Ypres (2) / British government-funded trips to teach UK pupils about the sacrifices of the fallen 

(Level: Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate / B1 to B2 / ** to ***)

UK teenagers visiting WW1 battlefields
as part of a government-funded scheme
Photo credit: independent.co.uk

To mark the centenary of the outbreak of WW1, the British government planned last year to give every comprehensive school the opportunity to send pupils to sites like Passchendaele near Ypres and the Somme in France from spring 2014 to 2018 so that "the bravery and suffering" of the fallen British and Commonwealth soldiers should not be forgotten.

You are going to watch a Sky News report focusing on the first government-funded school trip to World War One sites in Belgium and northern France. 

The Cloth Hall, Ypres, before WW1
Photo credit: www.ww1westernfront.gov.au

The Cloth Hall, Ypres, in ruins
Photo credit: www.visitflanders.co.uk

Passchendaele then...
Photo credits: commons.wikimedia.org  (top picture);
en.wikipedia.org (this one)

...and Passchendaele today (Tyne Cot Cemetery)
Photo credits: www.toerismewesthoek.be (top picure)
and www.commons.wikimedia.org (this one)

Before watching:

The following words could be useful:

a flagship project: a project regarded as (one of) the most important one(s)      projet phare

prohibitively expensive: too expensive / unaffordable      trop onéreux; inabordable

without fail: definitely          sans faute; impérativement

to lay a wreath: to place flowers (a band of flowers) on a grave e.g.     déposer une couronne de fleurs

Poppy wreaths laid at the Menin Gate, Ypres
Photo credit: www.riflemantours.co.uk

NOTES
If you want more details about the poppies, poppy wreaths etc, see The Tower of London's Poppy Field  posted on 29th October on this blog. 

A comprehensive school: a large state secondary school for boys and girls of all abilities aged 11 or over. (Oxford Guide to British and American Culture)

While watching:

Answer the following questions in French:

What does the project launched by the British government consist of and what does it aim at?

You can also watch the report on the Sky News site by clicking HERE

If you are interested, you can also find more details about the British Government's project by clicking HERE. (See the passage "Battlefield visits for schoolchildren".)

You can also read an article in The Independent focusing on the visit of thousands of teenagers to the battlefields of the First World War: click HERE

Ypres (1)
(Level: Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate / B1 to B2 / ** to ***)

Here is first a short film (partly in Dutch with English subtitles) (*) in three parts that is really worth watching before any visit to Ypres! 

In this programme you can get to know more about Ypres such as: 

• its strategic position on the Front Line (hence its complete destuction);
• the incredible number of unexploded bombs, mortars, grenades... which are still being collected today in the fields around by the Belgian explosives disposal service;
• the chemical weapons which were used there for the first time;
• the Menin Gate, the military cemeteries and the Last Post;
• ...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

(*) It was originally a programme by VPRO Televisie which you can also watch by clicking HERE

Here is now an interesting short film comparing war-torn Ypres to a now fully reconstructed city (*) 

(*) Ypres: Now and Then (from the University of Oxford's First World War Poetry Digital Archive)

Would you eat seaweed?
(Level: Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate / B2 / ** to ***)

Seaweed is said to be back on the British plates as it is considered a widely available and tasty superfood. 

You are going to watch a Sky News report by East of England correspondent Emma Birchley visiting the Seaweed Company in Cornwall (*) and various places where seaweed has become a must-have ingredient.  

Seaweed on a beach...
Photo credit: goodnewsnetwork.org

...and seaweed on a plate!
Photo credit: vitalsustenance.com

(*) You can consult the Cornish Seaweed Company's official website for more details about their activities and seaweed as superfood: click HERE

Before watching:

The following words could be useful:

to harvest: to collect or gather (what has been grown e.g.)      récolter  

superfood: food that has health-promoting properties    super-aliment / aliment à haut potentiel pour la santé; offrant des qualités nutritives élevées

thoroughly:  carried out completely and carefully           à fond / de manière conséquente

Cornwall
Map credit: commons.wikimedia.org

West Cornwall
Photo credit: www.iknow-cornwall.co.uk

While watching:

Answer the following questions in French:

1. Could you just pick up some seaweed on the beach and make a side dish with it? 
2. What are the advantages of consuming seaweed?

You can also watch the video on the Sky News website by clicking HERE

When you are finished, you can check your answers.

1

Non

Les algues doivent subir pas mal de tests en laboratoire, en plus d'être soigneusement lavées avant de pouvoir aboutir dans l'assiette (certaines peuvent contenir de hautes concentrations en métaux lourds ou / et micro-organismes... 

2

• On n'en sera jamais à court!
• Nourriture riche en sels minéraux et en vitamines et capable de prévenir toutes sortes de maladies.
• Pour l'instant, un chiffre d'affaires de quelque 3 milliards de livres sterling à l'échelle mondiale. Or, quand on sait que les côtes britanniques sont très étendues et qu'une minuscule portion est exploitée...!
• Un must dans pas mal de restaurants, en guise d'accompagnement (ou en potage...)
• (Nourriture abondamment consommée dans la société asiatique en raison de ses vertus; alors pourquoi pas en Europe?)
• ...

