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France

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 by in LEARN | 0 comments

france_flag_header

Crossing the English Channel we head over to FRANCE which will be our 5th country studied after England, Scotland, Ireland and Iceland. When I think of France I think of vineyards, wine, cheese, baguettes, croissants, the Eiffel Tower, old castles, elegant churches, farm cottages and the French Riviera – oh, and my husband’s annual favorite… Le Tour de France. Can’t wait to explore!

PASSPORTS:

We start off our country by stamping our passports, pasting in the flag, and noting the name of the country, continent and the main language(s) of the people in that country. We’ll also color in the country on our world map in the centerfold.

MAPPING:

francemap_IMG_5156

ABOUT the COUNTRY:

LANGUAGE:

  • learning some French with Mango Languages online
  • remembering a tiny bit of mom’s French learned in Canada in school!
  • Listened to English speaking French dialects at IDEA – International Dialects of English Archive – France.  What is interesting is at first they read the same script choice of a couple – but then afterwards they just talk freely about their life or whatever is interesting to them… and that is when you can really hear the different dialect differences shining through.

LANDMARKS/WONDERS:

france_collage1

READING:

  • Madeline series

MOVIES:

  • Ratatouille
  • The Aristocats
  • An American in Paris (not filmed in Paris though)

PEOPLE:

frenchchildIMG_5153Read about a French child in the ‘Children Just Like Me’ by Kindersley book.

Some other famous French citizens:

  • Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Marie Antoinette
  • Cocoa Chanel
  • Brigitte Bardot
  • Jeanne d’Arc
  • Cyrano de Bergerac
  • Jacques Cousteau
  • Marie & Pierre Curie
  • Paul Cezanne
  • Gerard Depardieu
  • Christian Dior
  • Yves St. Laurent
  • Louis XIV
  • Louis-Philippe I
  • Henri Matisse
  • Louis Pasteur
  • Nostradamus

WILDLIFE/FLORA & FAUNA:

ART/CRAFT:

  • color in stained glass windows – Dover book
  • embroider lavender sachet
  • Versailles photo frames (picked up an ornate frame from our co-op blessing table for free! Pebbles painted it with gold paint.)

france_collage3

stainedglass_IMG_5159

CUISINE:

  • Beef Bourguignon with Roasted Potatoes
  • Tarte Tatin (Upside-down caramelized apple tart – this was VERY rich and delicious, best with ice cream and tart still warm)
  • Chocolate Croissants or Eclairs (we bought these from the bakery)
  • Quiche Lorraine (made from scratch! Huge hit with the whole family!!)
  • Baguette with different cheese selections
  • Pain Perdu (like French Toast but we like to make with Hawaiian Bread sliced thick)
  • Crepes (OK so really we cheated and made more like Swedish pancakes… very thin pancakes)
  • Chicken Cordon Blue (Happened to already have these in the freezer from Costco!)
  • Croque Monsieur (Crunchy Mister)
  • Madeleines (A hybrid type cake and cookie in a pretty scalloped seashell shape – happened to find in the bakery ready made as well. Easy!)

MASTER_TarteTatin

REFLECTIONS ON FRANCE

postcards_france

Super fun country to explore!! Not sure if the Beef Bourguignon would have been better had we not had a 3 hour power outage from the storm right in the middle of making it…. either way, too much wine taste for the kids. Won’t make again. 😉

We could have spent months on this alone… but many calories later… it is time to travel south west to SPAIN!

 

 

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