C'est la rentrée! Back to work!

You know this feeling when it is back to the routine after a lovely holiday, life does not seem worth living! La vie ne vaut pas la peine d'être vécue! Fortunately, Cybermag has the answers for you so that you can enjoy life again!
Are you ready for some tricks against these post holiday blues? Des astuces anti-déprime.
Planifiez vos prochaines vacances: plan your next holiday.
Dépensez-vous: get rid of your energy by going to the gym, especially if you have un patron sur les talons ( a very demanding boss), you need to get rid of your frustration, se débarrasser de sa frustration.
Place à la création: become creative, faites un scrapbook ( yes it is the French word!!) with all these great holiday photos.
Faites le plein de vitamines: take plenty of vitamins. Mangez des oranges, des kiwis, du cassis ( black currants), des poivrons ( peppers), des brocolis.
Au bureau, prenez le taureau par les cornes, take the bull by the horns to sort out problems quickly, pour régler les problèmes rapidement.

If you want to read more about these very wise suggestions (!), go to the Cybermag link, for more info...

Mais surtout, commencez un cours de français! Last but not least piece of advice, join a French class with Alliance Française, either in Bristol or in Bath! For more info...

Did you know it is Les journées du patrimoine this weekend?

Jack Lang, culture minister under François Mitterrand, introduced the first journées du patrimoine thirty years ago, this concept developed right through Europe. Any building, site that is connected with history, culture, environment etc.. which is not normally open to the public, is for the weekend.
So you can visit the Elysée Palace ( le Palais de l'Elysée )  for instance or the offices of Europe 1, one of the main French radio stations but you can go to venues which are less known but really fascinating.
La prison de la Santé, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, which is closed for renovation is open this weekend:

 

The safe rooms ( les salles des coffres)  in the building of the bank La Société Générale in the 9th arrondissement in Paris are quite extraordinary as the doors of the safes are art nouveau.

 

Le musée Gaumont in Neuilly, which is a private museum, is opening its doors too,  you can discover a fantastic collection of posters, photos, theatre sets, costumes etc...

 

Our French classes are starting shortly, but you can still enrol for Bristol and for Bath, for more info...

More portraits...

Students with a good level in the French language have written some superb portraits inspired by 19th century French authors, here is what Susan wrote:
Les opposants
Le premier est un grand homme, un peu replet, avec l’air hautain, froid et orgueilleux – bien qu’il essaie de se montrer sympathique et aimable. Son visage, au teint rose pâle, est assez rond et ses joues sont un peu flasques. Ses yeux, qui sont marron, clairs et brillants, surmontent un nez peu remarquable. Sa bouche pincée émet une voix de stentor huppée.
L’autre est encore plus grand, mais pas du tout fort. On dirait qu’il est plutôt dégingandé. Ses cheveux abondants sont brun foncé, presque noirs. Ses yeux saillants, eux aussi, sont presque noirs et son regard est assez  perçant.  Il a un teint basané et un gros nez. Sa voix est nasale et il a un accent huppé, lui aussi. Il a l’air nerveux et courtois mais aussi assez aimable.
Avez-vous deviné de qui il s’agit ?
Vocabulary:
Replet: chubby
Hautain: haughty
Orgueilleux: proud
Flasque: flabby
Huppé: well to do
Dégingandé: lanky
Saillant: prominent
Basané: tanned

If you would like to learn some interesting vocabulary or start fron scratch, you can enrol with Alliance Française in Bristol or in Bath, for more info...

Grégoire Delacourt and le Prix Goncourt

Did you know that Grégoire Delacourt has been nominated with fourteen ( quatorze) other writers ( écrivains ) for Le prix Goncourt 2014 for his new book called ( qui s'appelle) On ne voyait que le bonheur ( we could only see happiness). Le prix Goncourt is one the most prestigious literary prize given out by L'académie Goncourt.
It was founded by les frères Goncourt ( the Goncourt brothers), Jules and Edmond, both writers, in 1900. The first prize was given to John-Antoine Nau, in 1903, for his novel Force ennemie which did not really bring him any fame. Since then, the prize has gone to Marcel Proust, Simone de Beauvoir, André Malraux and more recently to Michel Houellebecq and Pierre Lemaitre.

