La nuit de la St Sylvestre !

Happy New Year !

Bonne année !

Notre Tour Eiffel en habit de fêtes.

Je viens vous souhaiter une Bonne Année, amis bilingues, lecteurs ou auteurs, proches ou lointains, anciens ou nouveaux.

Recevez mes voeux de bonheur, paix et joie, pour cette année 2009 qui va s'ouvrir.

Mes voeux d'amour et d'amitié, de grand coeur et d'esprit ouvert.

Regent St - London

En 2009 , j'espère faire bientôt connaissance des amis de Louis ( de Roumanie) et des étudiants de Guy ( aux USA ) , pour le Français.

In this new year 2009, I wish you all a very happy new year

and I hope to meet here on "Imagine" some Claire's and Gloria 's students ,

for English speaking.

Anywhere in the world to-day ....

Scarbourough - 1996

In 1993 I went to Oxford. I had chosen a one-to-one course with O.I.S.E. This hasn't been my best experience. But that wasn't because of my teachers and I can understand that my 2nd school couldn't bring to me the pleasure of the discovery as well as the 1st one, in Ramsgate. Though, in Oxford, I had some beautiful and amusing anecdotal events. I 'll tell them one day. What's more, Edwina came there to see me and gave me again the advantage of her knowledge, of her friendship, and the pleasure of her guiding company.

The year after, 1995 , I went to Broadstairs, near Ramsgate, and I lived again at Edwina's home. She had a new house built for her and she was about leaving her appartment in the Tower overlooking on the port.

Then , Summer 1996, I went to SCARBOROUGH.

That is what I wanted to recall to day .

Because :

At Scarbourough there are two splendid bays. I could walk , in the afternoon, from one to other. South Bay. North Bay.

I could admire the sea all along the paths, I could think and dream in front of Anne Brontë's grave.


My host family was kind and cheerful. In my bedroom there was a great poster of The Lord of the Rings ( yes I discovered it several years before a lot of French people ) .


In the town there were always musicians, actors, dancers, and all sorts of artists performing in the busy streets.

I enjoyed once more Edwina's visit and her dynamism. She introduced me to friends of her, David and Ena,

and ,

that is the point : just last week, I have received the Greetings card from David, still living in Scarborough.

Edwina and he, are the ones who make me to say : "my friends and friends of my friends"

Ramsgate - 1993 Summer

Leaving Stowmarket, on the way back to Folkestone, we had a day in London. We did some shopping in the most crowded streets I ever saw in my life. Coming out of a huge store I could have been lost with my pupils if they hadn't had orientation sense better than me. They told me what direction we had to go to find our bus in time. Thanks a lot, modern kids !

After this fabulous 1st journey, I decided to study English again, individually.

So, in Summer 1993 , I had a subscription in Churchill House School, in Ramsgate. For two weeks. Two capital weeks !

My "land-lady", Edwina, was a helpful and caring guide as well as an attentive friend and extra-teacher.

At that time she lived a sunny appartment , top of a beautiful tower, looking on the sea-shore and the harbour. From the bay-window, at any hour we could see kites flying above the beach. We could hear and see the ferries leaving ...

The school was 2 minutes from the Tower. Any time I remember Churchill House I want to say my pleasure to have chosen that school for my 1st Summer Course.





(To be continued...)

NEIL GAIMAN : "ANANSI BOYS"

Do you know Neil Gaiman, the author of "Neverwhere" ? He is an astonishing author of astonishnig books. "Neverwhere" takes place in "London Below", a fantastic subterranean London where the tube stations open on another reality. The heroe, Richard Mayhew, is a Scot young man who goes to London to work in the City as a financial trader. Everything goes fine for him until he encounters an injured young girl named "Door" who spout of a wall just in front of him. Despite his fiancée's protests, he decides to help her but that means that he suddenly ceases to exist for regular people in "London above" and becomes real only to the denizens of 'London Below'. He loses his house, his job, his fiancée, and nearly his mind as he travels through London Below'labyrinth in an attempt to make sense out of it all, find a way back, and helps Door survive as she is hunted down by hired assassins.

I'm just finishing to read another book of the same author which title is "Anansi boys". It doesn't take place in London but in America. But it is an astounding book too. I can't resist to quote an excerpt from chapter one :

"It begins, as most things begin, with a song.

In the beginning, after all, were the words and they came with a tune. That was how the world was made, how the void was divided, how the lands and the stars and the dreams and the little gods and the animals, how they came in the world.

They were sung".

You must read Neil Gaiman !

Racontez-moi ...

Je me souviens assez de mes premiers pas dans les Blogs de quelques amis pour comprendre à la fois l'envie et la retenue de ces mêmes amis devant la page d'incitation à nouveaux messages.

Puis-je vous suggérer une entrée ?

