French the Natural Way

Today I made a simple rhubarb tart.

The day before, I made the crust which was a sweet shortcrust pastry. Basically, I whisked together 125g sugar with one egg and a pinch of salt until it became frothy. I then added 250g of white flour which I first mixed with a wooden spatula then with my hands. I added 125g butter and a bit of cold water until I obtained a consistent dough. I put the dough in the fridge overnight, along with the chopped rhubarb (about three sticks) coated with sugar which I stored in a box.

Today I removed the pastry from the fridge and rolled it out to fit into my mould for tarts. I then covered the pastry with the chopped rhubarb and covered it up with a quickly made sort of custard: 200ml double cream, four eggs and a bit of sugar whisked together. I baked it in the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes at 180 degrees. The contrast of the sharp rhubarb with the sweet pastry and custard made this tart perfect !

Happy Ascension Day!

The very kind librarian at my school sent me an email about whether I could send her a list with titles of Spanish books for the library as there is some money to be spent. However, I am not sure what would be the best/most useful for the students to order. A few year ago I bought different kinds of books in Spain: from children books to novels which I started to list on the Spanish wiki. However I realized that my students won’t go and get a Spanish book to read at home for themselves. I tried to foster reading in class with, for example, a book project in grade 7 (12 to 13 years old students) but I have noticed that students already have a lot on their plate with reading in English and in German.

I am now thinking of getting more children books which I would read in class the way primary teachers tell stories to their class. I think this listening activity could be perfect to start a lesson and get the students all centered and ready to switch to Spanish mode; or to end a lesson in order to re-focus the minds after working on a project for example. I have been looking at the fantastic Spanish Playground site and Eric & Julieta series by Isabel Muñoz seem like a good match with what I would like to implement. Another book I would like to get is Sofía en una aventura por la selva simply because I have become a yogini myself and because mixing yoga and Spanish seem like an interesting language-learning experience!

I now need your help: what would you recommend me to order???

When I prepare dinner in the evening, I like to listen to the radio and it usually falls during Le Grand Entretien on France Inter. François Busnel, a journalist spends an hour interviewing different people from authors to comedians to politicians. I like the way this journalist conducts the interviews. He usually asks interesting, deep questions and let the interviewee time to respond.

 

Last week, I listened to a series of interviews with Marceline Loridan-Ivens: “Born in Épinal, France, in 1928, Marceline Loridan was among the Jews already in hiding during World War II when she was arrested with her father in the Vaucluse in 1943. Deported to Birkenau, where her father perished, Marceline returned to France in July 1945. It was her experience as a young Holocaust survivor that made her the principal figure in Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin’s 1959 landmark film, Chronique d’un été/Chronicle of a Summer… She is known around the world for the superb documentaries that she co-directed with her husband, the Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens (1898–1989).” She is 84 years old but when you hear her speak, you would think she is much younger. I really like to listen to the “war” generation speaks, like my grand-mother for example, because they speak a French we do not speak anymore. French people nowadays often end their sentences with “voila” which is quite annoying whereas people from the war generation use a wider range of vocabulary and have a beautiful phrasing. Apart from speaking so well, Marceline Loridan-Ivens is a strong woman. Despite her age, she communicates a positive energy and I still cannot stop thinking back to what she said. Two particular points resonate:

• We have more inner strength and energy than what we think we have and this energy is revealed when we have to overcome hard times.
• Take risks. Don’t be afraid. Fear stops you from achieving what you want, what you dream of.

She wrote a book Ma vie balagan. Balagan in Yiddish meaning chaos. Listen to her interview in French here. You could have more advanced French learners listened to her as she speaks quite slowly and she pronounces the words so well!

 

 

 

 

 

José Picardo who is Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Nottingham High School in England is the curator of Box of Tricks which I follow since I started using the Web 2.0, a few years ago. It is always a mine of discoveries for the best tools to use in the classroom. A few weeks ago I read one of his post introducing Mentormob. I thought this would be the perfect tool for independent learning and especially for flip teaching. According to José Picardo ” MentorMob allows teachers (and why not let your students be the teachers?) to focus the students’s attention by creating learning playlists of relevant content which can be enhanced by quizzes and comprehension exercises to test their knowledge as they go.” I can already see its usefulness with any language topic students are learning. Thus, I decided to have a go but not with Spanish nor French. I created a playlist for my eldest son Louis. As I mentioned a few days ago, Louis is learning Maths with my dad through Skype via Khan Academy. I therefore created a playlist with all the videos and quizzes he has to watch and do so that we now have a “place” on the Web where he can access mathematical knowledge!

What I like about MentorMob is that playlists are easy to create. They are also easy to share and can be embedded. You can choose whether you want your playlist to be public and who can edit it. I also like the fact that you can browse other playlists and copy them onto your profile. I already browsed the Spanish section and copied a playlist about cognates:

However, since it is a fairly new tool there are still not a lot of resources on. I hope to create new playlists related to Spanish for next school year and I look forward to seeing how Louis manages this new tool!

What about you? Have you used Mentormob?

Today was a great day! Not only it was sunny and warm and we could for once enjoy the beautiful springy outdoors but it was also the Cinco de Mayo. The excuse to celebrate and have Mexican food! Well… As French people we shouldn’t really be celebrated this date as it marks the defeat of the French army (which I didn’t know!): “on May 5, 1862, the Mexicans managed to decisively crush the French army, then considered “the premier army in the world”.” As a matter of fact Napoleon III wanted to establish a Latin empire in Mexico that would favor French interests, the Second Mexican Empire. However he failed when his army was defeated in Puebla: “The 8,000-strongFrench armyattacked the much smallerand poorly equipped Mexican army of 4,500.” But….”The Mexican victory, however, was short-lived. Thirty thousand troops and a full year later, the French were able to defeat the Mexican army, capture Mexico City, and instate Emperor Maximilian I as ruler of Mexico.” Nowadays, the Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, especially in the United States and this was a good opportunity to learn about another country. The boys drew the Mexican flag, they situated Mexico on the map and we talked about food and history. I do firmly believe that children nowadays need to learn about other cultures so that they become opened to the world and they can adapt. These are key skills for their future.

What about you? Did you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?