Ho! Ho! Ho! Six-pack with Santa...

Oups...

Il est un peu tard, mais je rappelle qu'il y a LV1 demain matin.

Arthur: my copy.

I.                What are Morgaine’s motivations in the film and in the book?

Morgaine is set on preserving the old ways, which means fighting the Christians. Since Arthur has converted to the one God, she becomes his most bitter enemy. In the film, this implies that she is evil, as it is based on a Christian version of the legend. In the book, we have Morgaine’s vision, which presents her as open-minded, and the Christians as intolerant.

II.            Explain why the Quest for the Grail and how it ended.

Arthur has forsaken his throne and as he weakens, the land suffers. To atone for his sin (the incest with his half-sister), he needs the most Christian symbol possible: the Holy Grail. All his nights will die in the quest, save one: Percival (or Galahad), who will eventually find it.

III.        Explain the reasons for Lancelot’s going away and coming back.

Lancelot is guilt-ridden because of his liaison with Gwenevere, and he cannot face Arthur and the truth. But when Arthur’s end is near, he comes back to help his friend and obtain forgiveness.

IV.        Why are there so few references to Taliesin?

Taliesin is a Pagan enchanter who placed his faith in women. As the legend has been handed over the generations by Christians, who focus on the men and discard the Pagans, he cannot be a prominent character in the versions of the legend that we know.

V. In the Arthurian legend, who were:

·      Ygraine : Arthur, Morgaine and Anna’s mother. Sometimes depicted as a priestess from Avalon.

·      Gwenevere : Arthur’s wife, queen of the Summer Country. She was a Christian and converted Arthur (and England with him).

·      Viviane : the Lady of the Lake, and Lancelot’s mother. She is sometimes considered as Merlin’s paramour and some even say she is in the Tower of Air with him. There are even some accounts that she is Ygraine’s sister.

·      Anna/Morgause : younger daughter of Gorlois and Ygraine, and therefore Morgaine’s full sister. Her son, Gawain, is heir to the throne until Mordred’s birth.

V.            Name two of Arthur’s knights not related to his family.

Lancelot, Percival, Galahad, Caradoc, Tristan, Mark, Bohors, Bevedere, Agravain…

VI.        Why is the round table round?

The knights come in a circle because there is no end to a circle: everybody is equal and has an equal view of the assistance.

VII.    What does the Arthurian legend represent in History?

The legend tells about the unification of Great Britain. Many kings called on it to justify their conquests. It is also the story of how England became a Christian country. Arthur is the symbol of the English national “soul”.

Les grilles de notation à l'oral.

Vous pouvez copier-coller les grilles pour les agrandir, pour une meilleure lisibilité.

Les critères de notation sont relativement flous et ne tiennent pas compte du nombre de fautes ni de la prononciation. Il s'agit vraiment de fluidité et de contenu: se faire comprendre est l'essentiel. Il est donc important de s'entraîner, sans focaliser sur la grammaire.L'examinateur remarquera plus un mot bien placé qu'une faute de conjugaison.

Odd thoughts about the benefits you can derive from my wisdom (or not). Considérations intempestives sur les bénéfices que vous pouvez tirer de mon expérience (ou pas).

Last Summer, I supervised a group of pupils who went to England with an organisation organizing linguistic trips. I stayed in High Wyccombe (pronounce "High Wyccam"), roughly half-way between London and Oxford. That city may be of interest to know because they have two places that are relevant to what we have seen in class:

The Royal Grammar School (the "RG"), which is one of the best two Grammar Schools (for boys) in England, and Hazlemere High School (for girls), which is one of the top 5 schools for girls.

Obviously, they provide students for Oxford University and the University of London... 

Interestingly enough, the city also has an independent school, but it is probably the only place where pupils who can afford to go to independent school choose to go to the grammar (or high) school. That independent school was created for the children of the French aristocrat refugees during the Revolution.

"And now for something completely different": this is in no way related to the class, but I stayed with a man who very strongly ressembles John Cleese. John Cleese is one of the Monty Python, the most famous representatives of English Humour (Rowan Atkinson / Mr Bean did his first TV appearance in a show hosted by John Cleese). They made three films, among which "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", a nonsensical version of the Arthurian legend. 

One of the phrases that came over and over again in their show "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was "And now for something completely different", which I am using here).

 Before the Monty Python existed, Cleese already had his own TV series: Fawlty Towers. I strongly recommend it. Besides, it was shot four hundred yards from where my host family lives...

Teaser

Sommersby, le tag qui tue et la bataille des temps.

Lorsqu'on pose une question en anglais, on respecte toujours la structure: auxiliaire-sujet-verbe.

Do you like school?
Did you sleep well?
Have you done your homework?
Has he been sleeping?
Must I work more?
Should it have been easier?

Pour répondre, la tournure idiomatique se fait sous forme de "tag", c'est à dire sous la forme d'une reprise du sujet et de l'auxiliaire: Yes I do (/No I do not); Yes I did; Yes we have; Yes he has; Yes you must; Yes it should...

Les "question tags" sont des expressions qui se perdent un peu, mais qui ont une vocation itérative (c'est à dire qu'elles insistent sur le sens du message ou de la question). Ils orientent la question et laissent peu de marge de manœuvre dans la réponse. Si la proposition principale est affirmative, le question tag est négatif:

You like school, don't you? (la réponse attendue est évidemment oui).

It should have been easier, shouldn't it? 

Si la proposition principale est négative, le question tag est positif:

He hasn't been sleeping, has he? (la réponse attendue est évidemment non).

Dans le film Sommersby, la difficulté vient de ce que la question est en deux parties, l'une positive et l'autre négative:

"Are you sure (that) I am not your husband?"

D'où la réponse: "Yes, you are not". c'est à dire "yes (I am sure that) you are not (my husband)".

Pour pratiquer ces tags (et s'entraîner à poser des questions à des temps peu employés), il existe un exercice surnommé bataille des temps, qui fonctionne comme une bataille navale. 

 Il faut être deux. Chaque partenaire prend une des grilles et y place ses bateaux, matérialisés par des blocs de cases posés horizontalement ou verticalement (un porte-avion de quatre cases, deux cuirassés de trois cases, trois torpilleurs de deux cases et quatre navettes d'une case). 

A tour de rôle, on cherche à couler les bateaux de l'autre en tirant dans des cases. 

Pour atteindre la première case en haut à gauche dans la première grille, il faut poser la question "like school", avec le sujet "Alan", et il faut la poser au présent simple. Donc: "Does Alan like school?" S'il y a un bateau, la réponse est "Yes, he does", sinon "No, he doesn't".

Pour savoir s'il y a un bateau dans la case de la grille du bas qui se trouve à la 8ème ligne, 5ème colonne: "Had Mark been having dinner?" Réponse: Yes, he had / no, he hadn't...

Une fois la règle assimilée, les possibilités sont infinies. 

Vous pouvez aussi vous amuser à essayer de trouver des situations où les tags sont improbables, comme ce "Yes, you are not".