Manchester.

Hello,

This is my last post of the school year. I will present to you Manchester. Why? Because it is the place where I will have my placement there.

Manchester is a beautiful city located in North of England.

When I was French Assistant, I used to go there every Wednesday. Why? Because it is a huge city. It is the place to be when you lived up north due to a wide range of shops ( this is the best city to spend money on clothes girls!!! You can trust me!)

I hope you will want to go there only by looking at these followings photos.

Concerning this end of the year, I wanted to say that I enjoyed every moment of this master ‘s year. I met nice people and worked with  interesting people. Special mention for thi,franck and caroline because I worked with them all this year!

good luck everyone.

take care

 

Déborah

“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible” J.Swift

Season 1 Episode 5

Before going to England, I thought my life was pretty much planned…

I guess we all think the same at some point, we know where we want to go, and we plan things. Do we ever take time to think things over? Yes we do it all the time! Hum I’m going to do this so that if this happens then I’ll be able to react just like this or that. We’re making up events, and we think life will follow us!

But the show must go on! Let’s improvisation take over! Little hearts “open up” ‘cause Life is full of surprises if you’re ready to pay attention to them!

And one little thing occurs! A subtle detail rushes into your life… And everything is happily upset! For better, for worse!

Crazy little things called love…

And everything truly began…! An international romance, true story based on love at first sight, turning into a life story. France- Wales, no border for love, no different languages when only heart language is spoken.

And yes it sounds too nice and cheesy to be true! And yes you can’t always see things through rose-tinted glasses, that’s quite fortunate!! But how do you describe anything that truly matters to you, how can words be as powerful as what we feel anyway?!  Subtlest hints.

This is how Season 1 in England for me led to Season 2…

Another year… another experience.

Heart’ istic life!

Season 1  Episode 4

This is still the first season, my first year in England and I still have so many things to say!

Yes I could tell you all about how shocking it was to go out and see the girls decently dressed (not!) and other things related to alcohol, party etc… But some of you know it already, and I’ll let the others check this out by themselves!

But it’s true that everything started during one of those nights where everyone wants to unwind, and relax!

December 19^th  2007, we all go out to a pub called Satchwells for a goodbye party! Our friends from Australia and New Zealand are off, they’re going back to their country as their gap year is over! The night is theirs, and we decide to go to the pub for a few drinks before going to a club… That’s how it goes!

Friends of friends are invited… and yet another opportunity to meet new friends. Hum new friends…!

When you think about your life, you realize how important a little detail can become. You don’t pay too much attention to those details…. Sometimes they don’t mean anything to you, they’re part of the daily routine. Things happen just randomly, you don’t even try to understand… you almost ignore the nicest things that happen in your life.

And comes the day when life takes another meaning, a brand new light sparkles in your eyes and makes you see life through a complete different point of view…

…!

Judumour production

All rights reserved!

Haworth, hometown of Brontë Sisters.

Hello everybody,

Today, I am going to speak about Haworth, a wonderful rural village I have the honor to visit during my stay in the West Yorkshire. This beautiful place is located in the West Yorkshire, not far from Bradford and Keighley.

This town is very special because it is the hometown of Brontë Family. You have surely heard about this family. why? Because, you read Charlotte or Emily Brontë ‘s books, Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre. Heathcliff, Catherine, Jane and Edward = all these characters are unforgettable!!! If you have not read these two books yet, you have to rectify your omission.

Well, let’s go back to the point!  I have heard about these town when I started my second year of assistantship! I was talking about my favourite english books to one of my colleagues when he said that I was not far from their hometown. After this conversation, I decided to go to Haworth.

Haworth is a small village and to reach this village, you can choose to take an old train from Keighley station. It is called  the Keighley an dWorth Valley Railway. That was thrilling.  I really thought I was in the 19th century. This feeling was confirmed when I reached Haworth. As you will notice with photos, once you arrive in Haworth, you will think you are in a film set. You will recognize things you can see on movies like ancient streets, old houses and so on.  ( I knew afterwards that one of many Wuthering Heights adaptations movies was filmed in the hills of Haworth. Wicked!!)

Moving on… In this small village, you have to go to the Brontë Parsonage Museum which was home of the literary sisters. It contains a vast array of  the Brontës’ possessions and artefacts. You will also go to the main street with a wide range of shops. I bought many memorabilia like mugs, postcards, place mat and so on. I might inform that you can not wear high heels in Haworth due to high-pitched streets. I did and my feet really hurt afterwards.

