TDF day in school

[DRM]

Echelon and more famously domestique came to English decades ago and aren't much used in modern French coverage. What we call an echelon, with two diagonal lines of riders rotating through, is a tourniquet belge or simply tourniquet, and a domestique is a co-equipier (teammate). Calling a rider basically a servant of another dates from the earliest days when riders did literally hire others to serve them and now would be almost insulting in many cases.

The two words aren't quite "false friends" but maybe not the best French to teach without warning.

But it's not a full blown French lesson though is it, these are terms that can be heard on TV commentry in this country, at least the kids will understand whats going on if they watch the race, and why it's happening, after all these suggestions are aimed at junior school kids, not getting an A Level in French!

 

[Jameshow]

Talk about what and how riders eat duri g the race and drink and what they do if they need a wee? Can you do something about the women's tour too?

Doing a Paula!!

 

[mjr]

But it's not a full blown French lesson though is it, these are terms that can be heard on TV commentry in this country, at least the kids will understand whats going on if they watch the race, and why it's happening, after all these suggestions are aimed at junior school kids, not getting an A Level in French!

Those are terms that can be heard on TV here, sure, but they're not used for their modern French meaning, which is why some caution should be used not to present them as such. One day those kids might be up for an A level and mistakenly refer to a teammate as a servant, or a line of people as a step, or some other Tour de Franglais. By all means tell them the terms, but also that they're not correct French the way they're used. Brits struggle enough with languages without farking them over avoidably.

 

[McNobber]

You got them all signed up for Fantasy Tour on velogames, right? Surely that was a 'given'? Surely...

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Get them to watch this for a year or two on a small '80s' telly, whilst serving them Crispy Pancakes and potato waffles as it was only on for an hours special at c.7PM.

Watch their dinner get cold as they watch!

Yep, like me, that tune should ignite ANYTHING!! 😆:

View: https://youtu.be/WLSUsw04O6M

 

[Ming the Merciless]

You could cover what each region (the TDF is currently passing through) is famous for.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Get the telly on ITV4 and let them watch it. You could point out the interesting facts to them as they watch, or do what our teachers did when they chucked us in front of the telly, disappear to the bike sheds for a ciggy.

 

[Mike_P]

Get the telly on ITV4 and let them watch it. You could point out the interesting facts to them as they watch, or do what our teachers did when they chucked us in front of the telly, disappear to the bike sheds for a ciggy.

Could work on mute with class discussion especially during the endless ad breaks

 

[matticus]

You could cover what each region (the TDF is currently passing through) is famous for.

 

[McNobber]

Could work on mute with class discussion especially during the endless ad breaks

They'd all be traumatised with the charity "ads" - dog meat farms, baby bears in cages ripped away from their mithers, cat abuse, dog abuse, child abuse, child rape, FGM...

 

[Jameshow]

They'd all be traumatised with the charity "ads" - dog meat farms, baby bears in cages ripped away from their mithers, cat abuse, dog abuse, child abuse, child rape, FGM...

They must think we are an incredibly kind hearted bunch driving round in our Skoda's with Panama hats on the back seat!

 

[Dogtrousers]

The French don't call it Bastille Day, officially it celebrates 14 July 1790 (not storming the Bastille in 1789) and many celebrations are on the evening of the 13th, with the holiday of the 14th used to recover. Not that any of that affects le Tour!

Just in case anyone else was surprised by this, here's a little shot of a French person (I assume) calling it "Bastille Day" in English but "Fete Nationale" in French:

 

[Cathryn]

Tour de France day went really well! My session was one of three - one history lesson with music, one cafe session with croissants and French speaking and my TDF session!

I only had 20 mins so I did some slides all about the tour with pics of jerseys, maps, British riders etc. They genuinely loved it, so many good questions and their eyes opened wide when they saw crowds on the mountains! They did some TDF games and paper based activities and then I put GCN on so they could watch and a a surprising number or children just sat and watched and spotted the ‘yellow person’, kept commenting on the speedometer in the corner and asking if any riders had died doing it 😳 I think I made some converts and got to watch the racing whilst at work 🤣

 

[mjr]

Just in case anyone else was surprised by this, here's a little shot of a French person (I assume) calling it "Bastille Day" in English but "Fete Nationale" in French:

View attachment 698738

Yes, well, whoever runs Le Tour socials knows what the crazy rosbifs call it and tries not to confuse them!