Le Littéraire dans le quotidien

Joanna Luks

2015

COERLL

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien is an open textbook for use in French courses. The Literary in the Everyday represents a new pedagogical approach to reading and writing at the lower levels and is applicable to all languages. Teachers of foreign languages besides French can read about the approach in the Teacher's Guide. Go to Google Drive for individual chapters. Additionally, the Foreign Languages & The Literary in the Everyday (FLLITE) Project, a joint initiative of COERLL and CERCLL, two national foreign language resource centers, offers open resources for professional development in the publication of CC licensed FLLITE lessons in any language. Go to the FLLITE website for the lesson archive.

Languages

English

9781937963064

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien:

Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
at the first and second year levels of college French
Joanna Gay Luks
First Edition
ISBN: 978-1-937963-07-1
Library of Congress number: 2014955966

CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/deed.en_US
or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California,
94105, USA.

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-937963-06-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013948337
Manufactured in the United States of America.

Created and produced by

Joanna Gay Luks, Senior Lecturer in French, Department of Romance Studies, Cornell University

Contributors

Support
Carl Blyth, Director of COERLL, University of Texas at Austin
Karen Kelton, Department of French and Italian, University of Texas at Austin
Copy Editor
Nora Megharbi, Department of French and Italian, University of Texas at Austin
Design and Layout
Nathalie Steinfeld Childre, Publications Manager at COERLL
Reviewers for the Methodological Framework
With many thanks to my dear friends and colleagues:
Dick Feldman, Director, Language Resource Center, Cornell University
Gunhild Lischke, Language Program Director, Department of German Studies, Cornell University

Due credit

In the fall of 2013, when Le Littéraire dans le quotidien was launched online, it was, to my knowledge, the only
language textbook published in Google Docs, allowing it to be the first truly open resource: not only free of
charge but free to be adopted and adapted as teachers see fit. A number of colleagues have confided in me that
they would not be willing to offer their work so freely. Publishing companies are also wary of open resources, fearing a greater loss of financial stability for an already compromised industry transitioning from print to
electronic distribution. Having now completed the process of creating and producing a large-scale open project,
however, I see the place of OERs from a different angle. COERLL, as a center for open resources, provides a
much needed space for innovation and communication among professionals in fields related to language learning, a space where theory and practice can come together so that best practices can be explored and refined, allowing the outcomes, in turn, to be available for partnership with standard publication. It is, then, to the movers
and shakers at COERLL that I offer my gratitude and heartfelt praise.

Acknowledgements

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

TECHNOLOGY INSTRUCTIONS

Available formats for Le Littéraire dans le quotidien
Le Littéraire dans le quotidien (LLDQ) is an Open Textbook published to the public through Google Docs and
Lulu.com under a Creative Commons BY license.
Google Drive has several available applications including Google Docs and is mainly an online file viewer and
organizer. The Google Docs application by itself is a text editor similar to Microsoft Word, but accessed online
(“Cloud computing”). In addition to being able to access files anytime, anywhere, Google Drive and Docs
have built in sharing features. Consequently, Le Littéraire dans le quotidien is shared with the public and can
be found, viewed, and saved to several formats by anyone with access to the Internet and Google. The shared
LLDQ folder contains all of the individual files that make up the textbook: the front cover, title page, Teacher’s
Guide, the content chapters, and the back cover. If users have a gmail account (free for anybody who wants to
sign up), they can make a copy of the original textbook master files and change the content: teachers, for example, to adapt LLDQ to their needs and students to write in answers to activities. The copy can then be changed
to a different set of sharing preferences to suit users’ needs. The only requirement mandated by the Creative
Commons BY license is that the new copies be attributed to the Center for Open Educational Resources and
Language Learning (COERLL) as well as to the author of this work, Joanna Gay Luks.
We would like to encourage users who create their own versions of chapters from Le Littéraire dans le quotidien, or who create new chapters using the approach of The Literary in the Everyday for another language,
to share their work with the LLDQ community by submitting a form with the link to the new Google Docs or
other format versions on the COERLL website: http://goo.gl/mCvQYi
(See instructions for Google Docs on next page.)

Print-on-demand bundled textbook format
For your convenience, we will also offer a bundled print-on-demand (POD) textbook version of Le Littéraire
dans le quotidien. You can purchase as many copies as you need from Lulu.com:
http://goo.gl/MOyeMs (color version)
http://goo.gl/Q7beAw (black & white version)
Instructors, students, bookstores, libraries, and others interested in the publication can acquire copies through
the online Lulu store at the URL above.
COERLL does not provide desk copies for instructors.

Technology Instructions

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Google Docs step-by-step instructions
Sign up for a Google account (You must have an account and be signed in to properly view Le Littéraire
dans le quotidien files and to make modifications to documents.):
https://accounts.google.com/SignUp
For the best viewing capabilities for Mac and PC, we recommend the use of Google Chrome, version 29+, as
browser. (Google Chrome is available on the internet as a free download.) Mac users can alternatively use Safari
browser version 6+. Be aware that document formatting online, however, is unstable.
Link to grid view of Le Littéraire dans le quotidien files:
There are two viewing formats for files: by list or by grid. The default viewing for LLDQ has been set for “grid”
to enable users to see the visual layout of the book:
http://goo.gl/VurRFE
Open files in Preview to browse through files quickly or to print them.
Click on any file in grid view to open it in Preview. Use the white left and right arrows to move from one document to another in sequence.
IMPORTANT: The Preview function allows you to have a glance at chapter content. The files do not always
display correctly in Preview. Further, Preview does not enable you to make a copy of a file or to make changes.
You will have to open files in order to modify them.
Open a file.
Go to Preview
Click on blue Open button

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Make a copy of the master file that you wish to edit or type in answers to.
Step 1
Click on File tab
in Menu and select
Make a copy...

Step 2
Enter a document
name and set your
share preferences

Sharing documents:
Teachers – If you are making a copy of a LLDQ document and want to share your copy with
the world, check the box next to “Share with the same people,” (see Step 2 above).
This will make the new version public for anyone to access.
Because Le Littéraire dans le quotidien has been designed as an open and collaborative resource, we
would like to encourage you to share your LLDQ innovations using the form in this Google Drive
folder at http://goo.gl/mCvQYi.
Your versions will be listed on the Google Sheet at http://goo.gl/cYvIL3.

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If you do not wish to make your new version public, do not select this option. (See following instructions for students and classwork.)
Students and classwork – For students to complete LLDQ activities online in Google Drive
and to share their work with classmates, they need to make a copy of the original file and store it in
their computers. When ready to share their work, they then unselect “share with the same people” and
add individual email addresses through the sharing preferences by selecting “Email collaborators.”
For whole class sharing, teachers can generate an email list of all of the participants and enter it in the
sharing preferences.

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Access the sharing preferences for your copy
There are several ways to get to the sharing preferences of your copy. We will only highlight one of
them. For more options, have a look at Google’s documentation: https://support.google.com/drive/topic/2816927?hl=en&ref_topic=14940
After opening a
file:
Click on the blue
Share button.
In the Sharing settings you
can:
• Copy the share link
• Set who has access and
how they can access your
document
• Invite collaborators

IMPORTANT:
To share your document on
the COERLL site you need
to copy the share link and
paste it in the online form at
http://goo.gl/mCvQYi

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Download files as static PDFs or export files to editable formats.
IMPORTANT: Although Google Docs can export files to other editable formats such as Microsoft Word, we
cannot guarantee that the formatting will stay the same as the online master Google Docs. This is why we recommend signing up for a Google account and creating a copy to edit. (Remember, The Google Docs application
by itself is a text editor similar to Microsoft Word.) However, if you wish to download PDFs or export files, you
can either select the “Download as” option:
To export a file:
Click on File tab
in Menu and select
Download as

Or you can download them from the following Google drive folder:
http://goo.gl/r05Odt

To learn more on how to use Google Docs, we recommend the following Google resources:
http://www.google.com/edu/training/tools/drive/level1.html
https://support.google.com/drive/?hl=en
https://support.google.com/drive/topic/2816927?hl=en&ref_topic=14940
https://support.google.com/drive/answer/49008?hl=en&ref_topic=14940

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TEACHER’S GUIDE

Methodological Framework
Putting Le littéraire dans le quotidien into Practice
Tips for Creating Materials in the Vein of the Literary in the Everyday
References
Appendix I: Devising Grading and Performance Rubrics for Writing Assignments

2-11
12-16
17-18
19
20-21

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TO THE TEACHER,
TO THE LANGUAGE PROGRAM, TO DEPARTMENT HEADS

“Everything transcends the reality of what it is;
either you go mad, or you learn about metaphors.”

--Allie Light, filmmaker

It is an exciting time to be a foreign language teacher in higher education, but perhaps, too, a bit
Dickensian, the best and worst of times, an epoch of belief and incredulity. Periods of change are
like that. The shifting ground was set in motion by the publication of the 2007 MLA report, “Foreign
Language and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World,” which reimagined the language/literature divide, the two citadels of this tale, as a curricular continuum expressed in the aphorism – Literature and culture from the beginning; language to the end. Four years later, the American Association of University Supervisors and Coordinators (AAUSC) published its 2011 volume
on the theme of “Educating the Future Foreign Language Professoriate for the 21st Century.” This
collection of scholarly articles provides a concise synthesis of the evolving central issues as well as
of the prevailing struggles in affecting the scope and depth of such a charge. Accordingly, while the
concerns of the AAUSC’s 22nd volume have to do with graduate student professional development in
foreign language education, the issues remain relevant for all participants in this educational endeavor: students and teachers of foreign languages, professors of literary and cultural studies, graduate
students and administrators in departments offering language instruction, and department heads in
any other field requiring foreign language teaching or learning.
A short list of key terms provides a snapshot of the intellectual terrain:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Literacy-based language teaching
Multiple literacies: conventions, cultural knowledge, language use
Interdisciplinarity
Bilingualism/multilingualism vs. monolingualism
Mental imagery and cultural linguistics
Becoming a teacher of meaning
Translingual/transcultural competence, the ability to operate between languages
From intercultural competence as a third space or third culture [“taking an insider’s view as
well as an outsider’s view on both [one’s] first and second cultures”] to symbolic competence
[“a symbolic PROCESS of meaning-making that sees beyond the dualities of national languages (L1-L2) and national cultures (C1-C2).”] (Kramsch, 2011, p. 355)

The overall shift in theoretical grounding fosters, in sum, the understanding in practice that if students are to become effective users of a foreign language, then along with the acquisition of a
linguistic code, they must develop the deductive skills of a linguist, the honed intuitions of an anthropologist, and the playful bent of a poet. This is no small order and commercially available text-

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books in FL have yet to successfully integrate these multiple dimensions in a systemic fashion. As a
language teacher working in the lower division, I thus set myself the task of creating materials that
would embody the core objectives and aspirations of the MLA report from the beginning.
In 2010 I began discussion with Carl Blyth, the Director of the Center of Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL), about the project. COERLL’s mission can be found on their
About page, summarized as follows:
“to produce and disseminate Open Educational Resources (OERs) for the Internet
public (e.g., online language courses, reference grammars, assessment tools, corpora,
etc.). The term OER refers to any educational material offered freely for anyone to use,
typically involving some permission to re-mix, improve, and redistribute. Thus, COERLL seeks to promote a culture of collaboration that lies at the heart of the Open Education movement. In addition, COERLL aims to reframe foreign language education in terms of
bilingualism and/or multilingualism. As such, all
COERLL resources strive to represent more accurately language development and performance
along dialectal and proficiency continua.”

Source: http://coerll.utexas.edu/coerll/page/about-coerll

My ideas at the outset were vague, but Carl’s advice was “Follow your vision.” The resulting 14 units of materials at the first-year level of college study aim to represent a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
French. In practice, it is hoped that utilizing this approach could allow teachers and students alike to become
artful brokers of meaning.

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien is being offered as an Open Educational Resource so that the French materials
can be experimented with and modified to suit a teacher’s or program’s needs, following certain constraints for
the Creative Commons licensing, and potentially implemented in part or integrated in a hybrid fashion as the
reader/writer-based component of lower division curricula. The materials can be downloaded in Word format as
is or adapted accordingly, to be worked with online or printed on a per document basis. Additionally, the bundled units will be available as a print-on-demand textbook.
The Literary in the Everyday is also a model, a prototype for teachers and programs to create materials in a
similar vein as part of a continuum in curricular design for foreign language courses. While languages sharing
a strong cognate base with English would allow students to go further in a shorter period of time, the concept
of the literary in the everyday as developed here should be applicable to the study of any language. For those
who feel inspired to create pedagogical units, I have included suggestions as guidance in the section entitled, In
Practice.
Finally, these materials are offered in the hopes of generating discussion across academic entities in relationship
to questions of program articulation. A unit of Le littéraire dans le quotidien could potentially be included in instructor and graduate student FL methodology courses as an example of what the aspirations of the MLA report
might look like at the introductory levels, and critiqued accordingly. Teachers in training and TAs could also try
their hands at creating a unit that could later be included in their teaching portfolios.
Before broaching some of the practical aspects of these resources, however, I will first outline the theoretical
underpinnings.

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The Everyday and the Extra Ordinary
A primary point of contention between the aspirations of the MLA report and current FL textbook offerings can
be summarized in Byrnes’ (2006) argument that communicative language teaching is “a methodology that is
incompatible with the types of text-based, analytical tasks expected of students at more advanced levels because
of its tendency to focus on familiar and quotidian topics and to prioritize transactional, oral language use, with
reading and writing functioning as secondary support skills.” (Paesani, 2011, p. 61)
To my thinking, the problem is not restricted or inherent to communicative language teaching, nor is it due to
a focus on the quotidian. It is the product of underlying assumptions that have long girded FL pedagogy, regardless of the method or approach. Ryshina-Pankova in her article, “Preparing Graduate Student Teachers for
Advanced Content-Based Instruction,” describes the curricular progression from beginning to advanced proficiency that is the standard for FL textbook and program design, and in so doing, identifies a naturally resulting
gap in the acquisition process:
“As the curricular trajectory toward advanced literacy is charted along the continuum from personal, action dominated, and predominantly narrative genres toward secondary, public, reflection-based, and expository ones, learners, in their engagement with the texts and tasks closer to
the end of the progression, find themselves under pressure to achieve new communicative goals
as they engage with the new types of texts and assignments based on them. […]
To fulfill the demands associated with the new type of discourse, learners need to restructure
their language system.” (Ryshina-Pankova, 2011, p. 88)
Ryshina-Pankova pinpoints the nature of this restructuring as mastery at the advanced level of the linguistic
and cognitive mechanism classified by Halliday & Matthiessen (2004) as grammatical metaphor. As opposed
to a lexical metaphor, which involves substituting one semantic unit (a word or phrase) for another in order to
extend meaning, a grammatical metaphor involves the substituting of one grammatical class form (e.g. a verb)
for another (e.g. a noun) as a way of manufacturing meaning. Ryshina-Pankova provides the following passage
as example:
Last week, the German government committee designated [verb as process] three institutions
as elite universities. The designation [noun as entity] of certain universities as centers of excellence [noun as entity] for particular fields set off a national discussion on the nature of excellence
[noun as property]. (p. 88)
One assumption is that because the vocabulary and grammar of the introductory levels consist of the simple
language of the everyday (the concrete), students cannot engage in secondary-level meaning making (the metaphorical). The second assumption is that attempting to engage students in this way would divert time and cognitive energy from language acquisition. These notions are directly at odds, however, with the goal of a curricular
continuum grounded in the skills and practices of multiple literacies and symbolic competence. These assumptions are widely held, but are they founded?

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Cognitive Linguistics informs us that a language is a system of systems as opposed to a computational set of
rules and exceptions. Languages are metaphorically structured. A language evolves a core set of prototypes for
words, grammatical functions, syntactic structures, and sounds. These prototypes are then available for generating further meanings and uses through processes of extension: taking the prototypical meaning of a word, a
structure, a discourse and modifying the form or the syntax and the context to create new significations. Within
this frame, the term metaphor is used in its broadest sense to encompass any and all of the ways in which meanings can be extended from the primary to the secondary and beyond. Consequently, a guiding principle for this
project is that not only must the metaphorical be integrated from the beginning, but that it can be accomplished
through the language of the everyday.
A [Table] of Content and the Literary
As it so happens, the first unit of Le Littéraire dans le quotidien, entitled, “What’s in a Name?” is centered on
the use of a grammatical metaphor:
In French, base nouns (a noun with no determiner) can be used as adjectives. We see this in standard usage when naming someone’s profession:
Elle est musicienne.
The English equivalent requires the use of the indefinite article:
She is a musician.
This usage in French is treated for the most part as an exception, one of a few classes of nouns
(names for professions, religions and political parties) that are able to be structured and utilized
in this way. As a result, it remains a sticking point for learners whose native languages require an
indefinite article.
As it turns out, however, this slot for a base noun is a highly productive pattern for ascribing
attributes, especially in informal register. Imagine a room with a desk and a table. Two students
arrive to study for an exam. This is their exchange:
–Tu es plutôt table ou bureau?
–Moi, je suis très table.
Table in the question form is used to ask about a preference in work style: Do you prefer studying at a table or a desk? The response would require a gloss in English to the effect of “I’m more
of a table person,” or “I’m more into studying at a table.” Situated appropriately, all nouns in
French can be used in this way to extend meaning.
The literary in the title, Le Littéraire dans le quotidien, is meant, therefore, to refer to the plasticity of language, the resonances, the multiple layers of meaning that single words or complex structures or protracted discourse can convey. The literary, the metaphorical, the poetic. Resonances of meaning tie language to the mental

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imagery of the speaker/writer (the conceiver’s construal) and that imagery is shaped by personal experience and
the many physical and cultural contexts that constitute the world of the individual. As such, the literary is also
emblematic of language as culture. (Blyth, 2011, p. 151)
Swaffar and Arens provide an apt example in their book, “Remapping the Foreign Language Curriculum: An
approach through multiple literacies” (2005):
“Margaret Steffensen and her colleagues did a now-classic study over two decades ago with
Americans and English-speaking readers from India who lived in the United States (Steffensen,
Joag-Dev, and Anderson). Both groups read two letters that described weddings, one occurring
in India and one in the United States. Although the two texts were in English, each group’s recall
was consistently higher when the wedding remembered originated in its own culture, its C1.
Those differences in recall were also qualitative. Both Indians and Americans understood, for
example, that the bride wore something borrowed and that the bride’s parents failed to exchange
gifts with the family of the groom. But these features, tagged by American readers as positive or
neutral, were viewed by readers from India as signs of poverty and hence regrettable. What for
American readers was a typical way to celebrate the occasion, following conventions that did not
include the exchange of gifts between parents, was read quite differently by members of a culture
for whom the bride’s affluence, demonstrated in her family’s ability to give lavish gifts, predicts
her chances for future happiness.” (p. 41, emphasis added)
What is of particular note is the unanticipated consequence of the inability to think transculturally or to operate
effectively between languages when confronted with a cultural gap:
“One would presume that after reading additional texts about American wedding practices, the
Indian readers would find their earlier inferences, which were based on a single reading of a single text, inadequate or inappropriate. However, subsequent research on FL reading suggests that
students resist correction of first impressions, that initial misapprehensions about textual features
can become entrenched misreadings […]”
(p. 41)
Grammar and vocabulary are the two mainstays of FL pedagogy at the introductory levels. When they are
approached as static bodies of fixed meanings and uses, students are ultimately led to a wall. The concept of
the literary (the metaphorical via individual construal and cultural constructs) in the everyday affords the basis,
then, for addressing this underlying misperception, and in so doing confronts yet another divide: the categorization of foreign language courses as skill-based rather than as content-based. In this regard, one of the many aims
of this project is to advocate for the understanding that the content of a foreign language course, when suitably
approached, is language.

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Reading and Writing the Literary
“Learners need practice in decoding and encoding […] textual information about behaviors, attitudes, and values.” (Swaffar and Arens, p. 44)
Because reading and writing are liberated from the pressures of real-time processing and interaction that exist
for spoken language, they provide the opportunity to go deeper into the manufacturing of meaning. If reading
and writing the literary is to be accomplished at the introductory levels, however, preparatory information and
framing activities need to be formulated in English. When properly effectuated, rather than detracting from
acquisition at these levels, a bilingual approach allows for playful manipulations with usage that reinforce
language systems, accuracy of forms, and communicative and symbolic competence. Most importantly, if the
literary is integrated from the beginning, there would be no need for a “restructuring” of the language system
towards the end. The continuum would allow for a progression in complexity of language structures, learning
strategies, cultural practices, knowledge bases and communicative goals established from the start.
As a means of initiating the proficiency trajectory for the literary in the everyday, three overarching objectives
can be identified:
• Grappling with layers of meaning when reading in order to gain understanding of the vision, the “mental
imagery” of the writer and to develop effective reading skills;
• Engaging in playful processes of creating nuances of meaning (construal) when writing in order to exercise language systems and to gain agency in written communication;
• Challenging “reliance on the default assumption of shared cultural conceptualizations,” (Sharifian, cited
in Blyth, 2011, p. 156) in order to develop strategies for better operating between languages.
Reading–
Following the line of thinking of metaphor in its broadest sense as encompassing all of the ways in which meanings can be extended, I use the term genre to signify a culturally recognized way or ways of structuring meaning, and text as the resulting artifact – written, oral or visual. Consequently, all of the texts presented in these
units explore quotidian topics within a range of historical, contemporary and cultural contexts, and represent a
multitude of genres, conventions and styles from known authors and everyday writers. All of the texts encode,
in some fashion, the literary and are approached via a reading process that guides the student through an interactional and interpretive enterprise of meaning making.
Effective reading for any genre is anchored in the practice of finding evidence in a text for generating an appropriate interpretation. At the advanced levels, evidence is primarily “content-based” in the sense of descriptive or
conceptual information. For language learners at the lower levels, however, evidence can center on the language forms – lexical, phonological, grammatical, syntactic, graphic, and structural – that a writer has chosen.
Resultantly, one reading skill developed in this approach involves attending to forms and their potentiality for
meanings and uses (learning to work effectively with the semiotic structuring of language). Another, given that
cultural scripts constitute a dimension of imperceptible evidence, involves supplying students with just enough
relevant information for them to begin formulating conjectures about culturally constructed meanings.

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At the beginning of this Guide, I provided a list of key concepts that are shaping the current intellectual terrain
of FL pedagogy. To this list I will now add: literacy as social practice.
Social reading is a term that has become more prominently used since the publication of the MLA report. It
refers to an Internet-based activity in which a group of people collaboratively reads, annotates and comments
upon a shared text. Initially, the practice was the outgrowth of technology for eReading, a means to promote
increased interest and engagement in L1 texts. Within the context of classroom application, social reading is
also referred to as Collaborative Strategic Reading, and, in more language-teaching parlance, one could say that
it constitutes a during-reading activity that can be carried out synchronously or asynchronously.
In 2010, I was asked to conduct a case study for eComma, a web application then under development by COERLL for implementing social reading in FL classes. My focus was the use of L1 (English) for writing commentaries during the collaborative reading of an L2 (French) text at the introductory level. My preliminary
conclusions included the following:
• The use of English allows students to take greater risks in expressing their interpretations.
• Social reading models effective reading strategies for learners who may not employ them otherwise.
• The inductive nature of social reading (discovering meaning through social interaction) heightens the
appreciation of the text, of reading in a foreign language, and of the fruitfulness of collaboration.
Source: https://ecomma.coerll.utexas.edu/l1/
eComma is now available as an Open Educational Resource, as are a number of other similarly purposed tech
tools. For that reason, in many of the units in Le Littéraire dans le quotidien the recommendation is made to
carry out the first reading of a text in the form of social reading. [See pages 12-13 in this document for implementation.]
Writing–
All of the writing assignments in this project are genre-specific, and in some cases multi-genred, allowing the
texts that are read to act as models for writing. Where these assignments differ from standard practice at this
level is that they further require application of techniques for generating nuances of meaning. As such, the stylistic, linguistic and cultural evidence that students find in a text also serve to inform their writing.
The ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners designates three communication modes for oral
and written language: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational, and emphasis is placed on “real world use
of language, even though the language is learned and practiced in some type of learning environment.” (p. 4)
For foreign language learners in classroom settings – real or virtual, however, there are a limited number of
genres for authentic writing tasks in the narrow sense of writing for a francophone audience other than classmates and/or the instructor. Consequently, this project adds a fourth real-world mode – intrapersonal. Intrapersonal writing includes writing as personal documentation (to-do lists, agenda/calendar annotations, notes to self
about processes/injunctives/reminders, answers to language learning activities, or journal writing) and writing
as creative expression for pleasure and for exploration of the emerging identity linked to the learning of a new

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language (poetry, stories, blogs, self portraits, aphorisms, or love letters). Many of the units in these materials
bridge the two: intrapersonal for motivation and for the scaffolding of self-expression, and interpersonal or
presentational for empowerment.
For writing, literacy as social practice takes form in peer editing. Each unit culminates with assignment-specific
tasks for peer feedback in order to promote collaborative attention to targeted forms and conventions. All considered, writing is practiced as a process of creative mediation.
Genres and Primary/Secondary Discourses–
While genres constitute an essential component of this project, the governing assumptions differ in fundamental
ways from the content and sequencing of what has become recognized as a genre-based approach. An excellent
overview of the tenets of genre-based curricula can be found in Hiram Maxim’s PowerPoint presentation available on the Internet, entitled, “A genre-based approach to sequencing content” (2011). In slide 7, a table is used
to contrast the poles of the “primary-secondary discourse continuum.” I will reproduce an abbreviated version
here, focusing on key issues:

“

Primary discourses of familiarity

Secondary discourses of public life

Concrete subject matter

Abstract subject matter

Focus on process & verbal paradigm

Focus on product and nominal paradigm

Self-oriented single perspective

Other-oriented multiple perspective

Literal meaning

Figurative, metaphorical meaning

Oral, dialogic

Oral & written, monologic

”

The curricular trajectory that is subsequently proposed by Maxim involves “primary discourses” at the “lower
level” and “secondary discourses” at the “upper level.” (Slide 13) What I see, however, is that once again, we
encounter division as opposed to a true continuum.
In contrast, the curricular trajectory that I am advocating allows students to work in ways tailored to their language proficiency in all of these modes from beginning to end. The progression is in complexity not in kind. For
example, the nominal paradigm is initiated in unit 1a. with the use of base nouns as adjectives, and the various
forms–meanings–uses of the noun paradigm are gradually expanded upon across units. It is a positioning that
encourages learners to construe and create, thus giving them a voice as emergent and then proficient receivers
and producers of written (and oral) discourse. In this light, adopting the literary as the narrative arc for curricular design can be seen as providing the framework for an articulated continuum from language-focused content
to discipline-specific content in language, literary, cultural, and area studies.

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Disciplining the Web
College students study foreign languages for a multitude of reasons and academia is carved into intellectual territories that extend well beyond the language/literature divide. The struggle that results from competing
field-specific needs often creates a rupture between the objectives of language learners and their corresponding
institutional entities. It is hoped that the literary in the everyday could help shape curricula in the lower division
in such a way that the content and practices might further be conceived of as transdisciplinary.
There are two areas of common ground for the notion of transdisciplinarity. The first is situated in what is
arguably the most difficult challenge facing students of language, regardless of their long-term objectives: the
struggle to accept and negotiate ambiguity, the grey areas that are the domain of the metaphorical and of the
culturally shaped resonances that so hinder effective interactions in the real world. Training students to more effectively cope with these enigmatic and otherwise invisible dimensions prepares them for better grappling with
the cultural practices, worldviews and communicative needs embedded in their chosen disciplines. More to the
point, such training is at the core of the critical thinking within a humanities for the 21st century that is evoked
in the MLA report; it prepares students for being participants in the newly globalized world, whether at home, in
study abroad programs or in their future careers.
And to that notion of a changed world must be added and systemically addressed, the use of technology. The
now Internet, Web-based world has actualized new venues for mediating meaning, as exemplified by the phenomena of social reading and a digital humanities. More importantly for materials development, students of
foreign languages are keen to work with content that encodes and reflects the realities of their everyday and of
the worldview of the native users who are their interlocutors. They seek an immediacy and a relevance that is
difficult to provide in more traditional media. There is a catch, though, and this is where a second area of common ground for transdisciplinarity can be located. While we are still in the early stages of the technological
revolution, research is indicating a loss of depth of reading and analysis in response to the onslaught of readily
available information and the exigencies of multi-tasking. Writing, too, is undergoing transformation, particularly within the context of social media, to a preference for short forms and images. Consequently, it is incumbent
upon the educational system to ensure that students become skilled transdisciplinary users of their native language as well as of any foreign languages they may choose to study.
As it turns out, developing Internet-based FL pedagogical materials provides a felicitous creative constraint. The
phenomenon of copyright protects the intellectual and creative rights of authors, restricting access and adaptation of published materials for pedagogical purposes. If one wished to exclusively utilize canonical texts from
literary or cultural studies as support for language learning in an Internet platform, one would need to select
documents that are past their copyright terms (the author’s life + 70 years, for example, for French texts) and/
or that are part of the public domain. This means that many such resources are from an earlier era. Creative
Commons licensing and the status of public domain, on the other hand, allow for the legal sharing of non copyrighted materials on the Internet, making accessible a trove of authentic texts, images, videos, information and
resources from earlier periods to “now” – the moment of uploading – that can be artfully exploited for fostering
communicative AND symbolic competences. As a matter of course, much of the content in Le Littéraire dans le
quotidien comes from the Internet and there are a multitude of resources that are linked as pedagogical support.

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For an overview of all of the skills and knowledge bases, see the 00e Table of Contents document. [Drawing
from Kern’s principles of literacy (Willis Allen and Dupuy, 2011, p. 175), the textbook content has been organized into three conceptual categories: texts and genres, cultural knowledge and mindset, language use and
strategies.]
In sum, language educators and institutions need to exercise caution with the use of technology as a foundation
for language learning. While Internet-based materials are the medium and the message, in McLuhan’s sense, of
today’s students, for such materials to be properly integrated into college curricula and distance learning fora,
they must be grounded in appropriate pedagogical framing and articulated in continua that respond to the needs
of the diverse learner pool of higher education. Applying a transdisciplinary approach from the beginning of
foreign language study that is based on the literary in the everyday can help students to develop the deductive
skills of a linguist, the honed intuitions of an anthropologist and the playful bent of a poet. Adopting the literary
as a core criteria for articulation to the end would allow college FL departments the flexibility to envision and
develop necessary reform in ways that would best reflect their local cultures and areas of expertise.
That’s the theory, in any case.

