For the Thursday group only

Dear students,

As convened and agreed, on Thursdays, from next Thursday onwards (March 12), we will start class at 8:30 am except when there is an in-class test. To allow you to finish your test for 10-15 extra minutes, we will start at 8 am. As you know, the next class after our class starts at 10am.

Best regards,

Mounir Nassor (mounirnassor@yahoo.co.in)

For March 10 and 12: message for all groups

Barefoot College in India: prepare 5 questions and their answers, check and start learning the vocabulary:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec08/indiaschool_10-06.html

Movie Earth by Deepa Mehta next Tuesday (March 10) at 7 pm at La Sorbonne

The movie Earth by Deepa Mehta will be screened at La Sorbonne (amphi Milne Edwards) next Tuesday (March 10) from 7 pm to 8:30pm. You are all most welcome to come and join us. The movie will be screened in original version with English subtitles.

Here is a trailer (use Internet Explorer instead of Mozilla Firefox if this does not work):

Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

Deepa Mehta's epic tale of the hateful religious and civil wars that took place in India and Pakistan in the 1947 battle to gain independence from the British, EARTH is the second movie in a trilogy from the director, preceded by FIRE (1996) and followed by WATER (due in 2001). The story, which is based on an autobiographical novel entitled CRACKING INDIA, by Bapsi Sidhwa, is told through the eyes of a little girl, Lenny (Maia Sethna), who has one leg in a brace. The impediment keeps Lenny from being very active, so she spends her time sitting and talking with her loving nanny, Shanta (Nandita Das), whose beauty attracts a faithful following of about six male friends. Lenny and Shanta sit in the park, fly kites, take long picturesque walks through the ruins outside their village, and all the time Lenny is absorbing the conversations around her. Between Shanta's Muslim and Hindu suitors--one of whom is a Sikh--and Lenny's parent's varied group of Parsee and Catholic friends, the debates about the futures of India and Pakistan, including a litany of stereotypes, fearful opinions, and hateful feelings about all parties involved, become more and more heated. Finally, Lenny watches as the warring begins. A horrific trainload full of the bodies of massacred Muslims arrives in their town. Gangs march through the streets raging with violence. Hindu tenements are burned to the ground. Lenny is terrified, and as she struggles to understand all that is happening--and why--the tragedy only gets worse. EARTH is an intense and moving film that illustrates beautifully the terrifying political and cultural atmosphere of 1947 India.

Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/1099317-earth/?critic=creamcrop#contentReviews

Message for all groups: for Tuesday (March 03) and Thursday (March 05)

• Listen to the report on Coretta Scott King from PBS.ORG very carefully and several times

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remember/jan-june06/king_1-31.html

• Prepare 5 questions and their answers on this report (we will use them for class discussions/debates)
  
• Check the vocabulary and start learning it
• those students who want more grammar explanations and exercices, we will do that from 9:30 am to 10 am (after the class)

Program of the second semester:

• Phrasal verbs (see list given during the first semester)
  
• Idioms (the idioms studied during the first semester will be in the bonus questions: ARM/EYE/FOOT/HEAD/HORSE/LEG)
  
• Vocabulary based on second semester (audio) reports and articles
  
• Audio reports (listening comprehension + expression)
  

Message for all groups: for Tuesday (Feb 17) and Thursday (Feb 19)

• Listen to the report Oregon Discovery from PBS.ORG very carefully and several times

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june08/firstamerican_06-30.html

• Prepare 5 questions and their answers on this report (we will use them for class discussions/debates)
  
• Check the vocabulary and start learning it
• those students who want more grammar explanations and exercices, we will do that from 9:30 am to 10 am (after the class)
• Reminder: you are all most welcome to see the movie Water by Deepa Mehta next Tuesday (Feb 17) at 7pm in amphi Milne -Edwards

Food Crisis

This report is from VOA (Voice of America - 14 April 2008). For the transcript, here is the link:

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2008-04/2008-04-14-voa1.cfm

Message for all groups : grades / your second exam papers

Dear students,

I will return your last papers this week starting from tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan 20) every morning in room Chastagnol (one floor below the history department's office-near the announcements sign boards) from around 9:30 am to 01:00 pm until Friday (Jan 23) 1 pm (...except Saturday and Sunday mornings!).

In order to get up to 2 points maximum, you will have to correct all the mistakes and rewrite the entire paper before Monday (Jan 26) noon at the latest and return it to the History dept's office or preferably to me in room Chastagnol from 9 am to 1pm.

You can also come and see at the same place (room Chastagnol) on Wednesday (Jan 21) and Thursday (Jan 22) afternoons (from 2 pm to 6pm).

My deadline for returning your grades to the administration is on Tuesday Jan 27. So no extra time will be given since I will not be able to do anything to those of you who are late. You can also send your corrections by email and scan the original paper.

DO NOT FORGET TO RETURN THE ORIGINAL PAPER SO THAT I CAN SEE THE DIFFERENCE!

