by Alliance Française | Jan 7, 2017 | Blog
Every year at the beginning of January, bakeries in France ( les boulangeries) fill up with two types of cakes to celebrate the Epiphany: Les royaumes (meaning kingdom): Et les galettes: Both of these have a secret; in them are hidden little charms...
by Alliance Française | Dec 31, 2016 | Blog
Here is the second part and the end of the Tuesday morning French group Christmas sketch. Like last year, Robin, who wrote the sketch, chooses an extra syllable to start a word. He chose “bé” this time, so each time la Mère Noël asks him a question, the...
by Alliance Française | Dec 24, 2016 | Blog
For several years now, Robin, student in Martine’s Tuesday morning French class, has written a sketch about Christmas with Robin as the postman (le facteur) and Mother Christmas (la Mère Noël). Sarah is taking this part this year as Maureen who had done it for...
by Alliance Française | Dec 16, 2016 | Blog
Ahhh… I can smell the chocolates from here! Only a few days before Christmas, let’s see if you are ready for it! Have you bought your Christmas tree (votre sapin de noël)? If not it is high time you did it! (Il est grand que vous le fassiez!) You can...
by Alliance Française | Dec 10, 2016 | Blog
One of the pleasures of speaking French is to be able to read the newspaper. We have a list of great websites with news for you to choose from on our website (scroll down). Often, journalists won’t be entirely certain of the information they share. When they...
by Alliance Française | Dec 3, 2016 | Blog
It feels like winter (ça sent l’hiver)! La raclette is a cheese made from cow’s milk (lait de vache). But it is also a popular Swiss dish where the melted cheese is scraped onto potatoes (les pommes de terre), cold meats (la charcuterie) and gherkins (les...
by Alliance Française | Nov 26, 2016 | Blog
Jacques Tardi is an illustrator (un dessinateur) well known for adapting French novels into graphic novels, as well as authoring historical graphic novels (des romans graphiques). He has adapted novels by popular crime novelist (auteur de roman policier) Léo Malet....
by Alliance Française | Nov 19, 2016 | Blog
Les Guignols (the puppets, Guignol is the main character of our version of Punch and Judy) is a daily satirical puppet (une marionnette) show on Canal +. It is very popular and runs daily on working days, with a catch up on weekends. Les Guignols, as you can expect...
by Alliance Française | Nov 12, 2016 | Blog
Yesterday was Remembrance day, and as a result I have been asked several times this week whether we wear poppies to celebrate fallen soldiers, and we don’t usually although some people wear cornflowers (les bleuets). However, the armistice is celebrated with a...
by Alliance Française | Nov 5, 2016 | Blog
Persépolis is a beautiful graphic novel (une BD, bande dessinée) written in French by Marjane Satrapi. In it she recalls her childhood in Iran around the revolution. Here is a brief introduction written by one of Audrey’s students, Paul: “Le film est basé...