I adore this trip  so hope you enjoy this ride through the heart of Brontë Country.

Déborah

vocab: high-pitched = à forte pente- array= une gamme- a film set=un plateau de tournage

Blackpool, an illuminated city.

Hello,  

Blackpool is a seaside town located in North of Lancashire. This town is well-known for the amusement park named Blackpool Pleasure Beach. (located near the seaside of Blackpool). It is worth travelling so you must go there if you want to have sensations moments. 

I went to Blackpool last year in order to attend the “illumination day”. At the end of this day,  streets, tramways, towers light up. It was breathtaking. I was fortunate because the day I went there was not a rainy day. 

However,  Blackpool offer loads of attractions like old trams, street of the seaside is full of many casinos, cinemas and exhibitions.  One exhibition is very popular because it is link to an England icon, Doctor Who, which is a science fiction tv programme. It deals with a ” doctor” who travels through the time in his blue spacecraft. I have never watched it but it was a good exhibition.   

Places you must see in Blackpool= 

– Blackpool Tower, inspired by our Eiffel Tower and created in 1894. 

– Central Pier, in front of sea. There are shops and ferris wheel ( do not take it when there is strong wind ( scary!!!!)). 

– Seaside street. I thought I was in Las Vegas.  

– Fleetwood. a nice town near Blackpool. You can go there by taking the tram. I recommend you the Freeport Fleetwood ( a shopping village) 

déborah 

  

 

 

vocab= spacecraft= engin spatial- seaside town= ville côtière- to light up= s’illuminer

Places you must see in England!

Hello,

As the year comes to an end, I want to present, throughout the next posts, places you might not know but you must see if you plan to go to England. I went to those places and I absolutely adore them.

I hope you will enjoy those descriptions and I really hope you WILL go to these places one day in your lifetime. It is really worth travelling.

I will speak about places such as Skipton, Haworth, Keighley, Blackpool, Halifax, Plymouth and so on.

Enjoy this journey through the heart of England.

keep in touch!

Déborah

English Newspapers…

Hello

Topic of the day: Newspaper, tabloids or magazines….

In England, when you go to a supermarket,  you can notice two different types of newspapers. Some are daily published and others are released on Sundays only.

On one hand, you have serious newspapers usually called broadsheets which deal with news, political, society, education issues such as The Guardian, The Times or The Independent.  ( if you want to enrich your vocabulary, I recommend these newspapers.)

On the other hand, you have tabloids in which Gossip about what they called ” celebrities” is  their ” livelihood”.  For example, you have trash tabloids like The Sun, The Daily Mirror and so on. I must admit that I sometimes read headlines in The Sun’s front page. They are very good at playing on words ( another word for that is “pun”, I wanted to add this word because it is such a cute word! ^_^). However, I do not know most of the celebrities who are in this newspaper except the famous ones (I mean internationally famous)  English teenagers are so fond of that kind of newspapers and Girls want to look like their “icons”.( yes! Thank you the retouching of photos!!!

Most towns and cities have at least one local newspapers like Manchester Evening News or Liverpool Echo.

Finally, you will easily find specialist newspapers. Leeds Catholic Post, a monthly newspaper link to Leeds diocese. I am sure you know this one, David (^_^)

Déborah

Vocab:  a pun= un jeu de mots

England=A melting pot

Hello,

As it is written in the title, England is considered as being a melting pot.

Why? Have you ever been to London, Manchester or Birmingham? Haven’t you seen the multicultural side of these cities? ….

Throughout this post, I will firstly define the word “melting pot”( but I am sure you already know what a melting pot is) then I will show you that loads of ethnic groups live together despite some conflicts. I will also set forth that London is the best example of diversity!!

To sum up, this is an overview of multicultural aspects of England. 

A melting pot is a metaphor used to define the mixture of various nationalities which are “melting” together while maintaining their culture. For example, in Manchester, Indian community tend to maintain their way of life by wearing traditional outfits such as sari, saree, salwar kameez and so on.

Some of these communities belonged to the British Empire. therefore they have a strong link with British Isles. When these countries obtained their independence, many people came to England to have a comfortable life and to get a well-paid job. Nowadays, it is people from Eastern Europe who try their luck  in a country that they imagined as being an “El Dorado”!

London is the city which represents the most this multicultural diversity. London the city of foreigners as it says. There are few cities which are as  multicultural as London like New York. There are different nationalities which live in the city such as Pakistani, Indian, Chinese and so on.