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IN PRACTICE

Using Le Littéraire dans le quotidien for First-Year French Programs
Because I wished to create a body of materials that could be integrated as the reader/writer-based component
for first-year level French, I chose the open online program, Français Interactif, as representative of such a
sequence in quotidian topics, grammar, language functions, phonology and spoken texts for oral/aural French:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/home.
The content for Le Littéraire dans le quotidien was then developed to explore related topics that would allow for
extending meanings and functions in reading and writing. If you are using a commercially published textbook,
you could have it custom published, omitting the reading/writing sections and replacing them with units from
these materials (as is or modified to suit your needs) or with ones that you create in this vein. In fact, we want
to encourage users who modify activities in Le Littéraire dans le quotidien (LLDQ), or who create new materials, to share your work by submitting a form with a link to the document/s through the form at http://goo.gl/
mCvQYi (See the LLDQ document: 00c Technology Instructions.)
The best way to understand the theory behind the proposed practices is to consider the units in LLDQ as models
and to read them from the perspectives of teacher and learner. There is, in fact, no answer key for the reading
sections. This provides the opportunity for teachers and students to experience the reading process anew and to
interpret answers based on evidence in the text.
Because these materials were designed for the first-year level, many of the instructions are written in English
with a gradual integration of French, and the assumption is that students will write their answers to analytical
questions in English. Depending on the level of language proficiency for the course that you teach, make your
wishes clear to students as to whether they should write answers in English, French or both.
Pedagogical Sequencing for Reading
• Préparation (Preparation) = background information on the author, text and genre, plus a predicting
question or activity based on the given information in order to orient students towards imaging the world
view or mental landscape of the writer and text.
It is important to let students know that these materials strive to provide a rich backdrop of cultural
information to help them to be better prepared to interpret meanings when reading. Students are not
expected to learn or to be tested on the information. They are expected to use the information as needed
reference.
• Première lecture (First Reading) = grappling with form-meaning connections in the text to arrive at an
initial understanding of the content.

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The first four chapters (1a, 1b, 2 and 3) engage students directly with activities designed to promote
good reading strategies. Afterwards, this initial reading stage is dealt with in a variety of ways: having
students carry out a social reading of a text* (chapters 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11); requiring students to collaborate by reading different texts and sharing their findings (chapters 5 and 6); and challenging students
to read independently in order to clarify assumptions, expectations, or stereotypes (chapters 12 and 13).
• Regardez de plus près (Take a Closer Look) = activities pertaining to the text’s linguistic, stylistic and
genre-based features that potentially challenge the students’ comprehension of the text attained from the
first reading. The goal in this step is to foster development of a more evidence-based and nuanced understanding of the text.
• Allons plus loin (Let’s Go Further) = supplemental cultural or textual information that allows the students and the instructor to take interpretation and comprehension to yet a further degree and to begin a
shift in focus to writing.
* The How-to’s of Social Reading
COERLL’s website for eComma strives to be a “space for social reading” and includes information on a variety of available online tools. This is the link to the home page: https://ecomma.coerll.utexas.edu/ and this
to a listing of online tools: https://ecomma.coerll.utexas.edu/comparison-of-annotation-tools/.
Once you have the technology in place, you can define the social reading activity as desired: synchronous
or asynchronous (in or outside of the classroom), with or without a particular textual or interpretative focus,
and with comments written in L1, bilingually, or L2.
The eComma website defines social reading as turning “a reader’s natural instinct to ‘talk back to the text’
into a dialogue with others in which one comment provokes another. The result is a collaborative commentary.” There are four case studies on the site that exemplify different activities at different levels of language
proficiency.
In LLDQ, social reading is suggested for use as the first reading of a text to allow students the freedom to
grapple with the content in a peer-moderated forum.
Following is an example of instructions for an open-ended assignment carried out asynchronously as homework:
As you read, add your comments, reactions or questions to the text and respond to your classmates’
comments with an eye to helping the group come to a better understanding of the text. Since this
activity will be carried out over the course of two days, work with the comments that are present as
you are reading. Then, before class, as preparation for discussion of the text, read the full stream of
comments.

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In Blyth’s case study, he provides the following description of a focused assignment for a fourth semester
intermediate French course:
“The readings in the course represented different literary genres. To contextualize the readings,
the textbook gave background information about the author and the relevant artistic movement.
For example, in its introduction to the poem Liberté, the textbook described the author, Paul Eluard, as one of the major figures in the surrealist movement. In addition to Eluard, the textbook
briefly reviewed the works of other surrealist artists, including the Belgian painter René Magritte
whose famous autoportrait “The Son of Man” pictures a green apple floating in front of a man
dressed in an overcoat and bowler hat.
After viewing several surrealist paintings together, I instructed my students to not only “read” the
poem on eComma, but to annotate the text’s surreal non sequiturs and juxtapositions. What was
the effect of such unexpected juxtapositions on the reader? I told my students that the assignment was to be done asynchronously in either English or French. Finally, I gave the students a
deadline that left me enough time to review their work before the following class.”

Source: https://ecomma.coerll.utexas.edu/references/

For tailoring your follow-up to students’ work, monitor their comments and questions for instances of misinterpretation:

ØØ misreading = a basic error in comprehension regarding the where, when, who does what to whom
ØØ mismapping = a misunderstanding due to a cultural gap
ØØ miscontrual = a misappropriation of a writer’s perspective or mental landscape.

When you have identified erroneous interpretations, you can prepare appropriate feedback or supplemental
information.
If you are not able to have students carry out social readings, they can simply utilize the kinds of reading
strategies developed in chapters 1-4, applying them to printed versions of texts and discussing their findings
in the Allons plus loin activities.
Pedagogical Sequencing for Writing
• Type de texte = identification of the genre
• Votre écrit = the writing assignment description
• Préparation = additional explanations of genre conventions, discourse-level grammar, functional language or cultural information needed for the assignment
• Rédaction en collaboration = peer-editing activities
• Allez plus loin = a follow-up performative activity in some units

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Considerations for Curricular Development
²² Many first-year textbooks plan for two weeks to cover a chapter and provide a comprehensive test as
culmination of the chapter content. If the comprehensive test includes paragraph writing you can eliminate this and plan instead for the submission of the LLDQ writing assignment to correspond with the
end of the chapter assessment for written communicative and symbolic competencies.
²² The first two units of these materials, designated as 1a and 1b, have been designed to address key features that are typical for the first chapter of any textbook. Unit 1a could be used at the beginning of the
chapter as a way of introducing and learning the given vocabulary (the writing assignment would not
need to be graded), and unit 1b could be used as closure. Units 2, 5, and 6 also involve writing two
genres. The first in each case is a way of expanding vocabulary as a first step to writing the second. In
these cases, as well, you may wish to assign the first at the beginning of the chapter and the second at the
end.
²² Units 2-13 follow the topics and grammar syllabus embedded in Français Interactif’s chapters 2-13.
Even if you do not use FI, you may wish to give a quick look at the corresponding chapter index – http://
www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/ –in order to better link reading/writing materials to your course content.

Assessing Students’ Work
These materials are challenging, not because they are above the competencies of first-year learners, but because
they will likely not match expectations, and when students are introduced to new ways of carrying out very
anchored learning practices, their fears naturally center on grading. Following are some recommended practices:
Reading Assessment–
The activities in the Préparation, Première lecture, and Regardez de plus près sections of these units were not
designed to be graded, except, perhaps, as completion/non completion of out-of-class work. They are meant to
act as a springboard for in-class discussion in the Allons plus loin activities in order to suss out errors or unsubstantiated interpretations and to exercise processes of interpretation. One benefit of having students engage in
social reading as the first reading of a text is that it allows teachers to gauge students’ collective comprehension
before class, thereby providing the opportunity to prepare tailored in-class followup. In either event, it is essential for students to self-monitor their written answers in class and to amend any misinterpretations they may
have generated.
Discussions at the outset would be carried out in English, but teachers should attend to spoken language functions and genre conventions that could later be made explicit in the FL. This sort of scaffolding would provide
the basis for incremental development from English to bi-lingual to FL-only across language proficiency levels.
For graded assessment of students’ reading competencies, standard comprehension tests would still be applicable. In order to better align assessment with the skills and practices embedded in these materials, however, you
could adapt your current tests or test formats by incorporating comprehension questions that require students to
provide evidence from the text to support their answers. (Such an approach also lets the instructor see when the

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student has understood the text but not the test question!) Grading for such adjustments would require answer
keys that would allow for variations in interpreted answers based on the evidence provided.
Writing Assessment–
Because assignments greatly vary, generic grading measures would not be appropriate. With this in mind, the
writing process as devised in these materials anticipates assessment in that the criteria for each assignment are
presented in the Rédaction en collaboration (peer editing) section. These dimensions then form the basis for
grading. (See the Appendix in this document for a model for generating applicable performance rubrics to
match any of the assignments in these materials and any others that you may wish to devise.)
Considerations:
• Research indicates (and anecdotal experience corroborates) that when students are left to their own
devices to peer-edit, they overly focus on spelling and grammatical accuracy. Developing the holistic
eye of an editor to include genre conventions and stylistic features is a skill that benefits learners across
disciplines, along with reinforcing the language and structures being studied.
• Length of texts–
"Je n'ai fait cette lettre-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte. (I have
made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had time to make it shorter.)
Blaise Pascal (1623-62), 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician.”
Source : http://www.twainquotes.com/Letters.html

Students inevitably ask about the desired length of a writing assignment. Instead of imposing a quantitative limit, however, these materials endeavor to help students to develop an intuitive sense of length
based on satisfying the reader’s expectations for the given genre and on concision as the result of careful
editing.
• In following the proposed writing process, the work that students finally submit for grading represents
their best efforts. Not only does this allow for a more credible basis for assessment, but it has the added
benefit to the teacher of reducing time spent on reading poorly prepared assignments and involves only
one graded version of a text.
• When generating grades, it is important to keep in mind that in utilizing simple language and grammar
but to maximum effect, students can communicate a lot. The creative and nuanced dimensions of their
writing, then, should be appropriately weighted in regards to general control of the language and structures being studied.

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Tips for Creating Your Own Materials in the Vein of the Literary in the Everyday
Chapter 11 in LLDQ, Mais je digresse, is a good example of the approach underlying the concept of the literary
in the everyday and of a transdisciplinary approach: the materials constitute a networking of linguistically and
culturally relevant digressions. The selected text acts as a basis for associative thinking, a jumping off point for
linking information about language, style, genre conventions and social, political or cultural events that can help
students to grapple with meaning.
If you feel inspired to “play” with the literary in the everyday either by modifying chapters in LLDQ or by creating your own units, here are some tips:
• All the Web’s your stage
Choose a theme or topic and browse the Internet for appropriate texts that are not copyrighted. Think
synthetically by also looking for images, videos, supporting resources, and historical and cultural input.
Surfing the Internet fosters this kind of associative thinking.
A note on selecting texts: If you are not familiar with the practice of close reading for literary texts,
google college-level strategies for carrying out close reading. This will provide you with ideas for linguistic and stylistic features to attend to in a text.
A note on selecting images: Because LLDQ is published under a Creative Commons license (CC BY)
and because we want to encourage the remixing and republishing of chapters, to avoid problems with
copyrighted images, be sure to use those in the public domain and/or with CC BY status. The two sources used in LLDQ are Wikimedia: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and Morguefile: http://
www.morguefile.com/. There are other such sources that can be used, or you may even wish to include
your own images, if you are willing to share them.
For copyrighted texts already in use in your course textbook, see if you can approach these texts differently by unearthing metaphorical language and stylistic techniques. Some textbooks simplify texts by
eliminating the literary dimensions felt to be too difficult for learners in the lower division to comprehend. Look at the original versions of texts to see how you might work productively with the full scope
of their linguistic and cultural features. While you would not be able to share those texts online, you
could share the activities that you develop in the vein of the literary in the everyday.
• Identify the embedded genre or genres in a text and look for reference resources that make the conventions explicit. To help students better master those conventions, create writing assignments that subvert
the standards (breaking a code means understanding first what constitutes the code!), e.g. a dream narrative that includes the illogical juxtapositions of events typical of dream sequences (chapter 9), a fractured fairytale (chapter 10), development of a topic via digressive musings (chapter 11), or a dialogue
that incorporates a misunderstanding (chapter 1b).
• Look to “exceptions” in grammar to see if you can identify productive patterns that are metaphorical
extensions of the prototypical meanings and uses presented in your textbook. (chapters 1a, 5)
• Try to identify words or language structures that engage cultural scripts or the writer’s construal. A

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good place to begin is to look for words that refer to cultural values or practices; then, check the forums
for discussion or the comments sections in websites whose aim it is to compare two languages, such
as MIT’s Cultura Project or WordRef.com. (chapters 1b, 3, 4). An example in WordRef is for the word
“dating,” as in to go out on a date. There is no direct translation in French. Looking at the postings in the
English-French forum provides a rich selection of cultural equivalents.
Note: In their discussion of cultural gaps, Swaffar and Arens indicate that “Apparently, without
prior orientation to key vocabulary, FL students’ faulty cultural schemata can result in their maintaining
a flawed reading despite subsequent textual cues to the contrary.” (p. 42, emphasis added.) Instead of
providing appropriate orientation to key vocabulary prior to reading, I prefer to use an inductive process
with the additional goal of getting students to more systematically question their assumptions. In this
way, over time, students should develop a heightened intuitive sense of when they are being confronted
with a cultural gap and how they might approach resolving it.
• Select a key word from a text and check a dictionary to see if you can create a semantic field or a metaphorical motif “around” it, as for example, the motif of movement using the verb aller in chapter 3 or
food idioms in chapter 5.
• Make note of paralinguistic aspects of a text that express nuance or emotion, attitudes or values: punctuation, capitalization, font size, sounds/onomatopoeia, images, emoticons and formatting or language
structures (chapters 1b, 2, 6).
• Provide opportunities for students to work across texts, looking for intertextual meanings. (chapter 13)
• Incorporate dimensions of cross-cultural or symbolic competence according to Kramsch’s recommendations (Kramsch, 2011, p. 364):
- “Use communicative activities as food for reflection on the nature of language,
discourse, communication and mediation.
- Pay attention to what remains unsaid, or may even be unsayable because it is
politically incorrect or disturbing […].
- Bring up every opportunity to show complexity and ambiguity […].
- Engage the students’ emotions, not just their cognition.”
(chapters 4, 7, 12, 13)
• Embrace the poetic. If you want your students to leave their comfort zones, you will need to model this
for them.
• Follow your vision!
Joanna Gay Luks, Cornell University, 2013

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References
ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners © ACTFL, Inc., 2012
Blyth, C. (2011). The Relevance of Cultural Linguistics to Foreign Language Graduate Education. In H. W.
Allen and H. H. Maxim (Eds.) Educating the Future Foreign Language Professoriate for the 21st Century.
AAUSC Issues in Language Program Direction. Heinle, Cengage Learning.
Foreign languages and higher education: New structures for a changed world (MLA Ad Hoc Committee on
Foreign Languages). (2007) Retrieved from http://www.mla.org/flreport
Hiram Maxim. A genre-based approach to sequencing content. (2011) Retrieved from http://userwww.service.
emory.edu/~hmaxim/presentations.html
Claire Kramsch (2011). The symbolic dimensions of the intercultural. Language Teaching, 44, pp 354-367.
doi:10.1017/S0261444810000431.
Paesani, K. (2011). A Literacy-Based Approach to Foreign Language Teacher Development. In H. W. Allen and
H. H. Maxim (Eds.) Educating the Future Foreign Language Professoriate for the 21st Century. AAUSC Issues
in Language Program Direction. Heinle, Cengage Learning.
Ryshina-Pankova, M. (2011). Preparing Graduate Student Teachers for Advanced Content-Based Instruction. In
H. W. Allen and H. H. Maxim (Eds.) Educating the Future Foreign Language Professoriate for the 21st Century.
AAUSC Issues in Language Program Direction. Heinle, Cengage Learning.
Swaffar, J., & Arens, K. (2005). Remapping the Foreign Language Curriculum: An approach through multiple
literacies. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.
Willis Allen, H., & Dupuy, B. (2011). Evolving Notions of Literacy-Based Foreign Language Teaching: A
Qualitative Study of Graduate Student Instructors. In H. W. Allen and H. H. Maxim (Eds.) Educating the Future
Foreign Language Professoriate for the 21st Century. AAUSC Issues in Language Program Direction. Heinle,
Cengage Learning.

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APPENDIX I

Devising Grading and Performance Rubrics for Writing Assignments
The assignment in 1b of Le Littéraire et le quotidien is used here as an example. In this assignment, students
are asked to write a dialogue in playscript form that encodes a misunderstanding and negotiation of intended
meaning. Following are the instructions given for peer editing:
Activité 3: Rédaction en collaboration
Exchange drafts with a partner.
A. Read your partner’s text once. If you have difficulty understanding something, ask for clarification.
B. Read the text again and provide feedback on the following:
• Establishing an appropriate context
Identify the source of the misunderstanding and look at the given circumstances.
Is the faux pas realistically invoked? If not, what recommendations can you make?
• Use of negotiating language
Underline all of the negotiating language. Do both parties respond appropriately to the misunderstanding?
• Maintaining appropriate register
Note the relationship between the two speakers. Should the register be formal or informal? Check to
make sure that the register is consistent throughout.
• Applying playscript conventions
Look at the formatting. Does your partner’s script follow the appropriate conventions? If you see a problem, point it out.
To the four stated criteria for this assignment a fifth should be added:
• Overall control of language forms and uses being studied
These five criteria would then constitute the basis for generating a grading rubric.
See the prototype provided below.
For each assignment, the prototype rubric can be customized by simply replacing the criteria listed in the
left-hand column with those given for the Rédaction en collaboration activities.

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Performance Rubric for Writing Assignments
Name

Écrit nº 1b__ Genre _playscript dialogue_

Excellent

Good

Competent

Fairly
Competent

Not yet
Competent

Establishing
an appropriate context
Use of
negotiating
language
Maintaining
appropriate
register
Applying
playscript
conventions
Overall
control of
language
forms and
uses being
studied
Further Comments:

Grade: ____________
…
A 93-96
A- 90-92

B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82

C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72

D+ 67-69
D 63-66
D- 60-62

F < 60

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Texts & Genres
1a. What’s in a name?

Cultural Knowledge &
Mindset

Language Use &
Strategies

Reading a homespun poem

• Interpreting a writer’s mental images from grammatical metaphors and context

• Detecting nouns used as
adjectives
• Noticing rhyme schemes
for sound-spelling relationships

Writing a simple poem

• Expressing mental imagery
in word play

• Creating a rhyme scheme
• Using nouns as adjectives
to characterize someone

Peer Editing

Checking:
• topic development via
visualization
• word choice via mental
imagery
• rhyme scheme via reading
outloud

1b. Comment?!
Reading a “word play,” L’accent
grave, by Jacques Prévert

• Recognizing Platonic
Forms
• Understanding the French
notion of individualisme
• Evaluating worldview
based on mental imagery
of words
• Watching a tourist information video about a goat
cheese farm

• Using decoding strategies
for word forms
• Listening for hesitation
techniques

Writing a dialogue in playscript
form about a misunderstanding
and its resolution

• Generating a faux pas
• Clarifying a misunderstanding using negotiating
language
• Controlling register

Peer Editing

• Matching language and
register to context
• Checking for playscript
conventions

Contents 1

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Texts & Genres
2. Un portrait chinois
Reading the Proust and Pivot personality questionnaires
Listening to famous people respond
to Pivot’s questionnaire
Writing a a self-portrait in the form
of a Chinese portrait

Cultural Knowledge &
Mindset
• The use of Chinese portraits
in 19th century English popular culture and 20th century
American and French television media

• Utilizing decoding strategies
for reading comprehension
• Assessing personality based
on evidence found in answers
to questions

• Asking questions that reveal
tastes and aspirations
• Selecting an image (visualization) for symbolic representation

• Using noun phrases/clauses as
information questions
• Using a variety of noun forms
to provide written answers
• Linking ideas with punctuation
• Checking topic development
via visualization
• Checking accuracy of noun
forms and use of commas
• Recognizing literal translations
• Matching symbolic imagery
to a reader’s interpretations

Peer Editing

3. Envie de voyager

Language Use &
Strategies

/ Wanderlust

Reading passages from a blog post,
The Wanderer (Voyages de rêve)

• Comparing American and
French students’ word associations for United States and
France

• Finding metaphorical language in the text related to
traveling and savouring

Writing a blog post on a travel-worthy destination

• Including imagery to draw the
reader’s attention

• Incorporating a metaphorical
motif to enrich writing
• Linking ideas with coordinating conjunctions
• Using mixed formatting:
paragraph writing and
telegraphic style

Peer Editing

Contents 2

• Checking informational
content with what the reader
would need to know
• Examining effectiveness of
metaphors
• Checking accuracy of coordinating conjunctions, format,
and impact of imagery

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Texts & Genres
4. Respect et verité

Cultural Knowledge &
Mindset

Language Use &
Strategies

Reading self-portraits written by
high school students in France and
Poland

• Reading about the Enlightenment values of self respect
and honesty

• Identifying emotionally
charged words and sentence
structures for balancing honesty with self-respect

Writing a descriptive portrait of
someone’s physical and personality
traits

• Including a photograph of the
portrayed subject

• Applying softening techniques for describing someone with respectful accuracy
• Controlling length by avoiding repeated words and redundant information
• Checking for accuracy of
description, use of softening
techniques, and repetitiveness
or redundancies

Peer Editing

5. Un peu de hareng fumé
Reading prescriptive texts: -Cocteau’s prose poem, Petite lettre à la
dérive;
-Coquelin cadet’s monolgue fumiste
that accompanies Cros’ poem Le
Hareng saur;
-a recipe for marinated smoked
herring

• Expanding comprehension of
a text through visual and oral
“readings”
• Learning some food-based
idioms

• Identifying genre conventions
for prescriptive texts
• An introduction to noun
countability and noun phrase
structures with invariable de

Writing a recipe and a set of
instructions for when and how to
appreciate a dish

• Following recipe conventions
• Writing a prescriptive text for
a chosen audience

Peer Editing

• Matching register to audience
• Following instructions to
check accuracy
• Recognizing and reworking
literal translations
• Tweaking style

Contents 3

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Texts & Genres
6. La Ville et le graffiti

Cultural Knowledge &
Mindset

• Contrasting uses of narrative
present and passé composé
• An introduction to prepositional systems in English and
French

Reading examples of graffiti and a
web magazine article about a calligraffiti artist

Writing an aphorism and an explanatory text;
Turning an aphorism into a French
tweet with texting abbreviations

Language Use &
Strategies

• Creating a graffiti tag as complement to an aphorism

• Using language structures to
express oppositions
• Sequencing past events with
passé composé verbs and time
expressions (adverbs)
• Examining aphorism structure
and intended meaning
• Checking tense usage: present
for explanation and past for
sequencing of events
• Comparing pronunciation of
words with texting abbreviations

Peer Editing

• Exploring impact of graffiti
imagery

7. Fêtes et souvenirs
Reading recollections by Georges
Sand on “Le père Noël”

• Catholicism past and present
in France

• Reminiscing about a childhood holiday

Writing your recollections of a
family tradition

• “Making strange” your own
cultural practices

• Using imparfait verbs for
talking about the way things
were or used to be

Peer Editing

Contents 4

• Checking topic development
via visualization
• Checking forms/usage of
imparfait verbs and accuracy
of questions forms
• Taking an “ousider’s” perspective to evaluate content

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Texts & Genres
8. Sur le chemin du retour

Cultural Knowledge &
Mindset
/ Homeward Bound

• Noticing the structuring of
prose poems

Reading excerpts from Dany Laferrière’s, Chronique de la dérive douce
Writing a chronicle in prose poetry

• Watching a 1988 Canadian
television show, Êtes-vous
raciste? and listening to Canadian French pronunciation

Reading a French joke about internet technology;
Reading a recounting of a dream

• Employing genre conventions
for prose poetry

• Assessing storyline clarity
• Examining poetic configuration
• Strenghening closure (epiphany) for a prose poem
• Satisfying a reader’s curiosity

Peer Editing

9. La Technologie…

Language Use &
Strategies

composée et imparfaite
• Learning French internet
vocabulary

• Finding illogical sequencing
of events in a dream text

Writing a dream narrative with past
tenses

• Using passé composé and
imparfait verbs plus illogical
sequencing

Peer Editing

• Matching theme to story type
• Checking verb aspect for a
past narrative
• Identifying illogical sequencing and delusional imagery
• Matching narrative structure
to story type

Contents 5

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Texts & Genres
10. Il était une fois
Reading Perrault’s Le Petit Chaperon rouge

Cultural Knowledge &
Mindset
• Using historical facts to
decode the values of an earlier
period
• Comparing a contemporary
filmed version to the text to
improve comprehension
• Thinking about significant
events in your life and comparing your answers to those
of French students

Language Use &
Strategies
• Recognizing verbs in passé
simple
• Identifying language and conventions used in fairy tales

• Subverting fairy tale conventions

Writing a fractured fairy tale

• Using impersonal expressions
with “il”
• Matching the moral of the
story to the story content
• Checking verb aspect for a
past narrative and fairytale
conventions
• Checking structures for expressing opinions/advice

Peer Editing

11. Mais je digresse
Reading a blog entry, Ambiguïtés,
by Françoise Gomarin

• Understanding uses of associative or digressive thinking
and the various effects it can
have on the reader
• Examining syllable structuring in French to improve
pronunciation when reading
out loud

• Finding digressions in a text

Writing digressive musings

• Prewriting questions to guide
content development
• Incorporating digressions to
reflect how you think and
speak
• Using parallelisms as a stylistic technique

Peer Editing

• Assessing topic development
and digressions
• Checking parallel structures
• Checking for repetitiveness/
redundancies

Contents 6

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Texts & Genres
12. Le Monde du travail
Reading jokes about the French
economy and attitudes about work
Reading Geert Hofstede’s model for
a cultural dimensions theory

Cultural Knowledge &
Mindset
• Reflecting on cultural values
and their impact on the work
world
• Learning some potentially
embarrassing false cognates!

Language Use &
Strategies
• Recognizing cultural stereotypes in a text

Writing a funny anecdote about a
cross-cultural misunderstanding in
the workplace

• Using joke-telling conventions for writing a humorous
anecdote
• Using conditional and subjunctive verbs for nuancing
meaning in a joke

Peer Editing

• Assessing application of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
theory
• Tweaking effectiveness of
humor
• Looking for and reworking
literal translations
• Checking accuracy of verb
tenses in conditional sentences and subjunctive verb usage

13. L’Amour et l’argent
Reading the writings of a French
soldier during World War II:
-a poem
-excerpts from a war journal
-correspondence with family

• Background information on
the Fall of France

• Decoding visual and textual
symbolism used for getting
past censors in wartime correspondence
• Noticing intertextual references

Writing a love letter

• Selecting an image to convey
intended emotion

• Following instructions (strategies and conventions) for how
to write a love letter

Peer Editing

• Using pre-writing questions
to assess effectiveness of
letter content
• Checking genre conventions
and tone/register
• Matching imagery to content

Contents 7

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing

Contents 8

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
What’s in a Name?

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
What’s in a Name?

Lecture
Préparation
In French, the word, nom, translates as either name or noun. Juliet famously asks Romeo the rhetorical question:
“What’s in a name?” For language learners, the more relevant question is – What’s in a noun?
A noun is a word that is used to name things, places, people, and ideas that exist in the world or in our minds. In
order for a noun to function as a noun in French, it must have an article (un/une/des ; le/la/l’/les ; du/de la/ de l’)
or another determiner – words like ce/cet/cette/ces (this/that/these) and ma/son/leurs (my/his/their) – that identifies the gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) of the noun in context.
There are cases where base nouns (nouns with no article/determiner) can be used as nouns, as for example in
titles or lists of nouns, in order to streamline the text. In such instances, the articles are omitted but understood.
So, what’s in a base noun? Because base nouns cannot express form and number, they express a sense of character or of an attribute that is derived from the noun idea. Base nouns in standard French function as adjectives,
most typically following the verb être. An example is when naming someone’s profession:
Hélène est musicienne, Stéphane est ingénieur.
Je suis professeur(e).
Ils sont médecins.
This differs from English, where the indefinite, singular noun form must be used:
Helen is a musician; Steven is an engineer.
I am a teacher.
(They are doctors.)
In informal or spoken French, base nouns can be used as adjectives to characterize someone in relationship to
something that they like or use or do or resemble. It is a way of creating metaphorical meaning, and, in order to
be understood, the attribute must be clear from the context. This function exists in English as well, but usage is
more restricted.
Look at the following chart. Note the additional adverbial intensifiers (so, totally, really // très, vraiment, plutôt).

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What’s in a Name?

NOUNS AS ADJECTIVES
Metaphorical usage; informal/spoken register
ENGLISH
-Sarah is so country.
[e.g. she really likes that type of music or the life-style
associated with the music or she is not urban]
-He’s totally nuts/crackers/bananas. [crazy]
-Ted and John have become really fast food.
[e.g. they eat a lot of fast food; they have adopted the
position that eating fast food is fine]

FRENCH
Two students arrive in a room to study for an exam.
This is their exchange:
–Tu es plutôt table ou bureau? [Do you prefer studying
at a table or a desk?]
–Moi, je suis très table. [I’m more of a table person; I’m
more into studying at a table.]
-Il est très ordinateur. [He’s a real computer freak.]
-Ils sont vraiment café. [They’re coffee-crazy.]
-Elles sont plutôt cafés. [e.g. They like going to cafés
rather than to restaurants.]

You can expand the use of the vocabulary that you are studying in French by employing nouns as adjectives. This
can create an informal, idiomatic tone to your speaking or writing, or add a touch of the poetic!
For this first reading, I set myself the challenge of writing a simple poem. I am not a poet, but being willing to
play with words gives poetic license. First-year college textbooks typically begin with the language of greetings
and introductions, and the vocabulary of the classroom. I wrote this poem primarily using vocabulary and expressions from the first chapter of a first-semester textbook.
Première lecture
The poem is entitled, “C’est tout un poème,” which literally means It’s quite a poem. However, when the noun,
“un poème” takes on metaphorical meaning (yes, all words, regardless of their grammar, can take on metaphorical meaning!), it expresses the idea of something that is inexplicable. This sentence constitutes an idiom used for
making a commentary about a person or a situation, and, in this sense, translates as He/She is quite something /
It’s quite something.
As you read the poem the first time, try to understand the relationship between the content and the title. When
done, note your ideas here in English:

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
What’s in a Name?

le texte

« C’est tout un poème » par Joanna Gay Luks

Je vous présente Aaron
Il est étudiant en
Sciences politiques
Mais en linguistique
Il est plutôt1 escargot.

1

rather/pretty (adverb)

2

after
then

Dans la salle de classe
Il y a un tableau, un morceau de craie
Et un exercice avec le verbe être
Mais Aaron est très fenêtre.
Aujourd’hui, on est lundi.
Après2, il y a la semaine, et puis3
Samedi, dimanche… mais oh ?
Le week-end, Aaron est très labo !
Comment ? Qu’est-ce qu’il fait?
Ben4, Aaron apprend5 le français.
Sa nouvelle petite amie6 s’appelle Marie
Elle est de Paris !

1A 4

3

the sound of hesitating/thinking out loud
learns
6
his new girlfriend
4
5

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
What’s in a Name?

Regardez de plus près
1. Read the poem again and circle all of the instances of base nouns used as adjectives for standard and metaphorical meanings. (There are 4!)
2. In the first column of the chart below, write each sentence that includes a noun as adjective.
In the second, write attributes in English that you can associate with the base noun being used as an adjective.
In the third, write possible English translations for the sentence.
S + V +(adv) +base noun

Word associations in English

Possible English translations

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
What’s in a Name?