Pedestrianisation of Oxford Street?
(Level: Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate / B2 / ***)

According to a recent report, London's Oxford Street should be pedestrianised because otherwise it is facing major problems.  But some do not agree.

Oxford Street
Photo credit: www.ibtimes.co.uk

Oxford Street
Photo credit: dailymail.co.uk

Before watching:

You are going to watch a BBC news report focusing on the issue. 

BBC London's correspondent V. Hollins is speaking to Stephen Knight, the report's author, and Richard Dickinson representing West End businesses. Both have contrasting opinions about the issue. 

The following words could be useful:
to pedestrianise: to make pedestrian areas          aménager des zones piétonnes, piétonnières 
to spew: to eject (in large amounts)               rejeter / répandre 
exhausts: gases ejected from vehicles          gaz d'échappement 
to throw up big issues: to refer to big issues, problems ... repeatedly     mettre en avant / mettre en lumière... 
refuse trucks: refuse lorries / lorries used to dispose of the rubbish collected from homes        bennes à ordures   



While watching:

What are the pros and cons of pedestrianising Oxford Street?

Complete the following chart in French.

Arguments for pedestrianising / Pros (+ Solutions)	Arguments against pedestrianising / Cons (+ Solutions)

You can also find the video on the BBC News website by clicking HERE

When you are finished, you can check yourt answers.

Arguments for pedestrianising / Pros + Solutions

Arguments against pedestrianising / Cons  + Solutions

Des milliers de bus et de taxis plus toutes sortes de véhicules diesel en abondance et les émissions de gaz considérables dans l’atmosphère. Zone commerciale hautement polluée. Dangers en tant que piétons de se faire renverser (en moyenne, un piéton tous les cinq jours) Mettre des bus à émission nulle en circulation. Créer la zone piétonnière la plus longue d’Europe.

Plusieurs tentatives dans le passé de créer des passages à plusieurs voies pour piétons à hauteur d’Oxford Circus mais échec + comment concilier le passage de 180 millions de passagers qui empruntent les quatre stations de métro environnantes ? Qu’adviendrait-il des 24 lignes de bus qui traversent Oxford Street dans les deux sens ? Quid des taxis ? (et le manque à gagner si interdits de passage ?) Opter plutôt pour une circulation réduite mais pas pour une interdiction totale de celle-ci.

The Tower of London's Poppy Field
(Level: Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate / B2 / ** to ***)

'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' is a major art installation in the moat of the Tower of London and marks the centenary of the First World War. 

The Tower of London Poppies exhibit
Photo credit: pinterest.com

If you want to know more about the art installation, you can consult this page from the official Tower of London's website: click HERE

"A River of Blood"
Photo credit: hertfordshireandbeyond.wordpress.com

A field of poppies
Photo credit: dailymail.co.uk

You are going to watch a BBC report focusing on the Queen's and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh's visit to the poppy field at the Tower of London.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in the Poppy Field.
Photo credit: ww1.canada.com

Before watching:

The following notes could be useful:

The Remembrance Poppy has been used since the end of the First World War to commemorate all the British and Commonwealth soldiers who fought and died in the war (not just the First World War).  

But why the poppy?

This ordinary, but delicate and scarlet red flower grows in Europe and also in Flanders. When a Canadian major and military doctor, John McCrae, noticed that they could spring up in spite of the overall devastation and burial grounds around him, it is believed that he started composing the poem ('In Flanders Fields')  which was to become the most famous one written in relation to the First World War. It was then spring 1915 and a close friend of his had just died. 

The In Flanders Fields poem is now the world's most known Remembrance Day poem. 

You can find John McCrae's poem HERE as well as other interesting details. 

You can also listen to a recorded version of it. Click HERE

You can now also watch this interesting video about the Poppy story 

John McCrae
Photo credit: eng.wikipedia.org

Remembrance poppies are largely prominent in the UK, particularly in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day (11th November) or Remembrance Sunday. All public figures and people in the UK appearing on TV wear them. 

A paper poppy
Photo credit: eng.wikipedia.org

Poppies worn by politicians (top picture - credit: the guardian.com)
or by newsreaders etc. (photo credit: telegraph.com)

And finally poppy wreaths are also laid at war memorials.

Wreaths of poppies
Photo credit: dailymail.co.uk

While watching:

Answer the following question in French:

What is exceptional about this temporary art "exhibition" at the Tower of London?   Make notes.

You can also watch the video on the BBC website by clicking HERE





When you are finished, you can check your answers:
Suggestions de réponses

- Commémoration artistique d'envergure recouvrant la douve de la Tour de Londres sous la forme d'un vaste champ de coquelicots en céramique; impression donnée d'une énorme marée de sang pour symboliser les vies sacrifiées.

- 888.246 coquelicots exactement; chacun représente un militaire de l'Empire britannique tombé durant la Première Guerre mondiale.

- Ces coquelicots sont à vendre.

