Francais Friday
Hilary de Joux – Co-ordinator of French
Year 9 French cooking lesson
A highlight for Year 9 French students is learning to make traditional French crêpes. These light, thin crêpes are made in a shallow fry-pan and flipped once to cook both sides until golden brown and delicious. Crêpes originated in the French region of Brittany in the 12th Century and are a big part of French culture cuisine, and are very popular all over the world.
Language learning is such a dynamic experience and cultural activities such as cooking make all that vocabulary learning and mastering grammar worthwhile! We all had a lot of fun and they were just delicious. Well done Year 9 – c’était délicieux! Bon appétit!
Here’s a sample of what the students had to say:
- “This was the best lesson ever! Can we do it again next week?”.
- “Crêpe making with my class was such a fun experience. It was great to get a good understanding of how French crêpes are made and furthermore French culture.”
- “I love practical lessons and putting what we have learned into a fun cooking activity was great, thanks Madame!”
- “ I loved making and eating these crêpes. I am definitely going to make them again at home for my family, yum! Can we do this again soon?”
Ashley with his crepe
- “It was a good way to learn about proper food in a real life situation doing something relating to real French life”
- “Practical application to learning was really fun and it helped us understand more about French culture”
If you would like to try making our crêpes at home, this extremely simple and very traditional recipe comes highly recommended!
Ingredients
1 cup of plain flour
2 cups of milk
3 eggs
Method
Sift the flour into a bowl. Whisk together in a separate bowl the milk and eggs then add to the flour. Whisk very well until smooth and shiny. Best left in the fridge for an hour or even overnight.
Add a small knob of butter to your crêpe pan on a medium heat then pour in enough batter for a thin crêpe. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes then turn over, cook a further 1 minute on the second side.
Bon appétit!
Quarantine before ‘Quarantine’ etymology
Sometimes in class we notice the history of French words and their connection to English. Approximately 30% of English words come from French and Latin. This week in a class discussion an interesting connection to the current COVID pandemic was uncovered. In human history, the spread of infectious diseases to mass numbers of people is not uncommon. Smallpox, influenza and the Plague had no medical treatment and no way to prevent or cure these diseases. Word experts at Merriam-Webster explain that the word “quarantine” has both French and Italian influences.
In the late 1400s, English speakers borrowed the French word quarantaine which means “a period of about 40 days”. Quarante is the French word for the number 40. It is now an English word based on French spelling – with an Italian definition and Latin roots.