Small talks - French with Anne
By Anne Bernat
Small talks - French with AnneJan 10, 2022
Episode 30 : Easter, friends and good times
In this episode, I talk about the brunch we were invited to on Sunday at our Polish friends, Kris and Aga. As usual, they welcomed us with open arms. They prepared a traditional Polish Easter lunch: a soup to start with, sausages and boiled eggs and many desserts including a cheesecake, a chocolate tart and a Panetonne. We discussed our traditions around Easter and also shared recommendations for good books and movies to watch. Friends and good times. Nothing better than that. Happy Easter!
Episode 29 : Valentine oh valentine!
In this episode, I talk about Valentine's day and the legends behind it. I also talk about the French expressions related to love and how the world celebrates it. Enjoy and Happy Valentine's to everybody!
Episode 28 : Career week
In this episode, I talk about career week at my son's school. It is a week where parents are invited to talk about their profession. Etienne asked me to participate in it and I was glad to do it. The students and the teacher, Miss Antonia, were so welcoming. They asked great questions. Later this year, I explain how I will help Etienne's teacher organise the graduation party for his class to celebrate the end of their primary school years. Today is also my son's birthday so I wish him a great 12th birthday!
Episode 27: 2024, here we go!
In this episode, I wish everybody a happy new year! I resume what we did as a family for Christmas and our New Year holidays. I also explain why we have been busy lately with our upcoming wedding and how much our kids participated in the planning. I also explained how 2024 started off with new students and new challenges. Happy listening!
Episode 26: Will
In this episode, I talk about Will, my step son who just celebrated his 12th birthday. I talk about the person he is and all the ordeals he had to go through in the last three years due to his drug resistant epilepsy. I speak about his new school and his Paralympic club that he attends every Saturday. I praise him for being so brave and kind, and for teaching us every day two important things: positivity and humility.
Episode 25 : Fall
In this episode, I explain why this week was so good. Great temperatures! Wonderful colours of the leaves! Fall is finally here. Let's cheer to the wonderful colours around us but also to the great seasonal products we will have for a Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends.
Episode 24: Start of the school year
In this episode, I share my thoughts about the transition from primary school to secondary schools for Etienne. I also talk about the admission tests to get into a private school in Quebec when your child is in 6th grade. I also ask people to give me some advice to make my kids' lunch boxes more varied as I tend to run out of ideas when it comes to preparing lunches.
Episode 23: Summer 2023
In this episode, I talk about my latest trip to France and the reasons why this time, it was a very special holiday. I mention the places I have visited this summer and the people who came with me on this trip.
Among the places I mention, here are a few that might catch your attention if you plan a visit in Limousin:
- château de Marzac
- gouffre de Proumeyssac
- Brantôme
Happy Summer everybody!
Episode 22: Small talks about French humour
In this episode, I talk about the differences between French humour and British humour. I mention the humorists that I love watching on different platforms and the reasons why I like them so much.
Here is a list of my favorite comedians:
Florence Foresti
Michael McIntyre
Loic Suberville
Paul Taylor
As we celebrate Canada Day this weekend, let's take time to laugh harder than usual.
Episode 21: Small talks about game nights
In this episode, I speak about a new idea that I have had for our family! Saturday is our game night! We get together with our neighbours who are originally from Brazil and we play games with the kids. It takes place at either their place or ours and we eat finger food.
Here is the list of games we usually play:
1. Geo guesser
2. Heads up
3. Time's up
4. Boggle
It is something that we, as parents, have very much cherished in the last few months and so have the kids. So if you have any games you want to share with me, that would be awesome!
Episode 20: Small talks about hobbies (reading)
In this episode, I talk about the joy of reading. Since finishing my biggest contract to date with the government, I have taken a week off where I rediscovered the joy of reading. During that time, I caught up on the book Surrender retracing Bono's life (the U2 lead singer). I also started reading the book from the NPR journalist, Mary Louise Kelly: It goes so fast. It was offered to me by the kids and Bill on Mother's Day. It is such a great book! It shows how important it is not to always feel guilty as parents and that juggling family life with work doesn't come without any mistakes made along the way. The most important is to show up when we can. We can't always be perfect as humans (both at work and at home). We just need to try our hardest.
Episode 19: Small talks about 2023
In this episode, I revisit the highlights of the last few months: my trip to Banff with Bill, my weekend in Ottawa with the kids and the launch of my website. I would like to include some links here for the places I visited in Banff as I thought they were awesome and could be useful for anyone wanting to visit Banff. I also would like to share with you the website of Julien, my website designer, who I think he is so talented and professional. He is awesome too!
