In France, this is considered very English

Hey,

Correction of the exercise:  as if / as though

1. French people are believed to speak English very poorly, as if they never learnt foreign languages.

2. Americans are thought to be fat and lazy, as though it were (prétérit modal) the case for all of them.

3. Canadians are said to be peaceful and close to nature, as if they were all hippies living in the forest.

today we continued talking about the text I gave you yesterday. We analysed the characters and their levels of English and we answered all the wh- questions. Here is what we wrote in the copybooks:

• Who ? the characters:

- Paul West= consultant. English: mother tongue. He gives ideas and advices.
- Jean-Marie: the boss of the French company. He is better than his employees. He explains to Paul what his employees say. He is the interpreter.
- Stephanie / Marc / Bernard } Jean-Marie's employees.
Level of English: they have a redneck accent, they talk English and French at the same time, they make a lot of mistakes, they hesitate a lot and they use very short and easy sentences.

• Where?

The scene takes place in Paris (in a Paris office).

• When?

It might take place in the morning since it's a meeting.

• What?

They are discussing over the new name for a chain of British tearooms. They don't agree with the different names.

• Why?

On the one hand, the French employees think Paul's suggestion is flat. It's not a funny name. There is no humour.
On the other hand, they've already chosen a name.

HW:

- Learn your lesson and new vocabulary (test)
- Highlight the verbs of speech in the text or add some verbs of speech where they are missing to express the characters' feelings / points of view.
- Write a dialogue: "you are in Canada and you see a group of teenagers who is making fun of a lumberjack". Write the story and dialogue (200-250 words).

Files: you can download the dialogue sheet again here.

More information about the book A Year in the Merde here.