Here is what Chris, in Martine's French evening class, wrote about La liste de mes envies by Grégoire Delacourt, the book was a bestseller ( Une meilleure vente):

J'ai bien aimé <La Liste de mes envies>. La preuve pour cela est qu'en ce moment j'ai ce livre ici avec moi pendant que je suis en vacances. J'ai emporté ce livre parce que j'aimerais le relire encore une fois. 
Quand j'ai lu le livre, je n'a pas déviné la fin de l'histoire. Peut-être quand je vais le relire, j'aperçevrai des indications quant au sort de Jocelyne et Jocelyn Guerbette.
La seule chose que je n'ai pas aimé est la postface. Ici Grégoire Delacourt a l'air d'être trop satisfait de lui-même. Il écrit une liste énorme des joies que ce livre lui a donné. Il n'a aucune idée que l'histoire peut être imparfaite. A mon avis  c'est dangereux pour un auteur de croire que son écriture est complètement parfaite. Peut-être que dans la postface Grégoire Delacourt est plus publicitaire que l'auteur.
Quand même je recommande ce livre.

You can read more about the book in the post of 24th August, 2014.

We are enrolling for September French classes in Bristol and in Bath tomorrow, you don't need to make an appointment, come along, you will be assessed, free of charge, and you can enrol if you wish. For more info...

Come and join Alliance Française de Bristol for the annual pétanque tournament!

This will be the 3rd year that we invite students taking French lessons with us and their friends and anyone who wishes to join for a friendly tournoi de boules ou de pétanque.
Boules started to be played regularly at the beginning of the 20th century in La Ciotat, near Marseille.
There were three teams ( trois équipes) and the distance was between 10 and 15 meters from the thrower to the goal. The player throwing la boule ( le tireur), had to jump three times before throwing. An elderly player had rhumatism and could not jump anymore, he felt rather left out. To involve him in the game, it was suggested that he could throw with both feet together, pèd tanco in provençal or tanqués, inside a circle, and within 5 or 6 meters from the goal ( le but, which is a little wooden ball called le cochonnet). Pèd tanco gave the name la pétanque.
These explanations come from the French magazine Bien Dire.
You can read about the rules of la pétanque in last year's blog, for more info...
If you wish to take up the game, here is what the world champion of pétanque, Dylan Rocher, recommends:
A lot of concentration ( beaucoup de concentration), calm ( de calme), skill ( d'adresse) and training ( d'entraînement).
Don't worry, it won't be so demanding if you join us on Saturday, 6th September at 4.30pm, for more info...

If you wish to enrol for one of our French classes, for any level, either with Alliance française de Bristol or Bath you can come and chat to us on Saturday, 6th September as our lessons are starting soon, for more info...

Have you read La liste de mes envies par Grégoire Delacourt?

One of our French teachers read it with two of her groups. Everybody liked it, the French is not too difficult and you want to keep reading to find out what will happen. The book  is very good to encourage discussions as we can imagine lots of scenarios, speculate about what will take place and give our points of view.
Here is what Sheila has to say about the book:

 Pourquoi recommande-je ce livre?

Quand je lis ce livre, il me fait penser à beaucoup de choses de ma vie propre, en fait, il me parle.  L’écrivain, à mon avis, exprime très bien la valeur des choses de la vie de tous les jours.  Par exemple, quand Jocelyne gagne le loto, bien qu’elle fasse des listes des choses qu’elle peut acheter avec ses millions, en fin de compte, elle ne les achète pas.  Elle tient encore à sa vie, sa famille et ses relations avec son mari, Jo, bien qu’il ne soit pas si  gentil.  J’aime bien la façon avec laquelle l’écrivain me fait penser aux choses de ma vie qui sont aussi importantes pour moi.  À mon avis,  un bon livre doit avoir la puissance de faire penser la lectrice à beaucoup de choses – ses valeurs, ses convictions, etc.  La Liste de Mes Envies fait ca, pour moi.
 
I hope it may encourage you to read it in French.
We'll soon be assessing and enrolling for our French classes, look at our website for our dates: For more info...

Do you understand la météo de vos vacances?

La météo de vos vacances: the weather forecast for your holiday.
France has not had a very good Summer up to now so find below the phrases you can hear or read in the medias.
Une météo maussade: a dull weather forecast
Des températures stationnaires: temperatures which don't change
Les températures ont baissé: temperatures have gone down
Les températures remontent un peu: temperatures are going up a bit
Il fera frais: it will be fresh
Une perturbation de l'Atlantique: a disturbance from the Atlantic
De gros nuages noirs: big black clouds
Averses de pluie ou de grêle: rain or hail showers
Des rafales de vent: gusts of wind
L'anticyclone arrive par  l'ouest et repousse les nuages: high pressures arrive from the West ant push the clouds away
De belles éclaircies apparaissent: sunny spells make their appearance
C'est le soleil qui l'emporte: sunshine prevails

Une belle après-midi ensoleillée: a lovely suny afternoon.

You can learn some more vocabulary by joining one of our French courses starting in September, for more info...

but I hope that  the vocabulary on this page will help you understand the weather forecast on Météo France, link below: 

http://www.lachainemeteo.com/meteo-france/previsions-meteo-france-3.php