Hey,

today we first warmed up with the words: 

work songs / blues / jazz / rock'n'roll / hip hop

You had to find a link between them all. Here is what you said after thinking for a while:

"to be written by ..."

Then you turned in your poems (some of you...) while others had to read the text again and prepare a recap. Here is what we said:

"to be written by ..."

HW: for tomorrow, those who haven't turned in their poems, please think about it! + determine in the text the different parts that there are in the document, give them a title and get ready to talk about it.

Files: download a copy of the text here again.

More about Afro-American music here.

Hey,

today you first took a vocabulary test about the new words in the lesson. Then we made a quick recap for Léna in particular so that she could catch up with yesterday's lesson when she was absent. Here is what we said:

"to be written by Sonia"

Then we continued the lesson with the reading of our new text and we first focused on the type of document and the main elements of the narrative. Here is what we said:

"to be written by Sonia"

HW: for after the holidays, you need to create a poem like Billie Holiday's poem and illustrate it. Don't forget that you will need to chose a historical background (civil war, segregation, nowadays) and include important elements (metaphors, gruesome constrasts, alliterations, and the evocation of the 5 senses). I hope you will be creative enough!

Hey,

today we first warmed up with a video document about Barbie... You can watch it again below:

Here is what we said about it:

"to be written by Sonia"

Then we continued to talk about the poem strange fruit and to analyse it a little more deeply. Here is what we said:

"to be written by Sonia"

HW: for next time, you need to pick out words refering to the five senses from the document and prepare an oral commentary about this idea.

Hey,

today after warming up about your favorite types of music, we began to study the song Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday. Here is what we said about it:

 The singer conveys a lot of emotions through her song, thanks to the melody, her voice, her attitude and her lyrics.
The melody is slow, low and conveys a melancholy feeling.
The topic is very serious and Billie Holiday is committed / involved
Her voice is powerful. She sounds as if she were about to cry. Her eyes are empty when she remembers the necktie party / lynching party and the suffering of the black people.
Her voice conveys both pain and hatred, sorrow and anger when she pounds on / stresses some important words.
As for her attitude, she grimaces and her mouth is often twisted.
She wails at the end of the song to express her suffering. She is very sensitive.
The lyrics evoke a lynching party: "black bodies hanging". But the scene is in contrast with some words with a positive connotation: "Southern breeze", "swing"... We cannot but sympathize with her when she refrains from crying / when she is on the verge of tears / when she has tears in her eyes.

HW: finish finding the words that are in contrast in the lyrics and get ready to talk about the song + Learn your new vocabular (a test in on the way...)

More information about the song and a documentary that was made about the song here.

Hey,

today we first did a quick recap of what we could say about yesterday's picture. Here is the additional information:

- a lot of
- a party of people
- a crowd of
- a mob of


-> sentiment provoqué (...-ant)

- It's shocking
- It's frightening
- It's disgusting
- the scene is pleasing
- It's horrendous
- It's atrocious
- It's monstruous
- It's savage

-> Sentiment pour soi, ressenti (é)

- I'm shocked
- I'm frightened
- I'm afraid
- I'm disgusted
- they're pleased

Then we continued the class with the study of another picture, a cartoon this time:

Here is what we said about it:

The document is a cartoon in black and white. It depicts a black slave at the top who is liberated / freed from his chains / shackles / cuffs after the Civil War in 1865: it's the end of slavery. At the bottom, the cartoon represents a lynching party / necktie party where a member of the KKK is hanging a black man.
The message / tone is cynical. Black people were freed but their fate was horrendous. The law evolved but not the mentalities. Blacks went from one ordeal to another ordeal.
The contrast symbolizes the hardships. At the top, the white light stands for " the official version". At the bottom, the black light evokes the other side of the coin: a fateful situation.

Additional vocabulary:
- robe
- mask (hood)
- secretly -> a secret society

HW: for next time, you need to find information about the KKK and get prepared to talk about it for about 1 minute and a half. Learn your lesson of course and the comments about the cartoon.

More information about the Ku Klux Klan here.

You can watch and listen to Billie Holliday's song "Strange Fruit" here again: