Did you know that this week is La semaine de la Francophonie?

What is la Francophonie/ francophonie?
The word appeared for the first time (pour la première fois) around 1880 when a French geographer used it to refer to people speaking French and to countries where French was spoken.
There are two words:
La francophonie, with a small f ( un f minuscule), for French speaking people.
La Francophonie, with a big F ( un f majuscule), to talk about the organisation linking all the countries where French is spoken.
In 2014, there were 274 million people speaking French on 5 continents.

Since 1970, l' Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie ( OIF) works towards encouraging the use of the French language and the cooperation between 80 state members.
There is une Charte de la Francophonie stating the aims of the organisation.
All the state leaders meet every two years at a summit: le Sommet de la Francophonie.

TV5 Monde and all the branches of Alliance Française spread French language and culture all over the world.
Every year in March, there is la semaine de la Francophonie, this year it is between the 12th and 20th March where there are a host of French events all over the world. There is a common thread for all the countries which is Dis-moi dix mots ( tell me 10 words), 10 words are chosen every year with the aim of making us all discover the variety and wealth of the French language according to the different francophone countries.
Here are the words for this year:

Have fun understanding them! Talking of fun, you can have a really good time joining the French drama classes starting soon in Bristol. For more info...

Did you know that there will be a talk on Pierre Soulages in Bath next Saturday?

Pierre Soulages, painter and engraver ( peintre et graveur), now well in his nineties has a museum named after him in Rodez, Aveyron where he was born.
Julie, who is an historian of French art ( spécialiste en histoire de l'art), will talk, in French,  about his work and show lots of photos of his paintings. 
Pierre Soulages discovered Cézanne and Picasso in Le Louvre in the 40ies ( dans les années quarante), their works were a revelation to him and made him decide to go back to Rodez to paint. This is when he started on his abstract paintings dominated by black.
Since then he has been playing on the reflection of light  on black surfaces, this gives his work a gleaming quality. Pierre Soulages says:
" I don't work with black, I work with the light that reflects it."
His style is referred to as "noir-lumière" or " outre-noir" ( beyond black).
He believes in the primal instinct to create and in the spiritual power of lines and movement.

If you would like to find out more about his work and see some of it, well, if you can't go to Le musée Soulages in Rodez which has the biggest collection in the world of his paintings, come to Bath next Saturday: For more info...

Our French Songs Evening

As promised, please find below the list of songs Peter, Jonathan and Audrey performed on Friday night:

Padam - Edith Piaf
La bohème - Charles Aznavour
Nous deux - Léo Ferré
Les vieux amants - Jacques Brel
Avec le temps - Léo Ferré

Jack the accordeon player performed:
La Nonchalante   https://youtu.be/-KjaiWI8WPI

Le Temps des Puces   https://youtu.be/gFFTagKKR0A

My youtube videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/jackdiatonique

Bath and Bristol French Sessions (French/Breton traditional tunes and dancing)  www.bathfrenchsession.wordpress.com

Madame ma voisine - Anne Sylvestre
Au clair de la lune - Traditionnel
Que serais-je sans toi? - Jean Ferrat
La mer - Charles Trenet
Les feuilles - Yves Montand

Ce n'est rien - Julien Clerc
La mauvaise réputation - Georges Brassens
Les bourgeois - Jacques Brel
Le tourbillon de la vie - Jeanne Moreau
L'orage - Georges Brassens
Armstrong - Claude Nougaro
Lily - Pierre Perret
Amsterdam - Jacques Brel
Tes parents - Vincent Delerm
It is not because you are - Renaud

Y'a d'la rumba dans l'air - Alain Souchon

A big thanks from Peter, Jonathan and Audrey to all the singers in the audience, we thought you were brilliant!

To join us for more French themed activities, check our website.

Do you know what l'année bissextile is?

It is the year when there are 29 days in February ( 29 jours en février) like this year. Tomorrow, we gain an extra day. But whose idea was it?
It seems that Julius Caesar ( Jules César) followed the advice of the Egyptian astronomer ( l'astronome égyptien), Sosigènes ( Sosigène) who had explained that the year had 365.25 days. Julius Ceasar decided to have 365 days in the year, divided into 12 months, with one extra day every 4 years. This extra day was fixed after the 6th day before the March calends (les calendes de mars).

But where does the word bissextile come from? This extra day in Roman time was called bi-sextilis which means the 2nd 6th day ( le second sixième jour). It is easy to see how bi-sextilis could become bissextile in French.
Cartoonists enjoy playing with this notion of 29 days in February, like Philippe Gelück, the very well-known author of Le chat:

Look out for our next French cineclub coming soon, for more info...

Did you know that our super dynamic French teacher, Audrey, also sings?

Well she does! She is going to give us an evening of French songs with Peter, ex French lecturer at Bristol University, who also sings and plays the guitar. They will be accompanied by a double bass player.
The show is on Friday, 26th February, upstairs at The Hen & Chicken, for more info...

They will perform songs that all English people know like  Les feuilles mortes by Jacques Prévert, La mer by Charles Trenet, La bohème by Charles Aznavour and plenty more...

Here are the words of one of the songs written and sung by Pierre Perret in 1977, called Lily. It is the story of a young Black girl who arrives to find a new life first in Paris, then in the States and who discovers how hard it is to get a decent job and who is confronted to racism. Pierre Perret is an optimist so the song ends on a note of hope as Lily is bound to find love, have a child and be happy.

