Merry Christmas!

Best Christmas wishes to my dear French students of English. May these special days bring you a lot of joy and a good relaxing time with your families and friends.
And here is a nice Christmas song for you :)



All the best!

In French this time :)

I've just found out that François Busnel of France 5, a TV channel you probably know, made an interview with my favorite writer - Philip Roth. Unfortunately I cannot understand much of it because of the French translation ;) but I hope it's worth listening to. Perhaps you'll find it interesting? It seems some of it links well with our current topic - lifestyle. At the beginning of the interview Roth discusses living in his two different residences -  the 18th century farmhouse in Warren, Connecticut, and his apartment in New York.

I would be grateful if you could summarize the interview for me in class (in English of course).

Philip Roth's writing has caused a lot of controversy over the years of his long and prolific career, but some of his literary ideas are absolutely brilliant, and he implements them with perfect mastery. What I love most of all about his writing, however, is his English - so rich and powerful that sometimes I just need to pause my reading for a few seconds to let it sink in. My favorite books by Roth include Counterlife and The Human Stain - quite different from each other, but equally gripping. Nemesis, published only last year, is also one of the best. 

The Chorus

To give you a little encouragement I've decided to give it a try and write about a movie too:

Recently I saw a French film of a few years ago, which I somehow never got round to seeing before. Its title in English is The Chorus, and the original is Les choristes. Perhaps you know it?
It is a story of a failed musician who tries to begin a new career as a teacher. His first job is a tough one - he arrives at a provincial boarding school for troublemakers, all boys, and struggles with the school's very strict and narrow-minded principal, as well as with the boys' numerous problems and crises. He does find a way to reach them, and that is - as the title clearly indicates - through music. Fortunately, it is neither a tragedy nor a comedy, just a convincing story of a devoted, kind man who wanted to make a difference. Although there have been quite a few films with a similar theme (including the American-made box-office hit Dead Poets Society), this one stands out as less sentimental and a bit more insightful. I admit some characters are too black-and-white and stereotyped, but on the whole the story struck the right note with me and moved me deeply. If you haven't seen the film yet, I strongly recommend it to you.

Movies

Since we are talking about the media these days, I thought we could move part of our activity to the blogs again. How about a film review this time? Have you seen an interesting movie recently? Or perhaps it was a while ago, but you still remember it well and want to share your opinion about it with us? It does not need to be a British or American production. French would be great, too. Anything you feel strongly about - in either a positive or a negative way. It would be even better if you managed to find a clip or a trailer for the movie you have chosen and added it to your post. You can use the "Insert a video" option in the Blogger post editor; it's very easy to use! Have fun with the task. :)

Paris vs. New York

I've come across a very interesting project today. It is an artist's impression of similarities and differences between two wonderful cities: New York and Paris. I thought it might be of interest to my Francophiles learning English :) The design is very simple but extremely appealing, and catches the most characteristic features of the two metropolises. Take a look!

Paris vs. New York

Which one is your favorite? Mine is this:

Speaks for itself, so I won't spoil it with a comment. I just love it! :)

Friends

Our new topic is friends and we started it with a theme song of a popular American sitcom titled FRIENDS. Most of you seemed familiar with the show and the song, but you might want to see an official video of the song, as performed by The Rembrandts.

Who are your friends? Do you spend your free time with other students from the university? Or perhaps you still keep in touch with your high school friends? 

Here is your first blogging task: Tell us how you spend time with your friends and what you do in order to make your friendships work.

Here we go!

Welcome to our blog project. I hope you will find writing (and reading) your blogs an interesting way of working on your English. If you want to see how such projects work, take a look at the KJO blog. On the right you will find links to my students' blogs, grouped by year. They have grown into quite a collection by now.
The idea is for you to write short posts in response to assigned tasks, but feel free to write as often and as much as you like. The more the better. Also, feel free to share videos, music and other favorite content. They don't need to be in English, as long as your comments on them are. 
Enjoy the project, then. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better :)