Seeing in the new year

Last Saturday we had  lunch at our favourite café – there must have been about 14 of us around the table.  We usually come prepared with themes and topics to talk about, but usually everyone has so much to say to each other that we don’t even get time for the theme.  This was certainly the case this day.

We wanted to eat together to mark the beginning of a new year.  It was a great networking time – people swapping business cards and email addresses, and we enjoyed talking in English about what we did with our Christmas/New Year holiday.  It was good to have some new people, including Ryan from Florida who just happened to be wandering around looking for a place to have breakfast.

As always our friends at the Café le Bon Pasteur put on a great welcome – the café was completely full at lunchtime, which is always a good sign.

Check out the dates for our next meetings in the green panel on the right.

D’autres cafés polyglot sur Nantes

Il y a un véritable engouement pour les échanges en différentes langues à Nantes.   Si jamais nos horaires ne vous conviennent pas, voici quelques options sur d’autres jours de la semaine, et en différentes langues…

Nouveau! Café Polyglot, 20h00, le lundi 1/11/10 au bar La Provence, 2 rue de Vauban, Nantes (accès par la rue de l’Arche Sèche).  Pas d’inscription nécessaire.  Chacun paie ses consommations.

Également à La Provence:

Tous les mercredis à 18h30: L’HEURE ALLEMANDE

Le 2è et 4è jeudi du mois: STAMMTISCH (toujours en allemand, organisé par le CCFA)

Le 1er et 3è jeudi du mois à 18h30: L’HEURE ESPAGNOLE

Au Café de l’Europe – pl. de  Commerce, Nantes

20h00, jeudi 4/11, Autour du Monde, l’association des étudiants internationaux organise une soirée polyglotte au café de l’Europe (franco-allemand, franco-anglais, franco-espagnol, franco-russe, franco-tchèque,…).  Pour plus d’informations.

Est-ce que vous êtes au courant d’autres rencontres dans les cafés de Nantes où on peut pratiquer des langues étrangères?  Pourquoi ne pas laisser un commentaire pour nous informer.

October update

Hello everyone,

Café des langues is still going strong.  We had a group of 11 last Saturday, and had so much to talk about that we didn’t even start on the theme for the day – just the way it should be.  We have a mix of French people and anglophones from different countries (USA, New Zealand etc.).  You don’t have to sign up – there is no cost other than the purchase of a drink at the café.  It’s quite relaxed – even if you can only come for an hour – it’s no problem to arrive late and leave early if you need to.

¿Hablas español? Récemment nous avons eu plusieurs demandes concernant l’espagnol – si cela vous intéresse, prenez contact avec nous par mail, ou par commentaire sur ce blog.  Une fois que nous avons un petit groupe on va se lancer à parler la langue de Cervantes!

Les dates pour nos prochaines rencontres sont affichées à droite.

Au plaisir de vous rencontrer.  Cliquer sur Qui sommes-nous pour plus d’informations.

 

Cafe de Langues dates for June!

I just wanted to send out the upcoming dates for the month of June for Cafe de Langues. You may notice that there are more in the month of June, that is due to the reason that Simon is gone for the summer and the Americans, who fortunately have more free time, are able to do more days. Do not feel obligated to come to every single one but please feel welcome to come to as many as you can! You may also notice that there are more Wednesdays than Saturdays, this is due to a trip that we, the Americans, will be taking to Paris.

Wednesday, June 9th
(6.00pm to 8.00pm)

Wednesday, June 16th
(6.00pm to 8.00pm)

Wednesday, June 23rd
(6.00pm to 8.00pm)

Saturday, June 26th
(10.00am to 12.oopm)

Wednesday, June 30th
(6.00pm to 8.00pm)

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us, we will do our best to answer them and/or forward them to Simon.

Oops – a mistake with the date

In case you arrive on our site looking for information about dates:

We had scheduled a meeting for Saturday May 1st, forgetting that it is of course a pubic holiday, and not only will there be no public transport, but our favourite café where we meet regularly will be closed for a well deserved break.

Sorry for the confusion: there will be no meeting on May 1st.

Il n’y aura plus de rencontre le samedi 1er mai.

The next meeting will be Wednesday 5/05 at 18h00 as planned.

Have a peaceful weekend.

Been and Gone

At the last session we talked about what we did over Christmas, and also some of our travels.  We heard all about Egypt, Lebanon, and some other exotic places.

Here’s something that came up: what’s the difference between BEEN and GONE, for example:

Where is Brian?  For once, Brian is NOT in the kitchen…

Brian has been to Egypt.

Brian has gone to Egypt.

Both BEEN and GONE are used as past participles of the verb GO, but with different meanings.

