Ringer (the new hit series) + Stereotypes

Hey guys,

today we first watched the preview of a new American hit series called "Ringer". You can watch it again below:

Here is what we said about it:

Warm up : Ringer,  the new hit series

The document is a preview from the series

It features Sarah Michelle Gellar as Bridget a witness who saw a murder.

She is now on the run because the murderer, the police and may be the family of the victim are looking for her.

To escape the police she assumed her twin sister’s identity (who killed herself).

It’s a thriller with a twist. Indeed you understand that her sister Shioban is not dead. It’s unexpected (= you could not see it coming).

When the spectators see this, they are shocked/ flabbergasted/stunned. They can’t believe their eyes.

Vocabulary:

A twist = an end which is unexpected

(to) ring a bell

She's a dead ringer for ...

Then we continued talking about stereotypes (French ones). Here is the result of our talking:

The French seen by the British:

_Fashion:

The French are thought to like luxury brands

The French are said to be addicted to luxury brands

_Racism:

The French are believed to be racist

_Hygiene:

The French are said to never take a shower

The French are believed to stink

_Man/Woman relationship:

The French are said to think they are superior to women

They are thought to be male chauvinistic

 These are stereotypes/clichés/preconceived ideas because of course it’s not true for everyone.

Finally, we began studying the text entitled: "In France, this is considered very English". We focused our attention on the main character's point of view and we then did a very fast summary the information you had understood about the text. Here is what we said:

Stereotypes in the text:

The text is narrated from the main character’s point of view (POV): Paul West, an Englishman in Paris.

_His colleagues are not good at English

_They don’t have a good accent

_They have typical French names (from an older generation)

_They always want to be right

_They are rather stupid

They confirm some of the clichés that foreigners have of French people.

Other preconceived ideas referred to in the document:

_Cuisine: The French are said to love buying baguettes.

Some of those stereotypes are accurate while others are too general to be true.

Vocabulary:

A miser          miserly (adj)

(to) always want to be right =(to) be stubborn

(to) swindle money from someone (ex: The French are said to be miserly and to try and swindle money from tourists all the time).

HW:

- ne pas oublier de vous préparer à l'enregistrement de vos audio-guides.

- constituer les groupes et répartir les tâches pour la constitution de la plaquette explicative accompagnant l'étude d'une oeuvre.

- apprendre la leçon et le nouveau vocabulaire.

- Pour le groupe qui n'était pas passé sur son image la dernière fois avec Holly, préparer le compte-rendu à faire sur cette image.