February 2nd marks in France the celebration of La Chandeleur, ‘feast of the candles,’ from the Latin name ‘Chandelorum festum’ the Christians gave it. It is associated with crêpes making and finds its roots in pagan times when Celts and Romans before them would celebrate fertility while welcoming the return of spring and promise of the future harvest with crêpes feasting and crêpes offerings to the gods.

Today, French families celebrate with crêpes and a bottle (or more!) of Cidre from Normandy or Brittany. Legend has it that you must hold a gold coin in your left hand while you flip the first crêpe. Place the coin in the crêpe and place it on top of the wardrobe for one year and it will bring you good luck. But fear unto he whose crêpe when flipped, lands crumpled in the skillet or should fall to the floor, for he will not have good luck for one year, until the next Chandeleur!

Here's an easy crêpe recipe to celebrate at home:

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
  
• 2 eggs
  
  
• 1/2 cup milk
  
  
• 1/2 cup water
  
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
  
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  
  

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Gradually add in the flour and salt; beat until smooth.
   
   
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crêpe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
   
   
3. Cook the crêpe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn (or flip) and cook the other side. Serve hot.
   
   

I had a set of Russian dolls as a child and loved them. I would pull out a doll out of each hollow body, sort them, nest them back together, only to start all over again. Today I can see with my own children the fascination this nesting system brings to them. There is something puzzling and magical about creating multiplicity out of a single object.

This is this magical and fascinating effect that we are trying to recreate for our set: with as few props as possible, we want the Child (Polycolor's main character) to literally build the world he is acting out.

On a table, the Child progressively builds up the background in which he is evolving with materials at hand. From a variety of blocks, cylinders, cones and pyramids, and with different systems of nesting, rotation and stacking, he slowly builds a multidimensional world that we hope will surprise, fascinate and capture our audience's imagination.

When creating Polycolor, we unknowingly pushed the nesting concept even further since it turns out that Polycolor is in fact a play within a play: it is the story of a child, who is acting out a make-believe, transforming as he plays along familiar and nondescript elements into a grandiose backdrop for the story he has become part of.

Carine

When I was teaching adult beginner and intermediate levels, students always came to me to seek advice on how they could extend the classroom experience and practice on their own. Here are six easy tips to practice reading, writing, oral and listening skills at home, whether you've started taking French lessons, picked-up French again or just want to keep up your skills. The best part: you might actually enjoy it!

1. Read in French: start with children books, move on to blogs, magazines, comics, non-fictions, novels, poetry, etc. Whatever sparks your interest! Look up some key words in a dictionary but if you understand the general meaning, keep on reading. You can always go back later and check for a definition.
   
   
2. Watch a movie in French – without the distracting English subtitles. Instead, some DVDs offer French captions for the hearing impaired, try it, it will dramatically improve your French movie experience. Beware though, the captions aren't usually a true transcript of what is being said on screen, but it definitely helps keeping track of what's going on.
   
   
3. Watch the news in French. The website www.euronews.net lets you watch the news and read the transcripts at the same time, in the language of your choice. www.tv5.org is another great resource to watch the news and other programs in French.
   
   
4. Listen to French music and podcasts. Check www.listenlive.eu for a list of French radios streaming online.
   
   
5. Go to a French meet-up group. Speaking with others who are also learning the language can help you shed that fear of making mistakes. Once you realize you can communicate, your confidence will take a boost, and so will your progress. Check out http://portland.sudre.fr/portland-french-groups for a list of French meet-ups in the Portland metro area.
   
   
6. Find a French or French-speaking pen-pal. It is a great way to practice your French written skills and meet new people. Check out www.polyglot-learn-language.com
   
   
   

Carine

Here's a little insight on Polycolor, our work in progress based on Robert Neubecker's children book Courage of the Blue Boy. It is scheduled to premier in April 2012.

The concept: there is only one actor, playing the character of a child who, in the world of make-believes, pretends to be Blue as he creates onstage the different lands in which Blue evolves. His companion Polly-the calf is the child's lovey (a “doudou” in French,) and most of the play's dialogue is the child/Blue talking to Polly-the lovey as he shares his observations, questions and emotions.

The synopsis: True to Neubecker's story, the child/Blue leaves his blue land in a quest to find other colors. As he travels, he comes to the realization that, although discovering new colors is fantastic, the monochromatic lands he explores are still very much like the land he left: plain and monotone. He starts longing for diversity and eventually debarks in a big, polychromatic city. His first reaction is of excitement and exhilaration before realizing that he and Polly are the only mark of blue in the city. Fear of what other people might think, loneliness and longing for his blue land make him retreat, until he finds the courage to share his color and to eventually come back out in the city where a wonderful surprise awaits.

We are now working on the set/props and Marc Bescond is composing the original score, so stay tuned for more updates! In the meanwhile, feel free to share your comments and thoughts. We would love to hear from you about what you think of the project!

Carine

The other day I followed a link to Betsy Hammond's article on The Oregonian website about Le Monde French Immersion being granted its Public Charter school status, and a comment posted by a reader made me pause and wonder.

It asked: why French? Why not Japanese, Chinese or Hindi? True, despite the fact that French is spoken on five continents and is the official working language of international organizations such as the United Nations, UNESCO or NATO, it is not at this time the language of one of the emerging markets in the world.

And so what? I thought. Does it really matter? Do I put my child's career and future in jeopardy if I choose today for him to learn French over Chinese? Or the other way around: will my son really have more chances of being successful in his future career if he learns Hindi over Tagalog, Spanish over Quechua? Or will he benefit merely for the fact that he is learning a second language?

It seems that a handful of experts in the fields of Early Language Learning and Teaching of Foreign Languages agree to the latest and concur: learning another language enhances cognitive development and mathematical thinking; increases critical thinking, creativity and flexibility of mind; thus, leading to better academic achievement. I am no expert but I might also add that it develops empathy, open-mindedness and understanding of other cultures.

It seems to me that learning another language – and the earlier the better, will set up a child for academic success, regardless of the chosen language. To paraphrase Martha G. Abbott, Director of Education for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL): “Knowing other languages and understanding other cultures is a 21st Century skill set for American students as they prepare to live and work in a global society.”

I don't want to delve into politics and the finances of the Public School Systems, but it seems to me that any effort such as the one that granted Portland its first French Immersion Public Charter School ought to be recognized and commended.

Carine

Happy New Year to all from the Fabulations' team! We wish you all the very best for 2012.


The Staff.

As you know, we are hard at work hatching "Polycolor", our new production based on Robert Neubecker's children book Courage of the Blue Boy. 
How did we get here? 

A few years back, Jane and I discovered a translation of Robert's book in the French magazine Tralalire. We loved it immediately. The illustrations were just perfect for kids to relate to, naive and colorful, yet full of clever details. The story line was simple enough to be understood by the youngest ones and yet brought much deeper thoughts about travels, differences and multiculturalism. We started using Le courage du petit garcon bleu in our M. Moustache class on a very simple level to teach the colors in French. Jane kept mentioning how much she liked the story and when we started brainstorming for a new show, it actually was a no-brainer: it had to be Blue Boy! 
I found Robert's contact info on his website www.neubecker.com, e-mailed him to share our idea; and to our surprise, we immediately received an enthusiastic response! We got in touch with his agent, secured the adaptation rights, et voila! 

We promised Robert to keep him posted with the progress of our project, and can't wait to hear his first feed-backs. We'll let you know. 

In the meantime, I encourage you to check out some of his many children books, they would make a perfect gift for the young or young-at-heart you love.

Carine