le 25 janvier:  We had our first round of wine presentations today, and they were great.  I really enjoyed being part of your conversations.  Tomorrow we have the rest of our presentations, and remember that you have a test on Monday.

Speaking of that, I know that some of you are a bit worried about the test, especially the champagne section, so I think I'll give you a bit of information about what's on the test so that you can streamline your studying.  The test is going to look something like this:

Partie A:    Traduisez en français:

1.  She would drink Pinot Gris if she could.
2.  He will have finished the Pinot Blanc by noon (par midi).
3.  I had already drunk the Champagne when you came to my place.
4.  We could have enjoyed the Pinot Gris with red meat.

​The questions might be slightly different.

Partie B:   Matchums

(here, I'll have champagne terms on one side of the page, and the definitions of the terms on the other side (out of order), and you have to draw a line between the term and it's definition.  I'll take the terms and the definitions right from the last two pages of your wine booklet.  The terms will be:  la cuvée, le tirage, la fermentation, le remuage, le dégorgement, une solution frigorifiante, le liquor d'expedition).

Partie C:  Les questions et les réponses.  Répondez avec les phrases complètes en français:

1.  Quel est le vin le plus fin d'Alsace?
2.  Quel vin est rond et puissant?
3.  Quel sont les trois types de vin en France?
4.  Quel vin est le moins cher?  Pourquoi?
5.  Quel vin est le plus cher?  Pourquoi?
6.  Donnez-moi deux types de sol dans lequel on cultive les raisins en Alsace.
7.  Quel vin est en équilbre entre douceur et fraîcheur?
8.  Quel sont les arômes du Pinot Gris?
9.  Le Pinot Blanc est quel type de vin?
10.  Quels sont les trois raisins qui sont cultivés pour le Champagne?

I might have a couple of extra or different questions, all based on the facts in your wine booklet.  And that's it!  :)

le 24 janvier:  Today we learned all about champagne.  Here's what you need to know for the test on Monday:

Comment est-ce qu’on fait le champagne?
 
On commence avec les trois types de raisins:  Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, et Chardonnay.  On fait un cuvée.
Après ça, on ajoute le tirage (c’est un mélange de sucre, du lèvure, et le lèvure alimentaire), et met le mélange dans une bouteille lourde.
Puis, après la fermentation, on met les bouteilles dans une cave frais pour 5 ans.  On fait le remuage chaque 5-6 semaines.
Puis, on met les cols de bouteilles dans une solution frigorifiante pour former un dépôt.  Quand les bouteilles sont ouvertes, les dépôts sont dégorgés:  c’est le dégorgement.
Puis, on ajoute le liquor d’expedition (un mélange de vin et de sucre).

Remember, you have all of this information in your yellow booklet, and the above is the condensed version.  It's all you need to know for the champagne part of the test.

​Good luck on your presentations tomorrow!  :)

le 23 janvier:  Today we figured out how to use our various tenses in our wine presentation (due Thursday and Friday):

Luckily we translated them in class as well as learned some strategies for decoding if we get stuck.

We then began our learning about champagne.  We used our "Les Vins" booklet as well as watching  a PowerPoint.  We used the vocabulary that you wrote down last night in your notes from yesterday's webpage.

Homework:  Translate the following into English:

Les raisins ont eu l'habitude de faire de vins de Champagne possèdent des caractéristiques non trouvées quelque part ailleurs dans le monde au cause de la géographie particulière, le sol, et le climat du Champagne.

As well' , please have an outline of what you're going to say for your wine presentation.  I'll need to know what wine you're going to promote, and a basic outline of what you're going to say.  If you don't have it ready, or it's way too skimpy, I'll send you out of the room to do a better job.  Please get it done!  We need to get our work done for the presentations and for our final test on Monday.  :)

le 22 janvier:  Today we did our little test, then talked a bit about our project.  The last three minutes were spent writing down the following vocabulary:

•pétillant :    effervescent
•plus connu  most well-known
•sans l'ombre d'un doute  without a shadow of a doubt
•le sol en craie  chalky soil
•La cuvée  a base wine
•Le tirage  une mélange de sucre, levure, et les   aliments de levure
•La fermentation  fermentation
•Le col  neck (of a bottle)
•Le dépôt  the ice plug

Homework:  finish writing down the vocab above.  We'll hit the ground running tomorrow discussing some examples of questions and information that you will present to me on Thursday and Friday which incorporate our Grade 11 verb tenses and grammar.  For example, how are you going to incorporate futur antérieur?  Do you need me to ask the question, "Est-ce que je peux retourner à 7h:00 pour continuer la discussion?" and you could reply, "um, non, j'aurai bu le vin par 7h:00."?  Think about how you might incorporate conditionnel, conditionnel passé, plus-que-parfait, passé composé, futur, and présent, as well as relative pronouns and the vocab about forming opinions.  It can be done!  :)  Bonus mark if you can mention champagne in any way.  And remember, please don't write full sentences on your visual display.  Graphics and partial sentences only!

le 19 janvier:  Today we took up the homework, then I gave you a sheet which illustrated some new expressions of opinion and some practice questions:

_____________________________________________________________
Exprimer des avis:

les expressions affirmatifs
Je suis du même avis
Moi, aussi
Oui, je dois bien le reconnaître
À mon avis…
Sans doute

Les expressions qui ne sont pas en accord
Je suis opposé(e) à ton avis
Je me pronounce contra ça
Je doubte que… (requires subjunctive)
Ce serait un erreur de coire ça.
Ta gueule! 
Tu rêves! 
Casse-toi, pauvre con!

 Traduisez en français:

1. In my opinion, Riesling is a balance between sweet and fresh.
2. No, I`m opposed to your opinion.  Pinot Blanc is a balance between sweet and fresh.
3. Well ok, but Riesling is so strong and round that it can easily replace a red wine to enjoy with red meat.
4. Shut up!  Riesling is known for being one of the finest wine in Alsace.
5. In your dreams!  Pinot Gris is lighter than Riesling!
6. Get lost, you idiot!
7. Yes, I have to agree with you.  I`m an idiot.
8. I would buy a bottle of Pinot Blanc if I could; I like it!
9. She will have drunk the Pinot Gris by 7:00pm. 
10. He hadn`t tasted the Riesling yet (encore).
11. The bottle of wine which I needed is at Mme GZ`s.
12. Fred, whom I met in 1989, had grown a lot of grapes.
13. I will not enjoy the Riesling with double chocolate cookies and roast beef. 

________________________________________________________________________

As promised, here are the answers to the above questions:

1.  À mon avis, le Riesling est un équilibre entre douceur et fraîcheur. 
2.  Non, je suis opposé à ton avis.  Le Pinot Blanc est un équilibre entre douceur et fraîcheur. 
3.  Alors, ok... mais le riesling est si puissant et rond qu'il peut facilement remplacer un vin rouge pour déguster une viande rouge.
4.  Ta gueule!  Le Riesling est connu pour être le plus fin des vins d'Alsace.
5.  Tu rêves!  Le Pinot Gris est plus lèger que le Riesling!
6.  Casse-toi, pauvre con!
7.  Oui, je dois bien le reconnaître.  Je suis un pauvre con.
8.  Je achèterais une bouteille de Pinot Blanc si je pouvais; je l'aime!
9.  Elle aura boire le Pinot Gris par 7h:00.
10.  Il n'avait pas encore goûté le Reisling.
11.  La bouteille de vin dont j'avais besoin est chez Mme GZ.
12.  Fred, que j'ai connu en 1989, avait cultivé beaucoup de raisins.
13.  Je ne dégusterai pas le Riesling avec des biscuits double chocolat et du rôti de boeuf.