On la trouvait plutôt jolie, 
Lily Elle arrivait des Somalies Lily 
Dans un bateau plein d´émigrés 
Qui venaient tous de leur plein gré 
Vider les poubelles à Paris

Elle croyait qu´on était égaux 
Lily Au pays de Voltaire et d´Hugo Lily 
Mais pour Debussy en revanche 
Il faut deux noires pour une blanche 
Ça fait un sacré distinguo

Elle aimait tant la liberté Lily 
Elle rêvait de fraternité Lily 
Un hôtelier rue Secrétan 
Lui a précisé en arrivant 
Qu´on ne recevait que des Blancs 

Elle a déchargé des cageots Lily 
Elle s´est tapé les sales boulots Lily 
Elle crie pour vendre des choux-fleurs 
Dans la rue ses frères de couleur 
L´accompagnent au marteau-piqueur

Et quand on l´appelait Blanche-Neige 
Lily Elle se laissait plus prendre au piège Lily 
Elle trouvait ça très amusant 
Même s´il fallait serrer les dents 
Ils auraient été trop contents

Elle aima un beau blond frisé Lily 
Qui était tout prêt à l´épouser Lily 
Mais la belle-famille lui dit nous 
Ne sommes pas racistes pour deux sous 
Mais on veut pas de ça chez nous 

Elle a essayé l´Amérique Lily 
Ce grand pays démocratique Lily 
Elle aurait pas cru sans le voir 
Que la couleur du désespoir 
Là-bas aussi ce fût le noir

Mais dans un meeting à Memphis Lily 
lle a vu Angela Davis Lily 
Qui lui dit viens ma petite soeur 
En s´unissant on a moins peur 
Des loups qui guettent le trappeur

Et c´est pour conjurer sa peur Lily 
Qu´elle lève aussi un poing rageur 
Lily Au milieu de tous ces gugus 
Qui foutent le feu aux autobus 
Interdits aux gens de couleur 

Mais dans ton combat quotidien 
Lily Tu connaîtras un type bien Lily 
Et l´enfant qui naîtra un jour 
Aura la couleur de l´amour 
Contre laquelle on ne peut rien 

On la trouvait plutôt jolie, Lily 
Elle arrivait des Somalies Lily 
Dans un bateau plein d´émigrés 
Qui venaient tous de leur plein gré 
Vider les poubelles à Paris.

Don't forget that we enrol for French lessons all year round, for more info...

All you need to know to write a message to your loved one on la St Valentin!

Did you that you can send your message to a newspaper like Libération which publishes all messages in the ad section ( la rubrique des petites annonces).
They are very fair play if you wish to send messages to different boyfriends or girlfriends, they don't put them on the same page! Here is what they say:
" On connaît des amoureux collectionneurs qui adressent leur flamme à plusieurs aimés et aimées. Le record, c'est trois, il faut faire attention, on ne les met pas dans la même page, raconte le service Petites Annonces."

 Now, if you wish to impress next year why not get inspired by 3  messages chosen by LoveInReims  ( very French....) which ran a competition of love messages in 120 characters maximum:

" Tu es la paille dans mon mojito,
La noisette dans le chocolat,
La chantilly sur ma glace."
You are the straw on my mojito, the nut in the chocolate, chantilly cream on my icecream.
Un mojito is a cocktail with rhum, lime and fresh mint leaves.

" Il faut de tout pour faire un monde,
il me faut toi pour faire  le mien."
We need all sorts to make the world, I need you to make mine.

" Si tu me quittes,
 Je pars avec toi quand même,
Je t'aime, mon renard."
If you leave me, I'll follow you anyway, I love you my fox.

Remember, you can still contact either Alliance Française de Bristol or Bath to join a French course, either a short course or a longer course. Our drama courses are starting again soon and plenty more will be coming up, for more info...

Did you know that l'Alliance Française de Bath has two events this coming week?

Julie, specialist on French art, is giving a series of three talks on Tuesday afternoons in Bath. The talks are  in French, illustrated with photos. The first talk is on wall paintings (les peintures murales), the second one on Roman remnants ( les ruines romaines) and the third one on Romanesque churches (les  églises romanes) with their  tympanums (leurs tympans). For more info…
The French religious architecture of the Middle Ages ( le Moyen Age) is first Romanesque from the 10th to the second part of the 12th century ( du Xème à la deuxième partie du XIIème siècle) and then Gothic ( gothique).
Some famous Romanesque monuments are Chartres cathedral ( la cathédrale de Chartres) with its tympanum:

 

And the abbaye at the Mont-Saint-Michel ( l’église abbatiale du Mont-Saint-Michel) with its nave ( sa nef):

 

Next Thursday, Véronique, French tutor in Bath, will be discussing with students Le quatrième mur by Sorg Chalandon.
Sorg Chalandon received Le prix Goncourt des lycéens with this book in 2013. It tells the story of Georges, an extreme left wing militant ( militant d’extrême gauche) who is pro Palestinian. He decides to go to the Lebanon of the 1980ies where war rages ( où la guerre fait rage), to direct Jean Anouilh’s Antigone in Beyrouth to fulfil a promise made to his friend Samuel Akounis, a pacifist Greek Jew ( un juif grec pacifique). The play will gather all the protagonists of the war for a two hour truce ( un répit de deux heures).
For more info…