Le Drapeau vert: the story and NOW the board game!

[sameoldbuttercup]

I heart you more than ever, now, LL

I can't believe I missed meeting you in Toronto in November!

I also can't believe that your students get THIS and I had to suffer through "Marie Chapdelaine"

Keep groovin', Lovely!
xo

[luddite lady]

[quote]I can't believe I missed meeting you in Toronto in November![quote]

Hi buttercup! I saw you guys before the show but I never spoke to you. My Mom always told me never talk to nutters. Meeting up with some of you before the show was a complete fabrication on my part. I met you all on line after the fact. I told the story that way to keep it simple, and if I gave too many details about this place, I'm afraid some of my students might invade our playground.
Thanks for all the encouragement with this. You guys are making it so much fun!

[kimmy]

Hey LL......

Waiting for part 2......

I'm desperately brushing up on my French skills.... off to Monte Carlo on Wednesday and well they are pretty crap so far!

I can ask for a single train ticket, but not a return....

I can ask at what time does the... but not last train go...

And god knows how I tell someone I have either a hotel room or a gig ticket reserved....

HOWEVER I can order a glass of wine or beer and say thank you, so all's not lost!!

Kimmy

[English-lion]

This is so cool All I remember is being so bored in French class ( I failed it by the way) Didn't think I'd needed it ha I married a French Canadian

[Emmanuel]

La suite, la suite !!

On veut la suite !!!

[dafttart]

Just lovin' this Makes me want to try French again!!!

LL, you're FAB!!!

[luddite lady]

Wow! You guys are making *me* feel like a freakin' rock star. I totally understand second hand concert joy, but second hand French class joy is a little weird. I think it's hilarious, though. Thanks so much.

Kimmy, you're going to Monte Carlo and you know how to order wine. Why would you need to know how to say return ticket? You've got a good reason to stick around that beautiful place. So, to enable you to extend your visit, I'm not going to tell you how to say aller-retour. Shit, I just did! Can. not. resist. the. urge. to. teach.

I'm still typing up the second installment. I was going to work in my backyard this morning, but my creepy neighbour guy is still drunk from last night and he was yelling across the fence at me, "Hey, beautiful lady!" So, I came inside to hide. I guess that's a good excuse to finish working on part two. I'll give it to you guys straight up. You won't have to conjugate any verbs like my students will do on Monday.

[Madgrad]

[quote="luddite lady"] I'm still typing up the second installment. I was going to work in my backyard this morning, but my creepy neighbour guy is still drunk from last night and he was yelling across the fence at me, "Hey, beautiful lady!" [/quote]


D'oh! How long has creepy neighbor guy been your neighbor? He's harmless I hope.

When are y'all done for the year, LL? Do you have to give finals? Always hated end of the year grading. What you got goin' on right here is some fun, though. Almost makes me wish I'd taken French! Have fun!

[luddite lady]

Mad, school ends the last week in June, but the grade 8's graduate the week before and get an extra week off school. Report card season is coming up. Luckily, there are no final exams or anything. But I'm one of the school's track coaches, so it's a crazy busy time for me. That's what makes this little project of mine all the more insane. But hey, I'm enjoying it, and it is making my last days with my darling grade 8's so much fun. Proof of which is the word darling that I just used. By this time in the year "little buggers" is usually the kindest term I can find for them.

Anyhow, kiddies, here's part two. The English will follow shortly.

