Wednesday, August 26, 2009



Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Oakland, CA

Hello my beloved students and new students,

How are you all keeping? I hope you had a beautiful summer break and that you are all ready to resume school ;-)

I have decided to create this blog to keep contact with you and let you know about my new life in the United States. Mrs. Tazi and I wish to pursue the school project you were part of last year, and I think this is a good way to keep track of it. Of course, I will use English on this site, but don't worry, I have enclosed a vocabulary box at the end of this post. Do not be anxious if there are some words you don't understand. This blog aims at getting you used to reading English, and Mrs. Tazi will help you in case you don't understand everything.

So let me just begin with listing the different things you did last year and which are going to be important when we start our new 2009-2010 school project:

  • You did a group research on the Civil Rights movement, starting with the American Civil War (1861-1865) which put an end to slavery in the USA, but was replaced with segregation (I hope you still remember the definition); then you did reports on Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Tommie Smith
  • You watched the movie "Glory" about the Civil War and the first African American troop soldiers, and also "Remember the Titans" about school integration in the 1960s
  • You sent a happy birthday message to Tommie Smith
  • You did an email correspondence with the youth track and field team of Oakland, whose athletes are teenagers like you and who are coached by Dr. Tommie Smith. In your emails, you introduced yourselves, talking about your hobbies and pastimes, your school, your trips abroad, your family, the languages you speak, etc.
  • You sent Team Oakland French lessons to teach them basic words in French and created videos so that they would be able to associate the spelling with the right pronunciation
  • Some of you greeted Team Oakland when they first arrived in France and you also met Dr. Mark Alexander, who is the President of Tommie Smith Youth Athletics
  • Some of you went to the Champs-Elysées with Team Oakland and you climbed up the Arc de Triomphe
  • Some of you took part in a track meet with Team Oakland in Saint-Ouen
  • You went to a debate where you interviewed Team Oakland, Dr. Mark Alexander and the coaches, about their life in the USA, the history of the team, Dr. Tommie Smith, so on and so forth
Now, I must tell you once again that I am very proud of you all and of the great job you did last year. I hope you enjoyed it and above all, I hope you look forward to resuming.

Special message to the new students:
Welcome! You have read a lot of new information; don't worry, your new schoolmates will teach you what they learned last year and Mrs. tazi will do a recap.


New vocabulary:
  1. resume: reprendre, recommencer
  2. keep track of: poursuivre, continuer
  3. don't worry: ne vous inquiétez pas
  4. enclose: inclure, insérer (un document, une pièce jointe)
  5. aim at (+ V-ing): avoir pour but de
  6. get used to (+ V-ing): s'habituer à
  7. track and field: athlétisme
  8. greet: accueillir
  9. climb up: monter, grimper
  10. track meet: rencontre d'athlétisme
  11. so on and so forth: ainsi de suite
  12. once again: une fois de plus
  13. proud: fier(e)
  14. above all: surtout
  15. look forward to (+ V-ing): avoir hâte de
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