Warm up (clichés) + Text analysis

Hey guys,

today we first talked about the way English people see the French and here is what we concluded:

Warm up : French cliches and strereotypes.
- Fashion : French people are said to be shopaholic / prefer buying luxury brands / love luxury
- Hygiene: They are believed to smell from their armpits

- Sexism :

French people are thought to be sexist
                                  believed to be lazy
                                                       be on strike always

Le passif : S + BE + P.P
                  present / futur / passé
 
----> expression du stéréotype :
" On dit des francais que ..."
" On croit que ..."
" On pense que ..."

Then we continued the lesson with the correction of the about what you would do if you were in Stella's shoes. Here are the different options you mentionned:

If I were / was in Stella's shoes, I would... :
- break up with Philip but only after some time because I wouldn't want to make him unhappy as / since he is mutilated, traumatized and devastated.
- commit suicide because I would be torn appart between two lovers.
- break up with* Philip because before the accident Stella stopped loving him.
- leave Joe because this relationship is just a fling, it's frivolous.**
 
* break off an engagement with...
**  a love affair which is not serious is frivolous, it's a fling.
 
 

Eventually, we read the last part of the text and determined that no option we had anticipated was really the one Stella acutally chose. Here is what we said:

- Stella's difficult choice : ordeal / hardship /  dilemma
  ----> Finally, Stella chooses to stay with Philip and break up with Joe out of pity / compassion
 
She is torn apart like in some soap opera.
( ex : The Young and the Restless, Days of our Lives)
 
It seems a bit too dramatic. There's a lot of tragedy / pathos
 
Drama --> tic / melodramatic
tragedy--> ic (tragic)
pathos --> pathetic

And to end the class, we made a list of words and phrases used in the text to convey pathos. Here is the cart we drew:

 
Atmosphere :

                  darkness/ cold / dark
                   No moon
                   break the silence
                   smell of old leather and wet dog
 
Characters' attitude :

                               pain
                               tears
                               mummy-like 
                               hugged in silence
                               walked hand in hand
 
Characters' speech:

                            He couldn't take it anymore
                             I would be his life or his death
                             Ordinary life has finished for him
                             the only thing worth
                            " I'd stand by him" : --> she said
                                                                 --> complained / moaned
                           That would be tempting fate ( destiny )
 
 - Narrative : 3nd person narrative -> it's both a dialogue and a narrative

HW:

- apprendre la leçon (quoi dire sur ce texte pour en parler)

- apprendre le nouveau vocabulaire (faire des fiches par thème)