Birkin: Une vie intime
One half of the duo responsible for one of the sexiest songs of all time, Jane Birkin wears her intimacy on her sleeve. Now, over forty years after recording “Je t’aime… moi non plus” with her then-lover Serge Gainsbourg, the British singer-turned-activist is getting intimate with concertgoers once again. This time, it’s not only to...
La poésie en série: Santa Fe
As a compliment to the traditional grammatical exercises and pronunciation practice, some of our French 103 students got outside the box with a lesson in writing poetry in French. In addition to helping students learn to put together simple phrases, writing poetry in a new language can help inspire students to think of new vocabulary...
La poésie en série: New York en été
As a compliment to the traditional grammatical exercises and pronunciation practice, some of our French 103 students got outside the box with a lesson in writing poetry in French. In addition to helping students learn to put together simple phrases, writing poetry in a new language can help inspire students to think of new vocabulary...
La poésie en série: Paris, un été chaud
As a compliment to the traditional grammatical exercises and pronunciation practice, some of our French 103 students got outside the box with a lesson in writing poetry in French. In addition to helping students learn to put together simple phrases, writing poetry in a new language can help inspire students to think of new vocabulary...
La madeleine de Proust, le foie gras d’un gascon
Pas une année ne se passe sans que nos papilles aient à savourer une succulente tranche de foie gras. Noël approchant à grands pas, la saison du canard arrive quant à elle à grandes palmées. Et question dégustation, tout le monde s’y retrouve – ou presque. Il y a ceux qui apprécient, ceux qui testent,...
Damsels Versus Distress
I came across an article the other day from rue89.com* about my favorite childhood series, Little House on the Prairie. The author gave a hugely flattering commentary on the importance of the books for allowing children to access a little-seen, feminist perspective of America’s Wild Wild West. I couldn’t help but feel a little flutter...
D’être faite d’or….
I am good at French. I can say that with certainty. I took French, I excelled at it, and I was marvelous. I wanted to learn outside the classroom. I applied for a highly rigorous Full-Immersion French Academy the summer before my senior year, and I got it. I was accepted. This academy wanted my...
Too Little, Too Late
Too Little, Too Late Why knowing just a little bit of French can spell big trouble Had I seen this picture back in 1987, I would not have learned the hard way that knowing a little bit of a language can be a dangerous thing. It was that summer when my husband (still just...
Portrait Reflections
Portrait of a Young Man & his Tutor Oil on canvas 1685 Nicolas de Largillierre French 1656-1746 “Portrait of a Young Man & His Tutor” (oil on canvas) by Nicolas de Largillierre immediately came to mind my French instructor at Alliance Français. Like the French instructors at Alliance Français, the tutor looks very capable and...
Tastes of Belgium in Washington, DC
Having lived in Belgium for 2 years, I had the luck of becoming not only a Francophile but, because Belgium is trilingual, a Germanophile and Dutchophile. No matter the language, the food was delicious and addictive. So when I moved to DC recently, I sought out all the places I could find to fulfill my...
Les Chiens Courtois
I spent the fall of 2008 and the Spring of 2009 teaching English in Lyon, France. When I first arrived, I kept seeing dogs running down the sidewalk, and I would think, “Oh how awful, a lost dog, how will it ever survive in this nasty old city?” Most of these dogs were French bulldogs*,...
Only in France…
My time in France is best remembered for me by the things that I can only do there. 1) Only in France can I get lost in Paris or other cities like Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, or Nice and feel at ease. They should call the quartiers or arondissements mazes instead. Instead of getting the feeling of...
