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Welcome to my French class blog. I hope to post periodically with updates on what's going on in class.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Fighting Stereotypes

I was tweeted this article the other day, and finally got around to reading it:  http://f24.my/k7slWP

For as long as I've been teaching French (yes, back when my students rode dinosaurs to school and chiseled homework assignments on stone tablets) my students have made comments like "Don't French people all smell bad?", "The French are dirty -- they don't take showers",  and "French women don't shave".  I have tried to explain to them that in my experiences, those stereotypes are not true, but I always get the feeling many of them don't believe me.  Now, I have proof!  After you check out the article, think about the following stereotypes that many French people have about Americans (found here:  http://caloriecount.about.com/american-stereotype-ft97267).  Do you agree or disagree with them?  Don't forget to leave a comment!

Americans are fat, stupid and lazy.
Americans are arrogant.
Americans are loud and obnoxious.
Americans are very materialistic.

Here's a video by the British comedy troupe "Flight of the Conchords".  How many stereotypes of the French can you identify?

2 comments:

  1. Former student here. [Sup it's Mea!] As I was lollygagging around the ESM Website I found your blog, and I'd like to point something out - Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand based comedy folk duo.

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  2. Thanks for sharing the video, had my feet tapping. Yes, lots of stereotypes, but how can you not love the French for these!?

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