by Alliance Française | Apr 7, 2019 | Blog
Le pet de nonne or le beignet goes back to the Renaissance period. Different stories are told about the origin of the name but, in any case une nonne is a nun and pets de nonne were first of all cooked by nuns in Franche Comté ( east of France) for instance. Iza, our...
by Alliance Française | Mar 6, 2019 | Blog
A couple of weeks ago, in my Tuesday morning class, we read and discussed Marcel Proust’s famous passage about la madeleine. Here is a picture of une madeleine above. In A la recherche du temps perdu, Proust explains how he remembers years later the taste of the...
by Alliance Française | Feb 22, 2019 | Blog
Read this wonderful short tale written by Nick, a student learning French in Françoise’s class: Le Chat et le Géant Une fois un chat était assis sur un mur à côté d’une piscine. Il se léchait tranquillement lorsqu’un géant arriva et dit, “Ah, un chat. J’adore...
by Alliance Française | Feb 8, 2019 | Announcements, Blog
Paul, a student learning French in Bristol in Audrey’s class, has prepared the following text talking about this famous Paris bar: Le Harry’s Bar est un bar célèbre situé entre l’avenue de l’Opéra et la rue de la Paix. Il a été créé en 1911 par un jockey...
by Alliance Française | Jan 27, 2019 | Blog
Scott, one of the students perfecting his French in Martine’s class, has written the following text. Can you spot the lie in it? Harder than you think! Trouvez le mensonge J’ai habité dans un appartement au dessus d’un pub dans le centre-ville....
by Alliance Française | Dec 23, 2018 | Blog
Every year, students learning French with our experienced and native teacher Martine write an entertaining and witty scene about Mère Noël: JINGLE Mère Noël : Bonjour M le Facteur. Nous voici encore une fois. Le Facteur : Je suis heureux de vous revoir. MN : Il me...
by Alliance Française | Dec 14, 2018 | Blog
Steve, who learns French with Martine in Alliance Française de Bristol, has written this wonderful anecdote about his time in France: Le Cigare de Havane (passé composé imparfaitement) Un jour de canicule, je me suis trouvé dans une ville que je connaissais peu....
by Alliance Française | Nov 27, 2018 | Announcements, Blog
What have these words all in common besides being French and relating to food (de la nourriture) in small bites size (une bouchée)? They are all dishes (des mets) that are served before a meal (un repas) as pre-dinner nibbles (des bouchées apéritives) for the infamous...
by Alliance Française | Nov 16, 2018 | Blog
Now that you have started your lessons, are you going to say this to your teacher? « Professeurs, vous êtes vieux…. Votre culture aussi » This was one of the many slogans created and used by students during the unrest in May 1968. And they were right, schools and...
by Alliance Française | Nov 10, 2018 | Blog
Three years ago on 13th November, several terrorist attacks took place in Paris, all of them perpetrated by IS, we say Daech in French. One of them was supposed to take place at le Stade de France in St Denis, but the terrorists did not manage to get into the stadium...