J'aimerais que vous me/nous racontiez, par petites touches ou par rédactions plus élaborées - à votre guise - votre relation aux langues étrangères.

Quelles langues vous ont été proposées, des quelles vous vous êtes approché, comment, pourquoi vous avez continué à pratiquer ou apprendre l'une plutôt que l'autre, quels pré-requis, quelles provocations, dans votre entourage, votre famille, votre enfance, ont décidé de votre goût et de vos dispositions pour elles. Quelles rencontres ont influencé votre parcours dans ce domaine .

Il est possible qu'en racontant on fasse des découvertes ... intérieures, lointaines ou récentes, belles et essentielles.

C'est peut-être grâce aux langues, qu'on ne mourra pas idiots !

Venez ! Parlez, parlez !

Nous sommes entre amoureux d'échanges internationaux.

Ma première rencontre anglaise

Ma première amie anglaise vivait bien en Angleterre - à Ramsgate exactement - mais était fraîchement débarquée d'Australie. C'est Edwina. Deux semaines qui ont vu la naissance d'une amitié qui continue à m'émerveiller. C'était en 93.
Edwina avait passé toute sa vie en Australie, elle y était professeur d'école - comme moi . A sa retraite elle avait décidé de venir s'installer dans le Kent, dont ses grands-parents et son père étaient originaires. Dynamique et ouverte, organisée et compétente, elle s'inscrivit dès son arrivée à Ramsgate comme hôtesse d'hébergement pour étudiants étrangers. Moi, je n'avais quasiment jamais voyagé. Mais l'anglais était ma fenêtre d'aventures, mon rêve de 2nde vie, et à l'époque, l'Education Nationale nous incitait à faire de l'initiatiation à une langue étrangère en Primaire.
Je m'étais donc inscrite à Churchill House School, choisie dans les fascicules de la British Council.
L'aventure commençait, ...... et dure encore. C'est magnifique !
Et si j'ajoute la photo d'un chat c'est qu'Edwina aime les chats, .. mais elle a aussi un chien : Mango. Elle nous en parlera peut-être un jour, dans quelque "English page"

(A suivre .. Et à compléter)

Just a first trip

My first trip to England was in 1990, during Easter holidays. It was with colleagues and pupils from the School where I was teaching here in Ardeche. Brigitte, - bilingual friend -the teacher of English for our Primary Classes, was our guide and organiser. We went to Stowmarket, a small town not very far from London. We had two days and nights ( or three ? I can't remember) in an old house, like an ancient castle, where English groups of children had holidays, a sort of Youth Camp. On the 1st night we sang songs with them around a camp fire.


(To be continued ... )

Presentation

Hello everybody !

I'm French, I'm Melissa (or Melissanne, is the same), I'm 17, and I would speak about me for a presentation ...
I don't speak english very well, and I hope you understand me... If I write in a "bad" english, I'm sorry ! XD
I'm an Epidaurienne since two years,and it's by the Epidaure website that I met Maryse.
I was born in the North of France, but between 12 years and 14 years, I lived in the South of France (Aubenas, Ardéche) with my mother and my sister. It was my better life ...
Now I live in the North of France (Lille), and I'm in Terminale ES (Social and Economique).
I have more and more passions, but 3 are very important : Write, the Music, and Elton John...
I wouldn't associate Elton and Mucsic, because for me, Elton, lonely, is the god of music !

"Is not much but is the best I can do..." It's me, my life in 10 lignes...

I wish to you joy and hapiness !
Melissa.




Bonjour tout le monde,

Je suis Française, je m'appelle Melissa (ou Melissanne c'est pareil), j'ai 17 ans, et je voudrais parler un peu de moi pour me présenter...
Je suis Epidaurienne depuis deux ans, et c'est par le site d'Epidaure que j'ai rencontré Maryse.
Je suis née dans le Nord de la France, mais entre 12 ans et 14 ans, je vivais dans le sud de la France (Aubenas, Ardéche), avec ma mère et ma soeur. C'étais mes meilleures années.
Maintenant je vis dans le Nord (à nouveau), (Lille), et je suis en Terminale ES (Economique et Social). J'ai de plus en plus de passion, mais trois sont vraiment importantes : Ecrire, la musique et Elton John ...
Je ne veux pas associer Elton et la musique, parce pour moi Elton, seul, est le dieu de la musique...

"C'est peu, mais c'est le mieux que je puisse faire" C'est moi, ma vie en 10 lignes.

Je vous souhaite joie et bonheur.
Melissa.

This is Maryse

Ex teacher in a primary school, ex sixties fanatic, still English lover, new music learner ( not easy ... ) I live in South of France, in the middle of a green country ( or grey during winter) exactly at the confluence of two rivers.

