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Ch.8:
Les mois de l'année:
Months
of the year
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Early
Start French 1: CONTENTS
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French
Starter Pack
CONTENTS:
Introduction:
1
Greetings
2
Goodbye
3
Ça va?
4
What's your name?
Famous
people
4a
Alphabet
5
Colours
6
Numbers 1-12
7
Ages
8
Months
9
Numbers 13 - 31
10
Birthdays
11
Days of the week
12
Today's date
13
Pets
14
Brothers & sisters
15
Consolidation / assessment
16
En classe
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What you will learn in
Film 8
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Every time of year has particular events or
celebrations associated with them. For towns in
northern France, this could be the month when their
town "giant" normally parades through the
streets.....
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Language - origins
of names of the months
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Children in one school looked at the
similarities between languages, reflected in their
similar names for the months of the year. Latin
roots for most European languages show up clearly
in this table: most months begin with the same
letter.
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English
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French
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Spanish
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Latin
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German
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January
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janvier
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enero
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Januarius - from Junus the
god of the doorway with two faces: one looking
forward to the new year, the other back to the
old.
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Januar
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February
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février
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febrero
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Februarius
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a Roman festival of
prurification
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Februar
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March
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mars
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marzo
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Martius - from Mars, the
Roman god of war
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Marz
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April
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avril
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abril
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Aprilis - from apirere, to
open (opening of spring)
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April
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May
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mai
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mayo
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Maius - from the Roman
goddess Maia
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Mai
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June
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juin
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junio
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Junonius - from the goddess
Juno
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Juni
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July
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juillet
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julio
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Julius - an additional month,
named after Julius Caesar
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Juli
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August
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août
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agosto
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Augustus - another extra
month, named after Augustus Caesar
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August
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September
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septembre
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septiembre
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September - the 7th month in
the original Roman calendar, before the addition of
July and August
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September
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October
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octobre
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octubre
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October - the 8th
month
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Oktober
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November
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novembre
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noviembre
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November - the 9th
month
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November
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December
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décembre
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diciembre
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December - the 10th
month
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Dezember
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Month-by-month
weblinks
janvier
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février |
mars
| avril
| mai
| juin
| juillet
| août
| septembre
| octobre
| novembre
| décembre
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janvier
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January
Along the Channel coast of northern France,
winter is very similar to that in southern Britain
- it's not very far away! Inland, there is more
likely to be some snow falling in January.
The south of France has a more Mediterranean
climate.
Weather
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février
- February
Even in winter storms, the fishermen have to go
out to sea. Boulogne is the biggest fishing port in
France. We see the fish market on the quayside
where local people can buy fish caught fresh that
day.
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mars
- March
The white horses are a rare preserved breed of
heavy horses ("Boulonnais" horses) that back in the
19th century were used in their thousands to pull
carts and farm implements, in the days before
lorries and tractors.
The
white horses
The video shows sand yachting on the beach. It's
a good cold weather sport because you stay on the
beach and don't get wet!
Sand
yachting
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avril
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April
If children are making their own giant for your
school (see Chapter 1), they will be particularly
Aire-sur Lys, which are mounted on wheeled
trolleys, rather than being carried by bearers
hidden inside under the skirts.
Each town's "giant" only comes out from their
normal resting place on specific occasions.
Giants
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mai
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May
Springtime - the video shows a windmill and
spring lambs, the countryside beginning to turn
green.
Windmills were as common in the flat coastal
areas of northern France as they once were in
Holland (and also Belgium). The power of the wind
blowing off the North Sea was used to drive pumps
to drain land which used to be coastal marshes, at
or below sea-level.
Windmills
Northern France is one of the most fertile
farming areas in Europe; farmers grow good crops of
wheat for making flour and bread (but today in
factories rather than in windmills).
Farming
in northern France
We also see some show-jumping with horses, a
popular sport in France as the weather gets
warmer.
Show-jumping
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juin
- June
The video shows wild flowers (including orchids
in a special reserve) growing on a former colliery
slag-heap in northern France. People have worked
hard to turn an ugly devastated area of useless
land into a new environment where local people can
enjoy walking, cycling and looking at nature.
Coalmining
in northern France
The old
slag heaps
It also shows children taking a boat ride along
the river through the historic former mining town
of Douai.
Douai
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juillet
- July
The video shows another new use for old
industrial land: waterskiing on a man-made lake,
which was once a bleak drainage pond for polluted
water pumped out of the coal mines.
French school children have a long summer break,
through most of July and August.
In the hot weather, people in inland areas flock
to the nearest lake for activities like
waterskiiing and swimming.
Waterskiing
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août
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August
The video shows cycling along the beach, and
more sand-yachting in the height of summer.
French families leave the big cities like Lille
and Paris for the whole month to stay on the coast.
Seaside towns often have good summer activities for
children, like the supervised beach club, and the
sailing school shown.
Sailing
schools on the coast - Wimereux
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septembre
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September
Every September children go back to school, but
in Lille, it is also the time for a famous street
market called the "Braderie". The streets are
closed to traffic, and anyone is allowed to set up
a stall in the street to sell anything from works
of art to antiques or old junk.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors travel from
miles around to explore many stalls for "treasure".
All the cafés sell the traditional snack,
mussels -and-chips ("moules-frîtes");
they compete to see which has the largest pile of
mussel shells outside their door!
Lille's
Braderie
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octobre
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October
The video shows children learning to ski on a
huge dry ski-slope that has been made out of an old
slag heaps in this former coalmining area. In
winter, they might go with their families to ski on
snow in the French mountains.
The
dry ski slope
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novembre
- November
Towards the end of November, families start
getting ready for Christmas. In northern France,
many towns have Christmas markets, where people can
still buy traditional food, drink, presents, and
decorations to prepare for the great feast.
Christmas
markets in northern France
Rinxent
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décembre
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December
The video shows scenes in the town of Lille in
the days before Christmas. Every year the giant big
Ferris wheel is erected in the large square in the
town centre; the stalls and funfair rides of the
traditional Christmas market spread out through the
adjoining streets.
Christmas
fairs in northern France
Lille
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Festivals
and traditions in France - weblink
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Schools in UK and France worked together on this
project to record their traditions and celebrations
at different times of the year, and on special
days. ***HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED
http://www.european-schoolprojects.net/festivals/France/France.htm
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