2 Honors Summer Work Option #1

The best way to learn to speak French is not to study French. It is to put yourself in a situation where you have to speak French. This summer you will have a real conversation with a real French speaker.

You will then document the conversation. You will ask 5 questions, in French, of one or more people. You can record or write down their responses. You will take a photo with someone that you interview. You will then type your questions, their answers and your reactions to their answers, all in French. REMEMBER-this is a conversation, not an interview. You are not a journalist. Be discreet. Be natural.

When typed, your write up will look like this:

Question : Comment avez-vous changé après être venu ici de la France ?

Réponse : Ben, peut-être que je suis plus matérialiste. En France, je n’avais jamais de voiture, ça ne comptait pour rien. Ici, quand je conduis, je regarde les autres et je compare la qualité de leurs voitures avec la mienne.

C’est triste ! L’influence des Etats-Unis aux étrangers peut-être peut aider l’économie, mais c’est comme une maladie internationale ! Je préfère que nous passions les meilleures qualités aux autres, comme la bienveillance, la patience, le bonheur, etc.

Notice that the question is in bold, their response in normal text, and your thoughts in italics.

This assignment will be worth 300 points. 50 points for each question and 50 points for the picture.

Now that you’ll be looking for Frenchies you’ll start noticing them seemingly everywhere. Any touristic place will have Europeans in August. Or maybe you or your friends have hosted Frenchies in the past and you’d like to communicate with them via Skype. Get creative with it.

Below you will find 8 places to find Frenchies during the summer. Because it will cost you gas money to get there, YOU ARE NOT OBLIGATED to do any of these. But if you happen to be in town, these will be good places to find French speakers. The credit will come from having conversations, not for having driven anywhere.

The first four are meetups. These are gatherings where people meet to speak French and eat. You should go to http://french.meetup.com/cities/us/91765/

and create a meetup account. It is free. For future reference, go to meetup.com,

click “Find a meetup group”

In “Topic or Interest,” type “French”

choose, “within 50 mile radius”

then enter your area code and press search

click on the link and join the group. Be sure to let them know you are coming, and to check their websites to confirm times and places.

1. Inland Empire French Language and Conversation Group

http://www.meetup.com/Inland-Empire-French-Language-Conversation-Group/

Based out of Pomona, this group meets every two weeks (June 15, 29, July 13 etc) on Monday nights at 7pm in La Verne. On alternate weeks, (June 7, 21, July 5 etc), they meet on Sunday afternoons at 2pm at Panera in Rancho Cucamonga, near Ontario Mills. Join their group, RSVP for the event of your choice, bring a friend and have fun speaking French and making friends.

2. The Orange County French Language Meetup Group

http://www.meetup.com/french-45/

This group has several on going meetups throughout Orange County.

They meet every Saturday morning at 10:30am at the Corner Bakery Café in the Irvine Spectrum.

They meet the 3rd Friday of every month at a café in Costa Mesa.

You can also find weekly conversation classes that cost a little but may be interesting to try out.

Again, be sure to join the group and RSVP before going.

3. Franco Long Beach

http://www.meetup.com/Franco-Long-Beach-Speak-French/

This group meets the first Sunday of the month for breakfast and French speaking at Roots Gourmet. Join the group to find exact dates and don’t forget to RSVP. Check their page periodically to see if they are doing other activities that may interest you.

4. Casual French Speaking

http://www.meetup.com/Casual-French-Speaking/

These guys meet every Wednesday night at Hot Java (2101 E Broadway, Long Beach), at 7pm. Join the group and RSVP before attending.

5. A catholic mass, in French, with people from all over the francophone world.

http://www.cathoala.org/

LOS ANGELES

Eglise Saint Sebastian

1425 Federal Ave.

Los Angeles CA USA

Messe en Francais le dimanche à 10h30

ORANGE COUNTY

Eglise Our Lady Queen of Angels

2046 Mar Vista Dr. Newport Beach

Messe le premier samedi de chaque mois à 18h30

6. African Christian Community Church of Southern California

1356 S. Albany St

Los Angeles, CA 90015

Services in French on Sundays from 3-5:30pm

This Church consists mostly of people from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They speak English, French, and several African languages.

I recently visited this church, and it was amazing. You can contact the pastor via email at . His name is Kasereka Kasomo.

7. Le Consulat Général de France à Los Angeles. http://www.consulfrance-losangeles.org/spip.php?article1016

This website features French related events throughout the summer. They always do something for Bastille Day in July. Go to this website and put your email address to the left of the “inscrivez-vous” box. They will send you monthly emails with French related events in the Los Angeles area.

