End of term high jinks

The director of DEFLE is one of our civilisation lecturers and he is really demob happy! Yesterday he asked us what we would like an exam question about.

Now the choice is:

The education system in France,
Cultural politics, or
French song.

Those are the three areas we have covered this term, grosso modo. Of course, faced with such a box of chocolates, we couldn’t decide.

Yesterday was the end of term party at DEFLE, and we were all encouraged to bring in some traditional national dish. I decided against cawl cennyn (lamb stew with leeks) as being too messy to be finger food, so we brought cucumber sandwiches.

An American student brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which I have often read about, so it was good to try them. And the tiramisu, which I suspect was brought by another Brit, along with pizza and curry.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three weeks in Blighty

  We just spent three weeks in the UK. The first week was spent at our mission, UFM's, Summer Conference. We've always enjoyed these times - the conference centres are always clean and comfortable and you get catered for - our children used to think they were hotels. In addition you get some preaching and teaching - this time from an old acquaintance from Northern Ireland - and reports from people who serve in amazing places. We always feel like weaklings alongside the folk who paddle their way up the Amazon, or who work in remote parts of Central Asia. We had to do a seminar on preparing for retirement, which was well-received. Ella took us quietly and smoothly up to Caen for the ferry and we stayed overnight near the terminal before taking the early morning crossing. To get to the conference centre we had to use the M25, and it lived up to its promise. The second week was spent with my sisters and a nephew in a holiday cottage in Tenby. This was a straightforward trip down t...
Read more

A bit about music exams in UK and France

They're really different. I think I have already mentioned that while in the UK people generally find a private teacher for their instrument, or do it through a school scheme, here there are municipal music school, conservatoires and so on. The situation is a little more complex than I had first understood, because the schools vary in the rigidity of their organisation: the most, the conservatoires, next the municipals, then the associations. Our music school is an association, but it tends to apply the standards of the municipal schools with its programme of cycles, etc. Britain - grade 1 to 8, grade 8 being roughly equivalent to A-level, pre university/conservatoire. France - 3 cycles, each taking about 4 years, with 3ème cycle being roughly equivalent to grade 8. Theory of music - UK to take grade 8 you need theory grade 5. In France you study theory alongside your instrumental studies, very slowly. Catrin's flute music is MUCH more difficult than the stuff she does in theor...
Read more

Good news from my sermon buddy

Yesterday we went over my script from August 13. There really wasn't much she had taken exception to. Once or twice she wondered quite what I was getting at (they had the same problem at Deeside, I think...) and I do have difficulties with the word " de ", but then she said "Who doesn't?" So I felt very encouraged. I also took the opportunity to ask her about one or two things: 1) Direct preaching. Like I used to in Britain, I preach saying you - using "vous" when I am talking to the whole wide world and "tu" when I want it to feel as if I am addressing each person individually. French preachers tend to say rather "What will we do, what will one do". So I asked her if she felt my way was too direct, too brutal for the French ear. She said "I think you can get away with it with your English accent". In fact several people have commented on how much they appreciated being spoken to directly in preaching. 2) Liaisons Last...
Read more