Allons plus loin
1. Listen to the poem read out loud by your instructor. Follow the rhyme scheme and underline the words
that rhyme or nearly rhyme.
2. Avec un partenaire:
a. In the columns below, write the rhymed pairs of words from the poem and underline the sounds that
are the same or nearly the same. (The first pair is given as an example.) Sound out the words and note any
differences in spellings for same/similar sounds.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Aaron

en

b. Comparez vos réponses avec la classe.
1. Listen to the poem again, this time repeating line by line after your instructor.
2. En groupe:
a. Comparez vos réponses dans les sections Première lecture et Regardez de plus près.
Discutez les questions suivantes:
• What explanation best describes the relationship between the title and the content of the poem?
• Which translations do you think work best and why?
b. Choose three nouns that you are currently studying that could be used as adjectives to characterize
someone. For each, write a translation in English of your intended meaning.
Nom

c. Comparez vos réponses avec la classe.
Be prepared to provide some context for supporting your meaning!

1A 6

Traduction

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
What’s in a Name?

Écriture
Type de texte
A poem / un poème
Votre écrit
Write a simple poem on the theme of introducing a fellow
student (real or imagined) to the class by characterizing an
aspect of his/her interests, activites or personality. Use the
vocabulary of this chaper in your textbook to incorporate
rhyming and the use of base nouns as adjectives for standard and metaphorical meanings. You may use any format
for the poem that you wish. Include a title (un titre).
Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Préparation
1. Rhyming
Go through the vocabulary in your textbook and note down words/phrases/sentences or questions that
you would like to incorporate. Listen to the pronunciation of words that you think should rhyme, keeping in mind that spelling alone may not be a sufficient clue.
If you would like to find a French first name to fit your rhyme scheme, look at an online resource for
choosing a name for a baby boy or girl (key words = prénoms français), for example, “Meilleurs Prénoms”:
http://www.meilleursprenoms.com/
If there is vocabulary you wish to use but that is not included in your textbook, you can listen to the pronunciation in the online Larousse French–English dictionary. Enter a French word that you are seeking
and click on it to hear how it is pronounced:
http://www.larousse.com/en/dictionaries/french-english/plut%C3%B4t
If you wish to find a word that rhymes with one you would like to use, here is a resource – a French
Rhyming Dictionary (Dictionnaire français des rimes):
http://www.alcor.com.au/french_rhyming_dictionary.asp

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
What’s in a Name?

Note your findings in the table below:
Words/phrases/sentences from book

Words that rhyme

2. Base nouns as adjectives
Now, select some base nouns that you think could be used as adjectives and brainstorm associations.
Note your findings:
Base nouns as adjectives

3. Write a first draft (un brouillon) of your poem.
4. Practice reading the draft out loud.

1A 8

Associations

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
What’s in a Name?

Rédaction en collaboration
1. Exchange drafts with a partner.
a. Read your partner’s text once. If you have difficulty understanding something, ask for
clarification.
b. Read the text again and provide feedback on the following:
• Topic development
Is the theme of the poem – introducing someone to your reader and characterizing an aspect of the
person’s interests, activites or personality, successfully developed? Is there a sufficient amount of
information for you to have a clear picture in your mind of the person being described? If not, what
further information could be provided?
• Choice and use of base nouns as adjectives
Circle all of the instances of base nouns used as adjectives. Tell your partner what you think the
meanings are and see if these correspond with what your partner meant.
If you cannot understand some of the intended meanings, what suggestions can you offer for either
modifying the context or for choosing a different noun to use?
• Incorporation of a rhyme scheme
Read your partner’s poem out loud and underline the words that would seem to rhyme. If you do
not know the pronunciation of a word, ask your partner to say it out loud.
Is the rhyme scheme successful to your ear? If not, indicate where you think there are problems. You can
make suggestions for word substitution by looking over the vocabulary listed in your textbook chapter or
by consulting a French Rhyming Dictionary:
http://www.alcor.com.au/french_rhyming_dictionary.asp

2. In response to your partner’s feedback, revise your draft accordingly and prepare your final version.

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What’s in a Name?

1A 10

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Comment?!

1B 1

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Comment?!

Lecture

Source: CC-BY-SA Catherine Prévert - Vector image by COERLL after a photo found on Wikimedia

Préparation
Jacques Prévert (1900-77). French poet. Set to music by Kosma,
interpreted by Yves Montand, learnt by heart in schools, dissected
by academics, Prévert's poems have a uniquely important place in
20th-c. French culture. His is a poetry of the man in the street—
essentially oral, often sentimental, disdainful of the high and
mighty, respectful towards the underdog. Anarchic and playful,
his spirit is pre-political, although the sketches he wrote during his
participation in the agit-prop Groupe Octobre, some performed
in factories in 1936, and his delightful script for Renoir's film Le
Crime de Monsieur Lange, are quintessential expressions of the Popular Front ethos. A fringe member of the Surrealist group from 1925, he soon joined the dissidents along with his friends from the
‘Groupe de la rue du Château’ (Tanguy, Marcel Duhamel, Queneau).
Prévert began writing poems in the early 1930s. However, long before the publication of his first collection (Paroles, 1946) he had made his name as a writer of film-scripts: Drôle de drame (1937), Quai
des brumes (1938), Les Visiteurs du soir (1942), Les Enfants du Paradis (1945), all directed by Marcel
Carné and displaying a mixture of realism and poetry allied with a strong sense of character. The great
success of Paroles after the war led Prévert to write more poetry […] mostly of a similar kind, dominated by clever punning, a sense of the marvellous, and an unerring feel for the quality of everyday
life.
[Michael Sheringham]
Source: French Literature Companion: www.answers.com/topic/jacques-pr-vert

The text that you will read is from Prévert’s famed first collection, Paroles. It involves a play on words and is
written in the format of a playscript, a dialogue between two characters. It is a “word play”!
1. The poem is entitled “L’accent grave.” Based on the information provided above about Prévert and his
style of writing, what do you think the text will be about? What do you think it will be like to read it?

Première lecture
Because this is a copy-righted poem, you will need to access the text online. (See the link that follows.)

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Comment?!

As you read for general comprehension, use the following decoding strategies for word meanings based on their
forms, grammar and context. Do not use a dictionary!
1. Underline all of the cognates (les mots apparentés) – all of the words that you can recognize English
equivalents for, including in the title. Use these words as anchors for decoding.
2. Look at the word, élève (line 2). Given the context, what can you guess is the meaning?

3. What verb is at the core of the word, sursautant (line 3)? Hint: It is a verb used in cooking. What translation could you provide for sursautant in this context using the core meaning?

4. Look at the prefix “mé-” in the word, mécontent (line 5). What would be an appropiate translation of this
word in the given context?

5. Look at the phrase, être ou ne pas être, in line 8. Think about Shakespeare’s Hamlet. What can you guess
is the translation for the structure: ne pas être? Do you know the name of this grammar structure?

6. Look at the word, excessivement (line 22). What do you think the suffix is? What does it mean? Is this
word a noun, an adjective, an adverb or a verb?

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Comment?!

Le texte
The name of this poem is “L’accent grave,” (Paroles, Gallimard, 1949), and it is by Jacques Prévert.
To access the text, go to this ClicNet web address:
http://clicnet.swarthmore.edu/rire/textes/prevert.html
(If this link should no longer work, google the title and author as key words.)

Here are some further glosses to vocabulary and expressions in the text:

Hein? (line 4): an interjection, "Huh?"
dans les nuages (line 8): in the clouds
Pas tant de manières. (line 10): Don’t be so pompous.
c'est vous qui n'y êtes pas (line 23): you’re the one who’s not in the picture/who isn’t with it
mon pauvre ami (line 23): Lit = my poor friend; I’m sorry to say
dans le fond (line 27): after all
à la réflexion (line 27): upon reflection

Regardez de plus près
Travaillez avec un partenaire et répondez aux questions suivantes:
Le professeur
1. What phrase does the teacher repeat three times in the text?

2. The teacher makes an error of capitalization in French that a reader can see but that would not be heard
if spoken. What is the error?

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Comment?!

Note culturelle – Platonic Forms
From the Chicago Manual of Style:
“Words for transcendent ideas in the Platonic sense, especially when used in a religious context, are often
capitalized. Good; Beauty; Truth; the One.”
http://www.prdaily.eu/PRDailyEU/Articles/Capital_ideas_capital_offenses_When_to_uppercase_4035.aspx#

Here are some words in French expressing the idea of Platonic forms:
pur, idéal, parfait, suprême, archétype, absolu, perfection, modèle
3. What do these instances of repetition and capitalization tell us about the teacher’s way of thinking? How
would you characterize him?

L’élève Hamlet
4. Write the typical conjugation paradigm for the verb être:

5. Compare this with what l’élève Hamlet recites: Je suis ou je ne suis pas.
Translate Hamlet’s version:

6. Translate Hamlet’s responses:
Je suis « où » je ne suis pas (line 26)

être « où » ne pas être (line 28)

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Comment?!

7. Look at Hamlet’s behavior and language throughout the text.
What is your impression of him?
How would you characterize him?

Allons plus loin
1. The main theme of this word play is to contrast personal philosophies of conformism and individualism.
Did you use either of these words or ideas in describing the teacher or Hamlet?
_____________________________________________________________________________

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)
Be careful! As it turns out, the word individualisme carries different connotations in French than it does in

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Comment?!

English. In order to help students better understand certain cultural differences, in 1997, MIT’s French program created Cultura…
“a Web-based, intercultural project situated in a language class, that connects American students with
other students in different countries. […]
The objective of Cultura is to help our students develop understanding of the values, attitudes, beliefs and
concepts inherent in another culture; to understand how people in the other culture interact, look at the
world and frame their thoughts and ideas. Those goals are epitomized by a phrase from Marcel Proust,
which serves as a beacon to our project:
« La seule véritable exploration, la seule vraie fontaine de Jouvence, ne serait pas de visiter des terres
étrangères mais de posséder d'autres yeux, de regarder l'univers à travers les yeux des autres. »
(Translation: "The only true exploration, the only true fountain of youth would not be to visit foreign lands,
but to possess other eyes, to look at the universe through the eyes of others").

Source: http://cultura.mit.edu/community/index/cid/1

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

On the following linked page, you will see two columns. One, under the heading individualisme, has a listing
of associations generated by students in France, and the other, under the heading individualism, has a listing
of word associations generated by students in the United States. Compare their responses! :
Source: http://cultura.mit.edu/1999-fall-mit-int-21/
[Note: If you have difficulty accessing this page, google Cultura Exchanges MIT. Once on the home page, go
to Archived Exchanges, find 1999-Fall-MIT and click on Answers & Discussions. Then in Questionnaire
type: Word Association, click on individualism /individualisme]
As you can see, trying to directly translate a culturally influenced value is difficult. Here are some further
thoughts on Prévert’s writing that may help. See if you can get the gist:
« Son hostilité à toutes les forces d’oppression sociale se traduit dans ses attaques pleines d’humour autant
que de vigueur contre les hommes de pouvoir et les institutions en général. Son sens de l’image insolite

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Comment?!

et sa gouaille [cheekiness] populaire lui inspirent une poésie sortie de sa tour d’ivoire, destinée à tous les
publics et ancrée [anchored] dans les sentiments de la vie quotidienne. Elle invite le lecteur à se fier au
pouvoir de [to trust in the power of] « la parole » [the word] pour accéder au bonheur, individuel et collectif. »
Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/12849038/Poesie-quel-engagement

As closure, Prévert’s writing is described as containing…
« un ferment actif de liberté » – an active agent or enzyme of freedom.
Does this information alter your understanding of Hamlet or of the teacher or of the cultural context of the
text? Discuss your reactions and note your ideas:

2. Google the French movie, “L'école pour tous”, by Eric Rochant
(or go to Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2_W1pMB1QM
a. Watch the first two and a half minutes, until you hear the utterance: “Oh, l'individualiste!”
b. Discuss with a partner why you think the character, Jahwad, says this.
3. Listen to the pronunciation of words in the text, “L’accent grave” that you do not know: http://www.
larousse.com/en/dictionaries/french-english
Practice reading Prevert’s mini play out loud and rotate the roles with your partner.

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Comment?!

Écriture

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Type de texte
A dialogue in playscript form
Votre écrit
Imagine that you are studying French in France. Write a simple
“word play” in the form of a dialogue, in which there is a misunderstanding between yourself and either your imagined teacher or a French student that you have just met. Look through the
vocabulary and content of this chapter in your textbook to find
a source for the confusion: a false cognate, a word that you find
difficult to pronounce, a cultural practice that is different from
what you are accustomed to. (Be careful to note any differences
in capitalization between French and English, for example, for
the days of the week or months.)
Include expressions of negotiation (see below) to ultimately clarify the faux pas.
Utilize the format of the playscript as modeled in the text, L’accent grave.
Include the title: « Comment ?! ».
Préparation
1. Negotiating Language
Informal
Formal

Informal
Formal
Informal
Formal

Comment? (How’s that?)
Hein? / Quoi?
Qu'est-ce que tu dis?
Comment? / Pardon?
Qu'est-ce que vous dites?
Je ne comprends pas. (I don’t understand)
Qu’est-ce que c’est?
Qu’est-ce ça veut dire? (What does this mean?)
Tu peux expliquer?
Est-ce que vous pouvez expliquer?
Oh là là!
Zut! / Mince! (Drat/Darn/Shoot/Holy cow!)
Excuse-moi.
Excusez-moi.

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Informal /
Formal

Pas de problème (That’s alright. No problem)
Il n’y a pas de souci.
Aucun problème
Ce n’est pas grave.*
Hesitation techniques
Ben (= a reduced form of the word “bien,” used for hesitating)
Euh (the French equivalent of “um”)
Elongating vowel sounds in words–
Watch the following tourist information video about a goat cheese farm in the
Rhone-Alpes region in France. The presenter often elongates the vowels in words as
a way of hesitating: cabris (young goat) = cabriiis; on (one, the subject pronoun) =
ooon; samedi = samediii; pré (meadow) = préee.
Even if you do not understand much of what is said, listen for these hesitation
techniques:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/fivideo/chapitre-01-culture-faites-en-un-fromage

2. *The word grave in French can have different meanings. Go back to the answer that you wrote for the
very first activity in this chapter about predicting your reading experience based on the title of the poem,
“L’accent grave.” What are two ways that you could interpret this title?
3. Write a first draft (brouillon) of your dialogue.
Rédaction en collaboration
1. Exchange drafts with a partner.
a. Read your partner’s text once. If you have difficulty understanding something, ask for
clarification.
b. Read the text again and provide feedback on the following:
• Establishing an appropriate context
Identify the source of the misunderstanding and look at the given circumstances.
Is the faux pas realistically invoked? If not, what recommendations can you make?
• Use of negotiating language
Underline all of the negotiating language. Do both parties respond appropriately to the misunderstanding?
• Maintaining appropriate register
Note the relationship between the two speakers in the dialogue. Should the register be formal or informal? Check to make sure that the register is consistent throughout.
• Applying playscript conventions

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Comment?!

Look at the formatting. Does your partner’s script follow the appropriate playscript conventions as
modeled in Prevert’s poem? If you see a problem, point it out.
2. In response to your partner’s feedback, revise your draft accordingly and prepare your final version.
Allons plus loin
Work with a new partner. Read each other’s final scripts out loud, with you playing the role of yourself in your
text and the francophone interlocutor in your partner’s text.

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Comment?!

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Un portrait chinois

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Lecture
Préparation
The Proust Questionnaire is a questionnaire about one's personality. Its name and modern popularity as a form of interview is owed to the responses given by the French writer Marcel Proust.
At the end of the nineteenth century, when Proust was still in his teens, he answered a questionnaire in an English-language confession album belonging to his friend Antoinette, daughter of
future French President Félix Faure, entitled "An Album to Record Thoughts, Feelings, etc." At
that time, it was popular among English families to answer such a list of questions that revealed
the tastes and aspirations of the taker*.
[…]The [French] television host Bernard Pivot, seeing an opportunity for a writer to reveal at the
same time aspects of his work and his personality, traditionally submitted his guests to the Proust
questionnaire at the end of the French broadcast Apostrophes. [Bouillion de culture]
Inspired by Bernard Pivot, James Lipton, the host of the [American] TV program Inside the Actors Studio, gives an adapted version of the Proust Questionnaire to some of his guests.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proust_Questionnaire

*Such questionnaires are more generally referred to as Chinese portraits / portraits chinois.
Have you seen James Lipton’s Inside the Actors Studio? If not, you can see his questionnaire in this Wikipedia link
(or google separately): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Actors_Studio
Do you think his interview questionnaire is an effective way of getting his guests to reveal their tastes and aspirations? Why/Why not?

For this unit you will read selections from the Proust questionnaire and the entire Pivot questionnaire, along

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with their respective personal responses. In order to maximize your comprehension of these texts, there are some
aspects of French to consider:
• One way to create a yes/no question is by using intonation, adding a rising pitch to the end of a spoken
declarative statement or a question mark to the end of a written declarative statement:
Tu joues au tennis?
[You play tennis?]
Elle aime la musique classique?
[She likes classical music?]
Information questions incorporate the equivalents of words like who, what, when, where and why. The Proust
and Pivot questionnaires are composed of information questions, but they use a simpler way of structuring
them by turning noun phrases or clauses into questions:
Noun phrase: Mes héros dans la fiction?
[My heros in fiction? vs. What are my heros in fiction?]
Noun clause: La qualité que je désire chez un homme?
[The quality that I like in a man? vs. What is the quality that I like in a man?]
• While high frequency generalized adjectives (the equivalents of good, old, pretty, and big), come before
the noun in French, just like adjectives in English, most adjectives in French come after the noun:
des charmes féminins [femine charms]
• Certain verbs in these texts are written in the conditional. You can recognize these by their verb endings:
je voudrais
[I would want…]
vous aimeriez
[you would like…]

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Première lecture

Print the texts of the two questionnaires and accompanying activities on pp. 5-8
Work with a partner, each of you reading one of the texts and completing the
corresponding activities.
1. Read your text twice: the first time quickly for gist, the second time with pencil in hand to annotate the
text.
"Annotating" means underlining or highlighting key words and phrases—anything
that strikes you as surprising or significant, or that raises questions—as well as
making notes in the margins. When we respond to a text in this way, we not only
force ourselves to pay close attention, but we also begin to think with the author
about the evidence.
Patricia Kain, for the Writing Center at Harvard University
Source: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/CloseReading.html
1. Along with highlighting any words/phrases that strike you as surprising or significiant and noting your
reactions in the margins, here are some useful decoding strategies for improving interpretation:
a. Underline cognates (les mots apparentés) to use as anchors for comprehension.
b. Draw arrows to link keywords or key phrases in each question and answer.
c. If you need to look up a word in a French/English dictionary, a useful online resource is Word
Reference: http://www.wordreference.com/
At the early stages of using a French/English dictionary, it will be sufficient to look at the first section of
information, “Principal Translations.” This will provide you with the primary meanings of a word. As
meanings are always situated in context and represent the writer’s conceptualization of the thing, event,
idea, process, etc, pay close attention to the grammar of the word and to the context in the text that you
are reading in order to choose what would seem to be an appropriate translation. Once you have chosen a
meaning, write the English equivalent in the margin.
d. Make note of any aspects of grammar or language that you notice as being different from English.

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Le texte nº 1 – Proust

Version de Proust (sélections)

Source: Wikimedia
Réponses de Proust vers 1890

1. La qualité que je désire chez un homme ?

Des charmes féminins.

2. La qualité que je désire chez une femme ?

Des vertus d'homme et la franchise dans la
camaraderie.

3. Ce que j'apprécie le plus chez mes amis ?

D'être tendre pour moi, si leur personne est
assez exquise pour donner un grand prix à
leur tendresse.

4. Mon principal défaut ?

Ne pas savoir, ne pas pouvoir « vouloir ».

5. Mon occupation préférée ?

Aimer.

6. Quel serait mon plus grand malheur ?

Ne pas avoir connu ma mère ni ma grandmère.

7. La couleur que je préfère ?

La beauté n'est pas dans les couleurs, mais
dans leur harmonie.

8. La fleur que j'aime ?

La sienne - et après, toutes.

9. L'oiseau que je préfère ?

L'hirondelle.

10. Mes héros dans la fiction ?

Hamlet.

11. Mes héroïnes dans l'histoire ?

Cléopâtre.

12. Ce que je déteste par-dessus tout ?

Ce qu'il y a de mal en moi.

13. Personnages historiques que je méprise le
plus ?

Je ne suis pas assez instruit.

14. Le fait militaire que j'admire le plus ?

Mon volontariat !

15. Comment j'aimerais mourir ?

Meilleur - et aimé.
Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questionnaire_de_Proust

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Regardez de plus près
Pour le texte nº 1:
Read Proust’s answers to the questions a second time. What impressions do you have of Proust based on his
answers to the questions?
1. Note key adjectives or descriptors that come to mind in English, and look for and note the
French equivalents:

2. Note evidence from the text for formulating your opinions:

3. Conclude with some statements in French about your opinion using the structures:
Je pense qu’il est (un peu/assez/ très/vraiment/ plutôt) + adjectif
À mon avis (in my opinion), c’est un + noun/noun phrase
For a better understanding of the differences between Il est/C’est, see :
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/pro3.html

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Le texte nº 2 – Pivot
Source: Wikimedia CC BY Okki
« Le 29 juin 2001, à sa 407e émission (le dernier Bouillon de culture), [Pivot] a accepté de
répondre à son propre questionnaire » :
1. Votre mot préféré ?

Aujourd'hui (Avec une apostrophe au milieu).

2. Le mot que vous détestez ?

(Un mauvais sentiment, décrit par un mauvais
mot) : Concupiscence.

3. Votre drogue favorite ?

La lecture des journaux en général, et de L'Équipe,
en particulier.

4. Le son, le bruit que vous aimez ?

Le son très discret des pages que je tourne en lisant
un livre, ou le son aussi discret du stylo sur la feuille.

5. Le son, le bruit que vous détestez ?

[Cette question a été oubliée pendant cette dernière
émission]

6. Votre juron, gros mot ou blasphème favori ?

Oh ! Putain !, Oh ! Putain !, Oh ! Putain ! (Toujours
trois fois).

7. Homme ou femme pour illustrer un
nouveau billet de banque ?

Michel Bouquet dans L'Avare de Molière.

8. Le métier que vous n'auriez pas aimé faire ?

Président de France Télévision ou directeur d'une
chaîne du service public.

9. La plante, l'arbre ou l'animal dans lequel
vous aimeriez être réincarné ?

J'aimerais bien être réincarné dans un cep de la Romanée Conti.

10. Si Dieu existe, qu'aimeriez-vous, après
votre mort, l'entendre vous dire ?

« Alors Mr. Pivot, (Oui parce que Dieu a d'abord parlé
latin, hébreux, arabe, puis après il a parlé français. Maintenant il parle anglais, évidemment. Donc) Alors Mr.
Pivot, how do you do? Euh... Pas terrible... je... euh... I am
sorry my God but I don't speak English. Ah ! Mais c'est
vrai vous ne parlez pas anglais. […] Eh bien ! Vous avez
toute l'éternité devant vous pour apprendre l'anglais. Et
je vais vous donner un très bon professeur. S'il vous plait,
allez me chercher Sir William. Shakespeare of course ! »

Source: http://www.philo5.com/Penser%20par%20soimeme/QuestionnaireBernardPivotReponsesBP.htm

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Regardez de plus près
Pour le texte nº 2:
Look at the questions that Pivot chose for his interview questionnaire. What impressions do you have of him
based on his choice of questions?
1. Note key adjectives or descriptors that come to mind in English, and look for and note
the French equivalents:

2. Note evidence from the text for formulating your opinions:

3. Conclude with some statements in French about your opinion using the structures:
Je pense qu’il est (un peu/assez/ très/vraiment/ plutôt) + adjectif
À mon avis (in my opinion), c’est un + noun/noun phrase
For a better understanding of the differences between Il est/C’est, see :
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/pro3.html

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Allons plus loin
1. Présentez le texte du questionnaire et vos réponses à votre partenaire. Ensemble, notez des exemples de…
a. Mots apparentés (par ex. apprécie)

b. Mots et expressions clés dans les questions et réponses (par ex. qualité ➝vertus ; défaut➝ ne pas + savoir)

c. Mots devinés (guessed) et traductions ou significations (par ex. militaire ➝ Mon
volontariat = my volunteering)

d. Mots cherchés dans un dictionnaire et traductions

e. Différences avec l’anglais (par ex. quotation marks use a different symbol)

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2. Detecting key words in spoken French:
Now that you know the questions that are asked in Pivot’s version, listen to some clips of famous people responding to the questions on the website for INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel). Once on the home page,
do a search with the key words– Pivot questionnaire, Bouillon de culture:
http://www.ina.fr/media/television/dossier/1930/questionnaire-deproust.20090331.fr.html
Can you understand enough key words to get the gist of any of the responses? Note the person’s name and
any answers that you think you understand:

3. Noun Forms
One difference between the two questionnaires is that Pivot’s, designed for the literati, asks about preferences
for words (Votre mot préféré ? Votre juron, gros mot ou blasphème favori ?), while the Chinese portrait that
Proust responded to, designed for popular consumption, asks about preferences concerning qualities, activities and things or people:
Qualities : La qualité que je désire chez un homme ? Mon principal défaut ?
Activities : Mon occupation préférée ? Le fait militaire que j'admire le plus ?
People: Mes héros dans la fiction ?
Things : L'oiseau que je préfère ? Ce que je déteste par-dessus tout ?
Notice in Proust’s answers the different forms that nouns can take and their equivalents in English:

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Des charmes féminins

feminine charms = indefinite plural noun

Ne pas pouvoir « vouloir »

to not be able/not being able to want something of someone = negative infinitive + infinitive, which equals two noun ideas !

Aimer

to love = infinitive
loving = the equivalent of the –ing noun
(gerund)

Mon volontariat

my enlisting/my volunteering = possessive
noun

Hamlet

name/proper noun

L'hirondelle

the swallow = definite noun as generic class

Ce qu'il y a de mal en moi

that which/what is bad in me = noun clause

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To keep in mind : an infinitive verb does not function as a verb in a sentence! In order to function as a verb, it
must be conjugated : located in time and accorded with its subject pronoun.
J’aime/Je déteste danser = I like/I hate to dance. // I like/I hate dancing.

Écriture

Source: CC BY COERLL

Type de texte
A self-portrait (autoportrait) in the form of a Chinese portrait / portrait
chinois (a questionnaire)
Votre écrit
Create a self-portrait in the form of a Chinese portrait (see table on next
page) and include visualization of some sort (a photograph, drawing,
chart) as symbolic representation of an aspect of who you are. It cannot
be an actual picture of yourself!
Préparation
1. Creating the information questions and answers
a. Using the following website and vocabulary from the chapter you are studying, select 8 questions that
reveal aspects of your personality, your “tastes and aspirations” :
http://www.portrait-chinois.com/
b. All of the questions on the site are written in the conditional: Si j’étais…? (If I were…?)
Rewrite the questions that you choose in the form: [Noun phrase/clause ?].
For example: Si j’étais une fleur ? –> Ma fleur préférée ? / La fleur que j’aime ?
c. Write brief answers to the questions using a variety of noun forms, as outlined in number 3 of the
section Allons plus loin.
d. For the final question from Pivot’s questionnaire, include the use of punctuation to link some of your
ideas:
2. Punctuation (la ponctuation)
While the symbols for quotation marks and the spacing used with punctuation differ between English and
French, the functions of punctuation are largely the same. There are, however, subtle differences. For example, while the comma (la virgule) cannot be used in English to separate clauses/sentences, it can be used for
this purpose in French:

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LA JUXTAPOSITION : On met une virgule pour séparer des noms, des verbes,   
des adjectifs, etc., ou même des propositions (clauses), qui sont juxtaposés.
Ex.:  Il aime la nature, la musique, sa motocyclette et ses amis.
(noms)
        Leur conversation fut longue, cordiale, profitable.
(adjectifs)
        J'ai acheté des pommes, j'en ferai une compote.”
(propositions)
Source: http://francite.net/education/cyberprof/page12.html
Notice that adjectives and sentences can be linked in this way without the use of and/et. In the case of linking
two sentences with punctuation, English would require a semicolon:
I bought apples; I’ll make apple sauce out of them.
Autoportrait de/d’_________
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.  Si Dieu existe, qu'aimeriez-vous, après votre
mort, l'entendre vous dire ?

3. Write a first draft (brouillon).

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Rédaction en collaboration
1. Exchange drafts with a partner.
a. Read your partner’s text once. If you have difficulty understanding something, ask for clarification.
b. Read the text again and provide feedback on the following:
• Topic development
Is there sufficient descriptive information in the text for you to come away with a clear “picture” of
the writer? Is there too much information, thus clouding the picture? Try to identify areas that need
expanding or clarification or streamlining.
• Accuracy of use of noun forms
Check the questions and answers to numbers 1-8 for accuracy of noun forms. Point out any errors
you may see to your partner.
• Techniques for linking ideas
Underline all of the instances of the use of a comma to connect nouns, adjectives or clauses in the
answer to question 9.
In cases where a comma is used to link clauses, do the sentences appropriately express a juxtaposition of information? In other words, is the use of a comma justified?
• Avoiding literal translations from English
Is there any language in your partner’s text that you can recognize as a direct translation from English (or perhaps from your partner’s native language if it is not English)? Point out any such instances to your partner and together formulate a substitute using the language and stuctures that you are
studying.
• Use of symbolic visual representation
Look at the visualization that was chosen. What does it tell you about the author? Ask the author
what the image represents to confirm your guesses. If the explanation doesn’t match your expectations, what suggestions might you make?
2. In response to your partner’s feedback, revise your draft accordingly and prepare your final version.
Allons plus loin
1. Interview your partner to find out his/her answers to your self-portrait questions. Write out your abbreviated questions in full information question form using the following structures:
Quel/Quelle est + [singular noun phrase/clause] ?
Exemples:
Quel est ton mot préféré ?
Quelle est ta fleur préférée ?
Quel est le métier que tu n’aimerais pas faire ?

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Quelle est la qualité que tu n’aimes pas chez un homme ?
Quels/Quelles sont + [plural noun phrase/clause] ?
Exemples:
Quels sont tes héros dans la fiction ?
Quelles sont tes héroïnes dans l'histoire ?
Quels sont les personnages historiques que tu n’aimes pas ?
Quelles sont les héroïnes dans l’histoire que tu aimes ?
Quel/Quelle + noun + est-ce que tu aimerais être?
Exemples:
Quel oiseau est-ce que tu aimerais être?
Quel type de musique est-ce que tu aimerais être?
Quelle chanson est-ce que tu aimerais être?
Quelle sorte de musique est-ce que tu aimerais être?
A reference for other interrogative words you may need (where, when, how, why…):
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/int7.html
2. Interview your partner using your newly written questionnaire and have your partner
interview you using his/hers. If you do not understand something, ask for clarification!
a. Note your partner’s answers, including any key words in English that your partner did not know the
French for.
b. Read over your partner’s responses and formulate some conclusions:
Je pense qu’il/elle est (un peu/assez/ très/vraiment/plutôt) + adjectif
Il/Elle aime____________ et _________________
À mon avis, c’est un + noun/noun phrase
3. As a class share your observations about partners.