__________________________________________________________________________

NOTE:  I have put your new marks up, which include your small test from last Monday.  I haven't included your recycling projects, as I'm having a bit of trouble with them.  Some don't have names on them, some appear to just be homework assignments, and it's hard for me to see who has handed them in and who hasn't.  I'll keep working on it and will post updated marks sometime this week.  I don't imagine that your marks will change all that much from what they are now, if your project is up to your usual standard.  If you didn't get your recycling project in, please get it in right away.  ​Merci!

le 18 janvier:  After giving Mr. Campbell his birthday cake and singing "Bonne Fête" in his classroom, we took up the homework by reading it to each other in pairs then performing it.  I then taught you the following vocabulary:

On the left is vocabulary which you would use to agree with someone's opinion (I'm of the same opinion, me too, yes I have to agree).  We then divided ourselves up into groups according to which wine we said (in our homework) was our favourite.  We then created new conversations using the affirmative opinion phrases on the left.

Les devoirs:  Write a small conversation whereby two people are discussing their views about wine.  Use today's vocabulary.

le 17 janvier:  Today we finished up learning about Riesling, then we ate a ton of desserts with three different types of "wine", and your job was to match the dessert with the wine based on the aromas, weight, and taste of the wine as it complemented or clashed with the taste of the dessert.  To help you out, I gave you a worksheet for you to easily match the wine with the dessert.  Yum!

Homework:  Write a short paragraph based on the following slide, indicating that you like a certain wine, you really like another wine, but you prefer the third wine, because the third wine is more <adjective> than the other wines.  Then wrap it up by saying that your favourite wine is the most <adjective> in the world, or that you've ever drunk.  The French instructions for your homework are on the right hand side of the board in photo #2 (below).

Pas d'intérro.

le 16 janvier:  Today we continued on with learning about wine by learning about three Alsatian white wines:  Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and then we began Riesling but didn't finish.  

Intérro for tomorrow:  le Pinot Gris, le Pinot Blanc, le Riesling, sec, net, charmant, puissant, corsé, fin.  I'll create the sentences, you translate them.  :)  Plus, we're doing a little "wine tasting" tomorrow, so bring your appetite.

le 15 janvier:  Test day.

le 14 janvier:  Hello French fans!  Here is one of the only posts I will ever do on a Sunday.  I mentioned to you on Friday that I would post the answers to the "verb" section of your homework (which you should be studying closely for your small test tomorrow.  Here are the answers:

1. I bought a bottle of red wine.  J'ai acheté une bouteille de vin rouge.
2. He will have bought a bottle of white wine. Il aura acheté une bouteille de vin blanc.
3. She should drink less wine. Elle doit boire moins de vin.
4. She would drink less wine.  Elle boirait moins de vin.
5. She would have opened the bottle of wine.  Elle aurait ouvert la bouteille de vin.
6. You (s) enjoyed your white wine.  Tu as dégusté ton vin blanc.
7. We had enjoyed our white wine. Nous avions dégusté notre vin blanc.
8. You (pl) have enjoyed our white wine.  Vous avez dégusté notre vin blanc.
9. They (f) could choose a less expensive wine.  Elles pouvaient choisir un vin moins cher.
10. They(m) will have opened the bottle of red wine.  Ils auront ouvert la bouteille de vin rouge.

Don't forget that there will also be questions about all of the wine info we've learned so far from the powerpoint.  :)

le 12 janvier:  After our 10 of Zen, I taught you the English meaning of some of the trickier past participles which don't seem to pass the "pen test", then we took up the homework from yesterday.  I then gave you a practice test for you to work on, and let you know that as far as the wine aspect of Monday's test was concerned, it would be very similar to the practice test.  As for the verb part of the test on Monday, it will be very similar to the "traduisez en français" section of the sheet I gave you yesterday.  I'll put the answers to the verb section on the webpage at some point this weekend; check Saturday night or Sunday for the answers, I don't want to put them up before you've tried to do the questions yourself.  I also reminded you which verbs took ètre in the four past tenses that we've been working on, with examples of each tense for the verb "aller":

Remember that you'll need to express yourself with all the tenses we've learned on the test on Monday (see your homework sheet from January 11)!  :) 

le 11 janvier:  Today we reviewed a pile of past participles, both regular and irregular:

You need to know the past participles in order to do our four past tenses:  passé composé, plus-que-parfait, conditionnel passé, and futur antérieur.  I then gave you a worksheet to begin; your work was pretty good today, so please just finish up the "Pratiquez" part, and the first 6 questions of the next part (I've bolded them on the website):
____________________________________________________________________________________
11e année:  le vin                                                                                                                             nom:  _____________________
le vocabulaire:
 
le vin blanc                          white wine
le vin rouge                        red wine
boire                                     to drink
déguster                              to enjoy
acheter                                to buy
cultivar                                 to grow
planter                                 to plant
choisir                                   to choose
vendre                                 to sell
ouvrir                                    to open
 
Pratiquez!
 

1. I am buying.                _________________________________________________
2. I bought.                      _________________________________________________
3. I was buying.               _________________________________________________
4. I will buy.                     _________________________________________________
5. I would buy.                _________________________________________________
6. I can buy.                     _________________________________________________
7. I could buy.                  _________________________________________________
8. I have bought.             _________________________________________________
9. I would have bought.  _________________________________________________
10. I had bought.               _________________________________________________
11. I will have bought.       _________________________________________________
12. I am going to buy.       _________________________________________________
13. I want to buy.              _________________________________________________
14. I just bought.               _________________________________________________

 
 
 

1. I drink it there.            _________________________________________________
2. I drank it there.           _________________________________________________
3. I was drinking it there._________________________________________________
4. I will drink it there.      _________________________________________________
5. I would drink it there. _________________________________________________
6. I can drink it there.     _________________________________________________
7. I could drink it there.  _________________________________________________
8. I have drunk it there. __________________________________________________
9. I would have drunk it there.  ____________________________________________
10. I had drunk it there.  __________________________________________________
11. I will have drunk it there.  ________________________________________________
12. I am going to drink it there.  ______________________________________________
13. I want to drink it there.  __________________________________________________
14. I just drank it there.  _____________________________________________________

 
Traduisez en français:
 

1. I bought a bottle of red wine.  _______________________________________________________________
2. He will have bought a bottle of white wine.  ____________________________________________________
3. .She should drink less wine.  _________________________________________________________________
4. She would drink less wine.  __________________________________________________________________
5. She would have opened the bottle of wine.  ____________________________________________________
6. You (s) enjoyed your white wine.  _____________________________________________________________
7. We had enjoyed our white wine.  _____________________________________________________________
8. You (pl) have enjoyed our white wine.  _________________________________________________________
9. They (f) could choose a less expensive wine.  ____________________________________________________
10. They(m) will have opened the bottle of red wine.  _________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

​Intérro:  no intérro

le 10 janvier:​  

le 9 janvier:  We continued on with our "À Votre Santé" after taking up our homework.  Please make sure that you work on the questions and answers from today, as I noticed that some of us didn't feel comfortable expressing them.  We continued on with the Powerpoint, learning that the grapes in France are now grown all over the world because they're so good for wine.  We then learned the three categories of quality for wine:  AOC, vin de pays, and vin de table.  We filled in the first three charts in the booklet.

Intérro:

-appellation d'origine contrôlée - controlled location of origin
-vin de pays - country wine
-vin de table (vin de France) - table wine
le plus cher - the most expensive
le moins cher - the least expensive.

Be prepared to write sentences such as:  "Table wine is the least expensive wine" - le vin de table est le vin le moins cher", ​etc.

le 8 janvier:  Bienvenue à la classe!  Today we started our wine unit, and you wrote down some information from my PowerPoint presentation.  I gave you a booklet, but we haven't needed to use it yet.  

Homework:  Take the information that you wrote down today, and the questions that we formulated together and I put into my PowerPoint presentation, and create a little chart (or whatever) of an interview whereby a question is asked (such as "how many bottles of wine are produced in France each year?") then the answer is given.  You should have four questions and four answers.  Tomorrow we will work with that information orally.