8. The Basque picnic. The Chino Basque club holds an annual picnic in Chino around the 4th of July weekend. This year’s event will be on Sunday, July 5th. There will be dancing, eating, and people speaking Basque, Spanish, English and French. The event is at the Chino Fairgrounds, located at Central and Edison Avenues. Last year’s prices were $2 admission for anyone over 12 years old. Check http://chinobasqueclub.us/ for more information. The schedule usually looks something like this:

10am Catholic mass

noon - ribeye steak lunch $15 adult/$9 child

3pm - Basque Bugle Corps and Basque dancing exhibition

6:30 pm - Barbeque lamb dinner $15 adult/$9 child

8pm - midnight - Dancing

*you can pay the $2 entrance fee to enjoy the 3pm events or the 8pm to midnight dancing.

information: 909.628.4415

If you have any questions of me, my email is . Be sure to write FRENCH! in the subject bar, lest you be thrown into the junk bin.

2 Honors Summer Work –Option #2 Five Journal Entries

Exploratory Learning Journal

To become amazing at French, you'll have to allow the language to become a part of your daily routine. The music you listen to, the websites you visit, the people you talk to, where and how you eat, the books you read, the videogames you play, if any of these are influenced by the French language and culture, you will be on the road to being amazing at French.

It cannot stop with your language class, no matter how fun or engaging it is (or isn't).

Attached is a list of websites and ideas that will help you jump in in a fun way. Things to read, to listen to, to watch, people to talk to.

Jump in, stay in. Become amazing.

Keeping a journal of the things you discover will help you reflect on your learning, will help you retain all that you are taking in.

The whole process can take as little as 20 minutes on any given day. The journal will document the READING, the LISTENING and SPEAKING that you experience. And of course the journal will help you practice your WRITING. Here’s how a journal entry works:

A. READING

Spend 5 minutes reading something in French. A reading is called a “Lecture.” Here are some examples…

Lecture :

1. Un livre qui vous intéresse. Il y en a beaucoup dans ma bibliothèque dans ma salle de classe. La bibliothèque en a aussi, y inclus les BD, Candide, et d’autres.

Page 17-23 de ce site : http://www.emcpublishingllc.com/media/productattachments/files/p/a/paradigm-world-languages.pdf

2. Les actualités. On peut lire http://www.lemonde.fr, http://www.lefigaro.fr, http://www.leparisien.fr, http://1jour1actu.com/

3. La musique : http://www.lesinrocks.com/, http://www.rfimusique.com/, http://www.francofans.fr/

Student Recommended Reading :

1. La mode (fashion) : http://www.vogue.fr/ , http://www.elle.fr/

2. Les contes (fairy tales) : http://contemania.com/

3. A little bit of everything, mostly comical and light : http://www.petitpetitgamin.com/

4. News about the world, culture, France, science, sports and the planet, all written for young

people : http://1jour1actu.com/

5. Les actualités (news) : http://www.latribune.fr/

6. French stuff in the States, Los Angeles : http://frenchmorning.com/la/ Also, go to the bottom of the site, where you see, « Inscrivez-vous », fill in your email. They will then send you articles by email once a week.

7. http://www.globule.org/~gpierre/french.php Idiomatic expressions in French.

B. LISTENING

Spend 5 minutes listening to the French language, spoken by native speakers. They can be from France, Québec, Africa, anywhere in the French-speaking world. Watching videos where the words are in French definitely counts, too. Here are a few examples…

1. La musique française : http://www.radiofrance.fr/ Tu pourrais choisir entre plusieurs stations : lefip joue de la musique très diverse et lemouv joue de la musique rock, comme KROQ.

2. Visite http://www.spotify.com . Tape le nom d’un artiste Français qui vous intéresse (Joyce Jonathan, Tryo, Yelle, etc). Tu pourrais écouter leur musique ou tu pourrais choisir de faire une station de radio, où Spotify jouerait de chansons de groupes du même style.

