Did you know that there will be a wine tasting and a cookery workshop this coming week in Bristol?

The French cookery workshop will take place on Tuesday 2nd June and it was so popular that we have  had to schedule another one for the 9th June which is booked up too.
As usual, Isabelle, our French tutor and chef will teach various recipes like un tartare de poissons, for more info...
Here is some vocabulary you need to know when cooking in French:
Un évier: a sink
Un réfrigérateur: a fridge
Un four: an oven
Un mixeur ou robot électrique: a mixer
Un batteur ou un fouet: a whisk

Un bol: a bowl
Un saladier: a salad bowl
Un moule: a baking tin
Un presse citron: a lemon squeezer
Une spatule: a spatula
Un rouleau à pâtisserie: a rolling pin
Un couteau: a knife
Une fourchette: a fork
Une cuillère à soupe: a soup spoon

Une cuillère à dessert: a dessert spoon
Une cuillère à café: a teaspoon
Un tablier: an apron
Une manique ou un gant anti-brûlure: an oven glove

The wine tasting workshop is on Thursday, 4th June, it is also booked up, we'll be tasting French wines from the Loire valley, for more info...

Did you know that there will be a guided walk in French in Bristol, next Sunday?

Anne, one of our French teachers and blue badge guide will take students of Alliance Française de Bristol et Bath and anyone interested in the French language around Clifton this year.
She has now covered several areas of the city and sometimes, there is a presentation in French by some of the people who are going on the walk. Here is one on the byzantine style buildings in Bristol:
Je vais parler du style byzantin de Bristol.
Le style byzantin de Bristol est une série de l'architecture néo--bizantine qui était populaire dans la ville de Bristol environ de 1850 à 1880.
Beaucoup de bâtiments dans le modèle étaient détruits ou démolis, mais les exemples notables de survie incluent;
Le Colston Hall a été construit en 1860, le 35 King Street, plusieurs bâtiments autour de la rue de Victoria et le Restaurant de Brown sur la rue du Parc ont été construits en 1871. Certains des entrepôts autour du port ont survécu, y compris l’entrepôt de Robinson en bassin de Bathhurst construit en 1874 et le Granary construit en 1869.
Ces bâtiments ont survécu principalement parce que des utilisations alternatives ont été trouvées pour qu’ ils s’ adaptent à des temps modernes. Le Granary et 35 le Roi Street ont été transformés principalement en bureaux et l'entrepôt de Robinsons aux appartements.
Le style byzantin de Bristol a des influences de l'architecture bizantine et maure appliquée principalement aux bâtiments industriels, des entrepôts et des usines. Le modèle est caractérisé par un contour robuste et simple, des matériaux de caractère et couleur comprenant rouge, noire, jaune et blanche principalement en briques du l’’usine Cattybrook. Plusieurs bâtiments ont inclus des passages arqués et des planchers supérieurs unifiés par le groupement horizontal ou vertical des ouvertures de fenêtre. Le modèle a pu être surmonté en raison d'une connaissance entre William Venn Gough et Archibald Ponton, qui ont dessiné le Granary et John Addington Symonds de Bristol un historien de la Renaissance italienne. On pense que le terme byzantin de Bristol était inventé par Sir John Summerson.
Le bâtiment: The Granary:

If you would like to join the walk, there are still some places, for more info...

Did you know that France has 3 bank holidays in May?

May is a very good month for schoolchildren and workers in general as there is at least one day off work ( un jour férié) for almonst every week of the month!
First of all is May 1st ( le premier mai), labour day ( le jour des travailleurs) where workers can rest or demonstrate through the streets of various towns. The demonstrations ( les manifestations) are organized by the trade unions ( les syndicats). What is really good is if the 1st May is on a Tuesday (un mardi), a lot of workers have Monday off ( lundi) as well, to bridge the gap ( faire le pont) between Sunday ( dimanche) and Tuesday ( mardi) or if it is on a Thursday ( un jeudi), guess what? On fait le pont, no work on Friday ( vendredi) !

 

Then the 8th May ( le 8 mai) which was the end of the Second world War ( la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale) and, of course the same system applies. There are commerations all over France to remember all those who died.

 

 And then Ascension day ( l'ascension) which is a Christian celebration, Jesus ascending after his resurrection, forty days after Easter ( Pâques), it is always on a Thursday, this year, it was on 14th May: another pont!

 

Life is tough in France in May......
If you would like to find out more about French customs, join one of our French courses, we are enrolling at Alliance Française de Bristol for our short French intensive courses taking place in June and July. For more info...

Answer to last week's riddle: The place described was Blackpool in England.

Une devinette: a riddle!

Helen, in Martine's Tuesday morning French tuition class wrote a riddle in the form of a poem and used lots of beautiful adjectives, here is the poem:

Qu’est-ce  je vois loin de la jetée?
On dirait un collier scintillant de perles dorėes qui entoure la baie.
On dirait un cercle lumineux et multicolore se tournant contre le ciel nocturne.
On dirait un phare qui émet des rayons fluorescents 
Une procession lente et pėtillante se roule à côté de
La mer étincelante, pourpre, argent, noire
Sous des fleurs gigantesques et ėblouissantes qui s’ouvrent et tombent,toute l’énergie dépensée.

Où  se trouve ce lieu? ( answer in the blog, next week )

scintillant: sparkling
une perle: a pearl

doré: golden
lumineux: luminous
un phare: a lighthouse
un rayon: a ray
pétillant:  sparkling
étincelant: glittering
pourpre: crimson
gigantesque: gigantic
éblouissant: dazzling

If you would like to learn how to use adjectives and  much more, you may like to join our intensive French courses starting soon, assessments are from next week. For more info...

Did you know that the next French book club is on 7th May in Bath?

Véronique, French tutor at Alliance Française de Bristol et Bath, chose La Mère by Florian Zeller for this next French book club.
Florian Zeller is a young author and playwright, born in 1979. He wrote his first novel Neiges artificielles at the age of 22 and has won several literary prices such as le Prix Interallié for La Fascination du pire. His novels are translated into more than 10 languages.

He started writing for the theatre in 2003 and is considered by the magazine L'Express like the best French playwright with Yasmina Reza. His plays are translated into English by Christopher Hampton, his play Le Père was elected best play of the year by The Guardian.
La Mère is a black comedy, une farce noire. It is about a woman who has lost everything except her ability to suffer and to dream.
The play explores the complicated feelings between a wife and a husband, a mother and a son. The role of the mother is all powerful, disturbing and passionate, leading to the destruction of the other and of the self.

Véronique will be discussing the play on Thursday, 7th May. For more info...
You can click on the following link to see a few scenes from the play, here it is...