To the Students,
You are about to discover another aspect of the French language and culture. It is called “la Francophonie”. It is French, and yet, it is more than French. The excerpts you will be studying from were all written by French-speaking reknown authors from the French Caribbean – Guadeloupe and Martinique –, from Haiti, the only French-speaking independent State in the Americas, and from French Guyana, on the Northern shores of South America. They all deal with the theme of childhood. The characters you will meet are in the same age bracket as you. But do they share the same hopes? Do they have the same fears? Can you fully recognize yourself in them? Yes, and no!
So why choose to improve your knowledge of the French language and culture by using these texts?
Because you will enter a world that is probably unknown to you, but that is fascinating. Those are former colonies that were confronted with the pangs of slavery, where the whites were the masters, and the blacks, the slaves. From that tragic experience came a new culture made of elements from France and from Africa. A culture where the quest for a specific identity was an everyday battle. A world where you always had to switch from one language to another (French and Creole).
Try and discover what is specific about that new world. Relate it to your own. Find the differences and the similarities.
All the exercises are proficiency-oriented. You will be able to develop the four skills that enable anyone to master a foreign language. But you will be achieving that by discovering that French has many facets. You will be asked to think and reflect on themes that may have escaped you so far. Your horizon will be broadened.
There is plenty of vocabulary to learn and memorize – all the footnotes in bold character. It is a rich and colorful vocabulary. Use it to express your ideas, in speaking and in writing. Listen to the music of a great literature. And, above all, ENJOY IT!
You are about to discover another aspect of the French language and culture. It is called “la Francophonie”. It is French, and yet, it is more than French. The excerpts you will be studying from were all written by French-speaking reknown authors from the French Caribbean – Guadeloupe and Martinique –, from Haiti, the only French-speaking independent State in the Americas, and from French Guyana, on the Northern shores of South America. They all deal with the theme of childhood. The characters you will meet are in the same age bracket as you. But do they share the same hopes? Do they have the same fears? Can you fully recognize yourself in them? Yes, and no!
So why choose to improve your knowledge of the French language and culture by using these texts?
Because you will enter a world that is probably unknown to you, but that is fascinating. Those are former colonies that were confronted with the pangs of slavery, where the whites were the masters, and the blacks, the slaves. From that tragic experience came a new culture made of elements from France and from Africa. A culture where the quest for a specific identity was an everyday battle. A world where you always had to switch from one language to another (French and Creole).
Try and discover what is specific about that new world. Relate it to your own. Find the differences and the similarities.
All the exercises are proficiency-oriented. You will be able to develop the four skills that enable anyone to master a foreign language. But you will be achieving that by discovering that French has many facets. You will be asked to think and reflect on themes that may have escaped you so far. Your horizon will be broadened.
There is plenty of vocabulary to learn and memorize – all the footnotes in bold character. It is a rich and colorful vocabulary. Use it to express your ideas, in speaking and in writing. Listen to the music of a great literature. And, above all, ENJOY IT!