Cafe Conversation - Au Pere Tranquille

Here we have a video of Au Pere Tranquille 75011 Paris. We held our first Cafe Conversation French group here on the first floor. It's a great location especially on the first floor however I must admit it was a little bit nosier than anticipated so perhaps not a perfect location to study.

Au Pere tranquille Paris (new French language course)

La Pere tranquille
Originally uploaded by LetThemTalk

This is Au Pere Tranquille, 16, Rue Pierre Lescot
75001 Paris. The location chosen for the new French course. "cafe conversation", which will start next Sunday 29th March. More details here.

Paris cafe conversation French language group

I thought this was a good location for the French course. It was from the end of the 19th century a nightclub and cabaret venue it became a bistrot and cafe after the war. It's a large elegant place with a terrace and a first floor which, hopefully, will be a suitbale venue to study French.

Video here

Au pere tranquille Paris, video

French expressions in English but not French

Frogs Legs
Originally uploaded by malias.

Any educated English speaker coming to France, even if he has never studied the language before arrives armed with a wealth of French words and expressions such as bon voyage, bon apétit, coup d'état etc.

What they may find surprising is that many of these gallicisms are not actually used by the French themselves. When I apply some of these in conversation my words are met with shrugs on incomprehension on the part of my interlocutor. Haute cuisine, double entendre, venue, piece de resistance, risqué and nobody has used sacrebleu here since the 18th century.

Even stranger are French expressions used in English where the French use an English one. We say crème de la crème they say top du top. We say passé they say has been.

So when searching the mot juste make sure you don't commit a faux pas.

Professeur d'anglais Paris

Telephone Box Shaftesbury Avenue
Originally uploaded by malias.

There are two rules that I apply when teaching English in Paris. 1. The class must be interesting. 2. The students must learn something. If you apply this code to your classes then I guarantee you that most of the students will return.

I have spent a lot of time going to French classes after arriving in Paris what I found was that most of the classes I went to were unbelivably bad and mind numbingly boring.

I took lessons because I wanted to learn how to speak French but what I found was that in many cases the teacher came in and gave exercise after exercise for 2 hours or however long the class was with no opportunity to have a conversation. It was so frustrating, the only time I ever got to speak French was with the students before or after the class. There were a few good teachers who took a more imaginative approach but most of the time it was like this.

So when I started giving English classes in Paris (Professeur d'anglais Paris) I made it my mission to let the students speak. I'll correct and explain grammar in the context of the conversation but I try to give as much emphasis as possible on free expression. It seems to be working well.

My ideas may not be revolutionary but I do hope they will be adopted more widely.

Paris Free Event

Chilling out
Originally uploaded by malias.

If your in Paris on Saturday 28th July between 6pm and 9pm you might want to trudge over to the Pont des Arts as I'm organising another free event taking place there. The idea is simple. It's aimed at anybody learning a language who would like conversation practice with a native speaker in English or French or any language. In return you have to help them with their English or whatever is your mother tongue. If in addition you want to sign up to some English or French classes then that's fine but there is no obligation to do so. The event is called Parler in the Park (even though it doesn't take place in the park). Check the website for details.

Parler in the Park

A splash of colour
Originally uploaded by malias.

I'm helping to organise a free event in Paris for people who are learning a foreign language and would like the opportunity to practise with native speakers.

It's aimed mainly at the anglo community learning French and Parisians learning English but everyone is welcome. It's called Parler in the Park and it's taking place in the Square du Temple in the 3éme on the 10th June. Full details are on the website.

I got the idea because after 4 years in Paris my French is still pretty bad mainly due to the fact that I really speak it. I found out that so many others are in the same boat as me including my students learning English.

Hoping that this will help a little and, who knows, it might be fun.

London, The Seventh Largest French City

Guess where I am?
Originally uploaded by malias.

Here is a picture of the seventh largest French city. That's right it's London. The French have crossed the channel in their droves to take advantage of Britain's great climate and wonderful cuisine. That's my opinion although everybody else seems to think that it is low taxation and full employment that has brought an estimated 300,000 Frenchies to London.

Now Sarkozy has been elected will our European cousins gather up their fine wines and smelly cheeses and take a one way ticket on the Eurostar back to Paris? Not just yet.

Meanwhile whenever I get depressed about my poor French and bad accent I have now found a new source of comfort; Tony Blair's message to the French people in French following Nicolas Sarkozy's election.

Surely I can't sound that bad in French. Can I?

Election Fever in Paris

So tomorrow the French go to the polls to cast their votes. Great swathes of rouge cover my quartier - this is certainly Royal territory they have even set up some tents in the street, with music playing, nibbles and flowers for sympathetic passers by. They are in an ebullient mode. But will they win?

Not so sure.

Crudite au Thon

Crudite au Thon
Originally uploaded by Refracted Moments™.

Paris boulangeries are wonderful places the quality and range of bread and pastries is amazing. However, one small gripe I have is that sometimes hygiene leaves a little bit to be desired. In London it's customary to wear gloves when touching food but this isn't always the case here.

The other day, finding myself a little peckish I popped into a Paris bakery to pick up a filled baguette for lunch. The greasy man with the moustache behind the counter several sizes too big for his Ohio state University t-shirt took my order. I asked for a crudité au thon The precise filling of the sandwiches on offer were not evident from the outside nor were they labelled correctly. So he opened up the baguettes with his grubby hands and manually inspected the crevices of the bread for signs of Tuna.

Exasperated I said in my best French "Is it really necessary to touch the food with your hands?" To which he replied.

"Who the hell do you think you are Howard f***ing Hughes?"

Alright I made the last bit up actually he just stared at me and grunted something incomprehensible.

Sometimes when things look too good to be true that's because they are.