​No intérro.

le 4 décembre:  After our 10 minutes of Zen, I gave you a handout of information about your test on Thursday, then explained the present participle.  It's used like this:

You form the participe présent by taking the "ons" off from the nous form of the present, and adding "ant".  So...

donner = donnons, minus the ons = donn; plus the ending = donnant (giving)
parler = parlant (speaking)
choisir = choississant (choosing)

There are three verbs which have irregular present participles:

avoir - ayant (having)
être - étant (being)
savoir - sachant (knowing)

Homework:  put the following verbs into their present participle, then translate the present participle.  Then indicate how to say "while" or "by" with that present participle.  The first one has been done for you:

choisir - choisissant (choosing).  En choisissant - while/by choosing
attendre
gaspiller
éviter à
emballer
améliorer
fermer
jeter
pratiquer
remplir
réutiliser
réduire

Then translate the following three sentences:

1. Being lazy, I don’t recycle.
2. While going to the depot, I saw a man who threw an apple core into the garbage can.
3. Wanting to improve the environment, Bob put his kitchen waste into the compost pile.

Good luck on your test on Thursday.  Remember that you can text me with questions, and hopefully I can get back to you.  If you dont' understand the present participle, please take a look at the link that I gave you on this webpage yesterday.  

Here are the first two questions for the test that we came up with together today:

1.  Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans ta poubelle? (5 items, plus two which shouldn’t be there.  Use devoir, pouvoir, vouloir; put them into l’imparfait).
2. Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans ta tas de compost?  (6 items, plus mention two items that aren’t there; use “dont” once).

So, if I were to answer #1, I would write (you'll write in French, of course):

"In my garbage can, there is a disposable razor, wrapping from butter, dryer sheets, a wine cork, and paper towel.  Also, (aussi), there is an apple core and an orange peel.  I could have put the apple core and the orange peel in the compost pile, I should have put them there, but I wanted to put them in the garbage can."  10 marks

Oh, by the way, I just finished writing your test... make sure you can give 5 reasons why supermarkets throw out food, as well as the two questions above, and make sure you can talk about what Rita does in two-three word sentences (eg:  what does she like to do with her savings?  She takes cruises).  There are a few translations, such as "The plastic containers which I will need are in the garbage can!" and "The recycling bin is less yucky than the compost pile, because there are coffee grounds and teabags there."  (Confused as to how to say "there" in that last sentence?  Remember that it's the object pronoun "y", and will go before the verb, which is avoir).

See you Monday!

le 1 décembre:  You guys were insane today, if you don't mind me saying.   :)  I gave you some quiche and you ate it up; I'm really glad you liked it.  We took up the homework by working on it in groups, and we put one sentence per group up on the board:

We decided that we're postponing your Monday test to Thursday December 7.  I won't be here Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, so I'll leave the test with the TTOC.  On Monday (I'll be here), we'll do some test review as well as work on the present participle.   If you want to work a bit ahead, and read about how to use the present participle in French, take a look here:

www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/french/french-ii/french-ii-participles/present-participles

If you're looking for some early study ideas,  try these short answer questions:

1.  "Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dans ta boîte de recyclage?"  (I would expect to see several items in this answer).
2.  "Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dans ton tas de compost?"  (I would expect to see several items in this answer).
3.  Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dans ta poubelle?"  (I would expect to see several items in this answer).
4.  "Est-ce que le supermarché est écolo?  Pourquoi ou pourquoi pas?"
5.  "Quels produits jetables est-ce que tu peux éviter d'acheter?"  (What disposable products could you avoid buying?  I would expect TONS of answers here, as I gave you an entire chart of info about this).
6.  "Est-ce que tu préfères...
  -Jean, ou Jacques?  (You would choose a guy you prefer, based on the fact that he's more ecolo than the other, or less wasteful than the other)
  -la poubelle, ou le tas de compost?
   -les contenants en plastique, ou les contenants en carton?
(plus other questions like these)
7.  Translate sentences such as:
   "The garbage can is yuckier than the recycling bin, because there's apple cores and coffee grounds in the garbage can."
   "I could throw the K-cup in the garbage can, I wanted to throw it into the garbage can, but I should have recycled it."
   "I would be more ecolo if I could."
   "Henry will avoid waste; he will use reusable cotton bags and recycle his styrofoam cups, which are recyclable."
  -"Mme GZ is more écolo than she used to be (qu'avant); she used to throw plastic containers in the garbage can, but now she will wash them and use them for her candies".  That last one is a whopper, but you can do it!  The only vocab you don't know is "than she used to be", which is "qu'avant", which technically means "than before").
-we'll also have something using the present participle, which I'll teach you on Monday.  Not difficult!

​That's all I've got so far.  :)

le 30 novembre:  Today we had a great day watching Mark Hachem on Youtube explaining some Quebec slang; as I said in class, I'd love to hear y'all throw in some "tu"s and "lâ"s in your conversational French.  We then brainstormed some adjectives that we could use with the expressions plus...que (more ...than), moins...que (less... than), and aussi... que (the same...as).  You would substitute in an adjective for those dots, as in more écolo than, less convenient than...​ etc.  Here is the list we generated:

Your homework for tomorrow is to create 12 sentences using different adjectives for each one and lots of vocab from this unit.  Here's what I put on the whiteboard:

écrivez des phrases avec plus…que, moins…que, aussi…que et les adjectifs.  On peut utiliser:
 
-que la plupart de gens… (than most people)
-je préfère Fred à Jean parce que… (I prefer Fred to John because…)
-que lui – than him
-qu’elle – than her

Eg:  Mme GZ est moins écolo que Zimmerman.​

le 29 novembre:  After our ten minutes of electronics-free zen, I asked you to crumple up your homework, throw it, then pick up someone else's crumple ball.  You then got into groups and read out the ideas that you picked up, voting as to which idea was the best.  We then took the 6 people who passed this "stage of the competition"  :)  and voted on which student had the very best idea.  Felicitation, Parm!  You had the great idea of using email for homework rather than using up so much paper.  I love it.  Parm's wish is to watch Brice de Nice 3 and have pizza; you got it, Parm.  :)  No homework, no intérro.  Tomorrow we work a bit on the structures plus...que, moins...que, aussi...que​.

le 28 novembre:  Today we took up the homework by dividing the class according to who thinks our classroom is green, and who doesn't.  Then I made you take the opposite side, then come up with reasons why we are or aren't green.  Here were the results:

Please note, as I said in class, that this information is perfect for a little quiz, so please make sure that you can answer the question, "Comment est-ce que la salle de classe de Mme GZ est (n'est pas) écolo?"

Homework:  Using the information about how my classroom isn't green, pretend that you are the owner of a ecological consulting company, and that you have a suggestion as to how we can make the classroom more ecological.  Your proposal must take into account that:

-Mme GZ is lazy;
-the school has a very limited budget;
-this is a classroom setting (eg:  no one is here at night, no one has the time or energy to manage something all day long, etc)

Please make sure that your proposal is at the Grade 11 level of verbs, vocab, and grammar.

If everyone turns in a proposal that meets the above criteria, I will give the class a week's worth of "wins of the day" on our board.  As well, whomever gives me the best proposal will get a "wish"... within reason!  Nothing illegal, against the School Act, or too expensive.  :)

le 27 novembre:  Today we had our Pensez Vert presentations, both oral and ones that were handed in.  Merci!  We talked a bit about the small changes I've made in the classroom, then I put the following question on the board:  "Est-ce que la salle de classe de Mme GZ est écolo?"  I'd like you to answer that in 3-4 sentences.  If you want to continue on, you can give me suggestions as to how the classroom could be more écolo, perhaps making good use of the verb devoir​ ("tu dois éviter du gaspillage", etc).

le 23 novembre:  Today we went to a presentation in the multi.  No homework.  We'll take up Wednesday's homework on Monday, if we have time after the presentations.  Remember that you need to show me your learning of the Pensez Vert material through two of these three strands:  visual, oral, written.  I expect you to talk about whether you're ecolo when you go to the supermarket, or whether the supermarket itself is ecolo, or what's in your recycling bin, compost pile, or garbage can.  I expect to see:

-présent
-impératif;
-conditionnel;
-a wide variety of vocabulary;
-a wide variety of verbs, especially devoir, pouvoir, and vouloir;
-an interesting tone of voice
-an interesting story!  

le 22 novembre:  I checked the homework, then we worked together to create a longer version of how a supemarket might not be anti-gaspi.  Apologies for the confusion about jeter; remember that the correction has been made on your sheet.

