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Adult Program Summer Session

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The next 8-week session for the new Aux Petits Soins Language Immersion Classes for Adults starts next week, June 19. If you were thinking of joining one of our classes, now’s the time!

Whether you want to get a concentrated introduction to the basics before your upcoming trip to Paris, or you simply want to reacquaint yourself with the language and culture you love, this program was designed to help you achieve your specific goals. All classes are led by Gaëlle, a native French speaker. “I want to be your tour guide to all things French”.

The adult immersion program is an à la carte mix of social events and one-hour weekly group classes for three levels of students. Level A students (beginners) meet Tuesdays at lunchtime or Friday evenings; Level B students (intermediates) meet Tuesday evenings or Fridays at lunchtime; and Level C students (advanced) meet Monday evenings. You can find a full description of the three skill levels and what you can expect from classes here. A minimum of two students is required to start a class, with private classes available for B and C students. The social event aspect of the program is looser in format, open to all three levels, and are held in a variety of locations around Greater Lansing. First and foremost, this was designed to be fun.

If you don’t know what level is best for you, I will schedule a brief meet-up/assessment for you. This assessment is strongly recommended before enrollment. If you’ve already been assessed, you can enroll now online.

ELFF continues its run of French movies on the big screen

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This month, the East Lansing Film Festival is showing the French language film “Frantz” as part of its Spring Indie Film Series. The film was nominated in multiple categories at this year’s César Awards (the French version of the Academy Awards), including a win for Best Cinematography.

“It’s an absolutely beautiful movie, and something that definitely needs to be seen on the big screen,” says festival co-founder Susan Woods. “It captures an incredibly wide range of feelings, and the performances feel very much grounded in reality.”

The film is set just after WWI, and focuses on Anna (Paula Beer), a young German woman whose fiancé was killed in the trenches in France. When a handsome French stranger arrives in her town with a connection to her fiancé, Anna’s life is turned upside down. The film also explores the impact that war takes on both soldiers and their families, a theme that still rings true today.

“Even thought this takes place almost 100 years ago, the movie has this vibrant sense of timelessness,” Woods said. “I’m really eager to see how people react to this.”

The film will play at Celebration! Cinema, 200 E. Edgewood Blvd.
Lansing through the end of June. For dates and showtimes, go to celebrationcinema.com/location/Lansing or call (517) 393-7469.

“Frantz”  (114 minutes)
Rated PG-13
Directed by François Ozon
In French and German with English subtitles.

WATCH THE TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oop8_CgSgmo

French film: “Ma Vie de Courgette” (“My Life as a Zucchini”)

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Updated Monday, April 17 with showtime information through April 26.

OK, so it’s technically a Swiss movie, but all of the dialogue in “Ma vie de Courgette” (“My Life as a Zucchini”), the César award-winning and Oscar-nominated animated film, is entirely in French. The film is part of the Indie Film Series at Studio C!, presented by the East Lansing Film Society Film Series (ELFS) and Celebration! Cinema. 

Most of the showings are dubbed in English, but the Alliance Française-Michigan Capital Area Chapter has worked with festival organizers to ensure there will be some showings in French with English subtitles.

“It was such a great movie, and I’m eager to see it with its original French language soundtrack,” says festival co-founder Susan Woods. “It’s such a raw, poignant film, which has that distinct French blend of humor and sadness, and it was really surprising to see it recognized at the Academy Awards with these big films from Pixar and Disney. It really holds its own.”

“Courgette” focuses on 9-year-old Zucchini, who moves into a group foster home after the death of his mother. He begins to make friends with the other children, who have had similarly difficult lives. As he matures and wrestles with feelings about his complicated past, Zucchini gains the confidence to shape his future.

French language showings will play at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 21; 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 22; and 3:30 p.m. on Monday, April 24 and Wednesday, April 26. Studio C! is located at 1999 Central Park Drive in Okemos, just north of Meridian Mall. Additional showings will be held later this month — for show dates and times, call Studio C!’s office line at (517) 381-8100. 

“Ma vie de Courgette” (“My Life as a Zucchini”)
Director: Claude Barras
Rated PG-13
70 minutes
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer: 100%
WATCH THE TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2TOf1kmfk

 

 

The Guadeloupe Carnaval

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Carnaval is a major cultural event in Guadeloupe, the Caribbean archipelago/French department where I grew up. Festivities are loosely tied to the Christian calendar, roughly lasting from Epiphanie (January 6, the proverbial “12th day of Christmas”) and ending on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. It’s a wild season of celebration full of music, costumes, and — of course — lots of great food, including beignets. I miss home even more during Carnaval as there is nothing similar to it in Lansing.

It actually starts on January 1 with a parade of the “groupes à peau,” who bring offerings to the sea. This tradition, called “ben demaré,” symbolizes leaving behind issues from the past year and asking for better luck for the coming year. Then over the subsequent weeks leading up to Mardi Gras (which falls between mid-February and early March), there are parades in cities around the island. Some of these parades are expected, others are impromptu.

Carnaval reaches fever pitch with three spectacular parades between Shrove Sunday (the Sunday before Lent) and Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent). The Carnaval groups showcase the results of weeks of hard work with elaborate floats and intricate dance numbers. Each year there is a new theme, and groups fight to get the first prize.

On Shrove Sunday, Carnaval parades compete in the afternoon in Pointe-à-Pitre, the largest city in Guadeloupe. The next evening, the parade is held in Basse-Terre, the island’s capital, with costumes and floats designed to light up at night. Then on Tuesday — the big day, Mardi Gras — it’s another afternoon affair, with another parade in Basse-Terre. The festivities end on Ash Wednesday, and an effigy of Vaval, the King of Carnival, is burned.