BANFF
http://www.littlewildcoffee.ca/
https://www.thegrizzlypaw.com/our-food/micro-brewery-pub-and-restaurant-in-canmore/
JULIEN
Episode 18: Small talks with my nephew, Quentin
In this episode, I interview my nephew, Quentin. He opens up about his hobbies, especially sports and his energetic personality.
Episode 17: Small talks with my niece, Julie
In this episode, I sit down with Julie who is my niece. She has just turned 16 and she explains how she spends her summer vacation and her school year ahead. She also speaks about the special bond she has with her dog, raven and what she does to train her to obey. At the end of the extract, she tells us about the way she views life and how important it is to embrace whichever opportunity life brings us.
Episode 16: Small talks about my mother's retirement
In this new episode, I sit down with my mum during our holidays together to discuss her retirement. She explains how she fills her time with different hobbies like painting, gardening and walking with her walking group. She also tells us about her plan with my father to open a bed and breakfast in the fall. The link for their holiday rental will appear below.
Episode 15: Small talks about my father's passion for food
In this episode, I speak with my father about his vocation as a chef and his passion for food. We revisit traditional recipes such as clafoutis which I have included the link for the recipe below. We also talk about the French eating habits (baguette, cheeses, apéritif) and the new trends.
https://www.clafoutis-aux-cerises.com/recette-clafoutis.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMj2MiB-bvM
Episode 14: Small talks about my summer vacation
In this episode, I tell you all about my summer plans, starting by my trip to France with my children to reconnect with my parents and my sister. I speak about a place I have never visited before (le Pont du Gard). I also talk about what we will do there during our week at the campsite. I feel lucky that we will have access to kayaks and canoes as there is a heatwave right now in France. Heat wave is called la canicule in French.
Here is a news article related to the heatwave:
Episode 13: Small talks about escape rooms
In this episode, I talk about my husband's birthday. I explain where we went to celebrate him: an escape room! This was a new concept for us and I wanted to share my thoughts on that evening . We went with 6 other people (our friends) and as well as solving clues, we discovered new traits about our close circle. Some are very pragmatic while others are day-dreamers. The conclusion is that we need everybody to solve mysteries as we see each situation with a different perspective and that's exactly what makes the world so interesting.
During my podcast, you will hear me read a story which was taken directly from the website of the place where I booked the escape room. Here is the link:
https://www.x-cape.ca/fr/nos-scenarios/death-row/
Episode 12: Small talks about trip to Israel
In this episode, my husband talks about travelling to Israel for his work. He explains the differences he noticed during his 5 days over there, the different types of landscape he discovered while driving through Israel, his last night in Tel Aviv and travelling first class to get there. You will notice that Bill makes some mistakes about the verbs of movement in the past, such as aller or revenir which should both be conjugated with the auxiliary être. It's a common mistake learners make and it takes practice to correct it. Example: we don't say j'ai allé but je suis allé when we want to say I went in French. The same applies to the verbe revenir: we don't say j'ai revenu but we say je suis revenu. To practice these verbs, you can click on the link below:
https://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-9508.php
I apologize also for the sound quality. I will make sure to rectify it for our next podcast.
Episode 11: Small talks about food
In this episode, I talk about food having grown up in a rural part of France and having later immigrated to different countries where food is viewed differently. I share my experiences and what I noticed living abroad. Here are some expressions I use in this podcast:
- mettre les petits plats dans les grands = préparer une belle table et élaborer un menu délicat
- prendre un pot = prendre un verre
Episode 10: Small talks about sports
In this episode, I share with you my thoughts on sports and which place they have in my life. I also talk about the verbs JOUER and FAIRE which are both used when it comes to talking about sports depending on which sport you are referring to. Here is a link to consolidate this grammatical notion, including how to conjugate them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dyx7Q_ouVY
To expand you vocabulary on sports, here is also a useful link with a little quiz at the end.
https://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-9374.php
Episode 9: Small talks about spring
In this episode, I share some thoughts about the cultural differences I noticed when it comes to talking about the weather. I also talk about my experience as a French person living in Quebec where winters are known to be very cold and what to expect if someone wants to immigrate in this part of the world. I also explain why spring has become my favorite season. In terms of grammar, you will notice in this podcast how I use a variety of verb tenses (past, present, future) but I rarely talk using the conditional tense as this is not an hypothetical situation. Here is a vocabulary list to enrich your vocabulary regarding springtime.