Homework:  Do the series of questions on page 180 of your booklet, which also deal with a store being écolo (anti-gaspi).

le 21 novembre:  I collected the homework, in part to see how you're coming along with the material, and in part to see how seriously you're taking the idea that you should do your homework.  I'll be collecting homework sporadically and marking it as if it's a quiz, so please do your best with your homework.

Zimmerman came in to give us Timbits (Zimbits?) for our Twinkie game, and I was disappointed that some of you didn't want to play.  I'll never force you to play a game, but I was really looking forward to the Zimbit part of it; sorry you didn't get to eat them!  I gave them to my Grade 10s and them some to Mme Dueck's class.  

After the Twinkie debacle, I had you  come up with four questions using our devoir, pouvoir, vouloir verbs and the Rita vocabulary, then we got into groups and asked/answered the questions.  We then watched a bit of a video about supermarkets wasting food ("Gaspillage alimentaire : Les solutions" on Youtube).  If you had trouble with it, you can watch it again at home.  Just the first 3-4 minutes.

Homework:  Write a small paragraph, using any sort of format you like (postcard, blog, advertisement, etc) talking about whether a supermarket is "anti-gaspi", and give examples of something it might do to earn the label "Oui".  Use the content of the video to guide your ideas.

le 20 novembre:  After taking up the Rita worksheet,  we took the ecolo things that she does and put them into a little conversation between three people:

P1:  Rita a transformé un vieux sofa.
P2:  Est-ce qu'elle veux le jeter dans le tas de compost?
P3:  Est-ce qu'elle peux le mettre dans la poubelle?

Etc.

We then watched a little video on Youtube for children (How To Be Environmentally Friendly - Top Ten Tips) by the Coloured Scribbles, and I asked you to take notes.  In our last 20 minutes of quiet time, i asked you to choose seven of those ten ways from the video and use them as a basis of an article you might write for a children's magazine about being green.  Make sure you include devoir, pouvoir, vouloir as well as qui, que, dont.  Here's an example:

"Hello children!  Do you want to be green?  Here are some ideas.  First:

-you could throw your old clothes in the garbage can, you can recycle your old clothes, but you should take them to the second hand shop.

Second:

-etc.

​Please have this homework done for tomorrow's class.

le 17 novembre:  We had another very productive day today.  We took up the homework:

1. Elle a jeté le gapillage dans la poubelle, dont je me souviens.
2. Nous améliorons l’environnement dont nous ne nous moquons pas.
3. La planète dont vous vous occupez est belle.
4. Des contenants en plastique dont je me servais sont jetables.
5. Vous avez beaucoup de déchets alimentaires dont ils se plaignent beaucoup.

I then read the survey on page 110 from the booklet, and asked you to create a table in which you could put vocab which you might have found challenging.  We came up with:  
____________________________________________
des bouteilles consignées - returnable bottles
les assiettes de papier - paper plates
les sacs à provisions en plastique - plastic grocery bags
des produits personnels faits d'ingrédients naturels - personal products made with natural ingredients
des produits toxiques - toxic products
nettoyer - to clean
l'éco-logo - an ecological logo, like the three arrows in a circle for Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
les hôpitaux - hospitals
les résidences pour personnes âgées  - old folks' home
____________________________________________
I then read you the story from our booklet about Rita Ramassetout, whom I dislike by the way,  ;) , and asked you to research and discuss the words you don't understand, then answer the question sheet about her.  Some of the words that you might have had trouble with are:
________________________________________
transformer en trésors  - to transform into treasures
au lieu de - instead of
recouverir - to recover
l'air d'un sofa neuf - the appearance of a new sofa
épargner - to save
une mangeoire pour les oiseaux - a birdfeeder
ses économies - her savings
une croisière - a cruise
la vie de rêve - a dream life
grâce à - thanks to
_____________________________________
We also talked about doing a project, and we decided that the due date should be THURSDAY NOVEMBER 23.  The project can take any form you like, but must hit on two of our three strands:  visual, oral, written.  Here is a summary about the project which I put on the board today:
_____________________________________
Ideas for what you should put in your projects, DUE NOVEMBER 23:
 
-all of the vocabulary which we have done from the pink booklet and from the pink sheet which accompanied the “recyclage mini ABC” video
-present, imparfait, futur, conditionnel tenses
-use of qui, que, dont
-use of devoir, pouvoir, vouloir
-check the webpage if you’re unsure of what we’ve done since the beginning of this unit
_______________________________________

Homework:  make sure you've finished up the Rita question page, and please make your answers sound as if you're in Grade 11.  :)  What that means is, use a variety of tenses, use object pronouns, use relative pronouns, etc.  Here's an example:

1.  Comment est-ce que Rita est écolo?  Rita peut jeter des vieux objets dans la poubelle, mais elle les transforme en trésors et elle les réutilisés.  Elle reutiliserait toutes les choses si elle pouvait. (She would reuse everything if she could).

​You get the idea.  :)

le 16 novembre:  Today we did a review of the relative pronouns qui and que:

1.  Je dois mettre le suremballage, qui est du gaspillage, dans la boîte de recyclage.
2. Les trognons de pomme, les pelures de banane, et les grains de café, qui sont dans la poubelle, doivent aller dans la tas de compost.
3. La bouteille de ketchup, la boîte de céréales, le rouleau de papier de toilette, et la cannette de jus, que je voulais mettre dans la poubelle, appartiennent dans la boîte de recyclage.
4. L’environment, que Zimmerman doit améliorer, a beaucoup de gaspillage:  des contenants en plastique, des bocaux en verre, le polystyrène, et des déchets.

We then went on to the relative pronoun dont, which means "of whom/of who/of which".  You use it when the the verb in the relative clause takes the preposition "de", such as avoir besoin de and se souvenir de.  I gave you a sheet which had about a dozen or so verbs and verb expressions which use "de", then pairs of sentences which could be combined to make a larger sentence with a relative clause.  There was an example on the paper, and I also did #1 for you.

Homework:  Please do questions #1-5 from today's worksheet, which follows:
____________________________________________________________________

11e année: les pronoms relatifs:  DONT 
 
On peut utiliser le pronom relatif « dont » avec les phrases comme :
 

• avoir besoin de                                                   _________________________________________
• avoir peur de                                                       _________________________________________
• se souvenir de                                                     _________________________________________
• s’occuper de                                                         _________________________________________
• se moquer de                                                       _________________________________________
• se manquer de                                                    _________________________________________
• se plaindre de                                                      _________________________________________
• s’émerveiller de                                                  _________________________________________
• se servir de                                                           _________________________________________
• rire de                                                                     _________________________________________
• parler de                                                                _________________________________________
• être entouré de                                                   _________________________________________
• abuser de                                                              _________________________________________

 
Par exemple : 

Voici un café.  Il a besoin d’un café. Voici le café dont il a besoin. 
 
