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Video section 8 |
 A French-language children's encyclopedia that is a great source for useful information - find out more... |
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Children in one school looked at the similarities between languages, reflected in their similar names for the months of the year. Latin roots for most European languages show up clearly in this table: most months begin with the same letter. |
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English |
French |
Spanish |
Latin |
German |
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January |
enero |
Januarius - from Junus the god of the doorway with two faces: one looking forward to the new year, the other back to the old. |
Januar |
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February |
febrero |
Februarius - a Roman festival of prurification |
Februar |
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March |
marzo |
Martius - from Mars, the Roman god of war |
Marz |
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April |
abril |
Aprilis - from apirere, to open (opening of spring) |
April |
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May |
mayo |
Maius - from the Roman goddess Maia |
Mai |
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June |
junio |
Junonius - from the goddess Juno |
Juni |
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July |
julio |
Julius - an additional month, named after Julius Caesar |
Juli |
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August |
agosto |
Augustus - another extra month, named after Augustus Caesar |
August |
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September |
septiembre |
September - the 7th month in the original Roman calendar, before the addition of July and August |
September |
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October |
octubre |
October - the 8th month |
Oktober |
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November |
noviembre |
November - the 9th month |
November |
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December |
diciembre |
December - the 10th month |
Dezember |
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janvier | février | mars | avril | mai | juin | juillet | août | septembre | octobre | novembre | décembre
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Along the Channel coast of northern France, winter is very similar to that in southern Britain - it's not very far away! Inland, there is more likely to be some snow falling in January. The south of France has a more Mediterranean climate. |
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Even in winter storms, the fishermen have to go out to sea. Boulogne is the biggest fishing port in France. We see the fish market on the quayside where local people can buy fish caught fresh that day. |
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The white horses are a rare preserved breed of heavy horses ("Boulonnais" horses) that back in the 19th century were used in their thousands to pull carts and farm implements, in the days before lorries and tractors. The video shows sand yachting on the beach. It's a good cold weather sport because you stay on the beach and don't get wet! |
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If children are making their own giant for your school (see Chapter 1), they will be particularly Aire-sur Lys, which are mounted on wheeled trolleys, rather than being carried by bearers hidden inside under the skirts. Each town's "giant" only comes out from their normal resting place on specific occasions. |
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Springtime - the video shows a windmill and spring lambs, the countryside beginning to turn green. Windmills were as common in the flat coastal areas of northern France as they once were in Holland (and also Belgium). The power of the wind blowing off the North Sea was used to drive pumps to drain land which used to be coastal marshes, at or below sea-level. Northern France is one of the most fertile farming areas in Europe; farmers grow good crops of wheat for making flour and bread (but today in factories rather than in windmills). We also see some show-jumping with horses, a popular sport in France as the weather gets warmer. |
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The video shows wild flowers (including orchids in a special reserve) growing on a former colliery slag-heap in northern France. People have worked hard to turn an ugly devastated area of useless land into a new environment where local people can enjoy walking, cycling and looking at nature. It also shows children taking a boat ride along the river through the historic former mining town of Douai. |
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The video shows another new use for old industrial land: waterskiing on a man-made lake, which was once a bleak drainage pond for polluted water pumped out of the coal mines. French school children have a long summer break, through most of July and August. In the hot weather, people in inland areas flock to the nearest lake for activities like waterskiiing and swimming. |
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The video shows cycling along the beach, and more sand-yachting in the height of summer. French families leave the big cities like Lille and Paris for the whole month to stay on the coast. Seaside towns often have good summer activities for children, like the supervised beach club, and the sailing school shown. |
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Every September children go back to school, but in Lille, it is also the time for a famous street market called the "Braderie". The streets are closed to traffic, and anyone is allowed to set up a stall in the street to sell anything from works of art to antiques or old junk. Hundreds of thousands of visitors travel from miles around to explore many stalls for "treasure". All the cafés sell the traditional snack, mussels -and-chips ("moules-frîtes"); they compete to see which has the largest pile of mussel shells outside their door! |
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The video shows children learning to ski on a huge dry ski-slope that has been made out of an old slag heaps in this former coalmining area. In winter, they might go with their families to ski on snow in the French mountains. |
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Towards the end of November, families start getting ready for Christmas. In northern France, many towns have Christmas markets, where people can still buy traditional food, drink, presents, and decorations to prepare for the great feast. |
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The video shows scenes in the town of Lille in the days before Christmas. Every year the giant big Ferris wheel is erected in the large square in the town centre; the stalls and funfair rides of the traditional Christmas market spread out through the adjoining streets. |
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Schools in UK and France worked together on this project to record their traditions and celebrations at different times of the year, and on special days. ***HIGHLY RECOMMENDED http://www.european-schoolprojects.net/festivals/France/France.htm |
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