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Re: French In Action, as a learning device?

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:51 pm
by MorkTheFiddle
tomgosse wrote:
Carmody wrote:Well talking about you and myself also. I have to keep reminding myself not to get discouraged and to keep on keeping on.

Keep on truckin' !

Thanks, Tom. I haven't seen that funny picture in ages. And now the Bee Gees' song "Stayin' Alive" pops up in my head as the tune those four guys are marching to. "Stayin' Alive" and "Keep on truckin" are both good mottoes for language learners.

Re: French In Action, as a learning device?

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 8:32 pm
by Carmody
Trivia............for those just starting out with FIA

You may be noticing The Man In Black who is shadowing Mireille. For what it is worth, he was at the airport in the background when Robert picked up his luggage.

Can you find him?

Re: French In Action, as a learning device?

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 12:14 am
by tomgosse
Carmody wrote:Trivia............for those just starting out with FIA

You may be noticing The Man In Black who is shadowing Mireille. For what it is worth, he was at the airport in the background when Robert picked up his luggage.

Can you find him?

He is the man who picks up a piece of luggage that looks just like Robert's. When I first saw it I thought he was going to switch bags.

Re: French In Action, as a learning device?

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 2:07 am
by Tomás
I googled the drageur (pick-up artist) episode today, because I could hardly understand any of the skit. It turns out that back in 1990 some Yale students complained that FIA was sexually harassing them due to this episode. I would have thought that learning how to deal with this kind of guy in his own language would be a useful thing to know, but it seems they disagreed.

I'm still not sure why this skit was so difficult for me to comprehend. The skit in the subsequent episode was much easier. And if all French people talked like The Professor, I could almost claim to have advanced listening skills.

Re: French In Action, as a learning device?

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 6:20 pm
by Carmody
in 1990 some Yale students complained that FIA was sexually harassing


It is my understanding that 2 (and only 2) female students complained. Capretz deemed the accusations as having no merit and decided to make no changes to anything in the material.

Re: French In Action, as a learning device?

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 6:38 pm
by Carmody
Re Marie-Laure

As you progress in the course Marie-Laure will play a greater part.

Many Americans have been shocked by the way she is treated throughout the course and take great exception to it. On the one hand many people think that Americans spoil or pamper their children far too much; as in behaving like helicopter parents. The French raise their children in a different fashion. They have the tendency to treat their children in a more adult manner earlier on in life.

There are exceptions to all generalizations but people pretty much come down in one camp or the other when viewing how people are raised in the different countries and how Marie-Laure is treated.

I believe she is my very favorite character in the show. Everyone else in the show is an actor or actress, but she is an eleven year old who is acting as an eleven year old and consequently has all the energy and spontaneity of her age.

But then again there is always........Monsieur Guignol at the end of most of the shows.

Re: French In Action, as a learning device?

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 7:30 pm
by Elexi
J'adore M. Guignol!!! I saw a Guignol show recently and I was pleased that he was just as obnoxious and violent as he always was. It reminds me of the ultra violent era of Punch and Judy that I grew up with in the 1970s.

Re: French In Action, as a learning device?

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 8:50 pm
by Xenops
I found an interview with Professeur Capretz: https://fiafans.org/2009/11/16/professeur-capretz-nous-repond/ I need to learn more before I can understand all of it. ;)

Re: French In Action, as a learning device?

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 10:53 pm
by Tomás
Carmody wrote:
in 1990 some Yale students complained that FIA was sexually harassing


It is my understanding that 2 (and only 2) female students complained. Capretz deemed the accusations as having no merit and decided to make no changes to anything in the material.


The link above led me to Part 2 of the interview in which Capretz discusses the controversy:

https://fiafans.org/2009/12/02/professeur-capretz-et-ses-reponses/

In the subsequent response he claims never to have noticed that Mirielle often goes braless. I'm not sure I believe that.

Re: French In Action, as a learning device?

Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 5:48 pm
by Carmody
There is no controversy for anyone who has actually done the course. Any arguments arise from people outside looking in.