GONE means “left for” or “travelled to”.  BEEN means “travelled to and returned from”.

If I say Brian has gone to Egypt, that means he’s in Egypt now.  If I say he has been to Egypt, this means he is back in France again.

Notice the following sentences on a similar subject:

Brian came back to France. (not *at)

He came home. (here we don’t need “to”)

Brian has never been back to Egypt. (not *gone back).

Our next meeting is at 10.00am on Saturday 23/01.

Happy New Year!

May 2010 be full of good things for you, and a good year for improving your English!

It has been very quiet at the Café des langues in recent weeks for a number of reasons.  But we would like to start the new year as we mean to continue.   The first meeting for the new year will be on

Wednesday January 13th from 6.00pm till 8.00pm

at our usual place, the Café le Bon Pasteur in Nantes.

We will have a lot to catch-up on – come prepared to tell us how you celebrated Christmas and New Year, and whether you have made any new year’s resolutions.

Check the column on the right for the dates for the first trimester.

Look forward to seeing you.  Pour plus d’informations sur le Café des langues, cliquez ici.

No meeting on Saturday 31/10

It’s a shame, but we will have to put off (reporter) the fun of speaking English together until the next meeting which will be happening on  Saturday 14 November from 10.00 till 12.00 at the usual place.

Look forward to seeing you then.

We’re back!

This blog has been very sleepy over the summer months, but the Café des Langues has opened again.  We decided to try meeting on a Wednesday evening for a change, and had our first session on September 16th  with a few new people.  We will try to alternate between Wednesdays and Saturdays to make the gatherings more accessible for more people.

In our last session we talked about the interesting things we did over the summer.  Kathryn from New Zealand told us all about her travels.  She talked about some of the differences, and how she nearly got in trouble for not validating her train ticket (composter).  We told her a bit about Nantes.  We told her a little about her history, with words like…

• slave trade
• Carribean
• West Indies
• landowners
• race
• sugar
• spices
• cotton
• wealthy = rich (the noun is ‘wealth’)

A few of us had travelled abroad to other European countries over the summer.  We also talked about our leisure activities.  Françoise told us about her painting, and the following question was asked:

*For how long do you paint?

We thought we could improve the question, and came up with:

How long have you been painting (for)?

Notice that we generally put the question word (who, which, what, where, why, how etc.) at the beginning of the sentence.

Some of us worked over the summer, which brought up the following sentence:

*I’m used to work in the summer.

We improved it a little:

I’m used to working in the summer. (j’ai l’habitude de travailler l’été).

We noted that there is a similar sentence that means something quite different:

I used to work in the summer. (je travaillais en été.)

Good to be practising English again at our favourite café.  Next meeting: Wednesday 30/09 at 8.00 pm

Language from our last session: talking about birth order

We talked about so many things at our last meeting!  Here is a little summary to remind you of some of the language that we used.

1.  Talking about our plans for the weekend. “What are you planning to do this weekend?  What are your plans for the weekend?  What have you got planned for the weekend?”

I intend to + infinitive

I’m planning to + infinitive

I’m thinking of + -ing

I intend to visit a flea market (marché aux puces).

I’m planning to go to a garage sale (vide-grenier)

I’m thinking of looking for some paperbacks (livres de poche) at the second-hand bookshop. (= librairie.  Notez que “library” = bibliothèque/médiathèque)

I’m going to work around the house. (je vais faire du bricolage). I’m going to do some painting (peinture) and wallpapering (tapisserie.  Notez, “tapisserie de Bayeux” = tapestry).

I’m going cycling / going for a walk / going for a ride (dans une véhicule) / going riding (à cheval) / going hiking (faire une randonné)

2. Talking about the weather.

It’s pouring down.

It’s raining cats and dogs.

3. Talking about health.

I have a stomachache / a headache / a toothache.

I have the stitch. (J’ai des points de côté)

It hurts. (ça fait mal)

4. Talking about birth order. This was fun.  We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of being the firstborn, the middle child, the youngest, or an only child.

fraternal twins (faux jumeaux)

identical twins (jumeaux)

siblings (nom collectif pour les frères et soeurs; normalement au pluriel)

He’s older than me.

There is a gap of 8 years between me and my sister.

The firstborn has to show an example.

Parents expect a lot of the firstborn.  They are more demanding of the firstborn.

The firstborn has to look after his younger siblings.

The firstborn is the guinea pig (cobaye).

The youngest is spoilt (gâté).

The youngest has to wear hand-me-downs (des vêtements que le frère ou soeur aîné(e) à déjà porté)

Our next meeting will be on Saturday April 4th at 10.00 AM at the usual place.  All welcome!