Formez des phrases avec le pronom relatif « dont » :
 

1. Elle a jeté le gaspillage dans la poubelle.  Je me souviens de cette poubelle.  ________________________
2. Nous améliorerons  l’environnement.  Nous ne nous moquons pas d’environnement.  ________________
3. La planète est belle.  Vous vous occupez de la planète.  _________________________________________
4. Je me servais des contenants en plastique.  Ils sont jetables.  ____________________________________
5. Vous avez beaucoup de déchets alimentaires.  Ils se plaignent beaucoup des déchets alimentaires.  _____

 
Les conjugaisons : 

se plaindre :
 
je me plains
tu te plains
il se plaint
nous nous plaignons
vous vous plaignez
ils se plaignent

rire
 
je ris
tu ris
il rit
nous rions
vous riez
ils rient

servir
 
je sers
tu sers
il sert
nous servons
vous servez
ils servent

se souvenir
 
je me souviens
tu te souviens
il se souvient
nous nous souvenons
vous vous souvenez
ils se souviennent


Maintenant, écrivez cinq phrases vous-mêmes avec « dont ».

1. ___________________________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________________________________________
5. ___________________________________________________________________________________

le 14 novembre:  Today I tried to take up our homework from the "Campbell's soup can" page in our booklet, but you guys just weren't in the mood!  :)  I asked you if you needed me to continue on, and y'all said no, so please expect that you are responsible for knowing all the answers, in full sentences, to all the questions on the page.

We then took a look at a series of videos online from "recyclage Mini ABC", and you filled out information about them on a worksheet which I gave you today.  Please finish up that worksheet for homework.  I'll also be giving you another series of videos to watch with another worksheet, and that will be your homework for Thursday; trying to use the computers in school just isn't working for your class.  As well, please come up with two disposable items for us to add to our vocabulary.

le 9 novembre:  What a train wreak!  We took up the homework, but then when I did the interro, everyone, including me, forgot that we didn't review where to put object pronouns in a dual-verb construct (it's before the main verb).  I wanted you guys to have a bit of accountability, and made sure you understood that if you had a problem with studying for a quiz, you would need to text me or speak to me in person to say that you didn't have enough information to study properly.  I then added that I should have given you examples either in class or on the webpage yesterday.  I was being accountable too.  :)

Homework for Tuesday:  please finish up all the questions on the Campbell soup can page in your booklet.

le 8 novembre:  To take up the homework, we did a little activity where I put some items on a table, and three of you came up and indicated what you want to do with the item, what you can do with the item, and what you should do with the item.  For example:

Personne #1:  Voici les pelures d'orange.  Je veux les mettre dans la poubelle.
Personne #2:  Non non non!  Tu peux les mettre dans la boîte de recyclage!
Personne #3:  Non non non non!  Tu dois les mettre dans le tas de compost!

You did a good job.  We went over how to replace objects in a sentence with object pronouns, doing a quick review from last year:

-it (m)  = le
-it (f) = la
-them = les
-there = y
-some/any - en

We remembered from last year that le, la, and les come before y and en, and all of them go before the verb.  So...

Je mets le trognon de pomme dans le tas de compost = Je l'y met.
Tu jettes les docettes dans la poubelle = Tu les y jettes
Il met des cartons dans la boîte de recyclage = Il y en met.

Homework:  Please answer all of the "yes/no" questions from page 3 of your booklet (there are four of them on the page), then rewrite your answers substituting the objects with pronouns, as in the examples above.

l'interro:  I'll write some sentences in English on the board which will use vouloir, devoir, or pouvoir in either présent or imparfait, then choose either jeter or mettre to follow, then one of the three locations which we worked with today.  You'll have to use an object pronoun in your answers.  Some examples might be:

I want to throw them in the garbage.
You should put some in the recycling bin.
I can throw it (f) in the compost pile.

​:)

le 7 novembre:  We started off the class with our quiz, then I taught you the three verbs devoir (to have an obligation to, to "should"), pouvoir (to be able ), and vouloir (to want):

I then gave you some sentences to translate:

Here's your homework:

le 6 novembre:  We continued on with our Pensez Vert unit; I gave you a large booklet for us to use during this unit and we went over the vocabulary on page 2.  I asked the following questions, and we came up with these answers:

Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans ma boîte de recyclage?
Dans ma boîte de recyclage, il y a des choses recyclables:   des feuilles de papier, des boutilles en plastique, l’emballage en plastique, une bouteille en verre, des boîtes en carton, des contenants en verre, des contenants en plastique, l’emballage en papier, des bocaux en plastique, et en verre, le papier cirré, des sacs en plastique et des canettes en métal.
 
Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans ma poubelle?
Dans ma poubelle, il y a des déchets, des aliments, des déchets alimentaires (de la viande, etc), l’emballage en plastique, le gaspillage, le verre cassé, des ordures. 

I did the compost pile on the whiteboard:

For your quiz tomorrow, please be prepared to tell me two things that belong in the recycling bin, two things that belong in the compost pile, and two things that belong in the garbage can.

le premier novembre:  Today we took up our homework, which you all did really well, then we went over questions 6-15 on the pink sheet which I gave you yesterday to make sure that we understood them.  

Homework (due Monday):  Create four charts each with two columns.  In column one, write "Je suis écolo parce que..." and then three reasons why you're ecological, using the information in the pink sheets.  In the other column, write "Fred (or any friend from class) n'est pas écolo parce que..." and then three reasons why he isn't ecological.  In chart #2, do the same thing except use the future tense all the way through ("I will be ecological because...").  In chart #3, do the same thing except use the conditional tense.  In chart #4, do the same thing but use l'imparfait.  At the end of this exercise, you will have 4 charts, each with two columns, in four different tenses, and all 15 of the sentences from the pink sheet will be used, and one will be repeated.  Please take your time with this and construct the sentences carefully; they're great material for quizzes and projects (hint, hint!).  :)

​Be good for the substitute teacher, please!  Enjoy the movie.  See you Monday.  :) 

le 31 octobre:  Boo!  Today we finished up the presentations, and I spoke a bit about our new unit, "Pensez Vert".  It's a unit about being ecologically aware.  We'll have lots of little projects and presentations, but our major one will be a play which you all will write together and perform at the middle at some point before Christmas.

I gave you a handout which had some eco questions on it, and we went over the first five.  I wrote their verbs on the board.  I then gave you a WONDERFUL chart of all the pronouns which we've forgotten how to use:

Please note that we've only done the first two relative pronouns.

​For homework, I asked you to put together the verbs from the eco questions and some pronouns:

Amusez-vous bien ce soir!  
media.giphy.com/media/Zl0KlEvRJc4KY/giphy.gif
​

le 30 octobre:​  le jour de présentation.

le 27 octobre:  Today we took up the homework:  the questions about conversation #2 we did orally, and the questions you had to translate we did on the smartboard:

 6.  Mais il était drogué tout le temps.
7.   Il se droguait.
8.  Il revendait des drogues aussi.
9.  Il faisait le trafic de drogue.
10.  Je lui ai dit, “Je ne me drogue pas, je ne suis pas dans la came!”
11.  Mais il fumait un jig-a-loo dans un baleur.
12.  Il m’a dit, “Prends ce mariachi, ou essaie le chewie.”
13.  Mais des drogues ne sont pas bonnes 

After that, I gave you the rest of the block to work on your conversations.  As I was circulating around, I noticed a lot of good work being done; I'm really excited to hear your interviews on Monday.  I'm going to allow the interviewer to have an index card with some point form reminders on it, considering that the interviewer is going to lead the conversation.  No full sentences, just point form!  :)

le 26 octobre:  Yay, I'm back from my trip to Disneyland.  ;)  Today we went over the new drug vocabulary, and I assigned the following homework:

-Question 1-5 from the "Jean" conversation;
-Questions 6-14 from the "l'amour et les drogues" conversation

We worked on "entry points" for our interview (due Monday).  I divided the class into 5 groups and you worked either individually or with help on just one aspect of the interview:  daily routine, activities, descriptions, sex, and drug use.  After 15 minutes or so, I asked for one representative of each group to say one sentence that they wrote in front of the group.  We had a bit of trouble recognizing tenses.  We'll work on this little proj tomorrow, and I'll give you time to work on your actual interviews.  I know that all of you are super busy, but we need to get the interviews done on Monday, so please do your best and be prepared to perform on Monday.

le 19 octobre:  Today, after finishing up the drug vocab from the table of vocabulary, we talked about relative pronouns.  Relative pronouns are little words that stand in place of a noun and relate back to it.  The relative pronoun always begins the relative clause.  In this example, I'll bold the relative clause and underline the relative pronoun:

Zimmerman, qui est beau, est avocat.  Zimmerman, who is handsome, is a lawyer.
Zimmerman, que j'aime, est avocat.  Zimmerman, whom I love, is a lawyer.

