La CONVERSATION ANGLAISE intitulée, initialement, » OUR TUESDAYS » (« NOS MARDIS ») a donné place à « OUR TUESDAY-CHATS » après le Covid. Ils ont lieu le mardi, entre 17 h 30 et 19 h à la Maison des Associations (MdA). Il y a toujours autant de participants, parfois dépassant la vingtaine ! Les sujets de conversation, proposés par CLAUDINE, NORMAN ou MARIE-CLAIRE, varient selon les semaines, principalement axés sur l’actualité. Pas besoin d’un niveau élevé d’anglais pour participer, chacun et chacune s’exprimant selon ses capacités dans une ambiance décontractée. La bonne humeur, voire la rigolade, sont de rigueur. Parfois, certains participants proposent des présentations sur un de leurs sujets de prédilection et des intervenants extérieurs peuvent aussi être invités. Des événements particuliers ( Galette des Rois, St Patrick, Carnaval …) sont ouverts à tous les adhérents, peuvent prendre place ailleurs qu’à la MdA et le français est autorisé !
2025
Surprise visits in May and June
Tuesday June 3rd: Edouard from The Netherlands
It has definately become a habit during our Tuesday-Chats ! After 2 surprise visitors in May, we were not expecting a third surprise guest on June 3rd ! From The Netherlands, this time! EDOUARD, Marie-Thérèse Martin’s friend from long ago paid us a visit. He had driven (with his electric car (difficult to recharge its batteries in France ! ) from ROTTERDAM to ST FLORENTsur CHER, via Reims to stay for a few days …. or weeks, who knows, with Marie-Thérèse and Jean.
Once again, the attendees of the Tuesday-Chat – 20 of them – were delighted to listen to him explaining his trip, his former job as an I.T manager for IBM, how he had met his French friends, but also some historical facts about Amsterdam and Rotterdam and even his opinion of the Dutch politicians and royal couple, King Willem-Alexander and his Argentinian wife, Queen Máxima.
Tuesday May 27th : Peter from Australia
After Derbyshire where LISA and LIONEL took us during their surprise visit in Bourges on May 13th,we were lucky to travel again, much further this time, with another surprise visit on May 27th with PETER from Sydney, Australia, who was Bernadette Brossard’s guest in Bourges.
Peter had come to the Capital of Berry and also to Vierzon in 1979, as a student with a group from the university of Sydney when FGB used to organise an exchange. (See links below) He, then, was hosted in Bourges and had the opportunity to meet Bernadette’s family with whom he has remained in touch since that time, visiting them back several times.
Peter works for the film industry in Sydney, subtitling the foreign films in English. He still speaks French fluently.
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On a tour in Swizterland with his choir, Peter decided to pay the Brossards another visit and Bernadette suggested inviting him to our Tuesday-Chat. That was a great idea! Peter told us about his job, his vast country and famous city, Sydney. The 17 participants to the session were delighted to travel ‘down-under’ and learn about the Australian States, the Bush, Uluru, the Aborigenes, sharks, kangaroos, and … mind you, the marsupials can, sometimes, be very dangerous, !! Monique, a participant in the the Chat who had the opportunity to visit Australia had also received a student from Sydney she still has contact with. She was all the more delighted to exchange with Peter.
Tuesday May 13th : Lisa & Lionel from Derbyshire
The attendees to the Chat on May 13th had the lovely surprise to meet LISA and her husband LIONEL, from Derbyshire invited by Marie-Madeleine Mombur and Marie-Claire Aubrun.
Lisa was an English assistant in Bourges (Collège Victor Hugo) during the school year 1989-1990. She had kept contact with Marie-Madeleine, sending her a Christmas letter every year since then. Recently Marie-Madeleine was contacted by Lionel, Lisa’s husband, who wanted to give his wife a surprise for her birthday and had planned to take her back to Bourges, the place she’d told him about as being a city she had good souvenir of.
That is why Lisa and Lionel first flew from Birmingham to Paris, then travelled by train to Bourges where they were welcomed by Marie-Claire and Marie-Madeleine on their arrival at the station. Marie-Claire had suggested hosting them for the duration of their stay and served them as a tourist guide in the City of Jacques Cœur. She also suggested taking them to the Tuesday-Chat in order to meet the FGB participants who were delighted to get to know them asking them loads of questions, not only about themselves but also about other topics such as the consequences of the Brexit.
We learnt that Lisa no longer use her French language although she has not forgotten it. She is now an occupational therapist in Derby and her husband is an engineer.
Lisa and Lionel were delighted to visit Bourges but also Sancerre and la Cathédrale Linard. FGB wishes them a safe return to England.
Tuesday March 18 th : Celebrating St Patrick’s
FGB celebrated St Patrick’s Day one day later, on Tuesday March 18th, first during the Tuesday-Chat with exercices and listenings related to the origins of the festival. We also sang ‘ Molly Malone’ by The Dubliners. Then, as the pub ‘The Birdland ‘ was closed, 16 of us met at ‘La Civette’ for a beer. That was a nice evening!
Mardi 7 janvier : Galette des Rois à Pât-à-Pain
Comme le veut la tradition maintenant depuis plusieurs années, la première rencontre FGB de la nouvelle année réunit tous les adhérents qui peuvent se déplacer au Pât-à-Pain de St Doulchard. Cela permet de reprendre contact après les fêtes de la fin d’année précédente, de nous présenter mutuellement nos meilleurs vœux et de ‘tirer les rois’ afin d’ élire nos monarques FGB du nouvel an.