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Envie de voyager

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Envie de voyager

Lecture
Préparation
Used thoughtfully, figures of speech can enrich and enliven our writing. But when laid on too
thick, stretched beyond recognition, bent out of shape, or mixed like a Mai Tai on skid row, figurative language may only confuse--or amuse--our readers.
Source: http://grammar.about.com/b/2008/10/20/block-those-metaphors.htm

For this unit, you are going to read passages from a blog post, The Wanderer (Voyages de rêve). The writing is rich
in figurative language but carefully crafted so that the themes sustain and develop the author’s ideas on travel.
Two motifs are prominent: traveling (metaphors related to movement) and the savouring of foods, and by extension, experiences.
1. Read through the following expressions and their English translations:
Voyager
aller jeter un oeil
vous y allez
tâchez d’éviter les écueils
échappées
pistes
à mi-chemin entre… et…
accompagner
Ce n'est pas vers … que je me dirige
de par le monde
première étape
un itinéraire sur mesure
le voyage d'une vie
dans l'action
sur les traces de
se dérouler
s'articuler autour de
à travers le monde
escale

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Traveling
lit: go throw an eye at = go take a look at
you go there
try to avoid the pitfalls
escapes/impulse trips
trails/paths
mid way between… and…
to accompany
It is not towards… that I direct myself
the world over
first step/leg (of a journey)
a customized/made to order itinerary
a life’s trip (focus on process) vs. the trip
of a lifetime (focus on destination)
in action
in the footprints of
unroll, unfurl, reel out
revolve around
across the globe
layover, stop over, port of call

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Envie de voyager

Savourer
un cocktail élégant
racé
bien frappé
à prendre bien frais
bel et bien
saveurs du monde
le goût des voyages
un monde de saveur
donner terriblement soif d'expériences

Savouring
lit: an elegant cocktail = an elegant mix
pedigreed, classically elegant
lit: well-chilled ➝ invigorating
lit: to be drunk well chilled
lit: beautiful and well = well and truly
flavors of the world
a taste for traveling
a world of flavors
to give a terrific thirst for experiences

2. Can you think of other metaphors or idioms in English that relate to traveling or savouring?

Première lecture
As you read, find and underline the metaphorical language on page 1 about traveling and savouring.

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Envie de voyager

Le texte
The Wanderer (Voyages de rêve)
Quand un site comme Alapage1 vous propose d'aller jeter un oeil à une
sélection de livres autour du Voyage et que vous êtes une bibliophile à l'âme
aventureuse, c'est avec les deux que vous y allez.
Vous tâchez d'éviter les écueils du guide touristique qui comme son nom
l'indique n'est pas destiné aux échappées et ceux des beaux livres aux magnifiques photographies dont les mots sont eux aussi bourrés de2 clichés.
[…], ma référence3 est un cocktail élégant, simple, racé et bien frappé, publié
par les éditions de la National Geographic Society, à mi-chemin entre le guide
et le beau livre pour sa matière à rêver et les informations pleines de détails qui
l'accompagnent, à prendre bien frais comme préliminaires au Voyage.
Ce n'est pas vers un pays que je me dirige, mais bel et bien de par le monde.
Première étape : 400 voyages de rêve, pour un itinéraire sur mesure, Keith
Bellows.

Fermez les yeux un instant, imaginez le voyage d'une vie, de votre vie. A
quoi ressemble-t-il ? Attention, je vous demande de réfléchir au voyage, pas à
la destination.
Vous vous voyez :

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a French website for cultural and technological
products (books, DVDs)

1

2
3

filled with
reference book

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Envie de voyager

- à pied ?
- à dos de chameau, de mulet, d’hippocampe (pourquoi pas ? :), emmené(e)
par un attelage de huskies, sur un surf, en plongée, en rappel, danser un tango
à Buenos Aires, bref dans l’action ?
- sur l’eau ?
- en voiture ?
- à deux-roues ?
- en train ?
- dans les airs ?
- sur les traces de l’Odyssée, Jack Kerouac, les plus grands explorateurs, Tolstoï
ou d’autres ?
400 voyages incontournables à faire dans sa vie, c’est un peu tout ça à la fois,
de nombreuses pistes à travers le monde en fonction du mode de transport,
des goûts et des aspirations de chacun sur environ 336 pages. […]
Deuxième étape : 500 voyages de rêve, “Saveurs du monde”
Le goût des voyages...
Ouvrez les yeux. Vous êtes arrivé. Un monde de saveur, de couleurs et
d’odeurs se déroule sous vos pupilles4, les papilles5 sont en émoi6 […]. Mais
où ?

pupils
tastebuds
6
excited
4
5

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Tout le livre s’articule autour du Plaisir, de l’apprentissage du plaisir et de son
dénouement pour explorer le monde et ses saveurs autrement.
[ Nota Bene : Pour les plus gourmets ET gourmands d’entre nous, son dernier chapitre est entièrement dédié aux “Desserts à foison”, dont un top 10 des
glaciers de rêve et un top 10 des “endroits pour accros au chocolat 7 “.] […]
De la cuisine de rue à travers le monde (l’aventure commence toujours au
coin de la rue) aux tables de luxe, des spécialités aux villes gourmandes, des
produits de saison aux fourneaux jusqu’aux boissons qui ne sont pas en reste
et une sélection des plus beaux itinéraires gastronomiques pour VTT, ce livre
vous donne terriblement soif d’expériences... […]
Prochaine escale, ce sera8 ?

chocoholics

7

will be

8

Source:http://sexinoutthecity.canalblog.com/archives/plongee_au_coeur_de_la_
ville_et_voyages/index.html

Regardez de plus près
Travaillez avec un partenaire. Lisez le blog une deuxième fois et répondez aux questions.
1. ¶1 : « C’est avec les deux que vous y allez » – What two things are being referred to?

2. ¶2 : What pitfalls (écueils) should be avoided?

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Envie de voyager

3. ¶6 : The author asks the following parenthetical question: (pourquoi pas ? :)
What do you think is the author’s intended meaning?

4. ¶11 : Quelle est la différence entre gourmet et gourmand?

5. ¶12 : Traduisez en anglais: “De la cuisine de rue à travers le monde… aux tables de luxe”

Allons plus loin
1. Discutez en groupe:
a. What language and/or imagery stands out for you in the text and why? (Note your answers.)

b. Do you think that you would like to take a trip organized by the blog author?
Why/Why not? Cite evidence from the text and/or images to support your opinions.

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Envie de voyager

c. What are your responses to the three questions posed in the text? :
• Imaginez le voyage de votre vie. A quoi ressemble-t-il ?

• Vous êtes arrivé. Mais où ?

• La prochaine escale, ce sera ?

2. With a partner, check the following Cultura websites for American and French students’ associations
with the words: United States and France. Look at the Discussion section on the site to see if this adds
any further insight.

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

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Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

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Envie de voyager

United States: http://cultura.mit.edu/2009-fall-mituniversite-de-brest-1/
France: http://cultura.mit.edu/2009-fall-mituniversite-de-brest-4/
[Note: If you have difficulty accessing those pages, google Cultura Exchanges MIT. Once on the home
page, go to Archived Exchanges, find 2009-Fall-MIT and click on Answers & Discussions. Then, click
on United States/Etats-Unis and France/France]

3. Discuss any differences that you see and what this might indicate in terms of differing worldviews.

Écriture

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Type de texte
A blog post (un blog)
Votre écrit
Choose a place that you know or a place mentioned in a chapter of your textbook. Your goal is
to both inform your reader about the place (e.g.
it’s climate, geography, and activities that one can
engage in) and to foster the desire in your reader
to go there! To help motivate your reader, incorporate a metaphorical motif of movement and
include an image or images that would serve as
further enticement. At least part of the text must
be in paragraph form, one or more. (See techniques for linking ideas below.) Otherwise, you can
include bulleted information and sentence fragments (telegraphic style). You may utilize any other
formatting that you think would make this blog post attactive.
Préparation
1. Incorporate a metaphorical motif
While the metaphorical language in the blog presented in this unit nicely parallels culturally
appropriate metaphors in English, this is often NOT the case. In the early stages of writing,
a typical mistake is to translate what one wishes to say in English, directly and literally into
French. For example, if you wanted to express in French the idea of “to go take a look at a
selection of books” and you wrote: aller prendre un regard à une sélection de livres, this would
be gibberish.

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Envie de voyager

a. To avoid literal translations, three strategies can prove useful:
• Recognize what is idiomatic or metaphorical in English.
• Type in the English idiom/expression in WordReference.com to see if you can find an equivalent
in French. If this doesn’t pan out, identify the key word in the expression and look it up for similar
nuances in meaning.
• If you cannot find a clear equivalent, drop the idea and change the content of what you wish to
communicate.
b. For this assignment, here are the specific steps to follow:
• Look through the vocabulary of the chapter that you are studying related to travel.
Note down all of the words you can find that encode a sense of movement.
• Go to the Word Reference French/English dictionary:
http://www.wordreference.com/fr/
- Look up the word aller. You will find many meanings and uses along with their equivalents in English. (Note: The forum at the bottom of the screen is a useful tool for understanding nuances of words/expressions and possible cultural differences.)
- Note down the French expressions that you wish to use in your text.
• Choose another key word or expression from the chapter vocabulary that you noted above. Look up
the word/expression to see if you can find another metaphor to include in your text.
Note: Be careful to attend to the grammar of figurative expressions. If it is a verb structure, for example,
are you using the verb as an infinitive or do you need to conjugate it?
2. Link ideas with coordinating conjunctions (conjonctions de coordination)
et
(and)

mais
(but)

3. Écrivez un brouillon.

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ou
(or)

donc
(so, thus)

parce que, car
(for, because)

puis
(then)

Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Envie de voyager

Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque chose,
clarifiez le sens du mot ou de la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez vos remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Topic development
Is there any important content information missing, something that you as a reader would need to know
in order to have a clear enough understanding of the location and its attraction?
If so, make suggestions for what to add or to clarify. Indicate, too, if there are instances of redundancy of
information.
• Incorporating a metaphorical motif to motivate the reader
- Underline all instances of what you think are metaphorical uses of language.
- Confirm your choices with your partner.
- Ask if there are other metaphors that you have missed and if so, what their meanings are.
- Do you find that the figurative language is used effectively?
- If you think that too much metaphorical language is used, make suggestions for editing.
• Techniques for linking ideas
Underline all of the coordinating conjunctions to connect clauses.
Are there too many conjunctions, bogging down the flow of information? Are there instances where a
conjunction is not used but could be in order to produce a greater sense of flow in the writing?
• Formatting
Look at the format chosen for your partner’s blog post. Does the choice of format work well for the content and purpose of the text? Provide any suggestions that you can for improvement.
• Including persuasive imagery
Look at the imagery included. Does it succeed in helping to “sell” the trip? Would you like to go on this
trip? Why/Why not?
2. Révisez donc votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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Respect et verité

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Lecture
Préparation
eTwinning projects :
As the building block of eTwinning in 2005, the idea of twinning schools together across borders
aimed at getting young people to communicate with their European peers. eTwinning projects
- between a minimum of two schools from two countries – are collaborative opportunities for
classes to work together using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
eTwinning General Guidelines: http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/index.htm
As of March 2013, there were 27,464 projects in Europe and a growing number in the U.S.
Source : http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/index.htm
One French project involved having students from schools in France, Italy and Poland write self-portraits inspired by philosophies of the Enlightenment (le siècle des Lumières).

Source: Wikimedia

Enlightenment

First published Aug 20, 2010

The Enlightenment is the period in the
history of western thought and culture,
stretching roughly from the mid-decades
of the seventeenth century through the
eighteenth century, characterized by
dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, society and politics; these revolutions
swept away the medieval world-view and
ushered in our modern western world.
Enlightenment thought culminates historically in the political upheaval of the
French Revolution, in which the traditional
hierarchical political and social orders (the
French monarchy, the privileges of the
French nobility, the political power and
authority of the Catholic Church) were violently destroyed and replaced by a political
and social order informed by the Enlightenment ideals of freedom and equality for
all, founded, ostensibly, upon principles of
human reason. […] The Enlightenment is

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associated with the French thinkers of the mid-decades of the eighteenth century, the so-called
“philosophes”, (Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alembert, Montesquieu, et cetera). […] In addition to the
French, there was a very significant Scottish Enlightenment (key figures were Francis Hutcheson,
David Hume, Adam Smith, and Thomas Reid) and a very significant German Enlightenment (die
Aufklärung, key figures of which include Christian Wolff, Moses Mendelssohn, G.E. Lessing and
Immanuel Kant).
[…] Kant defines “enlightenment” as humankind's release from its self-incurred immaturity;
“immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another.”
Enlightenment is the process of undertaking to think for oneself, to employ and rely on one's own
intellectual capacities in determining what to believe and how to act. Enlightenment philosophers
from across the geographical and temporal spectrum tend to have a great deal of confidence in
humanity's intellectual powers, both to achieve systematic knowledge of nature and to serve as an
authoritative guide in practical life.
Bristow, William, "Enlightenment", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Source: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/enlightenment/

You are going to read draft versions of three self-portraits by high school students in France and Poland. The
following framework was provided for the writing:

L’exploration de soi (the self)
Je forme une entreprise [am undertaking a project] qui n’eut jamais d’exemple [has never been
done] et dont l’exécution n’aura point d’imitateur [there will be no imitator]. Je veux montrer à mes
semblables [my fellow humanity] un homme dans toute la vérité de sa nature ; et cet homme, ce
sera moi [will be me]. Moi seul. Je sens mon coeur et je connais les hommes. […]
Ce préambule des Confessions de Rousseau est le manifeste d’une nouvelle sensibilité européenne
qui nait [was born] à cette époque : l’homme occidental découvre la dimension intime de l’individu et son unicité. Dès lors [from then on] le regard retrospectif sur soi devient une composante de
la conscience moderne.

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Autoportraits

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Se pencher sur soi [introspection], c’est souvent commencer par se décrire. Peintres et écrivains se sont
souvent livré à [have often carried out] cet exercice périlleux. C’est alors un combat entre l’amour propre
[self respect] et le besoin de vérité [truth].
Source: http://www.texteimage.com/noceseurope/spip.php?rubrique9

1. If you were to write your own self-portrait in English based on the given criteria, what are
some of the descriptions that you would include?

Carry out a première lecture as social reading (Teacher’s Guide pp. 7-8, 13-14).

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Le texte
Autoportrait : Pauline
Le 14 janvier 2007, par première L2 lycée Marguerite de Navarre, FRANCE

Je ne suis ni petite, ni grande, je suis de taille moyenne comme on
dit. Pour ce qui est de ma corpulence, je ne suis pas maigre comme
certain le pense, mais mince. Disons que mon poids est en accord
avec ma taille. Mon visage est plus ou moins rond, j’ai le nez petit et
en trompette, d’ailleurs, je ne l’aime pas du tout, mais je suis comme
je suis alors je fais avec. Mes oreilles sont minuscules, mais je les
apprécie tout comme mes yeux qui sont noisette. Puis j’ai les cheveux
bruns. Pour résumer les formes de mon visage, on peut dire qu’elles
oscillent entre les ronds et les ovales.

Autoportrait de Marlena
Le 14 janvier 2007, par II A lycée Batory de Lublin, POLOGNE

Je m’appelle Marlena et j’ai 18 ans. Je vais commencer à « peindre »
mon autoportrait avec les détails que je préfère. Tout d’abord les
yeux. Ils sont grands, marron. Maintenant, ils sont calmes, plutôt
gais. Mais il y a des moments où ils peuvent montrer des émotions
très fortes. D’habitude je sais cacher des sentiments négatifs. Même
si mon visage paraît franc, je sais « tricher ». En revanche, quand je
suis heureuse tout le monde peut lire dans mes yeux que je passe de
bons moments. Les traits deviennent plus détendus, le visage s’épanouit. J’ai de longs cheveux marron. Ils sont tout raides. Je les laisse
libres sur mes épaules. Ainsi, j’ai l’air d’une jeune femme naturelle et
spontanée. A vrai dire, je suis trop sensible, parfois rêveuse. On peut
me blesser facilement et alors je m’enferme dans mon monde à moi.
J’aime bien cette capacité de cacher de vraies émotions. Sans cela,
tout le monde pourrait découvrir tous nos secrets.

Autoportrait d’Alexandra

Le 14 janvier 2007, par II A lycée Batory de Lublin, POLOGNE

Je m’appelle Alexandra, j’ai 17 ans. Cet après-midi je suis assise dans
ma chambre, j’installe un miroir devant moi et je me mets à vous
présenter mon autoportrait. Comme d’habitude, j’entends1 la radio.
En ce moment, une jeune chanteuse chante « Ma philosophie ».
Quelle est la mienne ? En général, je suis [une] optimiste qui prend
tout à la légère. Même dans les moments difficiles, je ne perds pas de
courage. J’aime bien rire de tout, de mes problèmes aussi. Pourtant,
mon caractère n’est pas idéal. Il m’arrive souvent d’être paresseuse
et impatiente. Quant à mon aspect physique ...... je n’aurais aucune
chance dans les concours de beauté. Ce n’est pas un très grand problème pour moi parce que je préfère passer pour une

1

écoute

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« intellectuelle ». Mon visage est ovale, le nez plutôt fin et petit,
les yeux sont marron. J’ai les cheveux bruns, ni trop longs ni trop
courts. Je ne me maquille pas parce que le matin il me manque de
temps2 et le soir je n’en ai plus envie. Ce qu’il faut absolument mettre
dans l’autoportrait ce sont mes boucles d’oreille. Je les porte toujours. C’est mon bijou préféré, j’en achète chaque fois quand je fais un
voyage ou bien pour me faire plaisir. Ma mère trouve que c’est une
dépense inutile mais moi, je ne pourrais pas me priver de ce petit
plaisir brillant. Et peut-être, dans l’avenir, ce sera ma fille qui en voudra pour elle. La chanson a fini 3. Il me faut préparer pour mon cours
d’anglais. Avant de cacher le miroir, le dernier coup d’oeil sur mon
visage. Il est calme et reposé. Ce moment de réflexion sur soi-même
m’a apporté une vraie détente et il4 m’a plu beaucoup.

2

je n’ai pas le temps

3

s’est terminée

4

cela/ça

Source: http://www.texteimage.com/noceseurope/spip.php?rubrique9

Regardez de plus près
1. Read each text again and underline the words/phrases/sentences that are used to strike a balance between
self respect and honesty and to soften the description, as in this sentence from Pauline’s portrait: Pour ce
qui est de ma corpulence, je ne suis pas maigre comme certain le pense, mais mince.
2. Note down any descriptive words or phrases that you feel would be emotionally charged and potentially
negative or insulting if they were not in the context of a self-portrait:

3. Make note of any words that you needed to look up in a dictionary.

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Allons plus loin
1. Avec un partenaire, comparez vos réponses.
a. Do you agree on descriptions that may seem negative? If not, are you surprised by any of your partner’s choices?
b. For words that you did not understand, are you able to give each other any insights for decoding or
comprehension?
2. Discuss and note examples or techniques used in the texts to balance honesty with self respect and soften
the descriptions.

3. Which self-portrait do you prefer and why? (Use language from the text to support your opinion.)

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Écriture

Source: Wikimedia

Type de texte
Portrait (portrait)
Votre écrit
Write a descriptive portrait of someone you know or someone famous
(real or fictional) who is from a different ethnic background and culture than your own. The description should be of both physical characteristics and personality, but utilize the Enlightenment perspective
of balancing accuracy with respect. Include an image of the person/
character.
Préparation
1. Once you have chosen someone, note down all of the language
from this chapter in your textbook that could be used in your
description.
2. Check the following online resource (on the site of the Université de Franche-Comté for courses in French as a foreign
language) in order to go further in the accuracy of your description:
http://ressources-cla.univ-fcomte.fr/motsculture/connaissances/descPhysique/descPhysique.htm
A language note: In the section “Pour les yeux,” you will find along with the expressions: des yeux bleus/
noirs, etc, “des yeux marrons (chestnut).” A similar instance occurs in Pauline’s self-portrait with her use
of “noisette” (hazelnut). In standard French, adjectives such as marron and noisette should be invariable,
thus written without an “s” in the plural.
3. Following are techniques for conveying respectful accuracy:
a. Softening a description–
X me semble (+ adjectif).
[X seems to me to be…]
adjective agrees w/subject : …ennuyé(e) / très ambitieux/ambitieuse
Je (le/la) trouve (+ adjectif).
[I find him/her to be…]
adjective agrees w/direct object pronoun: …ennuyé(e) / très ambitieux/ambitieuse
X a l’air (+ adjectif invariable).
…ennuyé / très ambitieux

[X seems to be/looks…]

X a l’air d’un/une (nom + adjectif). [X seems to be/looks like a/an…]
adjective agrees w/noun :… homme ambitieux / femme ambitieuse

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b. Softening a harsh adjective by negating the opposite characteristic–
désagréable ➝ pas facile
égoïste ➝ pas très sociable
prétentieux/prétentieuse ➝ trop sûr de soi (= lit: overly sure of oneself = overconfident)
c. Using conjunctions or juxtaposed sentences to balance characteristics –
“He/She is not x but y (nor y); He/She is neither x nor y, he/she is.
Il/Elle n’est pas [adj], mais [adj]
Il/Elle n’est ni [adj], ni [adj], il/elle est [adj]
d. Using adverbial qualifiers to soften adjectives:
plus ou moins
(more or less)
plutôt
(rather/more precisely, informal = pretty)
pourtant
(yet/however)
à vrai dire
(to tell the truth)
… En revanche, …
(on the other hand)
Il lui arrive de [+ infinitive verb]

(He/She sometimes + conjugated verb)

C’est un homme/une femme plutôt/à vrai dire …
Il/elle est + adjectif vs. C’est un/une + nom
4. Écrivez un brouillon.

Source : http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/pro3.html

Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque chose,
clarifiez le sens du mot ou de la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez vos remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Accuracy of description
Compare the written portrayal with the image and any knowledge of the person/character that you
may have. Is the portrait accurate? Can you suggest aspects to develop further or to modify?
• Use of softening techniques for communicating respect
Underline the techniques used for balancing honesty with respect. Is there an appropriate amount of
softening? Is there too much softening, making the description sound insincere or awkward?

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• Avoiding repetitiveness
Make note of any instances of repeated words and check for synonyms with your partner to see what
might work as substitution. Here is a link to Reverso, an online dictionary that includes a thesaurus
(as well as a conjugator, grammar input, and an encylopedia !) :
http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-synonyms/gens
• Length
"I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had time to make it shorter."
This quote is by the 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal
(1623-62), written in a letter to a friend. The original French version:
« Je n'ai fait cette lettre-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte » .
Source : http://www.twainquotes.com/Letters.html

Make note of any instances of redundancy of information/ideas and show your partner where s/he may
streamline.
2. Révisez donc votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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Un peu de hareng fumé

Lecture
Préparation

The readings for this unit consist of three prescriptive (or injunctive) texts:

Le texte prescriptif (ou injonctif)

Type de texte dans lequel l'auteur donne des consignes (instructions), des ordres,
des conseils (recommendations, advice), des indications (directions)... pour aider ou
inciter le lecteur à faire (ou ne pas faire) quelque chose
Des exemples de textes injonctifs :
- une recette de cuisine (recipe)
- un mode d'emploi (instructions for use, a user’s guide)
- une règle de jeu (rules of a game)
- des consignes en cas d'incendie (instructions in case of fire)
- une notice de montage (instructions for assembly, technical manual)
- des règlements (regulations)...
On remarquera :
- Texte parfois accompagné de schémas, de listes d'ingrédients ou de matériel...
- Utilisation de phrases nominales (Attention à la marche !)
- Chronologie (ordre précis) dans le déroulement (as it unfolds).
- Les phrases sont courtes, concises et précises (souvent des propositions indépendantes – independent clauses), sans superflu (without superfluous or redundant information).
- Forme négative pour les interdictions (prohibitions).
- Emploi de si (if).
- On y emploie souvent les verbes falloir (il faut: one has to, one must) et devoir
(must, to have to) (présent ou futur, forme affirmative ou négative)
Les temps de conjugaison employés:
- l'impératif (versez le lait, beurrez le moule....)
ou l’infinitif (verser le lait, beurrer le moule...)
Il existe une unité de mode dans tout le texte (Impératif ou infinitif) 
Source: http://membres.multimania.fr/scoladoc/page_typtext.htm

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• The first text is a “prescriptive” prose poem, Petite lettre à la dérive, by Jean Cocteau.
• The second reading involves two texts: a poem, Le Hareng saur (The Kippered/ Smoked Herring), by Charles Cros accompanied by excerpts from a humorous set of instructions for reciting the poem. These instructions are written in the French genre of monologue fumiste (a comic
monologue) by Ernest Coquelin a.k.a Coquelin cadet (junior).
• The third text is a recipe for marinated smoked herring.
Work in groups of three, each student reading one text and doing the accompanying activities as well as reading the two other texts once for familiarity.

Le texte nº 1
Source: Wikimedia

Première lecture
Jean Cocteau (1889-1963)
“[…] was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager, playwright,
artist and filmmaker. Along with other avant-garde artists of his generation […] Cocteau grappled with the algebra of verbal codes old and new, mise en scène language
and technologies of modernism to create a paradox: a classical avant-garde.
[…] Despite his achievements in virtually all literary and artistic fields, Cocteau insisted that he was primarily a poet and that all his work was poetry. […]

Cocteau is best known for his novel Les Enfants terribles (1929), and the films Blood of a Poet (1930), Les
Parents terribles (1948), Beauty and the Beast (1946), and Orpheus (1949).”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau

1. As you read Cocteau’s poem, underline in the text and then note below all the characteristics of a prescriptive text that apply from the table on page 1.

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Le texte nº 1
Petite lettre à la dérive
Mange ta soupe. Tiens-toi droit. Mange lentement. Ne mange pas si vite.
Bois en mangeant. Coupe ta viande en petits morceaux. Tu ne fais que tordre
et avaler. Ne joue pas avec ton couteau. Ce n'est pas comme ça qu'on tient
sa fourchette. On ne chante pas à table. Vide ton assiette. Ne te balance pas
sur ta chaise. Finis ton pain. Pousse ton pain. Mâche. Ne parle pas la bouche
pleine. Ne mets pas tes coudes sur la table. Ramasse ta serviette. Ne fais
pas de bruit en mangeant. Tu sortiras de table quand on aura fini. Essuie ta
bouche avant de m'embrasser. Cette petite liste réveille une foule de souvenirs, ceux de l'enfance. C'est très longtemps après qu'on arrive à comprendre
qu'un dîner peut être un véritable chef-d'œuvre.
Source: http://clubdelacultureculinaire.blogspot.com/2009/06/mange-ta-soupe.html

Regardez de plus près: le texte nº 1
The title of this poem requires interpretation.
une dérive (n.) nautical term = a drift or drifting
Figuratively = an intellectual or artistic drift or disturbing trend.
Source: http://www.linternaute.com/dictionnaire/fr/definition/derive-1/
à la dérive (adj.) = adrift, off course
Raymond Radiguet, another well-known writer and close friend of Cocteau’s wrote in an article entitled,
“Conseils aux grands poètes”:
« Efforcez-vous d’être [Strive to be] banal. »
An explanation for this advice is given on the following site:
« Cette injonction est surtout une mise en garde contre les dérives dadaïstes*, mais aussi la revendication d’un certain naturel, celui des classiques.
Source: http://www.alalettre.com/radiguet.php
*Dada – “An early twentieth century art movement which ridiculed contemporary
culture and traditional art forms. […] It was born as a consequence of the collapse during World War I
of social and moral values which had developed to that time. Dada artists produced works which were

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nihilistic or reflected a cynical attitude toward social values, and, at the same time, irrational — absurd
and playful, emotive and intuitive, and often cryptic. Less a style than a zeitgeist, Dadaists typically produced art objects in unconventional forms produced by unconventional methods. […] the word dada
means several things in several languages: it's French for "hobbyhorse" and Slavic for "yes yes." Some
authorities say that the name Dada is a nonsensical word chosen at random from a dictionary.
Many artists associated with this movement later became associated with Surrealism.”
Source: http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/d/dada.html
1. Look at Cocteau’s poem again. In what ways does he play with conventions in order to arrive at “a classical avant-garde”?

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Les textes nº 2
Source: Wikimedia

Première lecture
“Charles Cros (1842-1888) was a French poet, scientist and inventor. […]
In the 1870s, he conceived of a device that would mechanically record sound by tracing oscillations on a cylinder with a screw. He called his invention the Paleophone and submitted
it to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, who scoffed at him. A year later, the better- funded
Thomas Edison demonstrated a working model of the device, which came to be known as
the phonograph. In the end, Cros had the last laugh at the French scientists who snubbed
him: The French equivalent of our own National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
(responsible for the Grammy Awards) is called L'Académie Charles Cros, and their annual award is named Le Prix Charles Cros.”
Source: http://eliptikon.blogspot.com/2007/11/charles-cros.html

“Le Hareng saur est un poème de Charles Cros. Déjà célèbre en son temps, ce poème humoristique composé en
1872 est encore aujourd'hui très connu en France pour avoir été appris par cœur (learned by heart) et récité par
des générations d'écoliers.
Le poème a pour origine une histoire que Charles Cros raconta un soir à son fils pour le faire dormir. […] Le
poème était dédié à son fils aîné, Guy Cros.”

Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Hareng_saur

Hareng saur = kippered herring (herring that has been cured, salted and dried)
1. As you read the poem by Charles Cros, underline the words that you cannot decode. Do not yet use a
dictionary, though!

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Le texte nº 2a
Le hareng saur
À Guy.

Il était un grand mur blanc - nu, nu, nu,
Contre le mur une échelle - haute, haute, haute,
Et, par terre, un hareng saur - sec, sec, sec.

Il vient, tenant dans ses mains - sales, sales, sales,
Un marteau lourd, un grand clou - pointu, pointu, pointu,
Un peloton de ficelle - gros, gros, gros.
Alors il monte à l'échelle - haute, haute, haute,
Et plante le clou pointu - toc, toc, toc,
Tout en haut du grand mur blanc - nu, nu, nu.

Il laisse aller le marteau - qui tombe, qui tombe, qui tombe,
Attache au clou la ficelle - longue, longue, longue,
Et, au bout, le hareng saur - sec, sec, sec.
Il redescend de l'échelle - haute, haute, haute,
L'emporte avec le marteau - lourd, lourd, lourd,
Et puis, il s'en va ailleurs - loin, loin, loin.

Et, depuis, le hareng saur - sec, sec, sec,
Au bout de cette ficelle - longue, longue, longue,
Très lentement se balance - toujours, toujours, toujours.
J'ai composé cette histoire - simple, simple, simple,
Pour mettre en fureur les gens - graves, graves, graves,
Et amuser les enfants - petits, petits, petits.