Some communities come to London and start to blend in immediately but thankfully, many maintain their own cultures, customs and way of lives adding another layer to London’s vibrancy.

During my stay in the West Yorkshire, I could notice this diversity and it was great to hear different languages, to see shops specialized. For example, I see a Polish shop which sell polish products like food ( yummy) next to a Thai restaurant.

However,  someone told me about  sad events which occurred in 2004 or 2005 in Bradford city between different communities.The same thing happened in Paris one year later.In England, you have got the equivalent of “FN” which is the British National Party so some people adhere to extreme ideas and therefore, they follow the crowd and help ” leaders” in their actions. Some people from ethnic minority groups tended to form a minority in most areas and this can cause misunderstandings due to lack of communication and relations but it can also create boundaries between communities!!

Déborah

 vocab: to blend= se mêler à – an outfit= une tenue- to set forth= exposer 

“Are we human… or are we dancer?!”

I think you know way too much about my private life now! (Not all of it so far!)

But I guess I should stop… you must be bored reading me… No? Really? You’re sure? Oh ok then… I’ll carry on! I can tell that you all love it! It’s understandable!!!! 😉

Here it goes…

 Season 1. Episode 3.

The people I met there were what happened to be the best part of my whole experience! But wait…! that’s not all….! Among those people who changed my life, there were the gap students! It sounds like a “déjà vu” but you have seen nothing yet!

 The gappies (gap students!) made this place a lively “auberge espagnole” where culture and language were beautifully mixed!! They would come from Australia, New Zealand, Ecuador, Canada, Germany, and Vietnam…etc! They worked in the school as well, helping teachers with photocopies etc! We all lived in the same place, in the school!

There were advantages… after school we would go and practice sports in the gym, sports hall, on the tennis court, football pitch… etc! Everything was available and it was great to have fun all together! We could also just chill out playing the guitar on the grass, joking around and making fun of the pupils… as if we needed a revenge from our days spent with them!!

But there were drawbacks too…! As the school we lived in was away from everything, we felt a bit stuck on the weekends. There was only one place we could walk to: the three horse shoes, legendary pub! Yeah I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed it, but pubs in England HAVE TO have funny names! You never know what they’re named after… but do you really want to know anyway?!

Back to what I was saying! We always had to get a taxi, a cab, to go to town! And going to town on the weekends was part of finding out more about life! It’s part of growing up! It was meant to happen!

 But town was so much more…

                                                                         …it was the place where everything started…!!! …

Judumour Production

All rights reserved!

First steps…! (not literally!)

Season 1. Episode 2.

You now know why I decided to go to England!  But as well as a language matter, there was a bonus! Who has never dreamt about England? This tropical island where, even in winter, men wear T-shirts! (My own eyes can testify it!) This warm country where all you need is an umbrella to survive! (And a good sense of humor not to be shocked all the time!!!) An umbrella yeah… and some French food in your back pack! (cf Deborah’s post about food!)

I usually criticize what/who I love only! I do like England, don’t get me wrong!! Let me tell you about my first few days in Shakespeare’s country!

Quite randomly, or you could say that it was destiny; I had ticked “the midlands” on my application form to become an assistant. The reason why I chose it is simple: just because I knew people there, some families who welcomed me earlier on etc… and I thought that if somehow I felt lonely I could meet up with my host families!

This location detail might sound ridiculous and derisory… but you will see that it is one of the most important details in the story I’m telling you! A little thing… a big change!!!

And everything started….

On a quite warm evening of September 2007, I arrived in Princethorpe College, an independent school from year 7 to upper 6^th. Same distance away from Leamington and Coventry, about 1 hour away from Birmingham, I arrived in a beautiful school surrounded by impressive landscape.  The scenery included sheep, and all kind of animals you can find in the countryside! (Like teachers…! I’m joking!)

Not only this place was my place of work, but it was also where I lived! It used to be a boarding school for pupils, but it had been turned into a boarding for assistant, gap students and young teachers who wanted to save money by living in the boarding.  What’s a gap student? It’s a student who takes a year out to experience life away from where they originally live!

The Gaps were great, and they made my year a wonderful itinerary made of superb experiences! You can’t imagine how many funny, scary, hilarious, pathetic things happened to all of us! Well, you will imagine if you’re patient enough… I may tell you more about it!

In the next episode!!!

Judumour Production

All rights reserved

!!!