Ce 7 janvier 2025, ce sont 33 adhérents qui ont répondu présents à l’appel. Nous avons regretté l’absence de ceux et celles empêchés de se joindre à nous pour cause de virus. 6 fèves, découvertes dans les galettes offertes par FGB, ont permis de couronner 1 roi et 5 reines, dans une ambiance très festive.
2024
After the Summer break, the Tuesday-Chats resumed in October at the Maison des Associations, run by Claudine and Norman with a good number of participants (between 15 and 20). We were very pleased to welcome 5 new members.
The sessions usually deal with conversations about the local, national or international news, based on reading texts, roleplays, crosswords, giving the attendees the opportunity to improve their vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation – always in good humour and lots of laugh.
After exchanging on the Olympic Games, Remembrance Day, Thanksgiving, we envisaged performing a mini pantomime on our last session of the year. On December 10th, after completing a crossword puzzle on Christmas vocabulary given by Norman, the participants became amateur actresses and actors in a parody of the Nativity called ‘The Christmas Photograph’. We all enjoyed ourselves and had good fun ! We ended the session, exchanging small gifts.
December 10th 2024 – celebrating Christmas with a mini-panto
Working hard on the Xmas crosswords
The mini panto : ‘The Christmas photograph’
And now, it’s time to exchange presents ! Everyone deserves one !
June 4th 2024 – RASMUS presenting his country FINLAND
CAROLINE BOURGETEL, our FGB secretary who’s an English teacher at Collège Jean Renoir had invited her English assistant, RASMUS to come to our Tuesday-Chat to present, in English, his country, FINLAND.
Twenty people attended his presentation and asked him questions. We all learnt a lot about this Baltic country, its history (Russian and Swedish occupation, civil war ….), cities (Helsinki, Tempere, Rasmus’s city, ….), symbols (forests, lakes, saunas, northern lights, the Christmas goat, Nokia, the Moomis, ….) the way of life (transport, education, ….).
MAY 14th 2024 at Théâtre Jacques Cœur in Bourges « TIRED OF GIVING IN – THE ROSA PARKS STORY by Théâtre-en-anglais
Les 20 participantes de FGB qui eurent la chance d’ assister à la pièce ‘The Rosa Parks Story’ jouée en anglais par les 4 acteurs de la compagnie Théâtre-en-anglais sont toutes ressorties enchantées. La mise en scène de cette nouvelle création de Lucille O’Flanagan, (après celle de ‘Animal Farm’ de George Orwell en 2021) met, cette fois-ci en lumière, l’histoire de Rosa Parks dans le panorama culturel et musical de l’Amérique ségrégationniste des années 50, son célèbre trajet en bus ainsi que le rôle et la place des femmes dans le monde. Les Images sont de David Tuck et la Musique d’ Elisa Le Cam .
Le 1er décembre 1955 Rosa Parks était pourtant bien assise dans la section de bus réservée aux passagers « noirs » mais, le bus étant bondé, on s’attendait à ce qu’elle abandonne son siège au profit des « blancs » debout. Elle ne le fit pas et ceci provoqua le célèbre mouvement de boycott des bus de Montgomery (Alabama). Rosa fut nommée mère du mouvement des droits civiques aux États-Unis. Son histoire est plus pertinente aujourd’hui que jamais pour les « Noirs » du monde entier et pour les femmes du monde entier .
En 1955, Bill Haley se balançait sur « Rock Around the Clock » tandis que « The Platters » et « Nat King Cole » comptaient parmi les artistes les plus vendus. La musique afro-américaine connaissait un incroyable essor.
Les participantes qui avaient bénéficié d’une préparation à la pièce, en anglais, lors du précédent Tuesday-Chat, auront droit à un debriefing lors de la prochaine session et le quiz distribué pour savoir si elles ont bien tout compris sera corrigé. Tout comme pour les scolaires présents au spectacle !
March 19th 2024 – Saint Patrick’s
In March 2024, it was on Tuesday 19th, 2 days after the official date, that 20 people met at the pub, The Birdland, exchanging Irish jokes over beers and snacks. The participants of the Tuesday- Chat, most clad in green, had previously virtually tried the COLECANNON RECIPE and visited DUBLIN TEMPLE BAR , studying texts in their usual room at the MdA , especially decorated for the occasion! As usual, everyone had a jolly good time !
Mardi 2O février – Crêpes et Carnaval
L’idée de fêter Mardi gras (avec une semaine de retard) ayant bien plu l’an passé, nous avons réédité la formule cette année avec encore plus de participants déguisés et de crêpes à déguster ! Le challenge d’en faire sauter sans les faire tomber en a séduit plus d’un et plus d’une ! Ambiance festive à souhait au son de la samba comme vous le révèle (sans la musique) les photos ci-dessous.
9 JANVIER 2024 : GALETTE des ROIS
Tradition oblige, la reprise des Tuesday-Chats se fait avec tous les adhérents invités à ‘tirer les rois’ au Pat-à-Pain de St Doulchard. Cette année, ce sont pas moins de 30 sujets qui sont venus partager 5 galettes offertes par notre association. Tous les participants étaient ravis de se retrouver pour évoquer leurs souvenirs respectifs de Noël et du Jour de l’An et échanger leurs vœux de BONNE ANNÉE et BONNE SANTÉ pour l’année en cours.