Notice that the "qui" begins its own little clause (which can't stand alone, by the way), and relates back to the noun "Zimmerman".  The grammatical term for the word that the relative pronoun relates back to is the "antecedent" (antécédent).  We used "que" in the second sentence because the word "whom" was called for; the antecedent (Zimmerman is the object, not the subject of the relative clause, and therefore must have the relative pronoun "whom" and not "who".  The French are a bit pickier about this than the English.)  Here are some more French examples:

Bob, qui prend des drogues, sera déprimé.
Marie, que je m'inquiète, est narcotrafiquante.

Homework:  Please write seven sentences with relative pronouns and clauses, using the following:

People:  girlfriend, boyfriend, people’s names, people’s titles, professions (subjects or the objects of the sentences).
Verbs:  présent, imparfait, conditionnel, futur
Adjectifs:  nice, nasty

Examples:
 
Sally, qui est narcotrafiquante, est aussi une revendeuse de drogue.
 
Sally, qui est alcoolique, serait narcotrafiquante si elle avait la toxicomanie.

See you next Thursday!  I'll keep in touch through the webpage.

le 18 octobre:  After our quiz today, we took up the "cat conversation", then we kept plowing through our drug vocab sheet.  We got to "l'inhallation de colle" then the early bell went.  No homework, no quiz.  :)

le 17 octobre:  We took up the first three bubbles of the cat sheet, and we then watched a video on Youtube called ``5 Trucs à Savoir sur les Drogue.``  We learned a lot of interesting facts.  I then gave you a sheet of vocabulary and we went through the first few items.  Many of the drug names are very similar to the English, as some of the names are originally Spanish.

Quiz:  l'alcool, les drogues, le narcotique, le cannabis, le marijuana, le LSD.​

le 16 octobre:  We finished up our "cuddle" vocabulary today, and started in on what I like to call the "cat sheet".  :)  We also watched a video on what it's like to date a drug addict from a young woman named "Mars".  

​Homework:  Do the first three speech bubbles of the cat sheet.

le 13 octobre:  Today we finished up our blogs, and I think they were very good.  Bon travail to the winners, and to all of you who tried hard!  I hope you now feel comfortable with where you should be in this unit at the moment.  No weekend homework.  :)

le 12 octobre:  Désolé mes amis, but I was at parent-teacher meetings last night and when I came home I was too tired to update the webpage.  SO TIRED.  Anyway, today we worked on our blogs, and you did fairly well in working without chatting with your neighbour.  It's hard, isn't it!  I wanted you to ask me questions rather than your neighbour for two reasons:  1)  I wanted to know what you are not confident about in your French, so that I can review it, and 2)  if a couple of people start talking, then everyone starts talking, and no one is working anymore.  

Homework:  finish up the blogs in preparation for our competition tomorrow.  Can you beat Zac and Dylan?  They set the bar pretty high!  No quiz.

le 10 octobre:  Today we watched a video on Youtube entitled "Comment draguer une fille".  French was difficult, but it was still entertaining.  I then gave you a 3-page booklet of romance and sex vocabulary, and I explained the first page in French.  After I did that, I asked you to give me the English translations of the vocab, which we did.  I gave you the next project assignment, which is to conduct an interview (partners please, but I will take groups of three).  I explained the project on the board; I'm also going to give you a planning sheet tomorrow which will help you.

Homework:  Be able to write a short quiz on the following vocabulary:  être à côté de la plaque, c'est du sérieux, tu es culotté, craquant, un bisou, le câlin.

le 6 octobre:  Today we had our quiz on l'amitié.  Next we move on to romantic and sexual vocabulary.

le 5 octobre:  Désolé mes amis, mais je n'ai pas mis à jour le page web hier.  J'étais trop fatiguée.  Anyway, yesterday we finished up the vocabulary from our chart of vocab in the pink booklet, and I gave you two handouts to help you study for today's test.  We decided that you would be able to pick your own vocabulary rather than doing direct translations.  Bon chance!

le 4 octobre:  Today we took up the homework by doing an activity in which we got into groups and came up with adjectives and verbs, then made "si" sentences with that vocabulary.  We then played "Où est Twinkie" with our newfound abilities, and didn't fare too well.  So, here's the homework:

Homework:  Write 8 si sentences using whatever verbs and vocabulary you like (but don't be too easy on yourself), and make sure you have the following situations covered:

Most likely:  present-present, future-present
Less likely:  conditional-imparfait

I'll be collecting and marking your homework, and the mark will count as a quiz.  Please make sure that your work represents your actual learning and abilities; if you get 100%, I'll assume that you're not having any trouble with the "si" clauses concepts.  :)

Cliquer ici pour modifier.

le 3 octobre:    We reviewed our tenses then wrote our test, and I was disappointed to see that about a third of you failed, some quite badly.  I then explained to you how to create "if" sentences with the various tenses, noting that some choices implied that the events in the sentence were likely, and other tense choices implied that the events in the sentence were less likely.  One situation, using conditionnel passé and plus-que-parfait, implied that there was no chance at all that the events could still take place:  "If I had known that you had wanted to go, I would have given you a ride."  Much less likely to take place then using, for example, impératif and présent:  "call me if you want a ride".

Homework:  Write two "si" sentences with futur and present, then present and present, then write two more sentences using conditionnel and imparfait.  Make sure you use vocabulary from this unit.

le 2 octobre:​  After a dicey l'argot, I gave you 20 minutes at the beginning of the class to finish up your presentations.  And holy cow.  Just holy cow.  That's all I have to say.

l'intérro tomorrow:  Please be able to write a tiny interro putting avoir, être and tromper (to cheat on) into the four following tenses:  présent, imparfait, futur, and conditionnel.  Eg:  I was, I will be, I would be, I am, I have, I will have, I would have....etc.

le 29 sept:  Today we talked a bit about the presentation which Mr. Carlick gave this morning about residential schools and reconciliation for Orange Shirt Day.  It was a brief talk as we wanted to get to our French lesson, but it was great.  Thank you for that.  I then showed you a juicy film from Youtube about the movies' greatest love triangles (yuck!  :)), to give you ideas for your script that you're writing with your two friends.  I gave you the rest of the class to work on the presentation; I'll decide how much time to give you on Monday, you may not need the entire block to finish up your work.

le 28 sept:  Mme GZ had a bit of a grumpy day today, désolé.  Today we took up the 14 questions on the pink sheet, and discussed the questions on the white sheet.  I asked you to get into groups of three in order to begin work on a presentation which you'll be working on tomorrow and presenting tomorrow.  The presentation is that you will have to write with your two friends is about a love triangle.  It can turn out any way you like, and have any sort of a plot line, but it has to use the material that we've been learning since the beginning of September.  This isn't for homework.  :)

Homework:  Do questions 1-5 on the white sheet.

le 27 sept:  Today we talked a bit about our quiz, which will be on October 6.  It will cover everything we've done so far; take a look at the September entries on this webpage if you need a reminder of what we've been doing.  You will either do a 30-minute written quiz or a 4-5 minute oral conversation with me; the oral conversation can take the form of either a monologue from you about friendship, or I can ask you questions.

I then gave you a white sheet which had a story on it, and read it out loud to you.  There are a series of questions attached to the story.  I also reminded you that there are a series of questions on the back of your vocabulary sheet.  