The uniqueness of Guadeloupe is seen on Ash Wednesday as the streets are filled with revelers dressed up in black and white. Contrary to the previous days, everybody is invited to be part of this parade. It’s not a contest — the only rule is to be dressed in black and white; most people just use whatever they already have in their closets. Everybody has another chance to perform without being part of a group on Tuesday during a pajama parade in multiple cities of Guadeloupe early in the morning.

Then, with one exception, everything gets subdued on the island until Easter. There are no real celebrations of any kind but there is a built-in release day: Mid-Lent Thursday. Falling exactly halfway between Ash Wednesday and Easter, it allows everyone who’s been “good for Lents” to revive the Carnaval mood for one day only, albeit with a mischievous twist. Celebrants dress up in red and black costumes, depicting themselves as devils.

Carnaval in Guadeloupe is a rich celebration based on more than a century of tradition. It would be impossible to try to recreate that in Lansing, but hopefully by sharing details about it — and sharing beignets with all my classes — I can inspire an appreciation for this special aspect of French culture here in mid-Michigan.

The Carnaval Celebration

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This year, Aux Petits Soins is holding a series of monthly family-friendly get-togethers based around French holidays and traditions. Our first two events —  the King Cake Party in January and the Chandeleur Party in February — were resounding successes. I hope to carry that energy into this month’s celebration, the Carnaval Celebration.

Most Americans are familiar with Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) — or as I hear it called here in Michigan, “Paczki Day” — mostly because of its popularity in New Orleans. However, I’ve noticed that fewer people here in the U.S aren’t as familiar with Carnaval (Carnival), which is big in southern France and throughout the Caribbean, where there are many French departments … and therefore a lot of French history. In addition to serving as a good excuse to eat beignets — and if you’ve never had one before, prepare to have your life changed — the Aux Petits Soins Carnaval Celebration is designed to introduce Metro Lansing to this important part of French culture. 

The Carnaval Celebration will be held on March 26 at Hannah’s Koney Island in East Lansing. Please join us!

New adult program

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This month, Aux Petits Soins launches its Adult Program, a system of French language immersion classes and activities geared for people age 17 and up. The Adult Program was designed to help new and returning French speakers, and will consist of two main aspects: Classroom Time and Social Events. The classes will be broken into individual and group lessons, and split into three skill levels, as developed by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The events will be a combination of planned activities created by APS — such as weekly meet-ups, cooking classes and film viewings — and those developed by other members of the mid-Michigan French community.

My goal, at least in the beginning of the Adult Program, is to meet with all potential students in order to put them into groups where they will be able to learn most effectively. I have already started meetings, which consist of a set of questions I came up with followed by a 15-minute one-on-one conversation. All said and done, it takes about an hour. Please contact me soon to schedule your meeting.

Next Saturday, Feb. 18, there will be a French-themed dinner party at the home of some APS Children’s Program parents. The goal will is to incorporate French conversation into the evening as much as possible, allowing a good “real world” practice session and serving as a golden opportunity for local Francophiles to connect with one another. Space is limited, so please let me know ASAP if you’re interested in attending.

First Annual Chandeleur Party

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This year, Aux Petits Soins will be holding a series of monthly family-friendly get-togethers based around French holidays and traditions. Our first event held last month, the King Cake Party, was a resounding success, and we look to carry that energy into this month’s celebration, the Chandeleur Party.

Chandeleur is a distinctly French tradition, which essentially consists of getting together with friends and family, eating crêpes and drinking cider — not a bad way to celebrate the halfway point of winter, no? There are an increasing number of French-themed business in mid-Michigan, and we’ve teamed up with one of the most high-profile ones —For Crêpe Sake, a crêperie in downtown Lansing — to throw the Chandeleur Party on Sunday, Feb. 26 from 3-5 p.m. There will be crêpes, cider, activities for the kids, a French lesson and more. The grown-ups will even get a chance to try their hand at crêpe fipping, which can be surprisingly difficult until you develop a technique. More details here.

Next month, I’ll be introducing Metro Lansing to the French celebration of Carnaval. While most Americans are aware of the French roots of Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) — or, as I hear that it’s called here in Michigan, “Paczki Day” — most aren’t as familiar with Carnaval (Carnival), which is big in southern France and throughout the Caribbean, where there are many French departments and therefore a lot of French history. That party will be held March 26 at Hannah’s Koney Island in East Lansing. More details here.

Stranger in Paradise

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After being featured in The New York Times in its Jan. 22 Travel Section, Guadeloupe was also the setting for a recent edition of the podcast, Radiolab. “Stranger in Paradise” covered the interesting history of raccoons on my island, getting into issues of how science can affect cultural paradigms. But the best part for me was getting to hear the sounds of home: in the podcast, you can hear the frogs chirping at night, the birds chittering during the day, and the distinct Guadeloupe dialect in the people who were interviewed. It’s a great listen!

New York Times loves Guadeloupe!

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As you might know, although I was born in a suburb of Paris, I grew up in Guadeloupe, a French island in the Caribbean. It’s where I made my most treasured childhood and teenage memories, and it’s where my heart calls “home.”

So imagine my thrill this week to see that The New York Times featured Guadeloupe in its Travel section (“A Return to Guadeloupe: Tropical Life, French-Style”). It’s a lenghty piece, going into great depths about how the writer and her husband relished the island’s cuisine, delighted in its clime, and reveled in its culture. They truly immersed themselves in Guadeloupe, and by doing so she was able to present what I see as an authentic vision of the island — of my home. It’s a good read, and an excellent primer for anyone thinking of visiting. Which, of course, I highly recommend you do.

And when you do, make sure to stop by the rum cave/spice boutique named Le Comptoir du Nouveau Monde (The New World Counter). It’s not featured in the story, but it will become one of your favorites!