Source: http://poesie.webnet.fr/lesgrandsclassiques/poemes/charles_cros/le_hareng_saur.html

Regardez de plus près: le texte 2a
1. Watch and listen to the animated version linked below to expand your comprehension of the text. Look
for visual clues to make sense of the words you underlined, and note their meanings.
Afterwards, if there are still words you do not understand, look them up in a dictionary and note the most
likely translations.
Links for animated video (different links to same video):
Source = WAT tv: http://www.wat.tv/video/charles-cros-hareng-saur-qas4_2fgqp_.html
Source = YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q_0tqovYOk
[Note: If you have difficulty accessing this page, google Charles Cros hareng saur]

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Le texte nº 2b
Première lecture
Source: Wikimedia CC-BY-SA HdL85

“[Charles Cros’] poem The Kippered Herring inspired Coquelin cadet to create what
he called monologues”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Cros

Monologue fumiste*
“C'est au cours de l'une de ces lectures, […] que le comédien Coquelin cadet eut la
révélation d'un genre nouveau, appelé « monologue fumiste » ou tout simplement
« monologue », qui allait faire fureur [was to be all the rage] dans les années 1880 […]
En cette fin de XIXe siècle, le monologue peut donc être défini comme « une pièce
en soi, toujours comique, courte, à un personnage » et « au rythme nécessairement
rapide. » […] le genre s'inscrit dans une longue continuité, depuis les théâtres de foire
au Moyen Âge, où un personnage faisait rire les badauds [onlookers/audience] en
débitant de longues tirades aussi absurdes que cocasses [comical], jusqu'au XXe siècle avec le one-man-show, le
stand-up et le sketch.”

Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Hareng_saur

*Fumiste (n.)
“D'après un vaudeville de 1840, la Famille du fumiste [chimney sweeps], dont le héros, un fumiste enrichi, se
vante de ses bons tours en répétant : «C'est une farce de fumiste» ; d'après Guiraud, l'évolution de sens réelle
serait «celui qui produit de la fumée» [someone who blows smoke]”

Source: http://www.languefrancaise.net/bob/detail.php?id=3082

1. As you read Coquelin’s monologue, underline in the text and then note below all the characteristics of
a prescriptive text that apply from the table on page 1.

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Le texte nº 2b
Le Hareng saur

Il était un grand mur blanc —
nu, nu, nu,

Contre le mur une échelle —
haute, haute, haute,

Et, par terre, un hareng saur —
sec, sec, sec.

Criez Le Hareng saur d’une voix forte. Ne
bougez pas le corps, soyez d’une immobilité
absolue. En disant ce titre, il faut que le public
ait le sentiment d’une ligne noire se détachant
sur un fond blanc.
Qu’on sente le mur droit, rigide, et comme il serait ennuyeux aussi monotone que cela, rompez
la monotonie : allongez le son au troisième nu,
cela agrandit le mur, et en donne presque la
dimension à ceux qui vous écoutent.
Même intention et même intonation que pour
la première ligne, et pour donner l’idée d’une
échelle bien haute, envoyez en voix de fausset
(note absolument imprévue) le dernier mot
haute, ceci fera rire et vous serez en règle avec la
fantaisie.
Indiquez du doigt la terre, et dites hareng saur
sec avec une physionomie pauvre qui appelle
l’intérêt sur ce malheureux hareng, la voix sera
naturellement très sèche pour dire les trois adjectifs sec, sec, sec.

[…]

[…]

J’ai composé cette histoire — simple, simple, simple,

Appuyez sur simple, pour faire dire au public :
« Oh ! oui ! simple ! »

Pour mettre en fureur les gens —
graves, graves, graves,

Très compassé; qu’on sente les hautes cravates
blanches officielles qui n’aiment pas ce genre de
plaisanterie. Ouvrez démesurément la bouche
au troisième grave, comme un M. Prudhomme*
très offensé.
(*M. and Mme. Prudhomme were a pair of
French caricature characters of the 19th century,
created by Henry Monnier. They were a bourgeois couple.)

Et amuser les enfants —
petits, petits, petits.

Très gentiment avec un sourire, baissez graduellement la main à chaque petits pour indiquer la
hauteur et l’âge des enfants. Saluez et sortez vite.
Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Hareng_saur

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Le texte nº 3
Première lecture
1. As you read the recipe below, underline in the text and then note below all the characteristics of a prescriptive text
that apply from the table on page 1.

Le texte nº 3

Harengs saur marinés

Ingrédients : pour 4 personnes
Filets de harengs 8 beaux
Lait 35 cl
Oignon  30 gr
Carotte 1
Feuille de laurier 1
Thym QS [QS = quantité suffisante/souhaitée]
Huile d’arachide QS
Préparation : placer les filets de harengs la
veille dans le lait. Laisser dessaler une heure, puis
passer les filets sous l’eau froide. Bien les éponger.
Eplucher, laver l’oignon et la carotte. Couperles en rondelles. Dans une terrine alterner des
rondelles d’oignon, de carotte, le thym et les filets
de harengs. Disposer votre feuille de laurier et
couvrir d’huile. Recouvrir d’un film alimentaire et
laisser mariner 24 heures dans un endroit frais.
Source: Wikimedia CC-BY-SA Rvalette

Présentation : servir dans sa terrine accompagné d’une salade de pommes à l’huile. Servir frais.
Vin conseillé par les caves du Ponant : Un Bandol blanc servi à 12°C

Source: http://www.philcad.com/hareng-saur.html

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Regardez de plus près: le texte nº 3
Use the following site to convert the cooking measurements in the recipe into English equivalents. Write the
equivalents in the recipe:
http://www.french-at-a-touch.com/Gourmet/cooking_conversions.htm
Allons plus loin
En groupe:
1. Comparez vos textes et vos réponses dans les activités de la section “Première lecture”.
2. In the “Préparation” section of the recipe (Texte nº 3), replace the infinitive verbs with imperative-tu and
imperative-vous forms. What can you infer about differences in register and/or function between the
use of these three verb forms in prescriptive texts?

3. Discutez les différents textes:
a. Texte nº 1 : Petite Lettre à la dérive –
What do you make of this poem? How might the structure and content of the poem fit Cocteau’s
philosophy?

b. Texte nº 2b: Le texte du Hareng saur avec des conseils sur l'art de le dire –
With your partners, recite the beginning and the end of the poem following Coquelin’s
“stage instructions.”
Compare the effect with that of the reading in the animated video version.
WAT tv: http://www.wat.tv/video/charles-cros-hareng-saur-qas4_2fgqp_.html
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q_0tqovYOk

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c. What similarities or differences do you find?

d. Even though Coquelin’s instructions are humorous, do they bring insight to the poem, and if so, in
what way/s?

e. Texte nº 3: La recette –
Would you like to try this recipe? Why/why not?

4. Note culturelle: Food has played a very important role in French culture. To learn some food-based idioms look at one of the following websites and write down 3 expressions that you particularly like:
http://moderntroubadours.blogspot.com/2010/10/its-all-about-food-french-idioms.html
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/cat_french_idioms.php
Compare your choices with your partners and be ready to explain why you like the expressions you
chose!

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5. Counting on Nouns
Unit 1a of Le Littéraire dans le quotidien entitled, What’s in a name”, provides an introduction to base nouns
(nouns with no determiner) that act as adjectives. While nouns have prototypical meaning as either count or
noncount concepts, most nouns can be used to express a range of noun meanings from countable to mass to
abstract, depending on how the speaker is thinking about the noun idea and the form that the speaker then
uses to express that idea. Think about the word café. Is its prototypical meaning countable or mass? Look at
the following range of meanings and the forms used to express them:
Indefinite substance; partitive, noncount

Est-ce que tu veux du café?

= some coffee

One or more individual, indefinite portions/types; count
J’aimerais un café.
Il y a des cafés que j’aime, mais d’autres
que je n’aime pas.

= a coffee
= some coffees

One or more individual, definite portions/types; count
Le café que Jean achète est très bon,
mais les cafés vendus au supermarché ne
sont pas très bons.

= the coffee (that Jean buys)
= the coffees (sold at the supermarket)

Generic class; noncount
En général, j’aime le café.

= coffee

Adjective; idiomatic/metaphorical
Il est très café.

= He’s so coffee/ He’s coffee-crazy / He’s
really into coffee / He’s a coffee kind of
guy.

Beaucoup de « de »
Noun phrase structures in French often utilize the invariable form of “de” to connect ideas. Just as in English
we do NOT say: a lot of some chicken, in French there is a phonetic rule called la règle de cacophonie that
prohibits combinations such as…
X beaucoup de du poulet, trop de de la tarte, une bouteille de de l'eau, beaucoup de des livres
The invariable “de” is a sort of fusion between the preposition “of ” and the partitive article “some.”
Here are some key categories for using the invariable “de”:

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Expressions of quantity
beaucoup de fromage ; trop de fromage ; un peu de fromage; pas du tout de fromage
un verre de vin; un kilo de riz; une bouteille d'eau;
une boîte de céréales (Note that cereal is a mass noun in English but a count noun in French.)
une salade de fruits
un cours de français; deux cours d'histoire
The type/purpose of something/someone
une salle de jeux; une salle de spectacle (= auditorium, concert hall, performance space)
mes camarades de chambre; les camarades de classe
des articles de sport
(vs. Je fais du sport = partitive)
Origin/source of something
une université d’économie; des problèmes de grammaire; un stylo de luxe;
les histoires de conquêtes
a. Look again at the recipe for smoked herring. Find all of the instances of noun phrases with “de/d’.”
Look at the categories above with a partner and identify the function of each “de” in the recipe.
b. Compare your answers as a class.

Écriture
Type de texte
a recipe (une recette) with a set of instructions (des instructions)
Votre écrit
1. Choose a recipe that has particular meaning for you:
one from your childhood or current life, or a Francophone recipe that represents a dimension of culture
that you would like to ingest. If the recipe is in English,
include the original and translate it into French. If you
find a French recipe online, do not copy and paste it
into your draft; write it out in French. In either case,
include measurements in both English and French so
that you may better understand the equivalents.
Here is a site for converting cooking measurements:

http://www.french-at-a-touch.com/Gourmet/cooking_conversions.htm

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Source: Wikimedia CC-BY-SA Nicolo

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2. Write a prescriptive text in the form of a set of instructions on when and how to appreciate (déguster)
your recipe, thereby turning it into un véritable chef-d'œuvre! Your text can be humorous, surreal or genuine.
Préparation
1. Choose your audience and brainstorm the various areas of instruction that would meet your audience’s
needs and/or interests, using as much vocabulary and grammar from the chapter in your textbook as
possible.
2. Include the following stylistic conventions as appropriate for your text and audience:
- Nominal phrases
- A clear chronology of steps
- Short concise sentences (independent clauses) and no extraneous information
- Use of infinitive or imperative -vous or -tu forms, depending on your audience
- Negative structures to express things to avoid:
Ne mange pas si vite.
Ne bougez pas le corps
For infinitive directives:



= Don’t…
= Don’t/Do not…
À ne pas manger vite. =  Not to be eaten quickly.
À ne pas savourer sans vin. =  Not to be enjoyed without wine.
À ne pas manquer! = Not to be missed!

3. Écrivez un brouillon.
Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque chose,
clarifiez le sens du mot ou de la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez vos remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Register
Identify the register of the recipe and the instructions, and a plausible intended audience. Is the
style of writing consistently geared to that audience? If not, what suggestions might you make?
• Clarity of instructions
Act out the instructions provided in the prescriptive text. Are there directives that are not clear?
What suggestions could you give for greater clarity?
• Literal Translations
Is there any language in your partner’s text that you can recognize as a direct translation from English? Point out any such instances to your partner and either omit the expression or simplify the
idea using the language and stuctures that you are studying.

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• Style
Identify the style: humorous, surreal or genuine. Depending on the style, can you make suggestions
for strengthening the effect?
3. Révisez votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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Lecture
Préparation
Graffiti is a public form of expression, often combining image and text. As a written genre, aphorism plays a key
role. Aphorism: “1. A tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion. 2. A brief statement of a principle.”

Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/aphorismterm.htm

You will be reading two texts related to graffiti in France, each from a period in which socio-political issues provided intense motivation for expression:
• The first text is a collection of slogans and aphorisms from May ’68.
From May ‘68 and Its Afterlives, Kristin Ross, 2002:
During May 1968, students and workers in France united in the biggest strike and the largest
mass movement in French history. Protesting capitalism, American imperialism, and Gaullism, 9
million people from all walks of life, from shipbuilders to department store clerks, stopped working. The nation was paralyzed—no sector of the workplace was untouched. Yet, just thirty years
later, the mainstream image of May ‘68 in France has become that of a mellow youth revolt, a
cultural transformation stripped of its violence and profound sociopolitical implications.
Kristin Ross shows how the current official memory of May ‘68 came to serve a political agenda
antithetical to the movement’s aspirations. She examines the roles played by sociologists, repentant ex-student leaders, and the mainstream media in giving what was a political event a predominantly cultural and ethical meaning. Recovering the political language of May ‘68 through the
tracts, pamphlets, and documentary film footage of the era, Ross reveals how the original movement, concerned above all with the question of equality, gained a new and counterfeit history, one
that erased police violence and the deaths of participants, removed workers from the picture, and
eliminated all traces of anti-Americanism, anti-imperialism, and the influences of Algeria and
Vietnam.
Source: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3644914.html

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• The second text is an article written by a French student in political science and journalism while interning for a Canadian web magazine, on the calligraffiti artist, El Seed.

Source: Wikimedia
Calligraffiti is the blending of traditional arabic calligraphy with a graffiti aesthetic and is used by certain
francophone graffiti artists of arab descent.
1. What examples of graffiti or slogans in English can you think of?

Work in groups of three, each student reading one text and doing the accompanying
activities as well as reading the text once for familiarity.

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Le texte nº 1
Première lecture
1. En lisant (while reading), notez les stratégies suivantes:
a. Soulignez les mots que vous avez besoin de chercher dans un dictionnaire et notez les traductions.
b. Déterminez la structure de chaque slogan et soulignez les mots-clés.
Par ex : L’émancipation de l’homme sera totale ou ne sera pas.

Le texte nº 1
Mai 68
L’émancipation de l’homme sera totale ou ne sera pas.
Nous voulons les structures au service de l’homme
et non pas l’homme au service des structures.
Quand l’assemblée nationale devient un théâtre bourgeois, tous les théâtres bourgeois doivent devenir des assemblées nationales.
L’homme n’est ni le bon sauvage de Rousseau,
ni le pervers de l’église et de La Rochefoucauld.
Il est violent quand on l’opprime, il est doux quand il est libre.
Je participe.
Tu participes.
Il participe.
Nous participons.
Vous participez.
Ils profitent.
La poésie est dans la rue.
La plus belle sculpture, c’est le pavé qu’on jette sur la gueule des flics.
Source: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/bps/French/graffiti.htm

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Des ordres = Désordre

ACCÉLÉRONS LE
PROCESSUS
DE DÉCOMPOSITION DE
L’ART!
Merde aux artistes!

Le moyen d’accélérer
ce processus est le
dépassement dans la vie quotidienne
Source: http://www.bm-lyon.fr/mai68/expo/musee.html

Regardez de plus près: le texte nº 1
2. Lisez les slogans une deuxième fois. Bien qu’ils (Even though they) utilisent des techniques différentes,
quel est leur point commun (what do they have in common)? Répondez en français ou en anglais.

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Le texte nº 2
Première lecture
1. Aimez-vous les graffitis? Quels sont les points positifs et négatifs? Notez vos idées ci-dessous. Répondez en français ou en anglais.

2. En lisant (while reading), si vous trouvez dans le texte les mêmes idées que vous avez notées, cochez-les
dans la marge. Après avoir lu le texte, si vous avez découvert de nouvelles idées, notez-les ci-dessous.
Répondez en français ou en anglais.

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Le texte nº 2

Graffiti calligraphié: El Seed
Publié le mai 14, 2009 par Lisa Melia

« Vous pouvez arracher l’homme de son pays…
…mais pas le pays du cœur de l’homme. »

Qu’ont en commun calligraphie arabe et graffiti? C’est une question que ne se pose pas El Seed, un
artiste né en France d’origine tunisienne qui graffe de l’arabe calligraphié sur tous supports.

De Paris à Montréal
El Seed parle et écrit l’arabe. Il a appris dans des cours du soir, mais il découvre et apprend la calligraphie en autodidacte. « Je n’ai pas le parcours classique du graffeur » dit-il. Il s’est impliqué très tôt
dans la culture hip hop, a fait pas mal de breakdance, son domaine de prédilection restant toutefois le
graffiti.
C’est en 1998 qu’il commence, mais il s’arrête car il n’y a pas de murs légaux en France, sur lesquels les
artistes peuvent s’exprimer, et cela lui pèse. Il part deux ans à New York, pendant lesquels il ne touche
presque plus une canne (can of spray paint). Il continue un peu à peindre, mais uniquement sur des
supports légaux. A Montréal depuis un an maintenant, il recommence à peindre après sa rencontre
avec le graffeur Hest qui l’a relancé.
Son influence principale vient bien sûr de la calligraphie arabe, et d’artistes comme le calligraphe irakien Hassan Massoudy. Le graffiti est un art relativement jeune, alors que la calligraphie arabe est beaucoup plus vieille. Comme le Coran prohibe la représentation vivante, c’est l’écriture qui est devenue un
art dans les cultures arabo-musulmanes. Il s’inspire ainsi des calligraphies classiques, et y apporte une
touche contemporaine, le graffiti.

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Graffiti: entre liberté et partage
Son art représente beaucoup pour lui. « C’est comme la course à pied: c’est la liberté, tu
t’évades, il n’y a pas de règles. » C’est également un challenge, car il a la volonté de toujours se surpasser
et de placer la barre plus haut. Enfin, c’est un moyen de partager et de revenir aux origines. « C’est pour
soi, mais toujours dans un but de partage », dit-il.

Faire découvrir sa culture
L’objectif d’El Seed est aussi de sensibiliser à la culture arabo-musulmane et de la «dédiaboliser».
L’islam est devenu synonyme de danger et de terrorisme, un amalgame qu’il dénonce. Il refuse pour
autant de parler au nom d’un groupe particulier. Il veut plutôt être une vitrine de sa culture et partager
sa richesse.
El Seed signifie « l’homme », en arabe, et le mot « seed » veut dire « graine » en anglais. Une traduction lourde de sens pour l’artiste, car la graine représente la vie, plantée dans la terre et qui a besoin de
lumière pour grandir: « sème ton art pour récolter demain ! » La volonté de faire découvrir la culture
arabo-musulmane est pour lui une attitude globale qui dépasse le seul graffiti. Les gens ne comprennent souvent pas la signification exacte de ses graffitis. « Mais ce n’est pas grave. C’est l’universalité de
l’art, tu n’as pas besoin de comprendre. »

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Source: http://raymondviger.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/graffiti-calligraphie-el-seed-2/

Regardez de plus près: le texte nº 2
1. Parcourez (scan) l’article une deuxième fois et soulignez les verbes.
Quels sont les temps des verbes (verb tenses) utilisés?

2. Quelle est l’organisation du texte en fonction des temps utilisés?

3. Pourquoi pensez-vous que l’auteur a fait ce choix du temps des verbes?

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Allons plus loin
1. Avec votre partenaire, comparez vos textes et vos réponses.
2. Le texte nº 1: les slogans de mai 68: Parcourez (scan) les slogans. Lequel préférez-vous? Pourquoi?

3. Le texte nº 2: « Graffiti calligraphié: El Seed »
Parcourez l’article. Quelles idées vous intéressent le plus? Pourquoi ?

4. Comparisons of Prepositions in English and French
a. Prepositions are function words that show relationships between nouns, verbs and nouns, and different parts of a sentence. They allow us to add contextual information to the core who did what to
whom of a sentence: where, when, in what way, in what sequence, for whom or for what purpose, to
what degree or measure, and with what exceptions or oppositions.
The prototypical meanings of prepositions relate to defining spatial relationships or where something/someone is in reference to something or someone else. In order to express spatial relationships,
prepositions need to account for notions of movement or position and 2-dimensional (surface) or
3-dimensional space. In English, the spatial meanings of prepositions are highly specific and work
closely with the verb: prepositions of movement prototypically work with activity verbs (go/run/
swim + to), prepositions of position prototypically work with verbs of state or position (live/be/stand
+ at/on/in), prepositions that express a position as a result of movement prototypically work with
verbs that express movement with an endpoint (arrive + at).
Once prototypical spatial meanings are in place, prepositions lend themselves to countless metaphorical meanings and uses:
The farmer chased the rabbit out of the garden. (spatial)
The farmer is out of his mind.
(metaphorical)
We are out of milk.
(metaphorical)

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The birds sitting on the gate were singing.
(spatial)
Turn on the lights.
(metaphorical)
The story went on and on. (metaphorical)
Metaphorical meanings can also be generated from seemingly conflicting verb–preposition pairings:

He threw the ball to me. (= indirect object) [verb of motion + preposition of movement]
He threw the ball at the dog. (= target) [verb of motion + preposition of position]

In fact, prepositions in English are so prevalent that they can also be used as content words: She has an in with
the company (noun); They upped the price (verb).
The prepositional system in French, however, is more restrictive, which means that it is often impossible to
directly translate from one language to the other. One difference is that English uses a lot of [verb + preposition] constructions to create new verb meaning (look up, look into, look after, look over), whereas French uses
a different verb to express each idea (chercher, examiner, s'occuper de, feuilleter).
Another difference is that the French system sometimes collapses the categories of movement and position
into one preposition (especially with à and de), and it is the verb that specifies the notion of movement or
position.
In fact, "à" and/or "de" are the most varied and frequently used prepositions in French. They are also the only
two that require contraction and agreement with definite common nouns:
à + le/la/les = au, à la, à l', aux
de + le/la/les = du, de la, de l', des.

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Spatial Meanings of "à" and "de" with Definite Proper and Common Nouns:

à
Movement to a known
point
of arrival/destination:
[English = to]
• Elle va à Paris.
… au musée.
… à la banque.
… aux magasins.

de
Point of arrival/destination:

Point of origin:

Movement away from point
of origin; departure:

[English = at / in / on]

[English = from / of]

[English = from]

• Il est à Paris.
… au musée.
… à la banque.
… aux magasins.

• Il est de Paris.
…du village.
…de la ville.
…des îles.

• Elle vient de Paris.
… du musée.
… de la banque.
… des îles.

• au plafond = on the
ceiling
• au mur = on the wall
• sur la table = on the table
• dans la rue = in the street
* à la rue = homeless
(metaphorical)

Metaphorical
Possession:
• le livre de Jean
… du professeur
… de la femme
…des voisins
Membership in a set:
• un des amis
(one of the friends)
• une des pommes
(one of the apples)
• cinq des voitures
(five of the cars)
Invariable partitive (= part
of + some) for noncount
nouns:
• une tranche de tarte
• une tasse de thé
• beaucoup d'argent

b. Look at the following sentences taken from the two texts in this unit.
• Translate them, paying close attention to the underlined prepositions.
• Compare your answers as a class to see if you all agree.
• What can you deduce, for example, about the difference between “dans” and “en”?

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1. Nous voulons les structures au service de l’homme
2. c’est un moyen de partager et de revenir aux origines
3. Vous pouvez arracher l’homme de son pays…mais pas le pays du cœur de l’homme. 
4. La plus belle sculpture, c’est le pavé qu’on jette sur la gueule des flics.
5. Il n’y a pas de murs légaux en France sur lesquels les artistes peuvent s’exprimer.
6. Sème ton art pour récolter demain !
7. La volonté de faire découvrir la culture arabo-musulmane est pour lui une attitude globale.

8. La poésie est dans la rue.
9. Il a appris dans des cours du soir.
10. C’est en 1998 qu’il commence.
11. El Seed signifie « l’homme », en arabe, et le mot « seed » veut dire « graine » en anglais.

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Écriture
Type de texte – 1

Aphorism (aphorisme)

Source: Wikimedia

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Préparation – 1
The aphorism uses rhetorical verbal structures like antithesis, parallelism, proportion, oxymoron, chiasmus, metaphor, and paradox, in a concise, emphatic manner to address this matrix of oppositions. […] The aphorism's meaning is not immediately obvious; indeed often
at first glance it is impenetrable. It typically works dialectically […], forcing the reader to
rethink, to complete the dialectical process of an active search for an unexpected meaning.
Source: http://www.custom-essay.net/essay-encyclopedia/Aphorism-essay.htm

Here are techniques for creating oppositions demonstrated in the slogans from texts 1 and 2:
1. Adding a negative prefix to a word and contrasting it with the affirmative form:
- ordre/désordre
- la composition d’une image/ la décomposition de l’art
- diaboliser [to demonize] quelque chose/ « dédiaboliser » [to “dedemonize”]
Some negative prefixes in French :
a/n-

“added to adjectives and nouns to indicate negation or deprivation”.
- un apatride est quelqu’un qui n’a pas de patrie, qui est sans patrie.
- un individu asocial est une personne qui vit en dehors de la société (il est marginal).

dé/s-

“ajouté à des verbes, des noms ou des adjectifs”.
Devant une voyelle ou un h muet, on ajoute un s
conseiller → déconseiller; avantage → désavantage; armé → désarmé

in-

“un préfixe négatif qu’il suffit d’ajouter à un adjectif qualificatif : certain → incertain.
Ce préfixe est variable, c’est-à-dire qu’il va changer selon le mot qui suit :
- devant un l, le préfixe devient il- (lisible → illisible)
- devant un m, un b ou un p le préfixe devient im- (modéré → immodéré)
- devant un r le préfixe devient ir- (récupérable → irrécupérable)”
Source : http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/a/prefix-a.htm
Source : http://www.synapse-fr.com/manuels/PREFIXE.htm
Source : http://fr.zoolanguage.com/vocabulaire-francais:-les-prefixes-negatifs_document
Source : http://www.ralentirtravaux.com/lettres/cours/prefixes.php

2. Writing a sentence that contrasts two or more ideas via a negation pattern
- Vous pouvez arracher l’homme de son pays…
…mais pas le pays du cœur de l’homme.
- L’émancipation de l’homme sera totale ou ne sera pas.
- Nous voulons les structures au service de l’homme
et non pas l’homme au service des structures.

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3. Using semantic contrasts
- Il est violent quand on l’opprime, il est doux quand il est libre.
- Vous participez. Ils profitent.
4. Using conceptual contrasts
- La poésie est dans la rue.
- La plus belle sculpture, c’est le pavé qu’on jette sur la gueule des flics.
5. Writing a sentence in which the second half is a reversal of the first half (chiasmus)
- Quand l’assemblée nationale devient un théâtre bourgeois,
tous les théâtres bourgeois doivent devenir des assemblées nationales.
Votre écrit – 1
1. Create an aphorism about city life:
a. Look through the vocabulary that you are studying.
b. Play with contrasting techniques until you find a relationship that captures your imagination and
write an aphorism using this contrast.
c. Think about a possible meaning for it – funny, surreal, surprising or profound.
2. Optional:
If your aphorism is long, for a further challenge, try transforming it into a French “tweet” in 140 characters or less!
Concerning the translation of ‘a tweet’ in French […] In France we would say: ‘il l’a écrit sur
twitter ou il a posté le lien sur twitter’ instead, or even, ‘il a twitté’ which has been transformed
into a verb, but this is informal and only used between young people.
Source: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1573585
If you need to use abbreviations, look at the following About.com site for texting in French (Les Textos
français). Think carefully about the pronunciation of the letters and numbers in order to understand the
abbreviations. :
http://french.about.com/library/writing/bl-texting.htm
Type de texte – 2
Explanatory text (texte explicatif)
Votre écrit – 2
1. Explain your aphorism
a. Provide a brief explanation of your aphorism using present tense.
b. Using passé composé verbs and the following time expressions for establishing the chronology, incorporate a sequence of events (imagined or real) about something that happened or something that
someone did that could act as illustration of the meaning. . Write this sequence as a bulleted list of events.

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Sequence words
premièrement
deuxièmement
troisièmement

d’abord (first)
ensuite (next)
puis (then)
finalement (finally)
maintenant (now)
bientôt (soon)
plus tard (later)

avant (before) + noun
-avant la fête
avant (before) + infinitive]
-avant de sortir (before leaving)
-avant d’arriver (before arriving)
après (after) + noun
-après la fête
après (after) avoir/être + past participle*]
-après avoir mangé (after having eaten)
-après être arrivé (after having arrived)

* “For regular verbs with an infinitive ending in –er, the past participle is formed by replacing the final -er of the infinitive with -é.”
Source: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tap2.html

c. Optional:
Sign your own tag to your text by using the following website! If possible, use a style of tag that in
some way complements or reinforces the meaning of your aphorism:
http://www.graffiticreator.net/
2. Écrivez un brouillon.
Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque chose,
clarifiez le sens du mot ou la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez vos remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Aphorism Structure
Read the aphorism and underline the oppositional structure. If abbreviations were used, circle
them. Can you interpret the “unexpected meaning” of the aphorism? Does the structure adequately
convey the message?
• Topic Development
Read the explanatory text. Does the explanation in present tense adequately develop the idea ?
Does the chosen sequence of past events adequately exemplify the meaning ?
• Passé Composé Verbs and Sequencing of Events
Read the sequence of past events again and underline the passé composé verbs and the adverbs
used for sequencing. Is the chronology logical ? Are there any steps that could be added to better
clarify the events or something that could be eliminated because it is either redundant or confusing?

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• Optional Tweeting
Sound out the abbreviations in the tweet. Can you detect possible problems with accuracy based on incorrect pronunciation? Check the pronunciation of any words you question and then the About.com site for an
appropriate abbreviation:
http://french.about.com/library/writing/bl-texting.htm
• Optional Tag
Do you like the tag chosen ? What does it add to the text ?

2. Révisez votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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Fêtes et souvenirs

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Lecture
Préparation
What is memory? What is it that we tend to remember? The French writer, Georges Perec, in his book, Je me souviens
(Hachette, 1978), had this to say :

Je me souviens…
des petits morceaux de quotidien, des choses que, telle ou telle année, tous les gens d'un même
âge ont vues, ont vécues, ont partagées, et qui ensuite ont disparu, ont été oubliées ; elles ne
valaient pas la peine1 de faire partie de l'Histoire, ni de figurer dans les Mémoires des hommes
d'État, des alpinistes et des monstres sacrés.
Il arrive cependant qu'elles reviennent, quelques années plus tard, intactes et minuscules,
par hasard ou parce qu'on les a cherchées, un soir, entre amis  ; c'était une chose qu'on
avait apprise à l'école, un champion, un chanteur ou une starlette qui perçait, un air qui
était sur toutes les lèvres2, un hold-up ou une catastrophe qui faisait la une des quotidiens3,
un best-seller, un scandale, un slogan, une habitude, une expression, un vêtement ou une
manière de la porter, un geste, ou quelque chose d'encore plus mince, d'inessentiel, de tout à
fait banal, miraculeusement arraché à son insignifiance, retrouvé pour un instant, suscitant
pendant quelques secondes une impalpable petite nostalgie.
_______________________________________________________________________
aren’t worth
on everyone’s lips
3
made the front page of the daily newspapers
1
2

Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je_me_souviens_%28livre%29
Source: Wikimedia

You will be reading a text by George Sand, entitled, “Le père Noël,” which was published in 1856.

