Carols

Thursday, december the 12th, 
Francine and Michel's

-- Intro                         All work and no play make Jack a dull boy

                                            Too much hard work and not enough leisure time can be unhealthy.                                 

Carols ------- Christmas Songs

-- Vocabulary

heaven         paradis   good heavens ! mon Dieu !

echoing       raisonner, faire écho
strain           (old) chant, musique    and also tension, stress
troll             (old) chant
yule tide      (old) Noël
carol            chant de Noël
holy             saint                             but holly houx
don              vêtir
apparel        tenue
hark             attention! écouter  (terme de chasse hunting)
sinner          pécheur .... seven holy sins
joyous         joyeux, syn joyful

and more ....
predictable  prévisible and unpredictable ...
jazzed up     arrangé façon jazz

and more again ...
emploi de "for" après certains verbes:
ask for sth, look for a dress, wait for the bus, pay for a drink ...
Danielle wishes for champagne so we wish her a very Happy Christmas

-- Finally we celebrate the end of these private lessons and thank         Ruth with a gift, an I.Pad.

"I'm very touched" said Ruth, overwhelmed !

                                 to overwhelm : émouvoir, bouleverser

Clever Scribes

 

 

The scribes’ invention to distinguish U and V in manuscripts : replace u  with o

 The vowel in these words is pronounced like the <u> in butter, fun, summer…

 

 

above	among	another	brother	colour
come	comfort(able)	company	cover	does
done	dove	dozen	front	glove
govern(ment)	honey	London	love	Monday
money	monk	monkey	month	mother
nothing	once	one	onion	other
oven	shove	shovel	smother	some
son	sponge	stomach	ton	tongue
won	wonder(ful)

 

Thursday, 28th Nov, Ruth's
Thanksgiving day

News
Danielle was at a meeting of a Bed & Breakfast owners. She hoped champagne but not this evening !
Michel is in Paris with Francine in Education to be retired. Good luck.

Thanksgiving Day
 First celebration in 1621.  Thanksgiving Day (Jour de l'Action de grâce in Canadian French) is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well.

Menu  Turkey is recommended or goose or duck, stuffy(farcie, étouffante)
Many other foods are typically served alongside the main dish(side dishes=accompagnt)
 - gravy (sauce au jus de viande), cranberry sauce, winter squash, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes, nuts, bread 
Dessert : pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie ...
Beverages : apple cider (still or sparkling)... gazeux, wine (Beaujolais nouveau) sometimes.

Songs : Over the river and through the woods (cf your paper)
Invitation : opening table, persons alone are invited

Traditional Thanksgiving dinner

Recipe of the pumpkin pie

1 cup strained, cooked pumpkin (citrouille)
1 egg and 1 yolk (jaune)
3/4 cup scalded milk (ébouillanté)
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground spices ( cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg) (cannelle, girofle, muscade)

Line pie pan with pastry.
combine eggs, sugar, salt and spices. Gradually stir in milk and cream, then pumpkin.
Pour (verser) three quarters of the mixture into the pie shell, place it on the oven rack, then add the rest.
Bake in hot oven (220° C) for ten minutes, reduce heat to 175° and bake for thirty minutes longer, or until a knife comes out clean.(jusque un couteau ressorte propre)

Winter Squash
At this stage, most varieties of this fruit can be stored for use during the winter

This first year of English conversation is going to finish. 

We will say a very very very big thank you to RUTH 

at the end of the next lesson

Thursday's theme

 How much do you know about this important American holiday?
We'll discuss it on Thursday, 28th November, as all Americans sit down for their big dinner.
See you at 5:45 P.M., 4 rue de la Gare (Ruth and Max)

Country or City life ?