Le Drapeau vert: Partie II
Un rock star très sympa

Le concert était formidable. Sting, Andy et Stewart sont entrés en scène et ils ont joué énergiquement tout le soir. Parmi les spectateurs, Madame a pu voir des fans avec le drapeau. Plusieurs fois entre les chansons le batteur a souri, a ri et a salué de la main. Il a pointé souvent vers son drapeau. À la fin du concert, Stewart est venu au bord de la scène. Il a regardé le drapeau et les fans. Il a pointé son doigt d’une manière dramatique et amusante. Il a ressemblé fortement à un danseur de disco.
<<Oh là là! L’histoire était vraie,>> a pensé Madame.
Les fans de Stewart et Madame ont parlé après le concert et ils sont devenus amis. Pendant plusieurs mois Madame est devenue amie avec des fans de partout dans le monde parce qu’ils ont communiqué sur Internet. Même Stewart Copeland y a communiqué parfois avec les fans. Il a expliqué qu’il trouve le drapeau très cool. Il est le rock star le plus gentil du monde.
Sting et Andy ont vu les fans avec le drapeau pendant les concerts, mais ils n’ont pas compris.
Ils ont dit à Stewart, <<Il y a toujours un de ces drapeaux à chaque concert. Combien de drapeaux y a-t-il?
Stewart a souri fièrement, <<Il y en a seulement un!>>
La tournée a continué et on a annoncé beaucoup d’autres concerts de Police. Un jour on en a annoncé un à Buffalo. Madame a réfléchi, <<Buffalo n’est pas loin. Je vais y aller et regarder ce concert. Peut-être je vais avoir la chance de signer le dos du drapeau cette fois. Elle a discuté de ses plans avec ses amis sur Internet. Puis Kellie, la fan qui a créé le drapeau , a envoyé un courriel à Madame:

<<Veux-tu montrer le drapeau au concert de Buffalo?>>
Madame a répondu rapidement:
<<Oui! Bien sûr!>>
Elle est devenue très contente. Elle a pensé, <<Je vais signer le drapeau! Au concert Stewart Copeland va pointer vers moi et son drapeau devant vingt mille spectateurs. Je suis vraiment chanceuse!>>

[luddite lady]

The Green Flag: Part II
A Very Nice Rock Star

The concert was great. Sting, Andy and Stewart came on stage and played energetically all night. Among the audience, Madame was able to see the fans with the flag. Several times between songs the drummer smiled, laughed and waved. He pointed often at his flag. At the end of the concert, Stewart came to the edge of the stage. He looked at the flag and the fans. He pointed his finger in a funny, dramatic way. He really looked like a disco dancer.
"Oh my! The story was true," thought Madame.
Stewart's fans and Madame spoke after the concert and they became friends. Over several months Madame became friends with fans from all over the world because they communicated on the Internet. Even Stewart Copeland communicated there with his fans sometimes. He explained that he finds the flag very cool. He is the nicest rock star in the world.
Sting and Andy saw the fans with the flag during the concerts, but they didn't understand.
They said to Stewart, "There's always one of these flags at each concert. How many flags are there?"
Stewart smiled proudly, "There is just the one!"
The tour continued and they annonced many other Police concerts. One day, they announced one in Buffalo. Madame thought, "Buffalo is not far. I'm going to go there and watch this concert. Maybe I'm going to have a chance to sign the back of the flag this time. She discussed her plans with her friends on the Internet. Then Kellie, the fan who created the flag, sent an e-mail to Madame:
Do you want to show off the flag at the Buffalo concert?
Madame answered quickly:
Yes! Of course!
She became very happy. She thought, "I'm going to sign the flag! At the concert Stewart Copeland is going to point at me and his flag in front of two thousand people. I'm really lucky!"
*************************
Author's note to nutters: In my class version, I'm changing the names of the guilty (i.e. the nutters) to protect the guilty (i.e. the nutters) from the innocent (i.e. my students). If the little tikes have the desire, I know they already have the smarts to crash in on this little party, and if they do, I want to protect your identities a little. I'd be toast though. Unless there is another insane French teacher out there writing another unit plan for grade 8.

[Emmanuel]

Whoa, what a suspens... Can't wait for the rest Madame.
But french language is really capricious : we use to say "'UNE' rock star" in french (direct translation from 'Etoile' I suppose). So, "une star gentille ou une star sympa".

Btw this post is really great, I've got family who were teachers (parents, grand-parents now retired) and, according to them, yes sometimes, knowledge learning has to pass by a kind of seduction like this with pupils.