Homework:  finish up as many of the vocabulary sheet questions as you can for tomorrow.

le 26 sept:  Today we went over eye colours, then looked at some pictures of people so that we could describe their hair colours and styles, and eye colour.  I then gave you the French for some of the physical adjectives on your pink sheet:

Beautiful
Belle

Handsome
Beau

Yucky
moche

Ugly(f)
Laide

Ugly (m)
laid

Thin (m/f)
mince

Chubby
Potelé(e)

Tall (f)
grande

Tall (m)
grand

Short (f)
petite

Short (m)
petit

To be striking
Avoir de la gueule

To be well-endowed
Être bien monté(e)

To be curvaceous
Être bien roulée

A big hulking brute
Un balaise

A dumpy little woman
Un pot à tabac

To be flat-chested
Être plate comme un limande

Sexy
sexy

Trendy
Être dans le vent

Homework:  Write a story using the tenses and vocabulary we've used so far, using the structure of "Do you have a girlfriend, did you have one, will you have one, etc. and why... describe your girlfriend using physical and personality adjectives (or boyfriend).

le 25 sept:  Today we were going to get something done, but there was the job fair in the multi, so you decided to go there instead.  I finished going around the job fair by 2:05, but I suspect that you guys will take all block, hmmmm?  ;)

No homework, unless you didn't get Thursday's homework done (see entry for "le 21 sept").

le 21 sept:  Today we finished up our three SIMS-style videos about men's and women's hair (including men's facial hair styles).  We decided which styles we're going to use, and which we're going to kick to the curb.  I then gave you 10 minutes or so to check your work on the little conversation on the green sheet (which begins with "Do you have a girlfriend?") with a partner or group.  We started to take up the conversation, but we ran out of time.  

Homework:  please continue the conversation on the green sheet; describe a girl's hair and a boy's hair and facial hair styles, making sure you weave it into the existing conversation.

le 20 sept:  We had a wonderful cultural outing today, at which we practiced lots of French and really cemented our love of the language.  No homework.

le 19 sept:  Today we went over a few things from yesterday, then I gave you a green worksheet with a small conversation on it to translate into French.  It used a variety of tenses, reflexive and non-reflexive verbs, vocab, and connaître as well as il y a and one of our time frames (a month, a year, a week, etc).  I gave you 20 minutes to work on it; please finish it up for homework.

​We then watched a video about hair colours and learned the following:

Elle a les cheveux...
...blonds
...noirs
...brun
​...roux
...gris
...blancs
...poivre et sel

You can also say that:

Elle est blonde - she's a blonde
Elle est brune - she's a brunette
Elle est rousse - She's a redhead

However...

Elle est noire = She's black
Elle est blanche - She's white

You can also say...

Elle a les mèches bleues et violettes - She has blue and purple streaks (les mèches = feminine plural).

We'll go on to other physical attributes tomorrow.

Homework:  finish up today's worksheet.

le 18 sept:  I gave you some time at the beginning of class to finish up your homework, and unfortunately many of you didn't check your notes or the webpage, and either didn't do the homework or did it incorrectly.  I was looking for something like this:

Do you have a girlfriend?
No, I don't have a girlfriend because I'm mean.  I would have a girlfriend if I was nice.
Did you use to have a girlfriend?
Yes, I used to have a girlfriend.  We used to talk with each other, help each other, meet up with each other, have fun together...
What happened?
She left me because I'm spoilsporty.
Would you call her?
No, I wouldn't call her because we'll fight.

If you didn't get something like the above done for today, please get it done for tomorrow.

Today I reviewed connaître with you:

Présent:

je connais                      nous connaissons
tu connais                      vous connaissez
il connaît                        ils connaissent
elle connaît                   elles connaissent

You use connaître to say that you know a person or place.

In the passé composé, j'ai connu means "I met for the first time".  This will be handy when talking about... um.... well, meeting someone for the first time.  :S  You can also use connaître in the present tense to ask someone if they know someone:

Do you know Marie?
Yes, I met Marie two weeks ago.

Speaking of "two weeks ago", here are some timeframes for you:

un an - a year
un mois - a month
une semaine - a week
un jour - a day
une heure - an hour

Homework:  Please add some lines to your homework to include connaître in both the present and passé composé, as well as a timeframe.  Here's an example in English:

Do you have a girlfriend?
No, I don't have a girlfriend because I'm mean.  I would have a girlfriend if I was nice.
Did you use to have a girlfriend?
Yes, I used to have a girlfriend.  We used to talk with each other, help each other, meet up with each other, have fun together...
What's her name (comment s'appelle-t-elle?)
Marie.  I met her three years ago.
What happened?
She left me because I'm spoilsporty.
Would you call her?
No, I wouldn't call her because we'll fight.
Oh.  Well, do you know Claire?
No, I don't know Claire!  Is she nice? (est-ce qu'elle est gentille?)

le 15 sept:  Today I gave you some new vocabulary which tells you all the different ways to say boyfriend and girlfriend.  We also went over a few more verbs from the pink booklet of verbs in a table.  I then asked you to put together some questions and answers which show me that you understand:

-how to use the sentence structures and tenses from the questions on the white sheet;
-how to incorporate boyfriend/girlfriend vocabulary;

-how to bring in the reflexive verbs.

After you had spent some time thinking about it, I gave you my sample conversation in English, which involved asking someone if they have a girlfriend, getting the answer, asking if they used to have a girlfriend  and getting the answer, and asking if they would talk to each other again, and getting the answer.  Make sure you have 5-6 questions and answers ready which meet the above criteria (from the above list) for Monday; I'll give you 10 minutes at the beginning of the class if you need to finish up the last question.

le 14 septembre:  After taking up the homework, I asked if you would like to make some French posters for the upcoming "Orange Shirt Day" on Sept 29 to honour the victims of residential schools.  Thank you for that!  We spent the rest of the block on that, then put them up.  If you didn't finish yours, please get it done for tomorrow.  You can get some green painter's tape from Ms. Wiens in the office to hang up your poster, you don't have to wait until last block tomorrow.  No homework.

le 13 sept:  We took up questions 6-15 from our white sheet:

6.  Je n’avais pas beaucoup d’amis parce que j’étais rabat-joie.
7.  Est-ce que tu as eu beaucoup d’amis?
8.  Oui, j’ai eu beaucoup d’amis parce que j’ai été souriante.
9.  Non, je n’ai pas eu beaucoup d’amis parce que j’ai été ombrageuse.
10.  Est-ce que tu aurais beaucoup d’amis?
11.  J’aurais beaucoup d’amis parce que je serais intéressante.
12.  Je n’aurais pas beaucoup d’amis parce que je serais paranoïaque.
13.  Est-ce que tu auras beaucoup d’amis?
14. J’aurai beaucoup d’amis parce que je serai raisonnable.
15. Je n’aurai pas beaucoup d’amis parce que je serai pleurnicheur.

As I told you in class, we've spent a bit of time learning our five tenses for avoir and être, and using them with positive and nasty adjectives, in both the affirmative and the negative, so I have an expectation that you'll continue to practice these concepts and be able to use them verbally and in a written format for our project at the end of September.

We then translated paragraph 2 from the Jules Lesange interview, and I asked you to get into groups and, using the interview and your learning strategies, fill out the first page and a third of your verb chart.  I would say we had moderate success with your collective attention spans :/.  We took up the first few verbs:

se révéiller - to wake up
se lever - to get up
se laver - to wash oneself
se doucher - to shower oneself
s'habiller - to get oneself dressed
se regarder dans le miroir - to look at oneself in the mirror
se peigner - to comb oneself
se brosser les dents, le cheveux - to brush one's teeth, hair
se maquiller - to put makeup on yourself
s'installer - to settle in
se passer - to happen
se passer de -  to do without

That's as far as we got.

Homework:  Translate the following sentences into French (watch the tenses!):

le 12 sept:  I gave you 15 minutes at the beginning of the class to work on translating the first 5 questions on the white worksheet, then to finish up Activity 1 from the pink booklet as per the homework.  I put out a snack (snap peas, crackers, hummous, and asiago dip) and put the following statement on the board for you to translate:

"I am eating the snack because it's good".

