Do you know how to play pétanque? Come and watch a game in Bristol.

La pétanque is an outdoor game that you play with boules:


The word pétanque comes from the provençal: pé meaning pieds ( feet) and tanca meaning planté ( standing firm on one's feet). The game is thought to have been introduced by the Romans and has been played all over France ever since but the modern game follows the rule of the Provençal version. You can read about it in Le Château de ma mère by Marcel Pagnol.
Les boules were first made of argile ( clay), then pierre ( stone), bois (wood) and now acier ( steel).
You usually play in teams ( équipes) of two or three people and you can play on any terrain. The aim of the game is for the boules to get as near as possible to the goal ( le but ou le cochonnet). You need to throw ( pointer) the boule. You also try to stop your opponents to score by throwing ( tirer) your boule to hit their boule away from the goal. The first team to score 13 points has won.
If you would like to join students of Alliance Française de Bristol either to play or to watch next Saturday, check our website for more info...


If you would like to enrol on a French course, why not come to meet us on Saturday, 1st September at Redland library in Bristol. For more info...

Are you heading for France? Why not go to Les Baux de Provence?

Every year, you can go to a spectacular multimedia show ( un spectacle multimédia) with a different theme. The show is called: Carrières de lumière.
Pictures are projected against the stones, rocks and floors creating a fantastic atmosphere where the spectator is immersed in colours. It is like a carpet of pictures ( un tapis d'images).
This year, the show is: Gauguin VanGogh, peintres de la couleur ( painters of colours).



If you are tempted to go, here are the details: For more info...
If you go, tell us what you thought of the show in the Comments section.

Alliance Française de Bristol et Bath is soon going to be enrolling for French courses this September: watch this space! For more info...

Another letter in Alphonse Daudet's style with a connection with the olympic games!

Geoffrey who is a student in Martine's French class wrote his own letter which will remind you of La chèvre de Monsieur Seguin, a classic known by nearly everyone in France. It is very appropriate to publish it now as it is about a football game, so c'est un clin d'œil aux JO! The little boy described in the story is unlikely to ever win une médaille but he should not end up with the same fate as la petite chèvre de Monsieur Seguin! Enjoy Goeffrey's story and perhaps go and read Daudet's tale too if you don't know it.

Poussin sous le soleil
Le foot est souvent le jeu favori des jeunes garçons, il s’imaginent facilement être le champion sans égal dans le pays. Chaque plaisir a son côté noir, l’hiver avec ses vents, son froid, le ballon lourd et les crampons boueux. Mais ce samedi après-midi il y a du soleil, le match bat son plein, les jeunes de notre village ont quand-même du mal à jouer contre l’équipe opposante, notre avant-centre se tient trop en retrait, il ne prend pas le match assez au sérieux. Il est plus petit que l’avant-centre de l’autre côté, il est penseur, toujours dans ses rêveries. La chaleur le fait songer aux collines autour du village, où il imagine être reçu comme un roi, où les châtaigners se baisseront pour lui dire bonjour. Le paysage vallonné là-haut lui fera fête.

<> lui hurle le capitaine <>. Notre pauvre héros se décide cependant à tenir jusqu’à la fin du jeu et il l’a accompli.

(La chèvre de M.Seguin, Alphonse Daudet)

As well as offering French lessons, Alliance Française de Bristol et Bath organizes events.
The next one is on Saturday, 1st September: come and join our tournoi de boules in Bristol! For more info...

Have you read Les lettres de mon moulin by Alphonse Daudet?

Martine, one of our French tutors, studied them with her Tuesday French tuition class earlier on this year. Her students enjoyed the humour, the style and the atmosphere created by Daudet very much. She then asked her students, an advanced group, to write a letter in a similar style. Here is what Alan wrote:

[Une lettre de ma valise]
Mon cher Daudet,
Je dois te raconter une petite histoire amusante ― l’histoire d’un événement qui m’est arrivé au cours de mon voyage à notre île bien aimée ― la plus belle île du monde ; oui, tu l’as deviné, La Corse.

Après être arrivé à l’aéroport de Roissy à Paris, je suis entré dans la grande aérogare 2E. Comme tu sais, j’ai fait ce voyage mainte fois, et je connais bien l’aérogare. Donc, j’étais sûr que je savais trouver l’arrêt du Roissybus pour aller au centre de Paris.
MAIS, cette fois, je me suis rendu compte que j’étais paumé, tout à fait déboussolé. Le bâtiment était an train de << modernisation >> et les travaux avaient complètement caché le nouveau chemin qui menait à l’arrêt !

Après avoir réfléchi pendant un moment, j’ai pensé que j’allais dans le mauvais sens et, pour vérifier, j’ai décidé de demander à quelqu’un ― mais, à qui demander ? Evidemment, pas aux autres voyageurs, qui allaient et venaient en toutes directions, dont la plupart avaient la mine perplexe ― comme la mienne.
Enfin, J’ai repéré trois hommes habillés en complet, très nets ― très << officiels >>.
C’étaient, sans doute, des cadres de l’aéroport. Un d’entre eux était moins grand que les autres et, étant petit moi-même, j’ai décidé de lui poser ma question. Ce monsieur m’a répondu poliment et clairement, et il m’a montré le bon chemin pour l’arrêt.