George Sand, de son vrai nom Aurore Dupin, est née le 1er juillet 1804. Dans
l'Histoire de ma vie, elle raconte le père Noël de son enfance. C'est l'un des
premiers textes qui évoque le père Noël en France.

Source: http://www.lexilogos.com/pere_noel.htm

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As Georges Perec calls it, what is une petite nostalgie that you can conjure up about a holiday that you celebrate?

Vocabulaire
1. Cherchez le vocabulaire dans les chapitres de votre livre au sujet de la fête de Noël. Notez les mots
ci-dessous.
2. Ensuite, notez d’autres mots et d’autres expressions en anglais que vous associez avec l’histoire du père
Noël. Cherchez les équivalents en français et notez-les:

NB: Dans le texte de Sand vous allez voir le mot  les enfans :
enfans est la graphie ancienne pour « enfants »…

Source : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfans

Carry out a Première lecture as social reading (Teacher’s Guide pp. 7-8, 13-14)

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Le texte
« Le père Noël » par George Sand
Ce que je me rappelle parfaitement, c'est la croyance absolue que j'avais à la descente par le
tuyau de la cheminée du petit père Noël, bon vieillard à barbe blanche qui, à l'heure de minuit,
devait venir déposer dans mon petit soulier un cadeau que j'y trouverais à mon réveil. Minuit !
cette heure fantastique que les enfans ne connaissent point, et qu'on leur montre comme le
terme impossible de leur veillée ! Quels efforts incroyables je faisais pour ne pas m'endormir
avant l'apparition du petit vieux ! J'avais à la fois grande envie et grand'peur de le voir ; mais
jamais je ne pouvais me tenir éveillée jusque-là, et le lendemain mon premier regard était pour
mon soulier au bord de l'âtre. Quelle émotion me causait l'enveloppe de papier blanc ! car le
père Noël était d'une propreté extrême, et ne manquait jamais d'empaqueter soigneusement
son offrande. Je courais, pieds nus, m'emparer de mon trésor. Ce n'était jamais un don bien
magnifique, car nous n'étions pas riches. C'était un petit gâteau, une orange, ou tout simplement une belle pomme rouge. Mais cela me semblait si précieux, que j'osais à peine le manger. L'imagination jouait encore là son rôle, et c'est toute la vie de l'enfant.
Je n'approuve pas du tout Rousseau de vouloir supprimer le merveilleux, sous prétexte de
mensonge. La raison et l'incrédulité viennent bien assez vite, et d'elles-mêmes; je me rappelle
fort bien la première année où le doute m'est venu, sur l'existence réelle du père Noël. J'avais
cinq ou six ans, et il me sembla que ce devait être ma mère qui mettait le gâteau dans mon
soulier. Aussi me parut-il moins beau et moins bon que les autres fois, et j'éprouvais une sorte
de regret de ne pouvoir plus croire au petit homme à barbe blanche. J'ai vu mon fils y croire
plus longtemps ; les garçons sont plus simples que les petites filles. Comme moi, il faisait de
grands efforts pour veiller jusqu'à minuit. Comme moi, il n'y réussissait point, et comme moi,
il trouvait au jour le gâteau merveilleux pétri dans les cuisines du paradis. Mais pour lui aussi
la première année où il douta fut la dernière de la visite du bonhomme. Il faut servir aux enfans les mets qui conviennent à leur âge et ne rien devancer. Tant qu'ils ont besoin de merveilleux, il faut leur en donner. Quand ils commencent à s'en dégoûter, il faut bien se garder de
prolonger l'erreur et d'entraver le progrès naturel de leur raison.
L'enfant vit tout naturellement dans un milieu, pour ainsi dire, surnaturel, où tout est prodige
en lui et où tout ce qui est en dehors de lui doit, à la première vue, lui sembler prodigieux.

Source: http://www.lexilogos.com/pere_noel.htm

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Regardez de plus près
1. Scan the text and underline all of the verbs in the imparfait.
Read the following explanation of the meanings and uses of imparfait verbs for past descriptions, past states
of being and past habitual actions:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tap6.html
In unit 9, you will learn how to use passé composé and imparfait verbs to construct a past narrative. For
now, the goal is to get a feeling for the use of imparfait verbs for talking about memories of the way things
were or used to be.
2. With a partner:
Listen to and read again the French passage in the above link: “Edouard reminiscing.”
Then read the English translation. Note the uses in English of the simple past (preterit), used to, when…
would, and always. Note, too that in English it is heavy handed to consistently say would for expressing the
idea of past habit and that this would be even more the case if you were to say used to. Usually, once the
context is established in English, we tend to use a variety of verb forms and phrase structures to express past
habit.
With your partner, write a translation of the first paragraph of Sand’s, Le père Noël, paying particular attention to the imparfait verbs. Try to strike the right balance between the verb meanings in French and your
English translations!

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Fêtes et souvenirs

Allons plus loin

Source: Wikimedia

1. What do you know about the history of Catholicism in France? What do you think the current state of
affairs might be with practicing French Catholics today?
2. Here is a link to an article written in English that gives an overview of the past and present of Catholicism in France:
http://www.ibtimes.com/church-decline-frances-vanishing-catholics-1125241
[If the link doesn not work, do a Google search with the key words: Church in International Business
Times]

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After reading the article, write three statements in French about the way things used to be and then
three statements about the way things are today:

Écriture
Source: Wikimedia CC-BY JohnKolter

Type de texte
A recollection of the way things were/used to be
Votre écrit
“…students have to study their own socially
and culturally constructed worlds – to ‘make
strange’ what is taken for granted and begin
to understand that the cultural practices that
seem so routine and natural to them are constructed. Part of the process of intercultural
learning is to be aware of your own cultural
practices.”
“Why Ethnography for Language Learners?,” Shirely Jordan, Celia Roberts

Imagine that your French class has partnered with an anthropology course at a university in a francophone country and that you have been asked to post a description of a childhood family tradition, written in French, on a
shared web site.
Following your description, include several bulleted questions or comments about these practices that will help
you to take a broader socio-cultural view, to make “strange” what is familiar to you.

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Préparation
1. Useful structures with imparfait verbs for talking about the ways things were/used to be
a. se souvenir/ se rappeler
Je me souviens de [qqch] = I remember x
Je me souviens que [nous faisions qqch] = I remember that we would/used to do…
Je me rappelle [qqch] = I recall/remember x
Je me rappelle que [nous faisions qqch] = I recall/remember that we would/used to do…
Exemples tirés de « Je me souviens » par George Perec. (Cliquez sur les liens pour avoir plus d’information sur les références culturelles):
Je me souviens d'un fromage qui s'appelait "la Vache sérieuse" ("la Vache qui rit" lui a fait un
procès et l'a gagné).
Je me souviens de Bourvil.
Je me souviens des mousquetaires du tennis.
Je me souviens que je me demandais si l'acteur américain William Bendix était le fils des machines
à laver.
Je me souviens que Fidel Castro était avocat.

Source : http://www.desordre.net/memory/perec/

b. Expressions de temps
Pendant mon enfance, je/nous/on…
Tous les ans, je/nous/on…
Quand…, je/nous/on…
toujours / ne…jamais
c. Useful links for question formation:
• Yes/no questions – http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/int2.html#est
• Questions about people/about things – http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/int5.html
• Interrogative words (where, when, how, why, how much, how many) with est-ce que and inversion – http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/int7.html

2. Écrivez un brouillon.

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Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque
chose, clarifiez le sens du mot ou de la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez vos remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Topic Development
Read the description of the childhood family tradition more closely. Can you clearly visualize the
tradition and activities? Is there any further information needed?
• Imparfait Verbs and Framing Language
Underline all of the verbs. Check to make sure that imparfait verbs have been used to express
past descriptions, past states of being and past habitual actions (vs. a completed action that would
require passé composé or a shift to present tense for a description of something that is still true
“today”).
• Demonstration of Awareness of One’s Cultural Practices
Read the bulleted questions/comments.
- Do the question forms seem to be correctly formulated?
- Do the questions/comments adequately represent an “outsider’s” perspective? Are there other
questions or comments that come to your mind on the topic that you think would be helpful to
include?
2. Révisez donc votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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Lecture
Préparation
Source: Wikimedia

L’auteur: Dany Laferrière

Dany Laferrière was born in the fifties in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and grew
up in a village called Petit Goave. During the Duvalier regime in 1976
he was working as a journalist at a local radio station when his close
friend and colleague, Gasner Raymond, was killed. Laferrière fled
Haiti to seek refuge in Quebec, Canada, where he began his new life as
a journalist and cultural chronicler. […]
Today, he has become one of Canada’s better-known novelists. His
work, published originally in French, has been translated into several other languages […]
Laferrière’s bold innovative thinking stimulates critical discourse because it challenges historical
concepts and attempts to shift traditional patterns of thought. He constantly seeks to redefine
socio-political borders by raising issues related to diasporic identities and nationality that quite
often tend to go unexplored.
Source: http://literaturealive.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46

L’œuvre: Chronique de la dérive douce (1994) [English title: Drifting Year ]
Chronique de la dérive douce raconte mon arrivée à Montréal, en 1976…
Source: http://www.lactualite.com/culture/dany-ou-la-chronique-de-la-derive-douce

Voici trois cent soixante-cinq petites proses -- comme autant de jours que peut en contenir une
année -- où l'auteur raconte sa vie quotidienne à l'époque où il n'était qu'un métèque (pejorative
term for foreigner) parmi tant d'autres fraîchement débarqués à Montréal.
Source: http://felix.cyberscol.qc.ca/LQ/auteurL/laferr_d/chron_dl.html

You will be reading excerpts from this book.
1. Based on the information above, what subjects or topics can you imagine reading about in Laferrière’s
chronicle? Answer in French or in English.

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Carry out a Première lecture as social reading (Teacher’s Guide pp. 7-8, 13-14).

Source: Joanna Gay Luks. Vue d’une rue à Port-au-Prince à Haïti.

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Le texte
Extraits de « Chronique de la dérive douce »
par Dany Laferrière

J'ai vingt-trois ans aujourd'hui

et je ne demande rien à la vie,
sinon qu'elle fasse son boulot. 
J'ai quitté Port-au-Prince parce
qu'un de mes amis a été trouvé
sur une plage la tête fracassée
et qu'un autre croupit dans une
cellule souterraine. Nous sommes
tous les trois nés la même année, 1953. 
Bilan : un mort, un en prison
et le dernier en fuite.
Source: http://fibromaman.blogspot.com/2012/03/dany-laferriere-chronique-de-la-derive.html

Le feu n'est rien

â côté de la glace
pour brûler un homme,
mais pour ceux qui
viennent du Sud,
la faim peut mordre
encore plus durement
que le froid.
Source: http://www.babelio.com/livres/Laferriere-Chronique-de-la-Derive-Douce/145969/citations

Je retourne à la fenêtre.

Ma première tempête de neige
à vingt-trois ans.
C'est plus impressionnant
que la mer,
mais moins émouvant.

Ce n'est pas toujours simple pour

celui qui vient d'un pays d'été
où tout le monde est noir
de se réveiller dans un pays d'hiver
où tout le monde est blanc.
Certains jours on ne voit les choses
qu'en noir et blanc.

Source: http://jacbayle.perso.neuf.fr/livres/Haiti/Laferriere_10.html

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Quitter son pays pour aller

vivre dans un autre pays
dans cette condition d’infériorité,
c’est-à-dire sans filet
et sans pouvoir retourner
au pays natal,
me paraît la dernière grande
aventure humaine.

Source: http://sylviemheroux.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/chronique-de-la-derive-douce-de-danylaferriere-multiples-recettes-de-pigeon/

Regardez de plus près
1. The genre of this text is prose poetry. Compare below one of the “petites proses” to the same content
written in full prose form, which is to say, as a paragraph:
Paragraph:
J'ai vingt-trois ans aujourd'hui et je ne demande rien à la vie, sinon qu'elle fasse son boulot. J'ai quitté Portau-Prince parce qu'un de mes amis a été trouvé sur une plage la tête fracassée et qu'un autre croupit dans
une cellule souterraine. Nous sommes tous les trois nés la même année, 1953. Bilan : un mort, un en prison
et le dernier en fuite.
Prose poem:
J'ai vingt-trois ans aujourd'hui
et je ne demande rien à la vie,
sinon qu'elle fasse son boulot. 
J'ai quitté Port-au-Prince parce
qu'un de mes amis a été trouvé
sur une plage la tête fracassée
et qu'un autre croupit dans une
cellule souterraine. Nous sommes
tous les trois nés la même année, 1953. 
Bilan : un mort, un en prison
et le dernier en fuite.
2. How does reading the same information in two different forms change your experience as a reader?
Answer in French or in English.

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a. In prose (en prose):

b. As a prose poem (en poème en prose):

Allons plus loin
1. En groupe: Comparez vos réponses données dans la section Regardez de plus près.
2. Discutez :
a. Relisez les poèmes en prose. Quelle est l’idée principale de chaque poème ? Écrivez vos idées ici en
anglais ou en français:

b. Y a-t-il des sujets qui font partie de votre vie ? Expliquez comment.

c. Regardez à nouveau chaque poème et soulignez les mots que vous trouvez les plus remarquables
ou essentiels. Notez leur emplacement (location in the text). Est-ce qu’il y a un schéma (scheme or
pattern) ?

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3. Watch the beginning of this 45-minute television special that aired in 1988 on the Canadian French language station Télévision Quatre Saisons (TQS), entitled : “Etes-vous raciste?” It is a retelling of Laferriere’s arrival in Montreal and the racism he encountered.
Scroll down as it is the second video on this linked page:
http://chasinglaferriere.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/chronique-de-la-derive-douce/
[If this link does not work, try googling the key words.]
Note that pronunciation for Canadian French can be quite different from “Parisian” French, especially in
everyday language as opposed to the more internationalized pronunciation of Canadian radio and television broadcasters. This broadcast has English subtitles, so listen and read in order to better appreciate
dialect differences. This show is an interesting cultural exposé on many fronts!

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Écriture
Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Type de texte
A chronicle written in prose poetry (une chronique sous forme de
poème en prose)
Votre écrit
Écrivez une chronique sous forme de 5-6 poèmes en prose concernant votre arrivée dans un nouveau lieu d’habitation – soit à
l’université soit à un autre endroit. Vous pouvez inclure des images (photos ou autres), si vous voulez.
Préparation
1. Useful guidelines to help you write your prose poetry text
Prose poetry does not use poetic meter, rhyme, line breaks or stanzas. But it does retain the repetition, language and imagery of poetry. Unlike prose, the prose poem is not as concerned with
plot or narrative and its point of view is more reflective and turned inward.…
Step 1
Know that you won't have to worry about rules of form. Rhyme schemes, meter, stanza and line
breaks don't apply.
Step 2
Consider the structure of prose. Prose poems take the shape of paragraphs and contain sentences
and sentences fragments.
Step 3
You can tell a story in your poem, but it comes second to the language (or how you tell the story).
Step 4
Don't worry about correct punctuation… You may be writing a prose poem, but you still want to
keep the effects of poetry. Sometimes correct punctuation can hurt the rhythm you've established.
Your prose poem can contain sentence fragments and very long sentences.

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Step 5
See if you have an epiphany. Not all poems need epiphanies, but some really benefit from them.
See if the poem's train of thought naturally leads to an epiphany or a closing thought or image to
leave with the reader.
By tkfinley, eHow Contributing Writer
[Note: The text for this site has changed and the original no longer seems available.]
Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_2159685_write-prose-poem.html

The spine is the final word in each line extending throughout the poem. While readers will not
stop reading at the final word in each line, those words will leave an impression on the reader's
eye.

Source: How to Write a Prose Poem | eHow.com

2. Look through the vocabulary and grammar of your textbook chapter, and jot down some key words for
each “paragraph” that you wish to develop. Then, write out your ideas in simple paragraph form. When
you have the content of your paragraphs, experiment with cutting lines in different places in order to
create prose poems with differing effects.
3. Écrivez un brouillon.
Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque
chose, clarifiez le sens du mot ou de la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez vos remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Storyline Clarity
Trouvez-vous que l’idée principale (the story) de chaque poème est claire ? Sinon, quelles suggestions pourriez-vous faire ?
• Poetic Configuration
Regardez « la colonne » (spine) de chaque poème. Voyez-vous un moyen de couper les phrases
d’une autre manière afin d’en améliorer leurs impacts ?
• Closure
Y a-t-il des épiphanies dans les poèmes ? Avez-vous des suggestions à faire afin d’en intensifier un
sens d’aboutissement (sense of closure)?
• Satisfying the Reader’s Curiosity
En tant que lecteur, trouvez-vous que ces poèmes créent une chronique qui satisfait votre curiosité
en ce qui concerne l’expérience de l’auteur arrivant dans un nouvel endroit ?
2. Révisez donc votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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Vocabulaire

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Voici une blague (joke) à la française:
46 – Test pour accro* d’internet  (09/02/2007)
[*accroché/e = to be hooked on something; accro d’internet = those
who are addicted to the Internet]
Êtes-vous accro à l'Internet ?
Vous l'êtes si vous répondez aux conditions suivantes :
1. Il faut 15 minutes pour dérouler vos bookmarks jusqu'au bout.
2. Vous regardez votre mail : « Pas de message ». Et vous vérifiez
à nouveau.
3. Vous double-cliquez sur les boutons d'ascenseur. [elevator
buttons]
4. Vous mettez des smileys dans des lettres au percepteur. [tax
inspector]
5. Vous inclinez la tête à gauche quand vous souriez.
6. Votre petit ami/petite amie dit que la communication est importante dans une relation amoureuse. Alors,
vous achetez un deuxième ordinateur que vous connectez au premier pour que vous puissiez parler tous
les deux. [so that you can talk together]
7. Vous vous êtes fait tatouer un logo [You got a tatooed logo] qui dit: « Ce corps est mieux contemplé avec
Netscape 4.0 ou supérieur ».

Source: http://www.blague.info/blagues/blagues_longues-12.html?cat=12&p=4

1. Activités
a. La blague est sur l’addiction à l’internet. Par contre, c’est lié à l’utilisation d’une technologie ancienne
(de 2007!). Regardez le lien ci-dessous : un dictionnaire bilingue français-anglais de termes liés à l’informatique et à l’internet. Notez le vocabulaire technique qui vous intéresse.
Dictionnaire: http://www.its.qmul.ac.uk/foreign/eng-french.htm

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b. Écrivez deux exemples de symptômes actuels (current) d’addiction à l’internet en utilisant le vocabulaire
dont vous avez pris note.

c. En groupe choisissez, les symptômes que vous aimez le plus et créez votre propre blague !

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Lecture
Préparation
Le rêve est le phénomène que nous n'observons que pendant son absence. Le verbe rêver n'a
presque pas de présent. Je rêve, tu rêves… 
Paul Valéry, extrait de Tel quel
Source: http://www.evene.fr/citations/mot.php?mot=reve

Vous allez lire un texte qui décrit un rêve intitulé Le crash.
Voici quelques mots-clés du texte. Plusieurs de ces expressions sont adaptées de mots provenant de différentes
langues, principalement de l’anglais, et elles sont utilisées de façon informelle :
un zing (un avion)
se crasher
mon iPhone
essayer de nous localiser
à la tv
ma suzuki
1. Avec un camarade de classe, imaginez les événements majeurs de ce rêve en vous inspirant de ce vocabulaire. Notez vos idées en français ou en anglais.

2. Racontez les événements du rêve que vous avez imaginés à un autre groupe et écoutez leur version.
Avez-vous imaginé l’intrigue (plot) de façon similaire? Répondez en français ou en anglais.

Carry out a Première lecture as social reading (Teacher’s Guide pp. 7-8, 13-14).

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Le texte
Le crash
Dans l’avion il y avait beaucoup d’excitation. Les gens riaient, d’autres
jouaient, discutaient. Des enfants couraient dans le couloir du Boeing. Moi
j’étais juste au milieu de l’avion.
Après un certain temps, le zing s’est mis à tourner fort. Puis la porte du poste
de pilotage s’est ouverte. L’avion s’est mis à descendre. J’ai couru au poste
de pilotage. Il n’y avait pas de pilote. Ensuite deux ou trois hommes et une
femme m’ont rejoint dans la cabine. On essayait de redresser l’appareil. Je
pouvais voir la neige par la verrière, j’avais peur. Puis j’ai tiré le manche de
toutes mes forces, mais l’avion a continué à chuter. On a fini par se crasher
dans une forêt.
Il y avait peu de survivants. Il faisait froid. Des cerfs sont arrivés pour voir ce
qui se passait. Il y avait aussi des lapins blancs qui sautaient partout. La neige
continuait à tomber. Il faisait très froid. Ensuite j’ai pris mon iPhone et j’ai
essayé de nous localiser. Impossible il ne fonctionnait plus.
Après avoir mangé, on a trouvé un véhicule noir. J’ai mis mon chien à l’intérieur puis on est parti sur une longue route en lacets. On a fini par arriver
sur un col de montagne. Des gens nous ont accueilli. Une superbe demoiselle
nous a servi du café. Puis on a appris à la tv que l’avion n’avait pas été localisé pour l’instant.
Par la suite je suis sorti dehors. En face de moi d’immenses immeubles.
C’était la nuit. Des jeunes faisaient de la mécanique avec le vélo-moteur,
alors je leur ai montré ma suzuki et je suis parti à fond la caisse (at top speed)
sur l’autoroute.

31 août 2009
Source: http://www.cettenuitjaireve.com/reves/2010/02/03/le-crash/

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Regardez de plus près
1. Underline all of the verbs and draw an arrow (→) above all of the verbs in passé composé, for example :
→
→
s’est mis J’ai couru
These verbs represent the plot of the story, the main events, and the sequence in which they occurred.
The arrows should help you to see the progression and sequencing of these events.
Now look at the remaining underlined verbs in the imparfait. These verbs recount the settings, circumstances and background supporting details that surround the plot events.
Think about the interaction between these two tenses and how the passé composé and the imparfait work
together to construct a complete story.
2. Look again at the events that you imagined in the Préparation section. Your events should be noted in
the passé composé. Make corrections where needed.
Now imagine the settings, circumstances and background supporting details that surround some of the
events that you had noted. Add sentences where appropriate using verbs in the imparfait to bring out this
dimension of your narrative.
Allons plus loin
1. En groupe: Comparez vos réponses données dans la section Regardez de plus près.
2. Discutez :
a. Les rêves contiennent souvent des suites d’événements illogiques. Lisez à nouveau le texte. Trouvez-vous des détails du rêve qui sont illogiques ?

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b. Avez-vous eu des rêves similaires à celui-ci ? Expliquez en français ou en anglais.

Écriture

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Type de texte
Recounting a dream (raconter un rêve)
Votre écrit
Recount a dream (real or imagined) that includes an
internet/computer theme. It can be a comedy, love story,
adventure or nightmare. A dream often differs from other
narratives in that there are illogical juxtapositions of
events. In your text, include examples of illogical juxtapositions or delusional imagery evocative of a dream.
Préparation
1. Use the following guidelines to help you write
your text.
a. Review the vocabulary in your textbook chapter to help you to imagine the content, and review the
internet vocabulary that you used in the first activity in this unit.
b. Once you have an idea, organize the plot line by writing a list of verbs in their chronological sequence, to explain what happened (ce qui s’est passé), using passé composé verbs.
Then play with the sequence to see where you might create startling juxtapositions of events.
Leave space in between each item in your list. Then, check the accuracy of your passé composé verb
forms!
c. Afterwards, imagine the background context or circumstances for some of these events, some of it

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logical and some not:
•
•
•
•

descriptive information about the setting (location, time, weather)
who was there
how you or others were feeling
what you or others were thinking or doing when an event took place

d. Where appropriate in your list, add descriptive sentences or fragments for context using imparfait
verbs. Play with the descriptive information to include some delusional imagery! Then, check the
accuracy of your imparfait verb forms!
Note on style:
You can stylize the structure and tone of your story by choosing how much background information to
provide before you begin telling what happened. Look again at the dream text, Le crash. Notice that the
first paragraph is all in the imparfait and that the plot begins in the passé composé with the first sentence
of the second paragraph:



→

Après un certain temps, le zing s’est mis à tourner fort.

Using a lot of imparfait verbs at the outset of the story can help to build anticipation and curiosity about
the events to come. On the other hand, using passé composé in the first sentence may work to catch the
reader’s attention by getting her to mentally jump into your story. Here is an example of a possible first
sentence for Le crash:
Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais je me suis retrouvé(e) dans un avion. Il y avait beaucoup
d’excitation. …
Based on the story you wish to tell, consider how best to set the stage for your reader.
e. Controlling the sequence of events:
Here are the sequencing words used in the dream text that are followed by an action in
passé composé :
Après un certain temps
Puis
Ensuite
On a fini par
Après avoir [+ past participle, mangé] = after having eaten
…pour l’instant
Par la suite
…, alors

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La Technologie composée et imparfaite

Other expressions that are typically used with either imparfait or passé composé can be found here :
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tap8.html
Note: state verbs expressing the idea of a change of state/condition are also used in passé composé.
Many of these expressions, however, can be followed by either the passé composé or the imparfait,
depending on how the writer is conceptualizing the events, what the writer wishes to bring to the
foreground as plotline or place in the background as descriptive or supporting information. The same
story can be told in different ways!
2. Écrivez un brouillon.
Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque
chose, notez le problème et clarifiez le sens du mot ou la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez des remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Topic Development
What is the main story type: a comedy, love story, adventure or nightmare? Is the theme of technology effectively integrated into an intriguing narrative?
• Verb Aspect
Draw an arrow (→) above all of the verbs in passé composé to mark the progression of events
in the story, and underline all of the verbs in the imparfait. Next, circle all of the expressions
used for indicating the sequence of events. Do you agree with the choices of tenses for all of these
verbs? Point out any instances of questionable choices to your partner and see if you can come to
an agreement.
• Dream qualities of illogical sequencing and delusional imagery
Look at examples of illogical sequencing and delusional imagery. Do these dimensions work to
help the narrative or do they seem contrived or ineffectual? Discuss your impressions with your
partner.
• Use of tenses for setting the stage
Look at the first instance of a passé composé verb, which starts the plotline. Given the type of
story and the content, does your partner’s choice of where to begin the plotline work well?

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La Technologie composée et imparfaite

2. Révisez votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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Il était une fois

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Lecture
Préparation
Source: Wikimedia

You are going to read the first literary version of Little Red Riding Hood.
L’ auteur: Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault (12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was a French
author. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy
tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best
known of his tales include Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red
Riding Hood), Cendrillon (Cinderella), Le Chat Botté (Puss in
Boots) and La Barbe bleue (Bluebeard). Many of Perrault's stories were rewritten by the Brothers Grimm, continue to be printed and have been adapted to opera, ballet (such as Tchaikovsky’s
Sleeping Beauty), theatre, and film.
Charles Perrault was born in Paris to a wealthy bourgeois family […] He attended good schools
and studied law before embarking on a career in government service […]. He took part in the
creation of the Academy of Sciences as well as the restoration of the Academy of Painting. […]
When the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres was founded in 1663, Perrault was appointed its secretary […].
Perrault was elected to the Académie française in 1671 and initiated the Quarrel of the Ancients
and the Moderns (Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes), which pitted supporters of the literature of Antiquity (the "Ancients") against supporters of the literature from the century of Louis
XIV (the "Moderns"). He was on the side of the Moderns and […] attempted to prove the superiority of the literature of his century. […]
In 1695, when he was 67, Perrault lost his post as secretary. He decided to dedicate himself to
his children. In 1697 he published Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals (Histoires ou Contes
du Temps passé) subtitled Tales of Mother Goose (Les Contes de ma Mère l’Oye). Its publication
made him suddenly widely-known beyond his own circles and marked the beginnings of a new
literary genre, the fairy tale […].
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Perrault

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Introduction to the passé simple
“The passé simple (simple past or preterite), also called the passé défini (definite past), is the literary equivalent of the passé composé […], used only in formal writing (including history and literature), journalism, and
formal speech. As with other preterites, it is used when the action has a definite beginning and end and has
already been completed. In writing it is most often used for narration. While literary and refined language still
hangs on to the passé simple, the spoken language has simply renounced passé simple for the passe composé
[…]
Many students of French are surprised to find that even books for elementary-aged French children are written
using the passé simple, even though it is only taught to learners of French in advanced classes.
The passé simple is formed by dropping the last two letters off the infinitive form of the verb and adding
the appropriate ending.
The three main classes of French regular verbs (-er, -ir, -re) are conjugated in the passé simple tense in the following way. See also below the conjugation of some main irregular verbes: avoir, être and faire.
aimer

to like

avoir

to have

j'aimai

nous aimâmes

j’eus

nous eûmes

tu aimas

vous aimâtes

tu eus

vous eûtes

il/elle aima

ils/elles aimèrent

il/elle eut

ils/elles eurent

dormir

to sleep

être

to be

je dormis

nous dormîmes

je fus

nous fûmes

tu dormis

vous dormîtes

tu fus

vous fûtes

il/elle dormit

ils/elles dormirent

il/elle fut

ils/elles furent

rendre

to give back

faire

to do

je rendis

nous rendîmes

je fis

nous fîmes

tu rendis

vous rendîtes

tu fis

vous fîtes

il/elle rendit

ils/elles rendirent

il/elle fit

ils/elles firent
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass%C3%A9_simple

Note: For pronunciation as well as conjugations of frequently used irregular verbs, consult the following link to
Tex’s French Grammar:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tap10.html

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1. Écrivez en anglais un résumé de l’histoire du Petit Chaperon rouge, telle que vous la connaissez.

2. À votre avis, quelle est la signification de cette histoire?

Carry out a Première lecture as social reading (Teacher’s Guide pp. 7-8, 13-14).