I asked you to translate, then put into our four other tenses:  imparfait, passé composé, futur, and conditionnel.
imparfait:  "Je mangeais le goûter parce que c'était bon".
Passé composé:  "J'ai mangé le goûter parce que ça a été bon".
Futur:  "Je mangerai le goûter parce que ce serai bon".
Conditionnel:  "Je mangerais le goûter parce que ça serait bon"

We talked about how to form the future of regular verbs:
1.  Use the infinitive of the verb (for "re" verbs, don't put on the final e)
2.  Put on the future tense endings (ai, as, a, a, ons, ez, ont, ont)

Eg:  I will work:  Je travaillerai
I will choose:  Je choisirai
I will wait:  J'attendrai (no "e" after the r!)

We also know two verbs that are irregular in the future tense:  avoir (aur) and être (ser).  Yay!

We took up the first five questions on the white sheet:

1. Est-ce que tu as beaucoup d’amis?
2. J’ai beaucoup d’amis parce que je suis pacifiste.
3. Je n’ai pas beaucoup d’amis parce que je suis bougonne.
4. Est-ce que tu avais beaucoup d’amis?
5. J’avais beaucoup d’amis parce que je suis attentive.

And we took up Activity 1 from the pink booklet.

I gave you an interview with the (fake) writer Jules Lesange, and asked you to translate Jules' second paragraph; there are a lot of reflexive verbs in there.  You can put your translations on the pink charts I gave you (or not... up to you, as long as you know the verbs).

​Make sure you have all 15 questions from the white sheet done for tomorrow.  :)

le 11 sept:  I gave you a few minutes to finish up the sentences from Friday, then we took them up on the board.  That review actually took a lot of time, as many of you hadn't worked much on them and still had some confusion about them.  I went over how to use the various tenses both in the first part of the statement (like, "I will have a lot of friends") and in the second part of the statement (like, "because I'm awesome").  We also reviewed again why you might use the present tense in the second part of the statement (see notes from Sept 8, below).  I then gave you a worksheet with 15 sentences to translate, and gave you 5 minutes in class to start the work.  Please finish all 15 of those questions by Wednesday; we'll have a quiz on Friday.  After that, I gave you a pink booklet all about pronominal verbs; we looked at the first two pages of vocabulary, then went over how to do Activity 1.

Homework:  Finish Activity 1 from the booklet, and work on the white sheets with the 15 sentences, which needs to be completed by Wednesday.

le 8 sept:  Today we went over the first two sentences from yesterday (présent and passé composé, in both the affirmative and the negative), then went over how to do our "friend" sentences in the imiparfait, futur, and conditionnel:

1.  J’ai eu beaucoup d’amis parce que j’ai été sportive.  I have had a lot of friends because I have been sporty.  (attempting to describe a relatively specific time frame).

nég:  Je n’ai pas eu beaucoup d’amis parce que j’ai été en colère.

1. J’aurai beaucoup d’amis parce que je serai raisonnable.  I will have lots of friends because I will be raison – y.

Je n’aurai pas..... je ne serai pas....

1. J’aurais beaucoup d’amis parce que je serais drôle.  I would have a lot of friends because I would be funny.

Je n’aurais pas beaucoup d’amis parce que je ne serais pas drôle.

We figured out that you don't always have to put the être part of the sentence into the futur, conditionnel, imparfait, etc; you can leave it in the present if you're speaking generally:

I used to have a lot of friends because I'm friendly:  very general; implies you were friendly, are friendly, and will probably remain friendly;
I used to have a lot of friends because I used to be friendly:  implies that you are no longer friendly.

We then did a bit of verbal work with a partner:

-do you have a lot of friends?  Yes, I have a lot of friends because I'm (positive adjective)/No, I don't have a lot of friends because I'm clingy.
-Have you have a lot of friends?  Yes, I have had a lot of friends because I'm active / No, I haven't had a lot of friends because I have been grumpy.

You went on to create questions in the imparfait, futur, and conditionnel.  I'll give you time on Monday to continue working on the questions, then we'll do similar questions and answers on paper.  Have a great weekend!  :) 

le 7 sept:  Today we went over the course outline, then worked on some positive and some negative adjectives (some of us went outside in the lovely weather to work; some chose to stay in).  We translated the negative adjectives, then chose which of the positive we're leaving out, 'cause there were a LOT.  

For homework, please fill in the first two sentences from what I wrote on the board today:

-The first sentence says, "I have a lot of friends because I'm..."  You would complete the sentence with a positive adjective.
-Then put that sentence into the negative:  "I don't have a lot of friends because I'm..." and put in a negative adjective.
-The second sentence says, "I had a lot of friends because I...".  You figure out what tense to put être in, then finish it off with a positive adjective.  Then put the sentence into the negative.
-If you want to go on and do the other sentences, the third sentence is:  "I have had a lot of friends because I..."  It's passé composé, and this sentence implies that you have had friends because you "have been" a certain positive characteristic.  See what you can do with it.
-The next sentence is in the future tense:  "I will have a lot of friends because I..."  Finish it up with the appropriate tense of être and a nice adjective.  Then put it into the negative with a bad adjective.
-The last sentence is in the conditional:  "I would have a lot of friends because I..."  Finish it up with the appropriate tense of être and a nice adjective.  Then put it into the negative with a bad adjective.

We'll go over the first two sentences (with their negatives) tomorrow in class, then try them verbally.  Once we've mastered all of the sentences with a variety of adjectives, we'll go on to using other subjects than "je", then have a quiz.  Maybe in a week or so.  Yay!  

le 6 sept:  Today was our first full day.  We did some group work answering the questions below, and tomorrow you'll receive your course outline based on what we came up with for class rules.  We then began our first unit, "L'amitié" (friendship).  We're going to start off by reviewing the present, passé composé, and imparfait of avoir and être, and learn the future and conditional tenses of those two verbs (I wrote this all on the board for your today).  We're going to take just those two verbs in those tenses and form sentences about having lots of friends (or not), because you're (good adjective) or (bad adjective).  The sentence structures will look like this, if we use the adjectives "nice" and "mean":

I have lots of friends because I'm nice. / I don't have lots of friends because I'm mean.
I used to have lots of friends because I was nice. / I didn't use to have lots of friends because I was mean.
I will have lots of friends because I'll be nice. / I won't have lots of friends because I won't be nice.
I would have lots of friends because I'd be nice / I wouldn't have lots of friends because I would be mean.

No homework.

le premier septembre:  Bonjour, tous le monde!  I know that school hasn't officially started yet, but I wanted to get this on your webpage so that you can read it on our first day, September 5.  Tomorrow we're going to be breaking up into groups and answering some questions about classroom routines and rules.  I want you to have some input as to how things are done in this classroom.  So tonight, could you please give some thought to the following questions, so that you can hit the ground running tomorrow in class:

1.  What do you think the rules in the French classroom should be in the areas of:

-eating food in class
-drinking in class
-use of cell phones
-cheating
-bullying in the classroom
-coming in late
-missing class (skipping)
-missing class (excused)
-playing with all the toys in the French classroom
-using the "relaxation area"
-not bringing paper or a pen
-forgetting your French binder altogether

2.  In your opinion, what does "misbehaving" in the French classroom look like?  How should we deal with it?

3.  How do you best like to learn (in other words, other than skipping French altogether, what would a really successful day in French class look like for you)?

4.  What are you going to do if you don't understand what's going on in French class, and you're falling behind?

5.  What are your views about homework?  If I don't assign homework at all, does that mean you'll have to work differently in class than if I do assign homework?

6.  What would help you to speak more French in the classroom (methods of teaching, studying, practicing, performing, etc)?

7.  What are your goals in French this year? (this one's important!  Be specific, be general, whatever you like).

​I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on September 6!