Test yourself on “English” expressions borrowed from French. Lots of fun.
via purposegames.com
Be cool Babar.
Mike Rosenthal (@vectorbelly) has created Twitter: The Comic, a Tumblr blog of comics made from tweets, some his own, some by others.
There’s some random, twisted stuff on Twitter, as you may have noticed. But it makes for some interesting art.
This one, of course, is our favorite.
Based on this tweet by @DankHerbMullet.
“Bref. J’aime bien cette photo.”
An entertainment phenomenon is taking France by storm. Bref. is a hilarious and racy TV series, each episode of which lasts about 1.5 to 2 minutes (as the name implies). The format is a high-speed montage of experiences in the life of the endearingly pathetic protagonist played by Kyan Khojandi.
Bref. depicts the modern daily life of single, late 20- and early 30-somethings in Paris and is full of great slang. A hip and creative professor could come up with some fun activities around this series for advanced — university/adult — language learners.
The show airs weeknights in France during Le Grand Journal (prime time variety show), and if you’re not in France, you can watch them all here. But be warned, most of these videos are probably NSFW. You can follow the show on Twitter too: @BrefSerie.
Be looking for spinoffs in your own country (though I doubt they’ll be nearly as spicy). It’s only a matter of time!
Interactive French geography games
Some entertaining interactive games on this site. We failed miserably at the cheese game, (shot above), but had fun nonetheless!
Gallica, France’s digital library
We could wander these virtual stacks for days! So far, the Bibliothèque nationale de France has digitized more than one million works, including books, maps, manuscripts, images, periodicals, scores and sound recordings, and made them available for free to the public at the Gallica digital library. This is France’s answer to Google Books, and the result of the big fight from a couple of years ago.
Build your own Paris
We just love the look of Paper City Paris! | Made by Joel. Cut out the Eiffel Tower and more, in addition to these little people and the classic car. Rainy-day fun for your little francophile? We’re sure you can think of many more uses for these adorable–and free–paper cutouts!
“When the World Spoke French”
…once upon a time, the ability to speak French properly was considered an absolute essential. In 26 chapters, each focusing on a different colourful Francophile, Fumaroli makes his way across 18th-century Europe. The book is a gallery of Russians, Prussians, Swedes, Poles, Italians and Englishmen; politicians, soldiers, kings and collectors, who all aspired to speak and write the French language beautifully…
Read the rest at The Independent and buy the book at our Amazon store!
“Mots Interdits” French learning game
With Mots Interdits, a language-learning game you can print out, you have your students try to get others to guess the word in bold without using any of the words below it. Be sure to check out the other teaching tools this teacher has created and uploaded to this site (look to the right once you click through to Scribd).
French chocolate coffee table
We just loved this crafter’s French chocolate coffee table! See how she did it at Red Hen Home.
Quiz: Are You a Francophile?
Take this quiz to discover just how deeply you love the country and its people.
You wear:
a. an “I love Paris” T-shirt
b. a sweater tied around your neck
c. a permanent scowl
Take the quiz at The Paris Blog. Image via Polyvore. Check out the rest of her funky fashion combos!
“Develop your ear” with Yabla French ! [sponsored post]
!["Develop your ear" with Yabla French ! [sponsored post]](http://francophilia.com/gazette/wp-content/uploads/Yabla_french_bubbles.png)
Do you still have trouble understanding native French speakers?
Many French learners have a rude awakening when they visit or move to France. It’s not enough to know grammar and vocabulary. You must develop an ear for the idioms and nuances of the language.
Yabla French helps you do exactly that. Authentic videos featuring 100% native speakers immerse you in the real language, spoken by real people. Bilingual captions and interactive controls let you learn at your own speed.
Yabla French videos include music, travel, drama, interviews and more. The best part about watching Yabla? It’s fun!
“Immersive French” application for iOS
Wattanasoft, a leading provider of iOS language-learning apps, today is pleased to announce Immersive French for the iPad and iPhone. Immersive French provides the user with a full multimedia learning experience by associating pictures with spoken words and sentences.
Details at prMac.com.
Où est Charlie ?
Photographer couple Max & Charlotte have created a series of Where’s Waldo-inspired photos at iconic locations all over Paris. We’re not sure there actually is a Charlie to find in these photos, but it’s tons of fun to study the details.
Seen @pollyvous
Paris métro in anagrams
The French love to play with language, so it’s no surprise somebody decided to change all the names of Paris métro stops into wacky anagrams. We like Clefs au vieillard for Filles du Calvaire on line 8 (lavender). Lots more to discover on the complete map at Anagrammes de Métro!
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