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Il était une fois

Le texte
Le Petit Chaperon rouge de Charles Perrault
Il était une fois une petite fille de Village, la plus jolie qu'on
eût su voir1 ; sa mère en était folle2, et sa mère-grand plus
folle encore. Cette bonne femme lui fit faire3 un petit chaperon rouge, qui lui seyait4 si bien, que partout on l'appelait le
Petit Chaperon rouge.
Un jour sa mère ayant cuit5 et fait des galettes, lui dit :
Va voir comme se porte ta mère-grand, car on m'a dit qu'elle
était malade, porte-lui une galette et ce petit pot de beurre. Le
Petit Chaperon rouge partit aussitôt pour aller chez sa mèregrand, qui demeurait dans un autre Village. En passant dans
un bois elle rencontra compère6 le Loup, qui eut bien envie
de la manger ; mais il n'osa7, à cause de quelques Bûcherons
qui étaient dans la Forêt. Il lui demanda où elle allait ; la pauvre enfant, qui ne savait pas qu'il est dangereux de s'arrêter à
écouter un Loup, lui dit : Je vais voir ma Mère-grand, et lui
porter une galette avec un petit pot de beurre que ma Mère lui
envoie.
Demeure-t-elle bien loin ? lui dit le Loup. Oh ! oui, dit le Petit Chaperon rouge, c'est par-delà le moulin que vous voyez
tout là-bas, là-bas, à la première maison du Village. Eh bien,
dit le Loup, je veux l'aller voir aussi ; je m'y en vais8 par ce
chemin ici, et toi par ce chemin-là, et nous verrons qui plus
tôt y sera9. Le Loup se mit à10 courir de toute sa force par le
chemin qui était le plus court, et la petite fille s'en alla11 par
le chemin le plus long, s'amusant à cueillir des noisettes, à
courir après des papillons, et à faire des bouquets des petites
fleurs qu'elle rencontrait.
Le Loup ne fut pas longtemps à arriver à la maison de la
Mère-grand ; il heurte12 : Toc, toc. Qui est là ? C'est votre
fille le Petit Chaperon rouge (dit le Loup, en contrefaisant13
sa voix) qui vous apporte une galette et un petit pot de beurre
que ma Mère vous envoie. La bonne Mère grand, qui était
dans son lit à cause qu'elle se trouvait un peu mal, lui cria :
Tire la chevillette, la bobinette cherra14.

that anyone had ever seen
- lit. was crazy about her – doted on her
3
had made for her
4
fitted her
1
2

having cooked

5

a form of address like, “Brother”
didn’t dare to

6
7

I’m leaving/going

8

who will be there first
began to
11
left
9

10

knocks [Note use of present narrative
here; a carry over from the oral tradition]
13
disguising/counterfeiting
12

“This formula is well known to all
French speaking children, a bit like
"Sésame, ouvre-toi". […] it means: pull on
the little lever and the lock will open.”
Source: http://forum.wordreference.com/
showthread.php?t=596139
14

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Le Loup tira la chevillette et la porte s’ouvrit. Il se jeta sur
la bonne femme, et la dévora en moins de rien ; car il y avait
plus de trois jours qu’il n’avait mangé. Ensuite il ferma la
porte, et s’alla coucher dans le lit de la Mère grand, en attendant le Petit Chaperon rouge, qui quelque temps après vint15
heurter à la porte. Toc, toc. Qui est là ?
Le Petit Chaperon rouge, qui entendit la grosse voix du
Loup eut peur d’abord, mais croyant que sa Mère-grand était
enrhumée16, répondit : C’est votre fille le Petit Chaperon
rouge, qui vous apporte une galette et un petit pot de beurre
que ma Mère vous envoie. Le Loup lui cria en adoucissant17
un peu sa voix : Tire la chevillette, la bobinette cherra. Le
Petit Chaperon rouge tira la chevillette, et la porte s’ouvrit.
Le Loup, la voyant entrer lui dit en se cachant dans le lit sous
la couverture : Mets la galette et le petit pot de beurre sur
la huche18, et viens te coucher avec moi. Le Petit Chaperon
rouge se déshabille, et va se mettre dans le lit, où elle fut
bien étonnée de voir comment sa Mère-grand était faite en
son déshabillé. Elle lui dit : Ma mère-grand, que vous avez
de grands bras ? C’est pour mieux t’embrasser, ma fille. Ma
mère-grand, que vous avez de grandes jambes ? C’est pour
mieux courir, mon enfant. Ma mère-grand, que vous avez
de grandes oreilles ? C’est pour mieux écouter, mon enfant.
Ma mère-grand, que vous avez de grands yeux ? C’est pour
mieux voir, mon enfant. Ma mère-grand, que vous avez de
grandes dents ? C’est pour te manger. Et en disant ces mots,
ce méchant Loup se jeta sur le Petit Chaperon rouge, et la
mangea.

came

15

had a cold

16

softening

17

bread bin

18

MORALITÉ
On voit ici que de jeunes enfants,
Surtout de jeunes filles Belles, bien faites, et gentilles,
Font très mal d’écouter toute sorte de gens,
Et que ce n’est pas chose étrange,
S’il en est tant que19 le Loup mange.
Je dis le Loup, car tous les Loups ne sont pas de la même
sorte;
Il en est d’une humeur accorte20,
Sans bruit, sans fiel21 et sans courroux22,
Qui privés23, complaisants24 et doux,

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if there are so many (young girls)

19

of a charming disposition
without venom
22
without rancor
23
unassuming
24
over-indulgent
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Suivent les jeunes Demoiselles jusque dans les maisons,
jusque dans les ruelles ;
Mais hélas ! qui ne sait que ces loups doucereux,
De tous les loups sont les plus dangereux.
Source: http://www.inlibroveritas.net/lire/oeuvre2363.html#page_1

Source :
http://www.devoir-de-philosophie.com/dissertation-petit-chaperon-rouge-charles-perrault-histoires-contes-temps-passe-144532.html

Regardez de plus près
1. Après cette lecture, comment pouvez-vous décrire la personnalité du Petit Chaperon rouge celle du du Loup. Notez trois adjectifs français pour chaque personnage.
Le Petit Chaperon rouge

Le Loup

2. Regardez cette interprétation filmée sur Youtube. Cela suit le texte écrit, mais modifie un peu les dialogues et la
fin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTH8pN5NtsM

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Il était une fois

Est-ce que cette interprétation vous aide à mieux comprendre le texte? Citez des exemples.

3. Lisez l’histoire à nouveau. Identifiez et notez toutes les caractéristiques du conte de fée (fairy tale) –
conventions, langage, organisation de l’histoire :

Allons plus loin
1. Avec un partenaire, comparez vos réponses données dans la section Regardez de plus près.
2. Discutez:
a. Quelles sont les idées et les valeurs les plus importantes suggérées dans ce conte?

b. Si vous pouviez poser deux questions à Charles Perrault, qu’est-ce que vous aimeriez lui demander?

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c. Le conte de Charles Perrault est différent de la version contemporaine de Disney. Laquelle préférezvous? Pourquoi?

Source: Wikimedia CC-BY Fanny Schertzer

Source: Wikimedia

d. Voilà deux faits intéressants:

• [La version de Perrault] a d'autant plus de répercussion qu'elle est publiée à une période qui correspond au pic d'attaques de loups sur l'homme que la France a connu depuis les quatre derniers
siècles, soit 500 à 1500 enfants agressés annuellement par les loups.
• Le Petit Chaperon rouge est, à l’époque de Charles Perrault, une coiffure féminine populaire et
bourgeoise, mais déjà démodée. La chose est naturelle, le costume des enfants du XVIIe siècle
des classes aisées se caractérise par son archaïsme et ses emprunts aux modes populaires. Ce petit
chaperon rouge serait donc la marque du désir des protagonistes villageois de se distinguer socialement, un signe de l’affection de la mère et de la grand-mère pour leur ravissante petite fille. 
Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petit_chaperon_rouge

• Relisez les informations sur Perrault au début de ce chapitre.

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Comment pensez-vous que les deux faits mentionnés ci-dessus s’appliquent à la notion que Charles Perrault avait d’une littérature « moderne » à son époque ?
3. Les événements majeurs d’une époque peuvent avoir une influence directe ou indirecte sur la vie d’un
individu. Réfléchissez sur les événements qui sont les plus marquants dans votre vie. Notez les trois
événements les plus importants:
a. Quels sont les événements les plus marquants de votre vie ?

b. Comparez vos réponses avec celles des étudiants français sur le site de Cultura.
Voyez-vous des différences intéressantes? :

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)
http://cultura.mit.edu/2006-spring-brandeislille-3-55/
http://cultura.mit.edu/2006-spring-mitecole-polytechnique-51/
[Note: If you have difficulty accessing this page, google Cultura Exchanges MIT. Once on the home page,
go to Archived Exchanges, find 2006 Spring – Brandeis/Lille 3 or 2006 Spring – MIT/Ecole Polytechnique, click on Answers and Discussions, then go to Questionnaire type: Sentence Completions, then
click on The Most Significant / Les événements.]

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Écriture

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Type de texte
folktale/fairy tale and moral (conte et morale)
Votre écrit
Imagine a fractured fairy tale version of Little Red Riding Hood for
college students.
Write four short paragraphs using the following structure. Use
passé composé and imparfait verbs to construct the narrative.
1 = introduction of characters and description of initial situation
2 = introduction of a complication/problem/task
3 = explanation of how the hero/heroine resolves the problem
4= Then write the moral as a separate short paragraph, using
present tense verbs.
Préparation
1. Prototypical fairy tale conventions
a. “Characters (Personnages):
• Characters are nameless or have simple, generic names. Human characters are often referred to
in terms of their profession, social position, or familial relation to other characters: the Prince, the
Queen, the Husband, the Daughter, the Youth, the Old Man, the Lumberjack. Animals or other anthropomorphic characters are typically referred to by their common name: the Wolf, the
Three Little Pigs.
• Characters' inner lives (emotions, psychology) are unimportant. [They are archetypes: good/bad;
innocent/evil; wise/foolish.]
• Characters' life histories before and after the tale are unimportant.
b. Language and style:
• Formulaic lines. These are used mostly at the very beginning and very end of a tale. The best
known lines in English-language fairy tale formulae are, of course, "once upon a time" and "happily ever after." [See useful expressions below.]
• Objects and characters are named, but not described in any detail. One-word adjectives are common ("golden apples," "brave youth," "dark forest," etc.)
• Magical or supernatural occurrences are unremarkable; the hero(ine) does not react any differently
to such occurrences from how s/he would react to everyday events.”
Source: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080903204233AAAr5XS

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• “Personification - talking animals, humanized forces of nature or concepts like Honesty, even
talking toasters!”
Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_conventions_of_a_fairy_story#ixzz1iJfb6H4P

c. Approaches for writing a fractured fairy tale
• Have the story take place somewhere else
• Have the story take place at a different time
• Change the main character
• Tell the story from a different character’s point of view
• Make the problem of the story different
• Change an important item in the story
• Change the end of the story.
Source: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/fractured-fairy-tales-30062.html

d. Incorporate the vocabulary, grammar and topics from this chapter in your textbook.
Possible themes to explore:
- Problems that college students face
- Right/wrong; justice/injustice
- Goodness (kindness, friendship, loyalty) triumphing over evil
- Achieving happiness/well-being/good health
- Love and loyalty as transformational

Source: http://www.huntel.net/rsweetland/literature/genre/fiction/folktales/elements.html

e. Useful impersonal expressions in French with “il”
• Fairy tale conventions for beginning the story
-Il était une fois, …
[Ils vécurent heureux et eurent beaucoup d’enfants=They lived happily ever after.]
• weather
-Il faisait chaud/froid/du vent
-Il pleuvait/neigait/grêlait…
• time
-Il était [+ clock time] – deux heures du matin

-Il faisait nuit
• Il faut… (to be necessary)
-Il faut / fallait + noun (une enquête) – An investigation was necessary.
-Il faut/ fallait + infinitive (faire une enquête/enquêter) – It was necessary to investigate.
-Il + indirect object + faut (leur fallait des preuves). – They needed evidence.

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• Expressing opinions & advice for the moral that avoid the use of subjunctive verbs
-Il s'agit de + infinitive (It is a matter of/ a question of…)
-Il vaut mieux + infinitive
(It is better/advisable to…)
-Il est amusant /facile /difficile /fatigant de + infinitive (It is fun/easy/difficult/tiring to…)
-Il est important de + infinitive (It is important to…)
-Il est nécessaire de + infinitive (It is necessary to…)
-Il est préférable de + infinitive (It is preferable/ better to…)
-Il est essentiel/indispensable de + infinitive (It is essential to…)
-Il est dommage de + infinitive (It is a pity to…)
Source: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/vim1.html

2. Écrivez un brouillon.
Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque
chose, notez le problème et clarifiez le sens du mot ou la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez des remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Topic Development
Read the moral first and then rescan the story. Does the story work effectively to exemplify the
moral? Is there an idea or dimension that needs further development?
• Verb Aspect and Coherence
-Underline all of the verbs. Does the fairytale utilize contrasts of passé composé and imparfait to
successfully develop the plot and supporting background information?
-Is the moral written in present tense?
• Fairytale Conventions
Does each paragraph satisfy the given conventions and utilize the needed formulaic language?
• Moral Conventions
Does the moral communicate sound advice? Are appropriate structures used for expressing opinions and giving advice?
2. Révisez votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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Mais je digresse

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Mais je digresse

Lecture
Préparation
The following thoughts on digression, culled from a blog, are in reference to the book, The Life and Opinions
of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman or, more briefly, Tristram Shandy, a novel by Laurence Sterne, published in nine
volumes, the first two appearing in 1759, and seven others following over the next 10 years.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Opinions_of_Tristram_Shandy,_Gentleman

Laurence Sterne was a flaneur* and blogger before either word was uttered. Consider his credo
from Tristram Shandy:
‘Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine;—they are the life, the soul of reading!—take them
out of this book, for instance,—you might as well take the book along with them;—one cold
eternal winter would reign in every page of it; restore them to the writer;—he steps forth like a
bridegroom,—bids All-hail; brings in variety, and forbids the appetite to fail.’
Source: http://blindflaneur.com/2010/08/29/proto_flaneur-laurence-sterne-on-digression/

* flâner, […] loosely means to stroll or to wander aimlessly. One who walks this way is a flaneur. In Paris, such walking evolved into an art form. Charles Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin
were two of its great practitioners. In their imaginations, an aimless stroll through the streets of
Paris became social transformation, the construction of new and subjective realities out of the
pedestrian debris of cultural excess and alienation. Whew! Fortunately, you do not have to be a
postmodern theorist to follow the flaneur’s art. It can be as simple as strolling down Rue Mouffetard with a baguette under your arm.
Source: http://blindflaneur.com/2007/12/18/foot-rage-and-the-blind-flaneur/

Digression is a crucial motif in literary narratives. It features as a key characteristic of fictional works from Cervantes and Sterne, to Proust, Joyce and Calvino. Moving away from a linear
narrative and following a path of associations reflects how we think and speak. Yet an author's
inability to stick to the point has often been seen to detract from a work of literature, somehow
weakening it.

Textual Wanderings: The Theory and Practice of Narrative Digression Edited by Rhian Atkin
Source: http://www.mhra.org.uk/cgi-bin/legenda/legenda.pl?catalogue=b9781907747908

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

Mark Twain, US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 - 1910)
Source: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/23671.html

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Mais je digresse

1. Que pensez-vous des digressions dans un texte?

2. Quand vous écrivez dans votre langue maternelle (ou dans une autre langue que vous maîtrisez bien), utilisez-vous
souvent des digressions ? Si oui, dans quels contextes ou à quels moments?

3. You are going to read a blog entry in which digression plays a key role. The entry is entitled Ambiguïtés. It is one
woman’s musings on her uncertainties with spelling when editing her writing. Think about your experiences with
electronically editing your own writing. What associations come to mind in relationship to this topic ?

Carry out a Première lecture as social reading (Teacher’s Guide pp. 7-8, 13-14).

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Mais je digresse

Le texte
Ambiguïtés

Un blog publié le 08/05/2011 par Françoise Gomarin

Faites-vous comme moi ou êtes-vous sûrs de vous1 ?
Quand je rédige un article pour ce blog, je tape en général très vite,
puis je relis pour voir les fautes qui auraient pu m’échapper2. Le
correcteur orthographique est là, il souligne en pointillés rouges3 les
fautes. Comme je n’aime pas être prise en défaut, encore moins par
une machine, plus bête que moi (elle applique, elle ne réfléchit pas),
j’essaie de ne pas faire rougir l’écran.4 Curieux ça, si l’écran rougit,
c’est moi qui ai honte 5 (la honte, encore une chose qui disparaît : «
responsable, mais pas coupable 6 »). Françoise, retiens-toi, toujours tes digressions… C’est mon problème, mon cerveau part en
vadrouille.7 Vive la liberté, me crie-t-il.

sure of yourselves

1

the errors that might have escaped me
it underlines in red dots

2

3

to not make the screen blush
it’s me who is embarrassed / I’m the
one who is embarrassed
6
* See footnote
7
wanders
4
5

Je reviens à ce qui m’a fait commencer la rédaction de cet article
: l’ambiguïté. Et j’essaie de mettre de l’ordre dans mon discours.
Les doigts vont moins vite que la langue et encore moins vite que
le cerveau, d’où des difficultés à faire avancer en même temps des
média (pluriel de médium) si différents.
Tout d’abord, je voulais donner quelques exemples d’ambiguïté,
puis comme j’ai eu un doute sur l’orthographe du mot, je voulais
parler de l’utilisation des dictionnaires, puis je me suis surprise à
penser aux machines, aux erreurs pour lesquelles « on ne veut pas
porter le chapeau8 » (une expression encore), à la honte que l’on
peut ressentir quelquefois dans ce monde où personne ne se sent
ni responsable, ni coupable, honte d’être si inadapté, honte d’être
si peu courageux pour arriver à faire changer les choses, au clavier
qui pourrait rougir parce qu’il chauffe sous mes doigts (non, pas si
habiles que ça sur un clavier9). Voilà comment je pars en vadrouille
dans ma tête. Et aussi loin que mes souvenirs me mènent10, c’était
toujours comme ça. Pas facile en classe de rester présent quand la
pensée s’envole ! Alors ici, sur mon blog, comment voulez-vous
? Nous sommes dans un espace de liberté (surveillée, paraît-il 11).
Moi j’essaie de surveiller mon orthographe d’où l’utilisation de
dictionnaire(s), d’où la question du début : faites-vous comme moi
? Dictionnaire. Ce matin : Ambiguïté, ça s’écrit comment ? Merci
ENCARTA !

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take the blame

8

9
(my fingers) aren’t that skillful on the
keyboard, i.e. it’s not because of the
speed of typing that the keyboard heats
up; it’s because of the errors
10
for as long as I can remember
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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Mais je digresse

ambiguïté [ bigɥite ]
ambiguïté nom commun - féminin ( ambiguïtés )
S’écrit aussi: ambigüité
Définition :
1. ce qu’on peut comprendre de plusieurs façons contradictoires
Synonyme: équivoque (une attitude pleine d’ambiguïtés)
2. équivoque intentionnelle ou fortuite (savoir agir sans ambiguïté)
Et je me dis sans ambiguïté, c’est comme sans ambages12 au fond.
Et hop13, ça repart !
Je reviens donc au début une fois de plus.

ambages is a literary word for detours or deviations. Sans ambages =
in a direct, blunt or plain way
13
And there you go / there you have
it.
12

Surveillez-vous votre orthographe ? Utilisez-vous les dictionnaires?
Moi oui. Désolée si je laisse échapper quelques fautes. Personne
n’est parfait !
Comme j’essaie toujours de me faire bien comprendre, je pense que
l’écrit est plus facile. Nous sommes obligés de réfléchir davantage
avant de lâcher les mots et il n’y a plus les distorsions du son. Voilà
quelques exemples d’ambiguïtés liées à l’oral. De quoi faire des
fautes à ces dictées.14
Parle, bois du gin ou cent tasses de lait froid !
Par le bois du djinn où s’entasse de l’effroi. 15
[…]
La mandarine épluchée, ça tente Damien.
L’amant d’Harry n’est plus chez sa tante d’Amiens.16
D’après les « énigmes tordues » de Fabrice Mazza.
Ça y est, je suis arrivée à ce que je voulais écrire.

Source: http://www.francoisegomarin.fr/2011/05/08/ambiguites-2/

It’s enough to make (even good
spellers generate) errors on dictations.

14

These sentences are examples of holorimes: two sentences in French that
are pronounced the same way. Here
are the English translations:
Speak, drink gin or 100 cups of cold
milk!
Through the genie’s woods crammed
with terror.
16
The peeled mandarine orange, it’s
tempting Damien.
Harry’s lover is no longer at his aunt’s
house in Amiens
15

* Re « responsable, mais pas coupable » and the tainted blood scandal in France:

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“On February 9, 1999, Laurent Fabius, former Prime Minister of France; Georgina Dufoix, minister of social affairs under Fabius; and her subordinate, Edmond Hervé, stood before a tribunal
in the Court of Justice of the Republic, where they were charged with manslaughter and criminal
negligence. These former high officials of the French government were accused of delaying the
introduction of a simple test, available from an American company, that enabled blood banks to
detect human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in blood donors. That delay, the prosecutors claim, was meant to give French scientists time to perfect their own test for HIV, which
could then compete with the American test. [about 4400 people in France were infected with
HIV as a result of transfusion of infected blood during the 1980s, and about 1800 of them have
died] Curiously, before her trial, Dufoix made the bizarre confession that she was ‘guilty but not
responsible.’”
The New England Journal of Medicine
Source: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Epic-History-Medicine-Commerce/dp/product-description/0688176496

Regardez de plus près
1. Soulignez tous les passages dans le texte que vous considérez être digressifs. Quel effet l’utilisation de
la technique de digression a-t-elle sur vous, en tant que lecteur? Est-ce que cela ajoute « du soleil » et
« de la variété » (à la Tristram Shandy)? Est-ce que cela vous aide à mieux comprendre la façon dont
l’auteur « pense et parle » (Textual Wanderings) ?
Citez des exemples et notez vos réactions.

2. Parallelism // Parallélisme
a. “Parallelism is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same or similar in
their construction, sound, meaning or meter. Parallelism examples are found in literary works as well
as in ordinary conversations.
This method adds balance and rhythm to sentences giving ideas a smoother flow and thus can be persuasive because of the repetition it employs. For example, ‘Alice ran into the room, into the garden,

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and into our hearts.’ We see the repetition of a phrase that not only gives the sentence a balance but
rhythm and flow as well. This repetition can also occur in similar structured clauses e.g. ‘Whenever
you need me, wherever you need me, I will be there for you.’”

Source” http://literarydevices.net/parallelism/

Case in point

Source: Wikimedia CC-BY Stermoc

Source: Wikimedia

“Maya Angelou called out the creators of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial for misquoting
the civil rights legend and making him sound like ‘an arrogant twit.’
Angelou publicly criticized the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington for a misquotation
that read, "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness." The line was abbreviated from
a sermon in which King described how he hoped to be remembered at his funeral. In the original
speech he said, "Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for
justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the
other shallow things will not matter." Angelou had worked with King's campaign as a coordinator for
his Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The quote was later changed.”
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/28/maya-angelou-life_n_5405038.html

We tend to think about parallel structures when writing in our own language and wishing to avoid
grammatical or syntactical errors. As a rhetorical or literary device, however, parallelism adds much

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to the meaning of a text as well as to the pleasure of reading or listening to it. It is important, then, to
learn to recognize parallel structures in a foreign language as a way of better understanding sentence
structures and the conceptual and aesthetic dimensions that the author wishes to convey.

Source: Wikimedia CC-BY-SA Sander van der Wel

There are many kinds of parallel structures. Here is an example of parallelisms made evident by
poetic structuring. This is the beginning of a poem by the poet, Jacques Prévert, entitled, « Pour faire
le portrait d'un oiseau » . (Paroles) :
Peindre d'abord une cage
avec une porte ouverte
peindre ensuite
quelque chose de joli
quelque chose de simple
quelque chose de beau
quelque chose d'utile
pour l'oiseau
placer ensuite la toile contre un arbre
dans un jardin
dans un bois
Source: http://www.lemonde.fr/revision-du-bac/annales-bac/francais-premiere/parallelisme_fx085.html

There are three embedded parallelisms :

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Peindre d'abord une cage
avec une porte ouverte
peindre ensuite
quelque chose de joli
quelque chose de simple
quelque chose de beau
quelque chose d'utile
pour l'oiseau
placer ensuite la toile contre un arbre
dans un jardin
dans un bois
However, it is not always easy to see parallel structures in another language, especially in complex
sentences.
b. Regardez cette phrase venant du blog. Identifiez toutes les parallélismes:
Tout d’abord, je voulais donner quelques exemples d’ambiguïté, puis comme j’ai eu un doute sur
l’orthographe du mot, je voulais parler de l’utilisation des dictionnaires, puis je me suis surprise à
penser aux machines, aux erreurs pour lesquelles « on ne veut pas porter le chapeau » (une expression encore), à la honte que l’on peut ressentir quelquefois dans ce monde où personne ne se sent ni
responsable, ni coupable, honte d’être si inadapté, honte d’être si peu courageux pour arriver à faire
changer les choses, au clavier qui pourrait rougir parce qu’il chauffe sous mes doigts.

3. French syllables and pronunciation
a. A French word has as many syllables as there are vowel units of sound, and the dominant pattern to a
syllable is consonant-vowel [C-V].
• An initial vowel can constitute a syllable by itself, but after that, whenever possible, a French syllable begins with a consonant.
2 vowel units: neveu = ne/veu
3 vowel units: animal = a/ni/mal

4 vowel units: population = po/pu/la/tion
• Consonant clusters that are not in the initial position are either assigned to the following vowel (if
they constitute an acceptable sound group), or they are divided between two syllables:

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après = a/près
exploit = ex/ploit

actrice = ac/trice

parlons = par/lons



• Final consonants are generally silent. Main exceptions = c, r, f, l (mnemonic = CaReFuL). There
are other exceptions, but they are rare.
silent: héros, furieux, objet, objets, beaucoup, indiquez, très, comment, plomb, placard
pronounced: avec, avoir/bonjour, sportif, mal
The letter “r”, however, is silent in verbs ending –er and in words of more than one syllable ending
–ier :
admirer = ad/mi/rer

premier = pre/mier
décider = dé/ci/der

dernier = der/nier
anticiper = an/ti/ci/per étudier = é/tu/dier
• Consonants are always pronounced when followed by a vowel:
petite vs. petit
parte / parti / pâté vs. part
sportives / ennuyeuse / tresse vs. sportifs / ennuyeux / très
individu (in/di/vi/du) vs. nid
b. These general principles of syllabication help to explain several phenomena related to French pronunciation:
• Contractions are often obligatory, not optional as they are in English:
je aime => j’aime

le animal => l’animal
• Liaison is mostly obligatory:
ont-ils = on/tils
un homme = un/n(h)omme
les Américains = lez/za/mé/ri/cains
• Certain verb conjugations are homophones (pronounced the same way, even though they are
spelled differently):
admire / admires / admirent
décidais / décidait / décidaient
• Most syllables in French end with a vowel sound, unlike in English, where most syllables end
with a consonant sound:
Il est arrivé en retard = i /le/ta/ri/vé/en/re/tard
vs. He arrived late.
Nos amis vous attendent = no/za/mi/vu/za/tãd vs. Our friends are waiting for you.
c. Following are the holorimes presented in the blog entry. All of the multi-syllable words have been
divided into syllables and the liaisons are indicated by underlining. Commas have been omitted so as

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to allow for the same rhythm.
Practice saying each rhymed pair of sentences slowly outloud :
Par/le bois du gin ou cent tasses de lait froid !
Par le bois du djinn où s’en/tasse de l’e/ffroi.
La man/da/ri/ne é/plu/chée ça tente Da/mien.
L’amant d’Harry n’est plus chez sa tante d’A/miens.
Allons plus loin
1. Avec un partenaire, comparez vos réponses dans la section Regardez de plus près.
Soyez prêts à défendre vos interprétations.
2. Lisez la citation ci-dessous et avec votre partenaire, comparez vos réactions – Est-ce que vous êtes
plutôt d’accord ou non? Est-ce que vous connaissez des exemples de textes littéraires en anglais? :
La navigation sur internet, aujourd'hui, peut-être conçue très souvent comme une succession de
digressions par rapport à l'objet principal de la requête, et nul ne songerait à (no one would dream
of) condamner ces divagations qui font la richesse et les surprises d'une déambulation dans le cyberespace. Une certaine forme d'écriture spécifique à ce médium tend à se constituer qui déploie
dans toutes ses dimensions une nouvelle sémiologie du texte littéraire.
Source: http://projects.chass.utoronto.ca/langueXIX/saint-gerand/qui-digression-dit.htm

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Écriture

Source: Wikimedia

Type de texte
Digressive musings
Votre écrit
Topic: An important activity in your life : a
hobby, obligation or simple pleasure.
Explain your chosen activity to your reader and
why it is important to you.
Incorporate vocabulary and grammar topics
from your textbook chapter.
As a way of helping your reader to better understand how you think and speak, include carefully
selected digressions that relate to your activity.
For stylistic effect, include at least one example
of parallelism.

Préparation
Depending on the content and genre of a text, digression can be used for any number of purposes:
• To bring suspense when telling a story
• To demonstrate intellectual breadth on a
topic as a way of establishing credibility in the eyes of the reader
• To provide greater scope for the development of an argument than is conventionally expected in an essay
• To add layers of historical, philosophical, technical, or factual information
• To serve as transition
• To add emotional and psychological depth
• To interject humor
• To establish direct communication and rapport with the reader
• To delight and intrigue the reader
Digressions can be written in parentheses or as footnotes or directly incorporated in the text.

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One way to prepare for writing this text could be by choosing your activity and simply letting your mind wander (part en vadrouille). If you need some prompting, here is a more structured approach: Write five questions
that you think the reader would like answered about your chosen activity and why it is important to you. Then
brainstorm associations that you can make with each topic indicated in the questions. These associations will
form the basis for digressions to integrate into your text.
1. Écrivez un brouillon.
Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque
chose, notez le problème et clarifiez le sens du mot ou la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez des remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Topic Development
Is the theme effectively developed so as to provide an engaging yet clear depiction of the topic?
• Digression
Underline the passages containing digressions. Are there any instances of digressions that do not
help you to better understand the thinking and feelings of the author? Are there digressions that
could be edited in order to be more effective? What suggestions can you offer?
• Parallelisms
Circle all of the key words that indicate parallel structures. Are these phrases carefully constructed
so as to provide balance and rhythm to sentences or to add persuasiveness because of the repetition they employ? What suggestions can you offer for fine-tuning?
• Avoiding repetitiveness
Make note of any instances of repeated words and check for synonyms with your partner to see
what might work as substitution. Here is a link to Reverso, an online dictionary that includes a
thesaurus (as well as a conjugator, grammar input, and an encylopedia) :
http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-synonyms
2. Révisez donc votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
Le Monde du travail

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Lecture
Source: Vector image by COERLL after a photo found on Wikimedia

Préparation

Preparing to work in a globalized economy means recognizing the impact of culture on
business.

Geert Hofstede, […] is an influential Dutch researcher in the fields
of organizational studies and more concretely, organizational culture,
also cultural economics and management.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Hofstede - cite_note-website-0

Hofstede proposed a systematic framework for assessing and differentiating national cultures in
relation to organizational culture known as the cultural dimensions theory. He gathered and analyzed
extensive data on the world's values and cultures, […] in order to build a comprehensive model
which argues that people differ across [cultures] on the extent to which they endorse six dimensions
of values –
power (equality versus inequality),
collectivism (versus individualism),
uncertainty avoidance (versus tolerance),
masculinity (versus femininity),
temporal orientation, and
indulgence (versus restraint).

[la distance hiérarchique]
[l’individualisme/le collectivisme]
[le contrôle de l’incertitude]
[la dimension masculine/féminine]
[l’orientation court terme/long terme]
[l’indulgence/la modération]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede%27s_cultural_dimensions_theory

Understanding the cultural norms of the French business world can help you to more effectively negotiate practices and attitudes that would otherwise seem confounding. It can also help you to better understand humor!
Vous allez lire deux blagues (jokes) sur le monde du travail en France.
1. Notez les stéréotypes que vous pouvez imaginer sur le monde du travail en France (organisation, coutumes et attitudes) :

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Première lecture
1. Lisez les textes suivants. Utilisez un dictionnaire pour chercher les mots que vous ne connaissez
pas. Faites attention au contexte afin de bien choisir les sens appropriés. Notez soit la traduction en anglais soit une définition ou un synonyme en français.

