VIDEO!!!

LE VOILA!!! Ici, j'ai fait un vidéo pour Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain. This is an example of a video that a student in my class would make for a cultural experience. It is creative, the style of the video reflects the film, there are fifteen new vocabulary words, and it shows that the student actually watched and understood the film.

HERE is my multimedia project!! Hip hip hooray!! Enjoy, mes amis.

He really is Fantastic Mr Fox

My new favorite movie.

Internet Communications Project

For this assignment, I made a classroom webpage--click here!

Oh la la, ma vie.

Ah que mon coeur me fait mal! Paris me manque tellement. J'aimerais bien flâner dans n'importe quartier: même les endroits les plus louches. Je ne veux pas dire que je n'aimerais pas faire du window-shopping à la Rue de la Paix, ou la Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. C'est d'habitude, je prends beacoup de temps dans ce quartier là.

Et voilà. Parce que Paris me manque si fort, je vous montrerai une de mes photos favorites. Je l'ai prise au jour de l'Armistice. C'était incroyable, l'énergie dans l'aire. Tout le monde portait les coquelicots sur les revers, les drapeaux français était partout, et je savais bien que ce jour ne sera jamais oublié.



Merci aux soldats courageux qui ont lutté dans les deux Guerres Mondiales. On ne vous oubliera jamais.

Personal Project

So for my personal project in my IPT class, I've made a mind-map of French verbs. It's pretty thorough on the verbs that are regularly used, and it is something that would be very useful as a study tool or just a frame of reference. Click here for the link! PS clicking on the little plus signs next to the blue headers expands the category--I promise it's not a blank page!

Bonne lecture!

Good for a laugh

Just something fun........I promise, it's only gentle laughs at our amis canadiens.

Voilà le Willi Waller 2006

Internet Safety Assignment

I watched the videos and read the articles found on our class blog, and then (tried) to teach my 14-year-old brother about it. He's really cute, but he just doesn't care. And seeing as he doesn't use the computer very often at all, I suppose it's alright if he's not as educated as I am...ahem.

Moral of the story: stop posting your address and phone number and personal information online! Oh, and stop stealing other people's information, too.

Grenadine!!

YES I did find grenadine! It's such good news. Every time I take a sip, suddenly I feel like I'm back at 2 Rue Bellanger, sitting on those ikea bar stools that look like squished chess pawns, feeling a kitten weave between my ankles and try to jump on my lap. Now, when I'm wearing Chanel N˚5, the sudden wave of nostalgia and familiarity knocks me back. No, really. I have to sit down so I don't fall over.

Rose's Grenadine at Macey's--that terrible, dark, crowded and unorganized grocery store. Who would ever have thought?

Copyright Assignment

In this video of Edith Piaf's iconic song "La Vie en Rose," I don't think copyright laws are followed very well. The user ('Sibhie6') does not own this song, and it is not being used in a classroom for educational purposes. The song is accompanied by a slideshow of the famous singer, or the Sparrow, as she's fondly known, and it is highly unlikely that Sibhie6 owns these images, either.

To improve these things, Sibhie6 should only use the video and images in a classroom setting for educational purposes, limit the use of images to no more than five per artist, and tell students where and how to buy this song--it's worth the 99¢ on iTunes.

Another video that I found that doesn't follow copyright laws is this tribute video to Diana, Princess of Wales (a personal hero, but not quite as incredible as Her Majesty the Queen). The poster of this video, Dogned, does not own the music or the images used in this video. Just like Sibhie6, Dogned should not use these images or the song outside of an educational setting.

Here is a better tribute to Diana (from the Queen herself), though it doesn't follow copyright laws, either.

And a personal favorite video of the Queen that does follow copyright laws--Her Majesty as a child, Princess Elizabeth, speaks during the BBC's Children's Hour broadcast in 1940.

There are a TON of great videos on the Royal Channel on YouTube--here's a fun one about the Queen Mother's (then Duchess of York) wedding cake. An abundance of Royal Turnips here; and the famous speech from Princess Elizabeth on her 21st birthday.

So much English history! I hope you (whoever is out there) enjoys watching and learning about our heritage as much as I do.

A small indulgence

Bear with me--I know not everyone (okay, most people) don't care at all about silly things like lipstick, but this is one of those little things that makes a sad day better for me. To take the cap off my Rouge Coco, I smile a little bit.



Maybe it's the great color (it's Rivoli, in case anyone loves it, too), maybe it's the little detail of "CHANEL" pressed into the stick, maybe it's the silky smoothness, or maybe it's the glamour that comes with a classic rouge on the lips (especially when paired with the Wayfarer-style glasses). Anyone feel like Grace Kelly?

Following blogs

Another big jump for me.....learning to follow a blog, subscribe in Google reader, some combination of those things. I've subscribed to a class members blog (English Teaching), as required, and I'm excited for another francophile to get onto our class blog roll so I can subscribe to those, too! Another is boots in europe, which is written by a dear friend spending a semester in central Europe. She posts photos, stories, and inspirational bits, and it's fun to see what she sees--especially from my art history background. The last one is Take Out Photo, a photography blog written by one of my former professors. He is a French professor, so he knows (and talks) quite a bit about France and Paris; and he is doing for a profession what I'd like to do, with the addition of photography, which is a talent that has quite escaped me.

Any suggestions of blogs to check out? Bonne journée, mes lapins!

In a Ned Devine mood...

"Sometimes.....sometimes, it's a lovely start!" says Pig Finn in a film that may be my all-time favorite: Waking Ned Devine. I love how it's subtly and quickly funny, full of snappy snippets and witty bits.

"Jackie.....Michael's never told a lie in his life!"
"Well he's making up for it now, shush, woman!"

It's a family favorite, and a favorite that I share with dear friend Arielle. We sometimes try to decide which of us is a Jackie O'Shea and which is a Michael Sullivan....I think that we both have characteristics of each, but if it had to come down to it--Arielle just does not have the general lack of sense that Jackie has. I certainly do.



Thanks to Wikipedia for the poster, and sorry it's not bigger. Happy watching, my dears.

Getting things started

Well here I am, in the blogosphere for the first time. I'm not particularly tech-savvy outside of the normal range--phone, MacBook, iPod--but the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. I'm rather proud of my first achievement--the fish gadget at the bottom of the page!! Oh, I didn't make it or anything, but I did succeed in putting it on the page. That's pretty good for me! Now we'll just move on (I hope) to the harder and more exciting things.

I suppose I'd better start with some beautiful things. One of my favorite sites for beautiful clothes is The Sartorialist. Enjoy!

And here's one of my own beautiful things: I took this photo in Madrid, in the Jardín Buen Retiro (I really hope that's correct), next to where a gypsy woman told us, "there's something I want to tell you about your eyes...." and Spanish men were performing an Aztec-type dance. Oh the things you'll see!



I just love the way the drops of water sit on those thin, but somehow sturdy, leaves, so delicately colored. Well, I hope you think this is as beautiful as I do.