Laurence, November the 7th

News

Laurence is visited by the postman for the New Year calendars.
She chooses dogs pictures, pet animals also named Puppy. 
So we speak about diminutives of a few words :

Baby, Kitty, Pretty, Merry (christmas),  

Merry, Happy, ... drunk

Theme :  Pro's and Con's of 

                                 
                              Country     vs      City life

pro

calm, quiet                                              shopping, restaurants, pubs 

a lot of vegetation, plants, flowers         markets, culture, movies

woods, spaces, walking                           public transportation          friendly animals, cattle                          many schools, hospitals

goodneighbours

door to door merchants

*********

con                                                          

long distances of anything               air pollution, crowd foule   

no movy, no high school ...              noisy, smelly(sentir mauvais)

wasps & flies                                    speedy (everyone in a hurry)

gossip ragots                                    indifference, anonymous

                                                         small flats (apparts petits)

                                                         lack of space, too many cars    

Vocabulary    

household appliances       boutique app ménagers 

night hawk                        oiseau de nuit

car pool                             co-voiturage

swimming pool                piscine
take turns                         faire à tour de role

age well                           bien vieillir

Phonétique

wind     prononcer comme ds ail , like, wine
wind, pepper, water, flour mill  (moulins à ...) but we say ...
grind the coffee, maïs
find
kind  sorte et aussi gentil

Accent              about ity in finale

= accentuer sur la syllabe qui précède le ity
ano'nymity, but we say anonymous
aud'acity, sim'plicity, ca'pacity

Tea Time

cider and delicious cakes cooked by Laurence
authentic, genuine recipe and BONA FIDE.


The Riddle

What kind of dog is this puppy ?

Good and bad manners

October the 17th, Roselyne's

Good and Bad Manners   

News 

Marcelle tell us her grandson Malo, 7 years old, has broken his arm, the left wrist exactly, at school in the playground. They took an X-Ray and put him a cast.
The most fun is that father and son are in the same situation ! Both arms in a sling.


Talking about ...
Good and bad manners in different countries
that thing is polite or impolite ? 
Do's and don't.

1. Kiss or shake hands with somebody ? never kiss in America  Both cheeks (les 2 joues) in between women.
2. Phone at table is impolite for our ages but polite for young people (hum ...) Once times Roselyne seen a boy with two phones in his hands pushing a wheel chair ...
3. Elbow on the table ? Not everywhere, is a sloppy behavior.
4. to Speak to oneself (se parler à soi même)( Roselyne)
5. to Whisper something to somebody (Max); to whisper behind our backs (chuchoter)
6. Place of the Cutlery  in America is opposite.

                                              

Vocabulary
       reach atteindre sth, location ...
       share part, partager, action (finance), time share(holiday flat)
       show off,  se faire valoir
       Ruth is a naughty girl, (no comment)
       step, pas but also stepmother, stepson, etc (beau-fils ...) ! pas              de parent commun
       half brother, demi frère
       platter plateau plate assiette dish plat, dishwasher LV
       limp boiter, and lame pour un argument boiteux ...

The riddle
      For the previous post the answer was Abraham Lincoln well           known for this sentence :
                        "All men are created equal"

      Today here is a celebrity, WHO IS HE ?

                          

                    Answer fastest possible to win the nonnette

Opposites

3th October 2013 
Danielle's

New: Roselyn had received her Australian friend a few days but, unfortunately she speaks French! Marie Claire has a dual citizen ship; she lived in France ... His husband was military

Laurence is tired, very busy for many reasons but she had always a nice complexion (bon teint)

Two opponents

The Opposites

First Max tells us a joke :

a soldier is on a hill, the captain says
bring him down (descendez le de la colline)
another soldier immediately ...
shoot him dead (lui a tiré dessus)



Then Ruth presents some words, we must find the opposites

           Ask                 Answer   or reply répondre

 Work               Play 

 Buy                 Sell        to buy sth from sbd      for sale = à vendre

          Give                 Take       from ...

          Lend prêter      Borrow   emprunter
     
         Right                 Left or Wrong

         Full   plein         Empty   vide

         Break casser     Fix or Repair          Crack félure, fissure

        Well                  Ill  malade       Sick  nauséeux

        Well bien fait     Badly   Poorly

        Poor                  Rich

       Light lumière    Dark
                poids        Heavy

       Wide large        Narrow étroit   
       Broad  -              Thin          The broad side of a barn  le grand coté de la grange
                                              Strong               Weak faible  
       Strength force   Weakness faiblesse

       Thin mince        Thick for sth
                                 Fat         sbd

       Clever  malin    Stupid, Silly, Fool



Some Words

       Foolish plutôt bête
       Greenish ... vert
 
       Merry gai, drunk   Merely tout simplement (Mer )





And now the riddle to win the nonnette

RSVP by mail

What is the name of this man, his work and his place in this work.