I recently discovered the website ePals.com. There I met some people from all over the world. One of them is an American teaching French near San Francisco and having lived one year in Montélimar. That is what gave me the idea to create a space where we could know each other and share some moments talking - English and French - .
So let's enjoy asking questions and chatting freely.

I hope that Guy's students ( nous leur parlerons français bien volontiers ) , and Claire's ones visit us very soon. And Edwina, too, and Terence may be, and Melissanne, and Mareva ... I must send invitations I think !

I wait for you !

C'est parti !

Je voudrais adresser un bonjour spécial aux élèves de Guy, à San Francisco . Et à Guy lui-même. J’espère qu’ils viendront nous raconter quelque chose un de ces jours.
Un bonjour spécial aussi aux Epidauriens qui viendront nous visiter. Qu’ils soient les bienvenus.


La pratique d'une langue étrangère est toujours une aventure excitante.
Si, pour nécessités matérielles, j’ai privilégié l'anglais, j’ai pu goûter aussi l'italien par une fidèle amie de pensionnat, l'espagnol par ma belle-mère, l'allemand par une nièce qui vit près de Francfort depuis vingt ans, et les histoires de langues me passionnent. Même si, vous le verrez vite, mon anglais n’a pas la qualité que cette passion devrait induire. Mon envie dépasse mon niveau !
Par ailleurs apprendre une langue en tête à tête avec un livre ou un CD … manque de vie !

Beaucoup de personnes autour de moi – VOUS ! – ont cette même passion de communiquer et cultivent ce même plaisir de s’exprimer d’une AUTRE façon. Le dépaysement nous chatouille les méninges !

Mais le « one-to-one system » peut être astreignant, intimidant.

Voici pourquoi j'ai eu envie d'ouvrir ce Blog, spécialement destiné à nos échanges, "pour le fun" !

So, come along ! Be welcome !
And Talk ! Talk !
(It’s what Edwina was saying to me every day some years ago)
Talk ! Talk !
With me, with you, with every visitor.
In French, in English.
Say Hello ! or Bonjour ! Tell who you are and

ENJOY !

Welcome, Dreamcatcher

Oh My God !!!! You're absolutely the very BEST, Dreamcatcher !

Your coming here is the perfect present I could expect.

Thanks a lot !

I'm out of breathe in front of your pages !

I wish I had as much knowledge as you about what we can do in a Blog.

Just this afternoon, while working in my garden, I was thinking how miserable is the beginning of my Blog. I was telling to me : " I must go on R..'s Blog with my eyes and my brain wide open and I must look at everything in it and try to understand how every part works. If I can't do mine better, I'll have to cancel it and learn till I 'm able to do something presentable."

Finding your active and beautiful participation, I understand that it is precisely WITH visits of people like you that I'll learn.

So on the opposite of what I thought this afternoon, I decide to invite right now more people, without waiting a better presentation. Some people will help it -like you- With some other, we'll learn together.

I'll go anyway on your "Au delà des rêves" more and more. Learning and having pleasure.

Don't put away John Lennon's song ! It suits so good with my project.

Again : thanks a lot.

JOHN LENNON : "IMAGINE"

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to collaborate to your blog.

I hope you'll love this song too. If you don't, I can suppress it, of course.

It was written in 1964 by John Lennon. The clip is not great but I don't find another. Here are the lyrics :

"Imagine there's no heaven,

It's easy if you try,

No hell below us,

Above us only sky,

Imagine all the people living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,

It isn't hard to do,

Nothing to kill or die for,

And No religion too,

Imagine all the people living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one.

Imagine no possesions,

I wonder if you can,

No need for greed or hunger,

A brotherhood of man,

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer, but Im not the only one,

I hope some day you'll join us,

And the world will live as one"

Imagine

Oups !

Dear friends,
A new little "Hello" to night .
A 1st visitor told me it was impossible to put a message in my blog.
So I went to see what I could have missed.
Now I have entered your e-adresses and I'm afraid I have sent invitations to everybody twice. Excuse me for that and be welcome for writing some words.

William et Antoine

You're readers of Shakespeare, Paul Auster, Mary Higgins, Antoine de St Exupéry ...
You like listening Jacques Brel, Eric Clapton, Barbara Hendrix ...
You've been brought up with a Larousse or a Collins, on you desk ...

Hello !

Hello, dear friends and friends of my friends
I would be happy to meet you here and to make you to talk together.


We could each present and know each other.
We could imagine and write collective stories.
We could play roles or reality shows.


As you can see, my aim would be to write and read English ( regarding that I'm the great pretender as Freddy Mercury sang for other reasons) , but we could speak en français , with American students learning French, for example.


We would be rich with our whole curiosity and all our varieties of life and background.
To day, I just hope that some of you will answer Hello to my Hello !



Thanks a lot to every one who will come and see my first try.

Read you soon !