La Fête des familles!

Last night was the Fête des familles! The Fête des familles is a show that the program puts on for the families that are participating in the program and it is something that the stagiaires have been working on since the first day of classes. The show had a mix of both music (chorus performances and individual/small group performances) and plays/sketches. Valeria's host father M. Talarmain happened to have filmed some of them and passed them on to me. I would like to thank him for his help!

The evening began with a short play called Au comptoir de l'hôtel by Marie-Line's group. I do not have a video of this performance but I do have a photo or two:



Below, you can see Keith preforming the song A la faveur de l'automne by Tété:



Keith is extremely talented! He worked really hard on his music.

Kelly's chorus sang the song Vois sur ton chemin, it is a song from the French movie Les Choristes:



We were priveledged to hear Hanna K's version of the Comme des enfants by Coeur de Pirate, she did an incredible job even though that she was expecting to perform:



Wow!

My theater group did a sketch that was first done by a French comedy group called Les inconnus. Here is our version of the sketch:



Olga's group performed a short play by Ann Rocard called Le château, here is a video of one of the scenes:



My group took the stage once again to perform an improvisation sketch called Taxi. The students pulled characters randomly from a bag and had to act out that specific character. It was then up to the driver of the taxi to guess who or what that person was. We had a volunteer come up from the audience to assist us and we would like to thank her for her participation. Here is the sketch:



Keith and Hanna K. combined the musical talent and sang a song written by Keith called La chanson du stage. They put a lot of effort into their music:



Kelsie and Anna S. then followed by performing the Sarcasme skit by Eric et Ramzi. :)



The show ended with music by the chorus. Here is their version of J'ai demandé à la lune by Indochine:



The show was a wonderful way to thank the host families and we hope that they very much enjoyed their performances. What a nice way to end the program in Brest!

Today is the last day for the students to be with their host families in Brest. Tomorrow morning, we will be leaving at 6:30 and we will have a 6 hour or so bus ride to Versailles, followed by Paris. We will be in Paris until their early morning flight on Saturday. If I manage to have an internet connection, I will do my best to post photos for you in Paris.

I hope that you enjoyed the videos!

Joyeux Anniversaire à Matt!

Joyeux Anniversaire à Matt!

Last week of classes !

Today marks our 6th week in Brest and it is also our last week of classes.

Yesterday, the students had the 14th of July off. The 14th of July for France is similar to our 4th of July festivities. Many of the students watched the fireworks at the Place de la Liberté the night before.

As for other after school activities, students have been working hard in learning their lines for the upcoming family show, la Fête des familles, which will be on Monday night. Students will have their last full day of classes tomorrow and on Friday morning they will take the final exam and evaluations. On Friday afternoon, students will be rehearsing for the Fête des familles.

Promenade en bateau

Last week, the city of Brest offered the group a boat tour around the Rade de Brest. It lasted for more than an hour. For more photos, please check out my Picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/bmurray34

4th of July Celebration! ....on July 3rd.

This year, we celebrated the 4th of July on Friday, July 3rd. Our celebration was not the typical American celebration of the holiday: instead of fireworks, we had a military ceremony... instead of seeing relatives and family, the students spoke with French veterans and heard their tales... instead of hot dogs, hamburgers, and macaroni and cheese, we had pâté, crevettes, and taboulé. Needless to say, it was not their typical celebration but nonetheless, it was certainly a memorable one.



The ceremony began at 5:30 in the afternoon. During the ceremony, some students (Molly, Kate, and Sam) participated in the placing of the flowers. The other students sang “La Marseillaise” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” We should all be proud of them, random comments from the spectators said that they did a great job!




After the ceremony was our Fourth of July dinner party. All of the families and students enjoyed a tasty meal and then hit the dance floor. :)






What a great group!

Danse Bretonne (July 2, 2009)

Thursday evening was La Danse Bretonne! All of the students along with their host families hooked pinkies and gathered in a huge circle to learn how to dance Breton style. We were guided by two experienced teachers, Fabienne and Jean-Paul.

Packed in a small room, students had the chance to experience first hand the lack of air conditioning in France. Every few dances, the students would run outside to get a couple breaths of fresh air then would run back in to learn another. We danced for a little over two hours! It was clear that everyone had a great time!

I hope that you will enjoy the videos below as much as I did filming them. The videos are a mix of the lessons that we were given and students attempting the new dance.

Second Excursion

On Thursday, we left Brest at 8:30 for our second excursion. Our first stop was in the city of Dinan.



One of the main attractions of Dinan was it's bell tower that can be seen from almost any point in the city. We used the bell tower as our meeting point.

Students were split up into groups for the excursion. Some of them decided to climb up it to see the beautiful view of the city that the tower had to offer us.


We were also deafened by the ringing of the bell:



As you can see it then photo below, the facades of the buildings in Dinan are rather interesting.

