French L6: Example 2
Example 2: First canteen experience
Maeva — Alors comment tu as trouvé ton premier repas à la cantine? Ça t’a plu?
Afshana — Euh, c’est différent … je ne suis pas sûre …
Maeva — Non, mais dis-moi la vérité.
Afshana — Les frites étaient bonnes, elles étaient plus fines que chez nous.
Maeva — Tu n’as pas aimé l’entrée?
Afshana — La salade de carottes râpées? Oui, mais la vinaigrette était trop salée à mon goût.
Maeva — Alors en Nouvelle-Zélande, qu’est-ce qu’on mange à midi?
Afshana — D’habitude ma mère me donne quelque chose comme un sandwich, des chips et un fruit.
Maeva — C’est tout, juste un sandwich? C’est assez? Tu n’as pas encore faim après ça?
Afshana — Non, n’oublie pas qu’on a seulement 40 minutes pour déjeuner. Mais quelquefois le matin, pendant la récré, j’achète un 'pie'. Tu sais, ça ressemble à une tourte. Mais je ne les achète pas tous les jours … c’est cher! Et on ne gagne pas grand-chose quand on travaille comme caissière.
Maeva — Tu as le droit de travailler pour avoir de l’argent de poche! Quelle chance!
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Context and text type
Afshana, an exchange student in New Caledonia, is eating for the first time at the school canteen with her host sister, Maeva.
Text type
Conversational exchange, informal. Interactive.
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Examples showing how the student is:
Communicating information, ideas and opinions beyond the immediate context
Afshana hesitates as she is not sure how to respond to Maeva’s question:
- Euh, c’est différent je ne suis pas sûre …
In order to give information, Afshana makes comparisons with the food she is familiar with:
- Les frites étaient bonnes, elles étaient plus fines que chez nous.
Afshana uses the imperfect tense to describe a continuing action or a past action of long duration:
- Les frites étaient bonnes, elles étaient plus fines que chez nous.
Afshana’s replies make Maeva curious about what she experiences in New Zealand, so she asks her a direct question:
- Alors en Nouvelle Zélande, qu’est-ce qu’on mange à midi?
Afshana reminds Maeva about a significant difference in school organisation in the two countries, using an imperative:
- Non, n’oublie pas qu’on a seulement 40 minutes pour le déjeuner.
Afshana identifies the source of her pocket money:
- Mais je n’en achète pas tous les jours … c’est cher! Et on ne gagne pas grand-chose quand on travaille comme caissière.
It is clear that Maeva and Afshana are constructing their understanding of each other’s culture as they talk. For example, Maeva is surprised to hear Afshana’s explanation concerning how she obtains her pocket money:
- Tu as le droit de travailler pour avoir de l’argent de poche! Quelle chance! This expression of surprise would prompt Afshana to reflect more critically on her taken-for-granted assumptions about familiar practices.
Afshana says: Non, n’oublie pas qu’on a seulement 40 minutes pour le déjeuner whereas a French speaker may say:
- Non, n’oublie pas qu’on n’a que 40 minutes pour déjeuner.
While both ways of expressing 'only' are acceptable in the context, the idiomatic use of pour déjeuner reveals the French focus on verbs to indicate the action being undertaken. Instead, Afshana uses the noun equivalent for lunch (le déjeuner), which she would use when speaking in English.
Similarly, when Afshana responds:
- Mais je ne les achète pas tous les jours … c’est cher! a French speaker may have responded: Mais je n’en achète pas tous les jours … c’est cher! demonstrating more idiomatic use of the language.
Effective communication has not been hindered by these differences in usage.
Expressing and responding to personal ideas and opinions
In response to Maeva’s initial question and subsequent prompts, Afshana expresses her view on the food she has just eaten; for example:
- mais la vinaigrette était trop salée à mon goût.
The text contains expressions that communicate frequency of action:
- D’habitude ma mère me donne un sandwich, Quelquefois, j’achète un 'pie'.
Note Ashfana’s response to a negative question:
- Oui, mais la vinaigrette était trop salée à mon goût. While her meaning is clear, a French speaker would typically use si when responding to a negative question: Si, mais la vinaigrette était trop salée à mon goût.
Communicating appropriately in different situations
The girls use informal language when they are conversing. This can be seen, for example, in their use of the pronoun tu when addressing each other:
- Alors comment tu as trouvé ton premier repas à la cantine? Ça t’a plu?
When Maeva questions her about her response to the entrée, Afshana checks that she has correctly identified it:
- La salade de carottes râpées?
When Maeva asks how Afshana enjoyed her first canteen meal, Afshaha is still struggling with her reaction to difference and is not sure how to reply:
- Euh, c’est différent je ne suis pas sûre …
Both girls appear to be in an intercultural space when Afshana explains what she eats for lunch in New Zealand and Maeva expresses surprise. They are both dealing with a challenge to their taken-for-granted assumptions about what foods are eaten for lunch.
The text illustrates the use of on to express something that is generally accepted:
- Non, n’oublie pas qu’on a seulement 40 minutes pour le déjeuner.
Afshana reveals a different cultural practice when she explains who usually provides her lunch at home in New Zealand:
- D’habitude ma mère me donne quelque chose comme un sandwich, des chips et un fruit.
Understanding how language is organised for different purposes
Afshana and Maeva both use the word sandwich. However, sandwich refers to something rather different in English and in French. The girls do not explain what they mean by the word, possibly because they both assume the other has the same thing in mind.
The text illustrates the use of the pronoun tu (you), indicating a familiar relationship:
- Tu sais, ça ressemble à une tourte.
Afshana mentions a New Zealand food, using the English word for it. She then explains what a 'pie' is, realising that Maeva would probably not know:
- Mais quelquefois le matin, pendant la récré, j’achète un 'pie'. Tu sais ça ressemble à une tourte.
Abbreviations are a feature of informal language; an example, la récré, can be found in the text: … pendant la récré (la récréation).
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Opportunities for developing intercultural communicative competence
Students could investigate a range of texts about meals and food in French-speaking environments. They could note the items mentioned and explore these further to gain an understanding of the values placed on these foods and the cultural practices associated with them. They could them make comparisons with their own languages and cultures. How might they use this learning to help them create oral, written, and visual texts to communicate with other speakers of French?
Last updated January 16, 2013
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