a group), you might consider doing an Xtranormal.com video.

12/12/12

December 10

To help you know whether a word is masculine (le or un) or feminine (la or une), I've given you a handy chart that summarizes the rules.  It's best just to memorize the gender when you learn the word, but this might help a bit.

Before I give you the table, here are the most basic rules (but there are many exceptions!):

le    English  words are usually masculine (un sode; un hamburger)
le    Words that end in consonnants are masculine
la    Words that end in "e" are usually feminine  (but feminine if "é")

Here's the set of rules:

        LE                  UN                            LA                       UNE

Nouns ending in: -age(exception!) -ment -il, -ail, -eil, -ueil -é (but not -té) -eau and -ou -ème, -ège -i, -at, -et and -ot -er -oir -isme(exception!) -ing -ard Words ending in other consonants (in the spelling).

Nouns ending in: -tion, -sion and -son (exception!) -ure -ude, -ade -ée -té -ière Consonant followed by -ie -euse -ance, -ence Most other endings consisting of Vowel + Consonant + e: -ine, -ise, -alle, -elle, -esse, -ette etc

And here's a complete list of rules: When to use "le" and when to use "la"

December 10th

UNIT 2 TEST  TOMORROW!

Christmas caroling Thursday, December 13th.  We will meet in Mrs. Wiltbank's room, room 271 at 5:00PM.  Should be a LOT of fun.


SUB FOR SANTA
4 YR OLD BOYWii

• Nerf Gun  
• Hungry Hippos
• Legos
• Wii game(If Wii Appe  
• Wii Controller

10 YR OLD BOY

• nerf footballs
• Comic books
• Candy
• Coupon for Pietro's Pizza 

19 YR OLD BOY

• Snap back
• V-Neck/s

Wii

10 YR OLD GIRL

• Clothes (Dress, Shirts, Scarfs, Purse)
• Games (Uno, Monopoly, Guess Who)
• Uggs generic brand)
• Toms
• 
  

MOM

• Shoes
• Gloves
• Spa Day Coupon

DAD  

Guitar from Max Normandy (Normandy Guitars)

DAD