Bon Voyage 3: Around the World in 80 Days
In 1872, French author Jules Verne (1828-1905) wrote a fantastic novel that described the adventures of Phileas Fogg, a man who bet his colleagues that he could successfully travel all the way around the world in just eighty days. In…
L'hiver
L’HIVER (lee-VAYR* = the winter) L’HIVER (lee- VAYR) means winter in French. As I write, winter is now in full force in the northern hemishere, where France is located. At my home in Canada, the ground is covered with a…
Bonhomme Carnaval
Bonhomme de neige, the French phrase for snowman, is a contraction of the words, BON (good) and HOMME (man) with NEIGE which, of course, means snow! This is often shortened to just BONHOMME. The English language uses the word bonhomie…
La Tuque
If you are in Canada in February, you will need a warm hat! In mostparts of Canada temperatures are regularly below freezing, zero degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit. French Canada has given us LA TUQUE(la TYOOK=the tuque), a warm…
Le Printemps
Le PRINTEMPS (luh pray-TAH* = the spring) At time of writing, this week marks the arrival of spring in the northern hemishere, where France is located. At my home in Canada, the ground is covered with a dazzling layer of…
Skating the Rideau Canal
Because the nation of Canada has French and English as its two official languages, the capital city of Canada, Ottawa, is a great place to go to practise speaking, hearing, and reading French. Winter is especially beautiful in Ottawa. The…