3. Les émissions de télé : http://www.canalplus.fr/ Moi, j’aime bien « Les guignols de l’info ».

4. La musique : http://www.mytaratata.com/ La musique live et les entrevues.

5. Un gars une fille, séries comique, Jean DuJardin : http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=un+gars+une+fille&oq=un+gars+une+fille&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.59.8558.0.9241.16.5.4.6.7.0.245.672.2j2j1.5.0...0.0.836p0bi0DyM

6. "C'est pas sorcier" est un magazine de science et de découverte. Présentées par Fred, Jamy et Sabine, les émissions traitent d'une grande variété de sujets : la Terre, l'univers, la santé, l'histoire et la culture, ou encore les technologies.: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=c%27est+pas+sorcier&oq=c%27est+pas+sorcier&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.1210.4855.0.5256.19.8.1.10.10.0.107.674.5j3.8.0...0.0.3J0A3Xlrvos

7. Petit Nicolas :

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=petit+nicolas+dessin+anim%C3%A9&oq=petit+nicolas+d&aq=0&aqi=g2g-m3&aql=&gs_l=youtube.1.0.0l2j0i5l3.9834.9968.0.11977.2.2.0.0.0.0.158.261.0j2.2.0...0.0.cktZercYUXw

8. Rémi Gaillard est un humoriste français qui fait des vidéos drôles. http://www.nimportequi.com

9. Very Bad Blagues http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=very+bad+blagues&oq=very+bad+blagues&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.1754.5283.0.5818.18.7.2.9.9.0.167.597.6j1.7.0...0.0.1pOfBfpsDJM

10. Cyprien

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cyprien&oq=cyprien&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.112347.113260.0.114588.7.6.0.1.1.0.107.361.4j1.5.0...0.0.Gv7EjN3eQMw

11. Les Guignols de L’info – A group of puppets take on the days news in a satirical way. Daily 10 minute épisodes. http://www.canalplus.fr/c-divertissement/pid1784-c-les-guignols.html

12. Frenchcrazy.com is run by an American who loves everything French. Some great links to many helpful things, some of which are listed below.

Student recommended listening:

1. Live Mocha (http://livemocha.com/) Explore this site. You can do interactive exercises that tests your speaking ability, teach you vocabulary and much more. You can interact with native speakers that can help you past language hurdles.

2. Watch French TV – BFM TV is a French news network that runs 24/7. It is recorded by day in France and run again through the night. A great way to find out what is happening in the world through French eyes. You may need to update your flash player: http://www.bfmtv.com/grille/bfmtv/direct/

3. La meilleur du hier is a culturally relevant show that discusses news, cultural or celebrity topics. This popular show lasts 10-15 minutes. http://www.canalplus.fr/c-infos-documentaires/pid1831-c-le-meilleur-du-hier.html

4. The French Podcast is a website maintained by a bilingual French couple living in Lyon. Their goal is to bridge the gap between what you learned at school by listening to their audio files about assorted topics. You will find audio conversations and transcripts here: http://www.thefrenchpodcast.com/

5. http://www.rts.ch/ Is radio and television from French speaking Switzerland. TONS of stuff to choose from.

6. http://www.scoop.it/t/fle-enfants A collection of videos and games for French children. Includes links to Disney movies in French.

7. http://newsinslowfrench.com/ Exactly what it sounds like. News in slow French. It also includes text to read along with what you are hearing.

C. SPEAKING

This is the reason you are really studying a language, admit it. So speak with someone, in French, for 5 minutes. The easiest and most effective way to do this is to make a pact with several classmates to speak nothing but French with them from now on. Here’s more info :

1. Tu devrais faire un pacte avec quelqu’un de ne lui parle que français. Au début, cela sera assez difficile, mais au fur et à mesure tu verras que cela deviendra tout à fait naturel.

2. Cherche un correspondant(e) francophone. Tu pourrais lui parler en skype après l’avoir contacté. http://forums.about.com/ab-french5

D. WRITING

Journal #1 La date ____________________

Les sites que j’ai visités:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Voici une description de ce que j’ai découvert:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Les mots de vocabulaire que j’ai appris (5 à 10)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

J’ai passé à peu près _____________ minutes à explorer cette semaine.

Journal #2 La date ____________________

Les sites que j’ai visités:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Voici une description de ce que j’ai découvert: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Les mots de vocabulaire que j’ai appris (5 à 10)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

J’ai passé à peu près _____________ minutes à explorer cette semaine.

Journal #3 La date ____________________

Les sites que j’ai visités:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Voici une description de ce que j’ai découvert: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Les mots de vocabulaire que j’ai appris (5 à 10)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

J’ai passé à peu près _____________ minutes à explorer cette semaine.

Journal #4 La date ____________________

Les sites que j’ai visités:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Voici une description de ce que j’ai découvert: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Les mots de vocabulaire que j’ai appris (5 à 10)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

J’ai passé à peu près _____________ minutes à explorer cette semaine.

Journal #5 La date ____________________

Les sites que j’ai visités:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Voici une description de ce que j’ai découvert: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Les mots de vocabulaire que j’ai appris (5 à 10)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

J’ai passé à peu près _____________ minutes à explorer cette semaine.