Or, pendant notre brève conversation, je me rendais compte que ce monsieur ressemblait beaucoup au Président de la République sortant ― M. Nicolas Sarkozy !! Hâtivement, je l’ai bien remercié et je me suis dépêché vers l’arrêt ― je n’osais pas du tout me retourner pour lui jeter un coup d’œil à la dérobée !

Est-ce possible, mon cher ami, que j’aie vraiment vu le Président sortant dans
son nouveau boulot ??
Cordialement, Frédé

I hope you appreciate Alan's humour!! Alan started with Alliance Française in Bristol at an intermediate level and has been steadily improving, as can be seen from his writing, his oral French is excellent too.

You may like to join one of the Alliance Française de Bristol or Bath this September to be able, one day, to write in French as well as Alan. For more info...

Not to forget les JO: some journalists, based at L'Institut français in London, have created a website full of videos and articles in French about the impact of the games ( les jeux ) on London. For more info...

Londres: médaille d'or de la propreté!

Les jeux olympiques have started in London!

Les jeux olympiques or JO were re-introduced in 1896 by le baron Pierre de Coubertin in memory of the antique tradition and they took place in Athens.
The second JO happened, in total confusion, over 5 months, in Paris in 1900.

By 1920, the flag, le drapeau, with the 5 rings, les cinq anneaux, designed by Pierre de Coubertin appeared.
Les cinq anneaux, bleu, noir, rouge, jaune, vert linked together ( entrelacés) on a white background, un fond blanc, represent the five united continents and at least one colour of the 5 colours can be found on the national flags.

The first Winter olympics, les jeux olympiques d'hiver, took place in Chamonix in 1924.
The 1924 Olympics were again in Paris, but better organized this time and the motto, la devise, Citius, Altius, Fortius ( plus vite, plus haut, plus fort) ( faster, higher, stronger) was used.
1928 in Amsterdam saw the first olympic flame ( la flamme olympique) and the first relay of the flame ( le premier relais de la flamme) was introduced in Berlin in 1936.
Ludwig Guttman, a neurologist at Stoke Mandeville hospital near London put together the first paralympic games ( les jeux paralympiques) in 1948.
The best athletes win medals ( des médailles): médaille d'or, d'argent et de bronze.


On the second day of the games, France has won deux médailles d'or in swimming:
400m nage libre chez les femmes ( free swim for the women): Camille Muffat
Relais 4x100m chez les hommes.
We'll see what happens in the next few days.

If you wish to join a French course in Bristol or in Bath, have a look at the website. For more info...

Did you know that Le Tour de France finished yesterday?

I am sure that if you are French or British, you do know!! What a splendid win by Bradley Wiggins, le vainqueur du Tour ( the winner) who wore le maillot jaune ( yellow jersey) for 14 étapes ( stages) and a fantastic display by his team right through Le Tour, without forgetting the great sprinter Mark Cavendish and the young, very promising cycliste Chris Froome! And of course, there was Thomas Voeckler, le Français meilleur grimpeur ( king of the mountain) who won le maillot à pois rouges (white jersey with dots).


Le Tour de France is also called La grande boucle ( the big circle) at it covers most of France in vingt étapes for a total, this year, of 3496,9 km.
Some étapes are sur le plat ( on the flat) some are dans les montagnes ( in the mountains) and some are les étapes contre la montre ( time trials).
With each stage there are les échappées ( this is the group of riders that get to the front of the race) ahead of le peloton which is the main group of cyclists.
La voiture balai is for those who can't keep up or have given up so they get picked up by the big minibus which follows the race.
If you wish to find out more about this fantastic event, go to TV5 website. For more info...
Next year, le Tour will start en Corse (in Corsica), so book your holiday early!!!
If you would like to find out more about French culture and French regions as well as improve your French, why not join one of our French tuition classes starting in September. For more info...

Le jour du 14 juillet...

Do you know what 14th July stands for? It is a commemoration of the storming of the Bastille (la prise de la Bastille) which happened on 14th July 1789, during the French revolution (la révolution française). It was a very important symbol, even if only seven prisoners were freed on that day - the prison was almost empty!
Nowadays a large military parade (un défilé militaire) is held on Champs Elysées, and in the evening, most towns and villages celebrate with fireworks (les feux d'artifices).

 

Credit: Celeste Hutchins

The famous French singer Georges Brassens had a different take on the day, and in one of his most famous songs entitled Bad Reputation (La mauvaise réputation), he sings:

Le jour du 14 juillet, je reste dans mon lit douillet,
La musique qui marche au pas, 
Cela ne me regarde pas.
Je ne fais pourtant de tort à personne,
En n'écoutant pas le clairon qui sonne
Mais les braves gens n'aiment pas que
L'on suive une autre route qu'eux



On the 14th of July
I keep to my cosy bed
The marching music
Holds no interest for me
Yet I don’t harm anyone
By not listening to the bugle
But good folk don’t like it when
You follow another way than theirs

If you would like to listen to the song, you can find one of many versions here, with a translation:
http://brassenswithenglish.blogspot.co.uk/2008/02/la-mauvaise-rputation.html