- Pourquoi cet endroit?  C'était un lieu de rassemblement et de départ pour le front des soldats volontaires issus de la City. On sait que beaucoup n'allaient jamais en revenir.

British soldiers identified 100 years after they died

(Level: Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate / B2 / ** to ***)

The remains of 15 British soldiers who had no known grave (*) have been reinterred in Bois-Grenier, France, 100 years after they were killed in action. 11 of them have been identified.

You are going to watch a Sky News report focusing on this event.

(L-R, clockwise from top left) Private Leonard Arthur Morley, Lance Corporal William Henry Warr,
Private John Brameld, Private Herbert Ernest Allcock, Private William Alfred Singyard
and Private William Butterworth
Photo and captions credit: telegraph.co.uk

If you are interested, you can find more details about them on the Sky News website by clicking HERE

British soldiers being reinterred in Bois-Grenier, France
Picture credit:bbc.co.uk

Beaucamps-Ligny, France,
where the soldiers' remains were found
Map credit: vacances-location.net

Bois-Grenier, France
Map credit: vacances-location.net

(*) the trench warfare on the Western Front was characterised by soldiers constantly moving back and forth and the unending shelling on the same ground for years. It is no wonder that the graves and burial grounds located there were subsequently damaged or destroyed by the fighting across the same place, which resulted in the loss of the original marked graves (later replaced by new graves which then were in turn destroyed and so on). It had become virtually impossible to retrieve the bodies and to identify them. 

In the Commonwealth military cemeteries, there are soldiers buried in known graves (i.e. with their names being inscribed on their headstone), or buried but not identifiable by name (with "A Soldier of the Great War, Known unto God" being then inscribed on the headstone) and finally, the others (the missing) with no known graves who have their names inscribed on a memorial to the missing . 

You can check this site (The Long, Long Trail - The British Army in the Great War) for more details (number of casualties, number of soldiers with no known graves etc.): click HERE

You can also consult the official Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website for more interesting details: click HERE

Before watching:

The following words could be useful:

at last: finally / eventually     enfin / finalement

private: a person of the lowest rank in the British army     (simple) soldat 

mind-blowing: astounding    incroyable / époustouflant 

humbling: causing awareness of someone's shortcomings       plein d'humilité  

reinterment: new burial      nouvelle inhumation          

While watching:

Watch and answer the following question in French:

Make notes about the following points: what do they refer to? 

John Richmond ?	- - -
ADN ?
Boutons ou morceaux d’uniforme et autres objets ?
2009 ?

You can also find the video on the Sky News website by clicking HERE

When you are finished, check your answers:

John Richmond ?	Le grand-oncle de Barry identifié grâce à l’ADN de ce dernier. Simple soldat tué il y a tout  juste 100 ans, le 18 octobre 1914. Il a tout quitté (femme ; enfants ; famille…) pour s’enrôler comme volontaire  juste après la déclaration de guerre.    …
ADN ?	Outil incontournable dorénavant permettant l’identification des restes de soldats, à condition de retrouver les descendants.
Des boutons ou morceaux d’uniforme et autres objets ?	Eléments importants dans la tentative d’identification des restes humains à commencer par l’appartenance à tel ou tel régiment…
2009 ?	Date de découverte des ossements des soldats lors de travaux de construction ! Il aura fallu cinq ans pour identifier les restes de 11 soldats sur les 15 retrouvés.

David Cameron: Alan Henning murder 'completely unforgivable'
(Level: Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate / B1 to B2 / ** to ***)



Before watching:

You are going to watch an interview with Prime Minister David Cameron expressing his outrage over the brutal murder of humanitarian worker Alan Henning.

Alan Henning
Photo credit: Reuters

The following words and notes could be useful:
abhorrent: appalling / disgusting / awful         répugnant / ignoble / odieux 
to mourn: to feel great sadness because someone died      déplorer; pleurer (le décès de ...)
ruthless: cruel / merciless / showing no pity   impitoyable / brutal 
resolve: determination       décision ferme / détermination 


Chequers (or Chequers Court): the country house retreat (near Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire)of the Prime Minister of the UK. The place has been the private retreat of the PM since 1921.

Chequers Court
Photo credit: telegraph.co.uk

Buckinghamshire
Map credit: en.wikipedia.org

While watching:


Answer the following question in French:

What did David Cameron say in his official statement on the killing of Alan Henning? Make notes.

You can also watch David Cameron on the BBC site. Click HERE





When you are finished, you can check your answers:

(Suggestions de réponses)

"Le meurtre d’Alan Henning est absolument odieux, insensé et impardonnable ; il montre à quel point cette organisation terroriste est répugnante et barbare."

"Il faut tout mettre en œuvre pour traquer et trouver les gens responsables de tout ceci."

"Le fait d’avoir assassiné cet homme simplement parti pour aider ceux dans la détresse montre que la perversion de ces terroristes est sans limite."

"...Nous allons utiliser toutes nos ressources (...) pour tenter de retrouver ces otages, pour aider les familles (...) et faire tout notre possible pour vaincre cette organisation qui est totalement impitoyable, insensée et barbare dans sa façon de traiter les gens...".