my my my ... yesterday in my French group we embarked upon le futur! I have yet to master the present not to mention passé composée and here I am trying to think about adding an extra "R" plus avoir to the end of everything. talk about tongue twisters!
The approach to my French group is actually quite informative. No endless memorization, rote pronunciation drills or disciplined dictées. I am learning about life in France as I learn to speak about it.
The workbooks we use all center around relevant life topics that are current in French life ... we've covered PACSg and socio-cultural norms including how to label/address different family and coupling scenarios. We have lively conversations about the week's political activities ... in all the countries represented (UK, US, France). Barack and Sarah provided much fodder, indeed! These group sessions are supplemented by a weekly 1:1 lesson ... I'm hoping my finances allow me to continue this approach next year. C'etais une investissement dans ma nouvelle vie et mon futur!
This week we did some language and sentence dissection, to be sure. But we were dissecting the lyrics to a popular Bénabar song. Just so happens that J-Y had suggested I buy Bénabar as a way to improve my language and enjoy a new generation of French folk music. He's such a smarty-pants. So I brought the 2 disc CD with me ... which included a DVD of a live concert. Bénabar's music represents a very traditional French genre where the emphasis and importance are more on the lyrics and less on stylized musicality.
After listening to the program's version of the song and explaining the meaning with each other, in French, Laurence broke out her brand-new DVD/TV monitor and we were treated to a live performance of "le Dinér" ... a droll song about all the many ways a couple could avoid a social engagement they aren't looking forward to, and instead stay home ... under the covers!
Did I mention that Bénabar is a talented young man who is quite easy on the eyes?
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
J'adore Bénabar!
There's this one song about breaking into a "fou rire" at a funeral that is fantastic. Then there is the one about the adolescent girl who thinks she knows everything and her parents' reaction when they realise that their daughter is no longer a girl anymore but a "femme" (she lost her virginity).
His songs are stories. I love them.
a droll song about all the many ways a couple could avoid a social engagement they aren't looking forward to, and instead stay home ... under the covers!
It's always about the sex, ain't it. Bunch o' froggy hedonists.
I love the part of the song where he refers to the camp Louis de Funes films about the Gendarmes in St. Tropez.
BTW: Have you seen any of the Fantomas films yet? Oh MY GOD. SO LAME. SO FUNNY.
And dammit, you have the best word verifications: "Varmism." I assume that that is the act of being a varmint.
mrs c - Laurence, my professeur de langue told me about those films.
I'm actually contemplating getting a tv once my new grande salle de cuisine is finished ... and after that maybe some french dvd's? hey have you heard of netflix? and if so, is there something similar in France? (doubtful)
RG-funny how it is YOU are the one who went there ... as for me. rib-ip. :-)
I really like Benabar too, his songs are always so clever.
And just a tidbit that someone once told me - "le futur" is generally only used when talking about grammar. If you want to talk about your future, you are technically supposed to use "avenir". (Though personally I think that more and more people are starting to use "futur(e)" for both).
ksam- I always appreciate the French tips, I'm gonna make some changes in my post! merci bien!
No prob, I'm really glad you don't mind! Some people get really offended, so it's always a question of "should I or shouldn't I"?
ksam - you should, you SHOULD! lol, I should have caught the le vs. la since futur has no e...derr. I left the references to le futur vs. avenir because of the correlation between the words and my little story ... (the future vs. my future) hey, I'll just say I'm a trendsetter! ha.
i struggle with conditional and future...right now i'm just using immediate future, going to master the 3 - present, pc and immediate future...figure should have these down and then blow up my brain with conditional and future later...but thanks for ksam i might not have to worry too much about le futur.
yes but your avenir is a different story.
bwahaha!
good one.
Oh, tenses. Ugh. I really should take another grammar class.
Post a Comment