A bientot, -hoping my english is understandable, ;-p -
Manu

[luddite lady]

Shit! I guess the author's note is pretty much moot since I just shouted it all over the Internet. I'm really an idiot sometimes. If you want me to change your names, I still will. Just to make it fractionally more challenging for my students. I really don't think any of them will be that interested to do the required research to find this place. But who knows. The only ones I'm really concerned about are those whose real names show up here a lot and one certain wonderful lady who uses her real name as a screen name. You know who I mean. I gotta mention her in chapter three when I finally get to the concert venue.

[Lynne]

Magnifique! Partfait! Merci beaucoup. Je suis tres chanceuse aussi.

One small edit: do you want to say "Sting and Andy", or do you want "Sting et Andy"?

[luddite lady]

[quote="Lynne"]Magnifique! Partfait! Merci beaucoup. Je suis tres chanceuse aussi.

One small edit: do you want to say "Sting and Andy", or do you want "Sting et Andy"?[/quote]

Yikes! Thanks Lynne for spotting that. My kid was talking to me in English while I was typing, so I guess my brain was a little confused. My hand written story that I was copying from said "Sting et Andy"

And thanks to you, too, Manu. Wow! I have an international team of proof readers working on this! I never knew about the UNE rock star thing. I assumed that it would be masculine since most nouns borrowed from English are (e.g. le parking, le base-ball, etc.) Please, don't get L'Académie française after me. I'm not going to correct it for my students' version. They aren't advanced enough to handle those types of nuances. They still have a hard time accepting that the word personne is always feminine. If I changed it to une rock star, I could see myself in class getting all hot and bothered defending the masculinity of "ma rock star préférée".
BTW, your English is great!

[luddite lady]

Because I promised and I don't know when I'll get to be on line again for awhile, here is part 3. I typed it kind of fast. So feel free to point out errors. There's lots of fabrication in this one, but the spirit of the story rings true. A really crappy (because I'm tired) English translation to follow shortly. Enjoy

Le Drapeau vert: Partie III
Des surprises à Buffalo

Avant le concert de Buffalo, il y en a eu un à Ottawa. Le drapeau est venu d’Ottawa avec une fan et Madame l’a reçu à Toronto. Le drapeau a pué un peu mais il a beaucoup voyagé. Il a suivi la tournée de Police partout. Il est allé en Amérique du Sud, en Australie, en Nouvelle Zélande, au Japon et à Hawaii. Puis il est retourné en Amérique du Nord. Madame a regardé les signatures au dos du drapeau. Il y en a eu beaucoup. Joyeusement, elle a ajouté son nom aux autres.
Le jour du concert est arrivé. Ce matin Madame était un peu nerveuse. Sa place n’était pas très près de la scène. <<Est-ce que Stewart va voir le drapeau?>> Madame a pensé anxieusement.
Avant de partir pour Buffalo, elle a reçu un courriel de Kellie:
J’ai acheté des billets pour le concert à Buffalo. Je vais y assister avec
nos amies, Betsy et Nancyrose. Nous pouvons rencontrer au concert. Et
il y a une autre grande surprise pour toi ce soir! À bientôt.
Wow! Madame était excitée! Elle n’a jamais rencontré ces trois amies, mais elles ont souvent parlé ensemble sur Internet.
Madame et le drapeau sont allés à Buffalo en auto. Avant le concert, elle est entrée dans l’arène avec le drapeau dans un petit sac à dos vert. Elle a couru vers la scène pour trouver ses amies. Leurs places étaient excellentes, au centre du premier rang. Madame a reconnu les trois femmes parce qu’elle avait vu leurs photos. Mais il y a eu une autre femme avec elles.
Kellie a dit à Madame, <<Voilà la première surprise. Je te présente Kate, notre amie britannique. Elle est venue de Londres pour regarder le concert avec nous.>> Madame était étonnée. Kate était une de ses très bonnes amies sur Internet.
<<Mais il y a une autre surprise,>> a dit Nancyrose. <<J’ai ce billet pour toi.>> Elle a donné un billet à Madame. C’était pour une place au centre du premier rang à côté d’elles. Madame est presque tombée. Quelle grande surprise.
<<Oui!>> Kate a crié. <<Nous allons regarder le concert des meilleures places de l’arène avec le drapeau et nos amies internationales. Ce spectacle va être fantastique!>>