McDougal Littell Discovering French Nouveau: Student Edition Level 1 2007 (French.

The world-famous French singer Édith Piaf (1915-63) was never just a singer. This book suggests new ways of understanding her, her myth and her meanings over time at home and abroad, by proposing the notion of an 'imagined Piaf.

Adrian Mole's first love, Pandora, has left him; a neighbor, Mr. Lucas, appears to be seducing his mother (and what does that mean for his father?); the BBC refuses to publish his poetry; and his dog swallowed the tree off the Christmas cake. "Why" indeed.

The first comprehensive catalogue of the Getty Museum’s significant collection of French Rococo ébénisterie furniture. This catalogue focuses on French ébénisterie furniture in the Rococo style dating from 1735 to 1760. These splendid objects directly reflect the tastes of the Museum’s founder, J. Paul Getty, who started collecting in this area in 1938 and continued until his death in 1976. The Museum’s collection is particularly rich in examples created by the most talented cabinet masters then active in Paris, including Bernard van Risenburgh II (after 1696–ca. 1766), Jacques Dubois (1694–1763), and Jean-François Oeben (1721–1763). Working for members of the French royal family and aristocracy, these craftsmen excelled at producing veneered and marquetried pieces of furniture (tables, cabinets, and chests of drawers) fashionable for their lavish surfaces, refined gilt-bronze mounts, and elaborate design. These objects were renowned throughout Europe at a time when Paris was considered the capital of good taste. The entry on each work comprises both a curatorial section, with description and commentary, and a conservation report, with construction diagrams. An introduction by Anne-Lise Desmas traces the collection’s acquisition history, and two technical essays by Arlen Heginbotham present methodologies and findings on the analysis of gilt-bronze mounts and lacquer. The free online edition of this open-access publication is available at www.getty.edu/publications/rococo/ and includes zoomable, high-resolution photography. Also available are free PDF, EPUB, and Kindle/MOBI downloads of the book, and JPG downloads of the main catalogue images.

This booklet proposes to approach the teaching of French from a multicultural perspective. The introductory section presents the reasons for recommending this orientation and the pedagogical advantages to be derived from it, emphasizing the fact that French serves as a link between several Francophone nations and their widely different cultures. Accordingly, a multicultural approach is viewed as more realistic than one that focuses solely on France, and more likely to broaden the appeal of the language as a tool for international communication. The second section offers a panorama of the Francophone regions of the world, with brief introductions to the historical and linguistic contexts into which the French language and culture were thrust, and with a list of basic readings on Francophone literature. The third section presents various activities for teaching about the cultures of the French-speaking world, arranged by level of language proficiency. The fourth section suggests ways of making or collecting instructional materials. The fifth section, a selected bibliography and guide to resources, lists sources of print and audiovisual materials for each Francophone region, including addresses of U.S. distributors and of Francophone nations' embassies in Washington. (MES)