Best regards,

Mounir Nassor (mounirnassor@yahoo.co.in)


THURSDAY GROUP

	IDIOMS	VOCAB	AUD REPORTS
	/20	/30	/40
BSS Mxm	10	17,5	6,5
CHN UZN Jc	13,5	25	1
VNGLST Nbt	11	20,5	13
GVN Jbpt	15,5	27	20
GNT Lvr	16,5	15	18
GLLR Jsc	8,5	8,5	0
L GRSLR Jstn	14	12	2,5
LMRT Mcl
PNCN Ls	12,5	9	18
SRX Nn	11,5	13	4
SVL Fn	16	18,5	0
TFR Mrt	16	24,5	23
UHL Flx	8	1,5	0
AVERAGE GRADE	13,18	17,32	9,64
MINIMUM	8,50	8,50	0,00
MAXIMUM	16,50	27,00	23,00
	UNKNOWN REP	PHRAS. VERBS	TOTAL 1
	/20	/10	/120
BSS Mxm	2,5	1	37,5
CHN UZN Jc	2,5	0	42,0
VNGLST Nbt	4,5	2	51,0
GVN Jbpt	7	7,5	77,0
GNT Lvr	7	6,5	63,0
GLLR Jsc	0	0	17,0
L GRSLR Jstn	13	8	49,5
LMRT Mcl			0,0
PNCN Ls	2,5	2,5	44,5
SRX Nn	5,5	0	34,0
SVL Fn	2,5	0	37,0
TFR Mrt	3	0	66,5
UHL Flx	1,5	0	11,0
AVERAGE GRADE	4,55	2,50	43,25
MINIMUM	0,00	0,00	0,00
MAXIMUM	13,00	8,00	77,00
	TOTAL 2	FINAL GRADE	PREVIOUS
	/20	/20	GRADE
BSS Mxm	6,25	6,5	3,5
CHN UZN Jc	7,00	7,0	CF
VNGLST Nbt	8,50	8,5	9
GVN Jbpt	12,83	13	12
GNT Lvr	10,50	10,5	12,5
GLLR Jsc	2,83	3	1,5
L GRSLR Jstn	8,25	8,5	CF
LMRT Mcl	0,00	0	7,5
PNCN Ls	7,42	7,5	12
SRX Nn	5,67	5,5	8
SVL Fn	6,17	6	9
TFR Mrt	11,08	11	7,5
UHL Flx	1,83	2	CF
AVERAGE GRADE	7,21	7,25	8,25
MINIMUM	0,00	0,00	1,50
MAXIMUM	12,83	13,00	12,50

TUESDAY GROUP

	IDIOMS	VOCAB	AUD REPORTS
	/20	/30	/40
BNGN G Thr	0,0	2,0	0,5
BRND Cml	15,5	24,0	35,0
CHBD Fnn	18,5	30,0	21,0
CRL Stpn	17,0	29,5	31,0
DSM Jltt	8,5	2,0	15,0
DLPR Mtld	14,0	26,5	12,0
DLLRS Sr	16,0	24,0	18,0
L CB LM Bt	15,0	8,0	6,0
L GLL Arl	18,0	30,0	22,0
MTRT Bttn	7,0	18,0	0,0
DBZ Cdr	12,0	20,0	15,0
PPNTR Frs	13,5	30,0	17,0
PTT Ml	18,5	29,0	30,0
RGR Md	13,0	30,0	20,0
SCHNDR Dlphn	15,5	30,0	28,0
VRML Flrn	19,0	21,0	7,0
AVERAGE GRADE	13,81	22,13	17,34
MINIMUM	0,00	2,00	0,00
MAXIMUM	19,00	30,00	35,00
	UNKNOWN REP	PHRAS. VERBS	TOTAL 1
	/20	/10	/120
BNGN G Thr	2,0	0,0	4,5
BRND Cml	6,5	1,0	82,0
CHBD Fnn	7,5	1,5	78,5
CRL Stpn	14,0	10,0	101,5
DSM Jltt	6,5	0,0	32,0
DLPR Mtld	1,0	3,5	57,0
DLLRS Sr	5,5	8,5	72,0
L CB LM Bt	4,5	0,0	33,5
L GLL Arl	5,0	6,0	81,0
MTRT Bttn	1,0	5,0	31,0
DBZ Cdr	13,0	0,0	60,0
PPNTR Frs	1,5	7,0	69,0
PTT Ml	9,0	6,5	93,0
RGR Md	5,0	9,0	77,0
SCHNDR Dlphn	9,5	1,0	84,0
VRML Flrn	2,0	0,0	49,0
AVERAGE GRADE	5,84	3,69	62,81
MINIMUM	1,00	0,00	4,50
MAXIMUM	14,00	10,00	101,50
	TOTAL 2	FINAL GRADE	DEC GRADE
	/20	/20
BNGN G Thr	0,75	1,0	0,5
BRND Cml	13,67	14,0	14,0
CHBD Fnn	13,08	13,0	14,0
CRL Stpn	16,92	17,0	18,0
DSM Jltt	5,33	6,5	0
DLPR Mtld	9,50	9,5	10,5
DLLRS Sr	12,00	12,0	12,0
L CB LM Bt	5,58	5,5	C F
L GLL Arl	13,50	13,5	12,0
MTRT Bttn	5,17	5,0	C F
DBZ Cdr	10,00	8,0	8,0
PPNTR Frs	11,50	9,0	9,0
PTT Ml	15,50	17,0	17,0
RGR Md	12,83	13,0	11,0
SCHNDR Dlphn	14,00	14,0	C F
VRML Flrn	8,17	11,5	11,5
AVERAGE GRADE	10,47	10,59	10,58
MINIMUM	0,75	1,00	0,00
MAXIMUM	16,92	17,00	18,00