Le printemps
- une fleur
- le redoux (quand les températures remontent)
- la fonte de la neige
- le jardinage
- les semences
- le sirop d’érable
- Pâques
- un bourgeon
- un perce-neige
- une tulipe
- une jonquille
- le ménage du printemps
- l’équinoxe de printemps
- les crues printanières (quand le niveau des rivières monte avec la fonte des neiges)
- une hirondelle
- le merle d’Amérique / un rouge-gorge
- la pluie
- il pleut
- la boue
Episode 8: Small talks about electric cars with Andrée
Today, I have the pleasure to introduce you to my neighbour and friend, Andrée. Were will discuss her recent purchase: her new electric car. In this episode, we will address the advantages and disadvantages of owning an electric car. She will share her experience and her tips to get used to this new mode of transportation. She will also speak about what she does on a daily basis to contribute to a better environment. Happy listening!
Here is also a link if you would like to know more about electric cars. This video explains extremely well what to expect from an elctric vehicle in winter in Québec.
Episode 7: Small talks with Bill about his ski trip
In this episode, I will speak to my husband, Bill who is getting ready to go on a ski trip in Western Canada with some of his friends. We will talk about where he is going, with whom, what training he has done up until now to get ready for the touring part of the trip and of course, what benefits he gets out of these trips in complete nature. You will see that the verb to master here is the verb ALLER which is irregular. I will put it in my notes so that you can review it. Have fun listening!
Episode 6: Small talks about traditions
In this episode, I am talking about this special day that is the 2nd of February and the traditions around this date. You will discover that in some parts of the world, we make crêpes and we also predict how long the winter in Canada or Northern America will be. To support this podcast, I am including the recipe for the crêpes which are described in the audio. Hopefully, you will have some time today to make and taste them and most importantly, you will have time to breathe in and out.
- Recette classique (ingrédients pour 4 personnes) : 250 grammes de farine, 0,5 litre de lait, 50 grammes de beurre fondu, 4 oeufs, 2 cuillères à soupe de sucre, 1 pincée de sel.
- Préparation : D'abord, mettre de la farine dans un saladier. Ajouter ensuite du sucre, des œufs et du beurre fondu. Battre ensuite le tout, en versant petit à petit du lait : vous obtiendrez ainsi une pâte fluide et lisse. Il convient ensuite de laisser reposer la pâte à température ambiante pendant une à deux heures. Une phase ultra-importante, qu'il convient de ne pas éviter.
- Cuisson : Après la préparation et le temps d'attente, vous pouvez verser la pâte sur une poêle chauffée. N'oubliez pas d'étaler de l'huile sur la poêle entre chaque crêpe à l'aide d'un essuie-tout. Sans cela, il sera impossible de la faire sauter, comme l'exige la tradition de la Chandeleur. Pour bien la faire voler, décollez là d'abord légèrement avec une spatule, puis secouez la poêle, pour vous assurer que la crêpe est bien décollée. Ensuite, un coup de poignet sec et ferme devrait donner le résultat escompté !
- Garniture : En fonction des goûts, l'accompagnement varie : sucre, chocolat, beurre salé, miel, caramel, confiture, crème de marron, citron, fruits...
Épisode 5: Small talks about the confinement
This episode is about the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. An introspection about starting my own company, juggling working from home and home schooling and most importantly, about accepting failures and embracing them as lessons to learn. In this episode, I also explain how important it is to stop feeling guilty about under-achievements. Success can be measured in so many ways and we all have different starting points.
Episode 4: Meet my son: Étienne
Here is an interview with my son Etienne. He will talk about his passions, his school, his favorite books and most importantly, his cat. He loves him! In this episode, you will see how Etienne asks me how to clarify some of the questions I asked him and you will also learn new words such as truc which means thing in oral French.
Episode 3: Meet my daughter : Rosaleen
This is an episode with my daughter Rosaleen who is 11 years old. Here, she talks about her life at school and being in her last grade of primary school.
You will notice her accent from Quebec which I find fascinating, being originally from France. You will also notice how certain structures (mainly hypothetical sentences) are more difficult for her to master. I will include a document on conditional tense to help you if you are experiencing some difficulties like Rosaleen.
Episode 2. Meet my husband: Bill
In this episode, I introduce you to my husband, Bill. He will share with you his background growing up in Ottawa, going to a French immersion programme. He will also open up about some of his struggles learning French. One of them is knowing when a word is feminine or masculine. For this notion, I have attached a document which should, hopefully, help.
Episode 1: Introduction
In this episode, I will introduce myself and the reasons why I created this podcast.