After our visit to Dinan we went to Saint Malo, a walled-city in Brittany. Host families prepared lunches for the students. Students had so much food packed in their lunches that most of them didn't finish them and had something left over for later.





After lunch, students broke once again into groups and visited St. Malo and/or the beach:



Following St. Malo, we visited the infamous Mont St. Michel:

Here are two group photos of the students at Mont St Michel:

Finally, the tired crew that we were, left for the chateau at Lyon sur Mer.

At dinner, we celebrated Anju's 17th birthday. Once again, joyeux anniversaire Anju!

We desperately wanted to go to the beach after dinner but unfortunately, as they say in French, il pleuvait des cordes (it was raining rope). So, we stayed in the chateau. Some of us played guitar and sang lovely French songs while others did Tae Boe'd it.


The next day, we went and visited the Memorial in Caen, the larget World War two museum in the world.


We also visited Omaha Beach. The students showed a lot of respect for Omaha Beach.

We made it into 2 different newspapers!

On Monday, we invited the press about our reception at Brest city hall. One of the newspapers sent me the article by e-mail. Here it is (click the image to see it bigger):

Here a quick and don't forget awful translation of the article for you (I left the order of the sentences as they were in French so you can see how difficult the language can be):

Yesterday, 34 American students from the University of Indiana in Bloomington, aged from 17 to 18 years old, arrived in Brest.
Housed by French host families for six weeks, they will complete an intensive French language program in conversation, literature, grammar, and even in phonetics. The classes will be carried out by their four "guides", French professors, at the Maison pour tous de L'Harteloire.
The main rule, not a word of English.

Well... the journalist almost got it all right.

Here is the other article that from the other newspaper:

Here is a quick and of course always awful translation of the article:

It's the 16th consecutive year that a group of students from the University of Bloomington (Indiana) is staying in the ?Cité du Ponant?. During six weeks, thirty four students, accompanied by four professors, combine French classes (three hours a day at the MJC/MPT de l'Harteloire) with cultural tourism. The students are housed with French host families and the professors at the FJT de l'Aile on Michelet street.
During the reception at city hall, Christiane Migot, advisor to the Mayor, welcomed the group of students and host families. The director of the program, Marie-Line Brunet, professor of French in Bloomington, responded to her speech by wishing that this exchange will continue for a long time "because we're comfortable in Brest and that we are well welcomed." "When the students will return home, she continued, they'll be ambassadors of Brittany and make their friends want to come and see it for themselves."

Once again, sorry for the bad translations.

Reception by the city of Brest

Today our group was invited to a reception by the Mayor of Brest so that they may officially welcome the program into their city.



We were welcomed by an adviser to the mayor. Here is a few of our students listening to her speech:


From our program, our director Marie-Line along with two students (Anasuya and Dylan) gave very well written speeches. The adviser was impressed by their level of French! As one of their teachers, I was touched by her comment. I could not even imagine how proud their friends and family must be!


Following the speeches, gifts were exchanged on behalf of the city of Brest and Indiana University. In addition, we were treated to snacks and drinks while making conversation with host families and students. More photos can be found on the picture website that I made.

Our First Excursion!

After a nice week of classes, we got to go on our first excursion in Bretagne (the French version of Brittany). We left Brest at 8h30 in the morning and we went south to the medieval village called Locronan. We first visited St. Ronan church.



Here is a photo of all of the "stagiaires (aka your friend or family member)" on the steps of the church:



After the church, we went to a boulangerie. There, students had the chance to try a typical specialty of the region, kouign amann. It is a Breton cake that is very tasty but also very buttery. Many students bought some fort their host families. Unfortunately, the cake won't last long enough for friends and family in Indiana, sorry! You'll have to come and try it for yourself.



Following the boulangerie, students had an hour to go explore the village. Kelly had them do a scavenger hunt where they took photos of typical items and symbols in Bretagne.

After Locronan, we went to the Pointe du Raz and picnicked. The view was incredible!


Finally, the group went to Quimper, the capital of the Finistère department. It is a city rich in Celtic heritage and Breton culture. The main attraction was the gothic Cathedral de Saint-Corentin.


We returned to Brest at around 6:30.

For more photos, please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/bmurray34

Joyeux Anniversaire Rachel :)

Après-midi à la plage!

Bonjour tout le monde!

Yesterday was our first day of classes! Students had classes in French grammar, literature, culture, and conversation. We had fun teaching our respective classes because they are eager to learn. After classes, students divided up into either a choir group or a theater group. There will be several songs sung and 3 different plays/skits put on for the host families.

It is amazing to see the progress that they have already made. I can't wait to hear them at the end of the program!



Today we had a nice afternoon at the beach to unwind and to play a few sports. Some students played volleyball and ultimate frisbee (way to win my team, 5 to 4!) while others went clam digging and built castles in the sand.

You can see a few photos on my Picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/bmurray34/