2. Est-ce que ces blagues contiennent des stéréotypes que vous avez notés? Lesquels ?

3. Quels aspects des blagues avez-vous trouvé drôles ou intéressants ?

4. Avez-vous trouvé certains aspects étranges ou inattendus (unexpected)? Lesquels ?

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Les textes
Retour à la terre
Il était une fois, un berger et ses moutons au bord de la route. Tout
d’un coup surgit une Jeep Cherokee flambant neuve1, conduite par
un jeune homme en chemise Hugo Boss, pantalon YSL, baskets
Nike, etc. La voiture s’arrête et le jeune homme s’adresse au berger :
- Si je devine combien de moutons vous avez, vous m’en donnez
un ?
Le berger regarde le jeune homme, regarde les moutons qui
broutent et dit :
- Oui.
Le jeune homme gare la voiture, branche le notebook et le GSM,
entre dans un site de la NASA, scrute le terrain à l’aide du GPS,
établit une base de données, 60 tableaux Excel pleins d’algorithmes et d’exponentielles, et lit un rapport de 150 pages imprimé sur
sa mini imprimante HIGH-TECH. Il se tourne vers le berger et dit :
- Vous avez ici 1586 moutons.
Le berger répond :
- C’est tout à fait correct, vous pouvez avoir votre mouton.
Le jeune homme prend le mouton et le met dans le coffre de la
Jeep. À ce moment-là, le berger lui demande :
- Si je devine votre profession, vous me rendez mon mouton ?
Le jeune homme répond :
- Oui.
Le berger dit tout de suite :
- Vous êtes consultant

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brand new
(lit: flamingly
new)

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- Comment vous avez deviné ? demande le jeune homme.
Très facile, répond le berger :
-Premièrement, vous êtes venu ici sans qu’on vous appelle. Deuxièmement, vous me taxez un mouton pour me dire ce que je savais
déjà. Et dernièrement, vous ne comprenez rien à ce que je fais
parce que vous avez pris mon chien !
Source: http://tigroo92.ouvaton.org/Le-monde-du-travail.html

Petit cours de politique
Vous avez 2 vaches. Vos voisins vous aident à vous en occuper et
vous partagez le lait.
COMMUNISME :
Vous avez 2 vaches. Le gouvernement vous prend les deux et
vous fournit en lait.
DÉMOCRATIE :
Vous avez 2 vaches. Un vote décide à qui appartient le lait.
DEMOCRATIE REPRESENTATIVE :
Vous avez 2 vaches. Une élection désigne celui qui décidera à qui
appartient le lait.
CAPITALISME :
Vous avez 2 vaches. Vous en vendez une, et vous achetez un taureau pour faire des petits.
CAPITALISME SAUVAGE :
Vous avez 2 vaches. Vous vendez l'une, vous forcez l'autre à produire comme quatre, et vous licenciez l'ouvrier qui s'en occupait
en l'accusant d'être inutile.

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ÉCOLOGIE :
Vous avez 2 vaches. Vous gardez le lait et le gouvernement vous
achète la bouse2.

cowpatties/
dung

2

SURRÉALISME :
Vous avez 2 vaches. Le gouvernement exige que vous leur donniez des leçons d’harmonica.
CAPITALISME À LA FRANÇAISE :
Pour financer la retraite de vos vaches, le gouvernement décide
de lever un nouvel impôt : la CSSANAB (cotisation sociale3 de
solidarité avec nos amies les bêtes). Deux ans après, comme la
France a récupéré une partie du cheptel4 britannique, le système
est déficitaire. Pour financer le déficit, on lève un nouvel impôt
sur la production de lait : le RAB (Remboursement de l’Ardoise5
Bovine). Les vaches se mettent en grève. Il n’y a plus de lait. Les
Français sont dans la rue : “ DU LAIT! ON VEUT DU LAIT! »
La France construit un lactoduc6 sous la Manche7 pour s’approvisionner auprès des8 Anglais. L’Europe déclare le lait anglais impropre à la consommation. On lève un nouvel impôt pour l’entretien du lactoduc devenu inutile: le IDLQV (l’Impôt Du Lactoduc
Qu’est Vide) etc, etc......

withholdings/
payroll deductions

3

livestock

4

debt (informal; lit
= slate)

5

6
variation on aqueduc = milkduct!
7
the Channel
8
to buy from/to get
provisions from

Source: http://www.blague.info/blagues/blagues_longues-12.html?cat=12&p=3

Regardez de plus près
1. Lisez les analyses de Hofstede ci-dessous. Quelles dimensions voyez-vous qui pourraient être liées aux
blagues ?
Les resultats de Hofstede pour la France :

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Power Distance (PDI) [la distance hiérarchique]
With a score of 68, France scores high on the scale of the PDI. It is therefore a society in which inequalities are
accepted. Hierarchy is needed if not existential; the superiors may have privileges and are often inaccessible.
The power is highly centralized in France, as well as Paris centralizes administrations, transports etc.
In management, the attitude towards managers is more formal, the information flow is hierarchical. The way
information is controlled is even associated with power, therefore unequally distributed.
Individualism (IDV) [l’individualisme/le collectivisme]
At 71 France scores high on the individualistic index. This means that the French favor individual and private
opinions, taking care of themselves and immediate family rather than belonging to a group.
In the work environment, the relationship with work is contract based, the focus is on the task and autonomy is
favored. The communication is direct and everyone is allowed to speak up, voice out their opinions even more
if they do not agree.
The management is the management of individuals and the recognition of one‘s work is expected.
Masculinity/Femininity (MAS) [la dimension masculine/féminine]
With 43, France is a relatively Feminine country. With its famous welfare system (la securité sociale), their 35
working hours/week and 5 weeks holidays per year, France cares for its quality of life and focuses more on work
in order to live than the reverse. Competition amongst work colleagues is usually not favored as feminine societies have more sympathy for the underdog. And material signs of success, especially flashy ones, should not be too
visible. The management should be supportive and dialogue should help resolve conflicts.
Uncertainity Avoidance (UAI) [le contrôle de l’incertitude]
At 86 France has one the highest scores on the UAI Index. Certainty is often reached through academic work
and concepts that can respond for the need of detail, context, and background. Teachings and trainings are more
inductive. In management structure, rules and security are welcome and if lacking, it creates stress. Therefore
planning is favored, some level of expertise welcome, when change policies on the other hand are considered
stressful.
Long term Orientation (LTO) [l’orientation court terme/long terme]
At 39 France is a short term oriented society. This means a great respect for tradition as well as a need for
norms and absolute truth as guidelines. In terms of business this short term orientation focuses on quick results
i.e. companies are driven by quarterly results. Consumption is driven by immediate gratification, sensitivity
to social trends and rituals. There’s not much focus on saving. Management is based on self reliance, personal
achievement, hard work and managers are judged on short term results.
Note : Si vous voulez voir la comparaison avec les États-Unis, ou un autre pays, consultez ce site web et sélectionnez un pays : http://geert-hofstede.com/france.html

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Allons plus loin
1. Avec un partenaire, comparez vos réponses données dans la section Regardez de plus près.
2. Grammaire:
a. Il y a deux exemples de verbes au subjonctif, un dans chaque blague. Trouvez-les et écrivez les
phrases complètes ci-dessous. Ensuite, soulignez les expressions qui sollicitent (trigger) l’utilisation
du subjonctif et identifiez leur fonction (obligation, doubt, emotion/desire or following a particular
conjunction).
Voir: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tas7.html.

b. Dans la première blague, il y a deux exemples de phrases exprimant la condition:
-Si je devine combien de moutons vous avez, vous m’en donnez un ?
-Si je devine votre profession, vous me rendez mon mouton ?
• Puisque les conditions sont possibles, les verbes dans les propositions (clauses) avec “si” sont au
présent ainsi que les verbes dans les deuxièmes propositions.
Voir: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tac3.html
• Quels sont les autres choix de temps pour les verbes dans les deux propositions?
Écrivez vos réponses en forme de phrases complètes exprimant la condition:

3. Pensez au monde du travail aux Etats-Unis (organisation, coutumes et attitudes) et imaginez une chute
(punchline) qui pourrait représenter une perspective américaine.

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4. Dans la deuxième blague, lisez à nouveau la partie “Capitalisme à la française”. Quels éléments pourriez-vous changer pour décrire un “Capitalisme à l’américaine”.

5. Ne soyez pas mal éduqué(e)!
a. While there are not many false cognates between French and English, there are some that can be
embarrassing when used unwittingly. Here is a list of faux-amis (false friends) to be aware of :
Faux-amis

Meaning

les affaires / une affaire (f)
un cabinet (m)

business / a business matter
office/consulting room/a minister’s private office or staff.
In the plural, used euphemistically = bathroom (Je dois
aller aux cabinets.)

la figure (f)
Je suis très excité(é)
raper
un préservatif (m)
sale
rude
un bachelier (m)
l’éducation (f)
mal éduqué(e)

face
adj = sexually excited
to grate (e.g. carrots)
condom
adj = dirty
adj = coarse
a student who has passed the baccalauréat
manners, upbringing
adj = rude

b. Have you ever had the experience of committing a linguistic faux pas (lit. a false step), whether in another
language or your own? Tell your story to your partner.

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Écriture

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Type de texte
une anecdote humoristique
Votre écrit
Imaginez que vous faites un stage d’été en France lié à une
profession que vous aimeriez exercer. Écrivez une anecdote
humoristique venant d’une différence culturelle inspirée
par les critères de Hofstede. Travaillez avec un partenaire.
Deux avis valent mieux qu’un (two heads are better
than one) quand il s’agit de l’humour ! Pour vous aider
à mieux nuancer les émotions, les doutes ou les désirs qui
sont exprimés dans votre texte, incorporez des phrases exprimant la condition et des expressions d’obligation, de doute, d’émotion et de désir suivies de verbes au subjonctif.
Préparation
1. Principles of joke-telling
a. You are asked to write a humorous anecdote for this assignment by imagining a cross-cultural misunderstanding that could transpire in a workplace context. Understanding some of the mechanics of
joke-telling can help you to develop your narrative.
The following information has been adapted from “Beyond a Joke: Types of Conversational Humour,”
Marta Dynel, University of Łódź, Language and Linguistics Compass 3/5 (2009)

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2009.00152.x/pdf

• A joke comprises a build-up and a punch. The set-up is normally built of a narrative and/or a
dialogue, while the punchline is the final portion of the text, which engenders surprise and leads to
incongruity with the set-up. There are a number of ways in which this incongruity emerges and is
resolved.
• The punchline reveals information that sheds new light on the situation presented in the set-up:
C'est une maman kangourou qui dit soudain à sa voisine :
- Pourquoi te grattes-tu ainsi ?
Et la voisine lui répond :
- Si tu crois que c'est facile d'élever un enfant qui n'aime que les biscottes (toast) !
Source:http://www.top-blagues.com/

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• The punchline presents an incongruous retort in the form of a misunderstanding of the preceding
turn, which prompts a skewing of the intended meaning:
Un petit garçon demande à sa maman:
-Comment cherche-t-on dans le dictionnaire ?
-Eh bien, par exemple, pour madeleine, tu cherche dans "M".
-Ah bon ! alors épinard, je cherche dans "aime pas"?
Source: http://www.top-blagues.com/blagues-Divers-12.html

b. The following strategy may be the most useful for you in writing this assignment: L’exaggeration: Déterminez d'abord une caractéristique évidente et connue d’une différence culturelle ou d’un
élément symbolique. Il s'agit après d'exagérer la caractéristique et de trouver une situation pour
l'illustrer.

Source: http://www.facts.fr/guide_creation_blagues

Trois enfants se disputent dans la cour de récréation. Ils disent tous les trois que c'est leur
Papa qui est le plus rapide du monde.
Le premier dit fièrement : « Moi, mon Papa, il travaille à la SNCF. Il conduit le TGV et il
met deux heures pour faire Paris-Lyon ».
Mais le deuxième répond : « Eh ben moi, mon Papa, il va encore plus vite, il pilote le
Concorde et il met trois heures pour aller de Paris à New-York ».
« Eh ben mon Papa, il est encore plus rapide, conclut le troisième. Il est fonctionnaire. Il
finit à cinq heures et tous les jours, à quatre heures et demie, il est à la maison. »

Source: http://www.top-blagues.com/blagues-Divers-14.html

2. Écrivez un brouillon.
Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque
chose, clarifiez le sens du mot ou la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez vos remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Topic Development
Identify the dimension or dimensions from Hofstede that your partner seems to be working with.
Does the content of the anecdote adequately exemplify a cross-cultrual difference in workplace
behaviors or attitudes according to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory? Do you have any suggestions for ideas that could be added to the content?
• Humor
Does the “punch” work (is it surprising, revealing, thought-provoking, jarring, grating, or funny),

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or does it fall flat? Identify the strategy used for creating the relationship between the build-up and
the punchline. Do you see a way of adding a bit more oomph to the punch?
• Avoiding literal translations from English
Is there any language in your partner’s text that you can recognize as a direct translation from
English (or perhaps from your partner’s native language if it is not English)? Point out any such
instances to your partner and together formulate a substitute using the language and stuctures that
you are studying.
• Grammar
-Has your partner included any conditional sentences? If so, check to make sure that the tenses
of the two clauses match the intended meanings for the stated conditions and results: possible,
impossible/imaginary (contrary to current facts), or an unrealized past possibility (contrary to past
facts).
-Has your partner included any sentences with subjunctive verbs? If so, check pages 2-8 of the following website to make sure that the expression used to introduce the subjunctive verb is accurate
and that it requires the subjunctive:
http://french.about.com/od/grammar/ss/subjunctive_2.htm
-In order to intuit if there are other spots in the text that might need a subjunctive verb, think
about the mnemonic device, WEDDINGS:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tas7.html
2. Révisez donc votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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Lecture
Préparation
The Fall of France

By Dr Gary Sheffield
Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, leading Winston Churchill to remark, shortly afterwards,
'Thank God for the French Army'. To Churchill at that time, France's army seemed a powerful bulwark
against possible Nazi aggression towards other European nations.
The defeat of this powerful army in a mere six weeks in 1940 stands as one of the most
remarkable military campaigns in history.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/fall_france_01.shtml

Robert Jourdan, my husband’s grandfather, was a French conscripted soldier who experienced the Fall of
France in Normandy. My mother-in-law writes:
Je suis née en 1938 dans une petite école de campagne où mon père était l’instituteur. En septembre 1939 Papa, alors agé de 33 ans, a été rappelé par l’armée française: c’était la mobilisation;
il a été envoyé à Clermont en Argonne près de Verdun, nous laissant, par obligation, seules à la
maison: ma grand-mère (veuve de la guerre de 1914-1918), maman et moi.
Les Allemands ont envahi la France par le Nord et l’est provoquant alors une véritable désorganisation au sein de l’armée française. Le Lieutenant dont dépendait Papa décida un jour [le 13 juin
1940] de partir, de fuir avec ses soldats. Six jours plus tard, à Sémur en Auxois, ils furent finalement pris par les Allemands et emmenés en captivité en Allemagne.
Papa est rentré à la maison le 14 avril 1945. 
You will read several texts by Robert Jourdan:
• A poem written on the eve of his departure for military service in 1939;
• Excerpts from a tiny notebook in which he managed to document his attempted escape and subsequent
captivity by Nazi soldiers: June 13 – August 6, 1940
• A selection of cards dating from April to August of 1943 that he made and sent to his wife, daughter and
mother during his captivity in Nazi prisoner-of-war camps. (The total time of his capitivity was from
June 1940 to April 1945.)
During the first years of the war, prisoners were allowed to send letters to their families, but these were first read
and censored by the Nazi authorities. Reading the poem and the excerpts from Robert’s notebook will help
you to establish a context for better understanding some of the symbolism underlying the drawings and
messages in the cards he later created in order to get past the censors.

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Première lecture
1. Lisez les textes suivants.
a. Utilisez un dictionnaire pour chercher les mots que vous ne connaissez pas. Faites attention au
contexte afin de bien choisir les sens appropriés. Notez soit la traduction en anglais soit une définition ou un synonyme en français.
b. Annotez aussi les textes en soulignant les mots/phrases qui provoquent un sentiment fort chez
vous, et notez vos réactions, vos associations et vos questions.

Le texte nº 1

Poème écrit la veille du départ de Robert Jourdan
6 septembre 1939
Adieu maison calme et tranquille
Abri de mon printemps joyeux,
Quand loin de toi, le sort m'exile
JE SENS DES LARMES DANS MES YEUX;
En m'éloignant, à ma tristesse
Je mêle un peu d'effroi!
Adieu donc!
Je serai bien loin demain!
Comme la tendre hirondelle,
De loin.....vers toi.....je reviendrai...
Retrouver celles que j'aime.....

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Le texte nº 2

Des extraits du carnet de Robert Jourdan
13 juin 1940
La route est garnie de la longue file des réfugiés qui
s’enfuient en hâte devant les Allemands, ceux qui ont
pu passer la rivière à temps. Scènes pénibles. Les uns à
pied avec valises, d’autres poussant une brouette comble,
une voiture d’enfant, un vélo, une voiturette. De pauvres
petits à pied, d’autres gens en voiture, en auto. Chacun
a mis en hâte les affaires indispensables. Les fermières
n’ont pas oublié le chat de la maison, ni la couvée de
poussins éclos de quelques jours; les jeunes poulains
suivent leur mère. Certaine grand-mère tenait son chien,
fidèle serviteur. Parmi tous ces objets hétéroclites dépassait la figure coloriée d’une poupée ou le petit ours bien
aimé des petits qui semblait heureux de faire son premier
voyage.
14 juin 1940
[…] nous entrons dans une ferme abandonnée. Les
poules, oies, canards, dindons se promènent pépiant, criant, chantant, gloussant. Les lapins sont en clapier, triste
aspect. Nous nous installons près de la maison dehors…
des avions… […] Dans la cave, nous trouvons du vin,
une barrique presque vide; du vin de pays, sec mais bon.
Quelques bonnes bouteilles au caveau. Nous attrapons
quelques poules que nous donnons à des réfugiés. Je
fais un tour avec Albert: nous ramassons 10 oeufs. Nous
lâchons des dindes qui étaient enfermées à couver sous
des paniers. […] ces pauvres bêtes avaient été oubliées
et allaient crever de faim et de soif. […] Les soldats du
Train nous prêtent un cheval et nous grimpons dans les
voitures. Je suis avec Alain. Je pleure beaucoup, cela
soulage tant.
..................................................................................
15 juin 1940
Val Perdu nous apparaît assez proche, tout fumant. Il
vient de subir un atroce bombardement par les Italiens1
[…] Triste vision, presque tout le village est détruit, les
maisons flambent partout. Ce n’est qu’un brasier: des
murs qui tombent, des ardoises qui éclatent. Le curé du

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“The Italian invasion of
France in June 1940 was
a small-scale invasion that
started near the end of the
Battle of France […]

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pays s’occupe avec gens et soldats à la recherche des
victimes. Il y en a beaucoup (victimes civiles et militaires) […] Plus loin, vision atroce et totale: 3 voitures de
réfugiés sont arrêtées, les gens sont affairés… qu’y a-til?… Nous avons été mitraillés plusieurs fois. 4 victimes,
le grand-père de 84 ans tué de 4 balles, 3 femmes (dont
une jeune fille) blessées. Triste exode. Nous aidons à
remettre ce pauvre vieil homme dans une voiture au désir
des survivants. […] A la sortie de la ville, nouvelle vision
de l’horreur. Les réfugiés et soldats, cachés le long de
la route sous les arbres, ont été mitraillés. Des cadavres
dans les fossés sont cachés sous des couvertures; des
blessés ne sont pas encore enlevés, une femme notamment. Des chevaux sont tués. Les arbres sont abîmés.

Feeling that the war would
soon be over, Italian
dictator Benito Mussolini
said to Pietro Badoglio,
the Chief of Staff of the
Italian Royal Army, “I
only need a few thousand
dead so that I can sit at
the peace conference as
a man who has fought”.
[…] However, Italy was
not prepared for war and
Italy’s armed forces made
little impact.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_invasion_of_France

[…] La route devient pénible car nous avons faim et plus
rien à manger.
..................................................................................
17 juin 1940
[…] Dans l’après-midi, [certains soldats] s’en vont en
reconnaissance. Ils voient une garde-barrière très proche;
elle leur dit que l’armistice est signé, que les Allemands
nous renvoient, qu’ils donnent à manger […]
..................................................................................
19 juin 1940
Arrivée à Sémur, remplie d’Allemands, de véhicules, de
Français fatigués, exténués. On nous emmène dans une
maison, sorte d’asile, on nous fouille. Il faut jeter cartes,
lampes électriques, couteaux, fourchettes, ceinturons,
casques… Cette fois, c’en est fait de notre liberté, elle a
dû rester sur la rue. […]
Fuir était notre seul souci. Pourquoi, je ne sais pas… Les
Allemands pourtant sont aimables. Ils auraient pu nous

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réduire en pâté sur ces kilomètres de file ininterrompue
de gens en exode. Nous ne nous cachions même plus,
poussés par l’idée de fuir, d’éviter d’être pris. Quel tort
nous avons eu de prendre tant de peines inutiles, de voyager nuit et jour sans prendre le temps de manger. J’ai
pu me résoudre à jeter […] tant de choses de valeur pour
ma vie. [Mais] je l’ai sauvée… Merci ND2 de Lourdes.
Mon bonheur, mon désir: revoir les miens, ma petite mignonne, ma grande bien aimée, ma si chère maman. Tous
ceux que j’aime.
Que pensent-ils? Je suis vivant? Et elles pleurent? Ste
Vierge consolez-les.

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Carte nº 1:

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Cartes nº 2:

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Cartes nº 3:

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Carte nº 4:

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Carte nº 5:

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Regardez de plus près
1. Regardez les cartes encore une fois. Notez ci-dessous tous les mots ou les phrases, ainsi que tous les
aspects des images, qui vous semblent symboliques ou métaphoriques de la guerre, l’occupation ou la
prison.
Par exemple: l’hiver = la guerre

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Allons plus loin
1. Avec un partenaire : Comparez vos réponses dans les sections Première lecture et Regardez de plus près.
Texte nº 1

a. Quelles sont vos impressions sur le poème ? Si vous étiez dans des circonstances similaires, quel genre d’écriture ou/et quel type de documents créeriez-vous pour exprimer vos sentiments ?

Texte nº 2

b. Quel(s) mot(s) ou quelle(s) ligne(s) dans les extraits du carnet attire(nt) le plus votre attention? Pourquoi?

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1. Maintenant, comparez vos réponses de la section Regardez de plus près avec les informations supplémentaires et les interprétations suivantes:
a. Carte nº 1:
• On voit le nom, Marie-Claire, écrit sur la cloche. Marie-Claire est le nom de la fille de Robert (ma
belle-mère) et son anniversaire est le 28 avril. La carte est datée du 11 avril.
• l’hirondelle (swallow) et «Je reviendrai...»
The swallow is known as ‘the bird of freedom’. […] This reflects the fact that one of the
chief characteristics of the swallow is that it cannot endure captivity, but is forced by instinct to pass from one country to another for the purpose of keeping itself in a tolerably
uniform temperature, moving northwards as the spring ripens into summer, and southwards
as autumn begins to sink into winter. […] Swallows have been observed to leave the country on their migration, and to return in the following year to the identical nest from where
they started.”

Source: http://www.thewonderofbirds.com/swallow/

b. Cartes nº 2:
• « Vite au lit mes chéris… » = cachez-vous bien mes chéries, jusqu’à la fin de la guerre
• « le beau soleil », le printemps = la fin de la guerre, la paix
• « Vilaine méchante » (la taupe/the mole) = les Nazis
• « Ce jardin n’est pas pour vous… filez vite aux champs » = Quittez la France!
• « Je fais mes provisions pour l’hiver » = préparez-vous (mes chéris) pour une longue guerre

Les sauterelles (grasshoppers) =
Selon la loi du Sinaï, les sauterelles faisaient partie des animaux purs qui pouvaient être
mangés (Lév. 11, 21 et suiv.; Matt. 3, 4). D’entre tous les petits animaux […], seuls « ceux
qui ont, au-dessus de leurs pieds, des jambes avec lesquelles ils sautent » étaient permis,
c’est-à-dire ceux qui sont capables de s’élever spirituellement au-dessus de l’impureté de la
terre […]. En Proverbes 30, 27, les sauterelles peuvent par conséquent être vues comme une
figure des
croyants qui sont conduits par la puissance invisible du Saint Esprit.

Source: http://www.bibliquest.org/Remmers/Remmers-Images_et_types.htm#S

c. Cartes nº 3:
• « Aurons-nous une bonne pluie? » = un bombardement allié
Note: les fils barbelés ont été enlevés des dessins par les censeurs nazis
d. Carte nº 4:
• « Les fleurs ne sont pas pour vous. » : Puisque les limaces / escargots et les chenilles (slugs /
snails and caterpillars) détruisent les fleurs, les limaces / escargots et les chenilles = les Nazis

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• Le nom Madame Croquevite : croquer = to munch/eat by biting
• « Si vous revenez, je vous donnerai aux petits oiseaux » = aux forces alliés
Note: Il y a une fable de La Fontaine intitulée L' Hirondelle et les petits oiseaux.
Robert Jourdan était instituteur et, à l’époque, les fables de La Fontaine constituaient une partie du
curriculum à l’école. La morale de la fable:
Nous n'écoutons d'instincts que ceux qui sont les nôtres
Et ne croyons le mal que quand il est venu.

Source: http://www.la-fontaine-ch-thierry.net/moralfabl8h.htm

e. Carte nº 5:
• « Voici une belle noisette pour finir l’hiver » = une grosse bombe pour terminer la guerre.
• Les noms : _Pouf = the sound of an explosion

Trotte-vite: trotter = to trot, scamper or run away
3. Avez-vous eu des interprétations différentes ? Si oui, comparez vos interprétations avec la classe et
soyez prêt à les justifier. Décidez ensemble des idées qui vous semblent les plus compatibles au contexte
de la Seconde Guerre mondiale en France.
4. Avec la classe, échangez vos opinions à propos des descriptions, des informationsou des éléments dans
les textes (le poème, les extraits et les cartes) que vous trouvez les plus touchants.

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Écriture
Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Type de texte
une lettre d’amour ou une lettre exprimant votre affection
(famille, amis)
Votre écrit
En utilisant les directives ci-dessous, écrivez une lettre
d’amour ou exprimant votre affection à une personne bien-aimée – un(e) petit(e) ami(e), un membre de votre famille
ou un(e) ami(e) cher/chère. Cette personne peut être réelle ou
imaginée. Puisque vous n’écrivez pas cette lettre à la main,
choisissez une police de caractères (type font) appropriée.
Incluez aussi une image (un dessin ou une photographie) qui
symbolise vos sentiments.
Préparation
1. Quelques consignes pour écrire une lettre d’amour (ou exprimant votre affection):
Comment écrire une lettre d’amour par Claire Colvin
 « Quoi de plus romantique (ou touchant) que de recevoir une lettre d’amour (ou exprimant votre
affection) ? Une vraie lettre écrite à la main comme autrefois est encore la meilleure façon de célébrer la
Saint-Valentin, mais ne le faites pas seulement en février. Une lettre d’amour (ou exprimant votre affection)
est une merveilleuse surprise n’importe quel jour de l’année.
[…] Ce qui rend une lettre d’amour (ou exprimant votre affection) si romantique (ou touchante) est ce qui
est le plus personnel. Cela montre à la personne aimée à quel point vous la connaissez bien, et cette connaissance est l’essence même de la lettre. […]
Soyez spécifique dans ce que vous écrivez. Dites exactement ce que cette personne vous fait ressentir et
ce qu’elle fait pour vous mettre dans cet état. […] Avant de commencer à écrire, prenez le temps de penser
à votre personne aimée. Mettez en face de vous une photo [de cette personne] afin de vous inspirer pendant
que vous écrivez. Et répondez aux questions suivantes pour organiser vos idées.
• Quelle est sa plus grande qualité?
• Que voyez-vous [chez cette personne] dont elle ne se rend pas compte elle-même?
• Quelle est la chose la plus romantique (ou touchante) qu’elle vous a jamais faite?

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
L’Amour et la guerre

•
•
•
•
•
•

Quand vous a-t-elle fait ressentir que vous étiez unique?
Quelles sont les petites choses qu’elle fait régulièrement pour vous montrer qu’elle tient à vous?
Quand êtes-vous tombé(e) amoureux/se de cette personne (ou avez-vous commencé à l’aimer) ?
Qu’est-ce qui en elle vous a agréablement surprise?
Quel est votre plus beau souvenir ensemble?
Comment le monde a-t-il changé depuis que vous vous connaissez?

[…] Vous n’avez pas besoin d’être complètement à l’eau de rose dès le début, quelque chose de simple
comme « Cher/Chère ___ » est très bien. Commencez votre lettre avec une qualité que vous appréciez
particulièrement chez cette personne. Faites une phrase exclusive, par exemple « Je n’ai jamais rencontré quelqu’un d’aussi ____ que toi » ou « Personne ne m’a jamais fait ressentir aussi ___ que toi quand tu
___. » Cette manière de commencer lui montre qu’elle est plus importante que n’importe qui dans vos carnets d’adresses – une belle manière de commencer une lettre d’amour.
Quand vous écrivez, dites [à cette personne] exactement ce que vous ressentez pour elle. Utilisez des exemples spécifiques qui montrent que vous avez remarqué. Rappelez-lui les choses qu’elle a faites et qui vous
ont particulièrement touchée. Confiez-lui un souvenir précieux ainsi qu’un espoir. N’oubliez pas de dire “Je
t’aime.” La longueur de la lettre n’a
aucune importance, ce qui compte, c’est qu’elle soit sincère. »

Source: http://pouvoirdechanger.com/blogposts/author/ccolvin/Claire Colvin

2. Écrivez un brouillon.
Rédaction en collaboration
1. Avec un partenaire, échangez vos brouillons.
a. Lisez le texte de votre partenaire une première fois. Si vous avez du mal à comprendre quelque
chose, clarifiez le sens du mot ou de la signification du passage avec votre partenaire.
b. Lisez le texte une deuxième fois et préparez vos remarques sur les questions suivantes:
• Topic development
Read through the list of questions that Colvin provides and underline content in your partner’s
letter that represents corresponding answers.
Has your partner included sufficient information to demonstrate how well s/he knows the addressee and to communicate how the loved one makes your partner feel? If not, are there questions that
aren’t answered that could be?

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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien: Resources for a transdisciplinary approach to reading/writing
L’Amour et la guerre

• Genre conventions
Look at how the letter is addressed, how it begins, and how it ends. Look, too, at the overall formatting and the choice of type font.
Do all of these conventions appropriately match the content and tone of the letter?
• Tone & Register
Is your partner’s letter sufficiently sincere and is the register consistent?
• Use of symbolic representation
Look at the image included. Does it effectively complement the feelings expressed in the letter or
add something new to the letter? Does it in some way detract? Do you think your partner should
include it?
2. Révisez donc votre brouillon et préparez votre version finale.

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