Hey,

today we started the class with a few minutes from the movie "Cry Freedom" about Apartheid in South Africa. Here is what we said about the extract as a warm up:

Apartheid in South Africa
[teit] / [tait]

It's a period of segregation in South Africa when Blacks were separated from the Whites.
In the video, there are two men (1 black man, 1 white man) who are speaking about the differences in the conditions of Blacks and Whites. The black man has created a special hospital for Blacks and Mr. Woods is criticizing him. He says he is racist.

Vocab: segragation (US), apartheid (S. Africa), a black township (bidonville)

Then we continued the class with the correction of some important grammar points in your essays and with group 2 we had time to write a short introduction to the question. Here are both the grammar explanations and the introduction: 

Grammar:  

1. * Les pronoms (usuels, réfléchis, réciproques)

- "They can't see each other / one another." 

- "He looked at himself in the mirror and then he looked at her. They exchanged a startled look = they looked at each other in a suprised manner."

- "When we / people are far from our / their lover.

1. * Exprimer un généralité:

- Pronom impersonnel = when (some)one is far from their lover, they may feel blue.

- Article zéro Ø = Ø Love makes you stronger / Ø War is horrible / Ø Time goes by too fast.  

- Verbe en position de sujet = " le fait de.. " = V-ing -> Going to the South of France every week can be costly / Not seeing your beloved for a month might create a real lack / Moving to another city is never easy.

Introduction: "Do you believe in long distance relationships?"

"to be written by Lisa"

HW: for after the mock exams, you will need to have corrected your essays, taking into account the advice and corrections I have given you on your papers.

Hey,

today in the very first part of the lesson we corrected your homework, i.e. the addition of speech verbs and / or expressions to the different cues in the text so as to reveal the feelings and attitudes of the characters. Here is what we said:

"to be written by Julie"

Then we continued the lesson with how to deal with an essay in English. Here is the assignment you will have to write about for after the vacation:

"Do you believe in long distance relationships?" (250 words)

We explained how to talk about the subject and expressed some important ideas. Here they are:

"to be written by Julie"

HW: finish this essay for Monday, Feb. 28th.

Files: download the "link words" worksheet here.

Hey,

today as there wasn't a lot of people in class, we still talked about love but with a different point of view... Barbie's point of view actually... Here is the document that you studied:

Here is what we said about the history of Barbie and what the doll represents:

Barbie doll: Her biography

Barbie represents a role model for a lot of young girls. She is the symbol for the perfect woman who is gorgeous and always successful in both her career and private life. Of course, she confirms many stereotypes imposed on by society.
Many girls want to look like her. They have hundreds of dolls and thousands of accessories (shoes, cars, dream houses, ...).
Barbie was first created in March 1959 after Barbara Millicent Roberts, the daughter of the creator. In 1961, she married Ken to create the perfect family.
However, in 2004 she got divorced / split / ditched her lover and she is now single. In 2009, it was her 50th birthday and she still embodies perfection.

By the way, Nadia (our Barbie expert ), you were right about the name... and I was wrong... you ARE definitely the BARBIE specialist

I hope that those who went to the play have enjoyed it. You'll have to tell me next time. See you soon.

Mr Hattais.

More information about Barbie here.

Hey,

today we first talked about another propaganda poster and Lisa did quite a good job even if it wasn't perfect but she can be proud of herself

Then we did a quick recap of what we had said about the text so that Nadia who was absent last time could catch up with the important information.

Finally, we had time to try and identify the feelings of the characters in text (Stella and Joe's attitudes). Here is what we said about them:

Stella = she feels guilty because she loves Joe and she is engaged to Philip. She doesn't want to talk to him on the phone because she doesn't want to hear about the wedding.
After the telephone conversation she is pale-faced. It means that she is shocked and scared. She is hardly in control. She has just learnt that Philip has lost a leg.

Joe = ....

HW: finish writing the part about Joe and get ready to talk about his feelings and why he feels this way. + Get ready for a vocabulary test... it's on its way... (Monday or Tuesday)

Hey,

today we first corrected the chronology you had to draw from the text "The London Blitz" and here is what we said about this event:

The London Blitz or "Blitz Kreig" in German is a period of intense bombing. London was blasted / bombarded / bombed every day and every night during 57 days. The attacks lasted from Sept, 7 1940 until May 11, 1941.
Many shelters were destroyed. Bombings made 450 victims / casualties / dead people. The death toll was very high.

Examples of shelters:
schools, churches, underground stations ("the Tube")

Then we continued on with commenting upon the picture linked to the text that we are going to study. Here is what we said about it:

Type of document: poster 

- goal: propaganda in order to recruit women to work on farms.

The document is a propaganda poster from the war. It was certainly published during WWII by the British government so as to / in order to recruit women and so that they replace the men who are at war / have gone to wage war.

- descrpition: catch-phrase / slogan : at the top, at the bottom

-> woman: on the left, in the foreground
-> the field : in the background

It represents a woman in the foreground who is wearing work clothes. She's on a farm and she is doing a man's job. She's looking in the distance / into the void. She looks proud of herself.

The posters shows that woman could do men's job. It encourages them to take part to the war effort. It was the beginning of equality between the genders.
What's more, the colours of the poster are bright / the poster is colourful. It depicts the farm as if it were heaven. It shows the bright side of the job.

Grammar: verbe d'état ≠ verbe d'action

Additional vocabulary:

- to go to war = to wage war

HW: learn your lesson and new vocabulary.