Anglais Bac Pro : TV stars' favourite books

                TV STARS’ FAVOURITE BOOKS

OBJECTIFS : être capable de donner un avis sur un livre ; (re)découvrir quelques livres de référence.

Séquence adaptée de Télé Star n° 1589, 12 mars 2007.

1.      Présentation des célébrités :

1. Dove Attia   2. Arlette Chabot  3. Mireille Dumas  4. Franz-Olivier Giesbert 

5. Christine Kelly  6. Catherine Laborde  7. Françoise Laborde   8. Sophie Lapix

9. Karine Le Marchand  10. Pierre Mathieu

What are their jobs ? They are TV presenters.

What types of programmes do they present ?

TOOLS BOX

weather forecast

jury in a variety programme

literary programme

the news

entertainment programme

political programme

programme about babies

society magazine

2 . They also like reading. Here are their favourite books :

Les Pensées (Pascal’s Thoughts) by Pascal (1670)

Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes by Honoré de Balzac (1847)

La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas (1845)

Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire (1857)

Germinal by Emile Zola (1885)

Les Grands initiés by Edouard Schuré (1889)

Belle du Seigneur by Albert Cohen (1968)

Love Story by Erich Segal (1970)

La Conjuration des imbéciles (A Confederacy of Dunces) by John Kennedy Toole (1980)

L’Alchimiste by Paulo Coelho (1994)

Here are the summaries of the books : (compréhension écrite)

Les élèves les lisent et soulignent d’une couleur trois mots qui résument le thème de chaque livre, d’une autre couleur le genre littéraire auquel il appartient (essay, novel, poem …) et, d’une autre couleur, les expressions utiles pour présenter un livre.

Les Pensées : this essay is about the Christian religion. In part I, Pascal shows the misery of Man without God and the weaknesses of the human nature. In part II, he explains how Man is happy with God.

Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes : this novel is set in the high society of the 19^th century. Esther Gobsek, a courtesan, and Lucien de Rubempré, an ambitious young man, are deep in love. But Vautrin, Lucien’s friend, wants to sell Esther to a banker and marry Lucien to an aristocrat, Clotilde de Grandlieu. Esther poisons herself. Lucien and Vautrin are arrested ; Lucien hangs himself in prison.

Les grands initiés : this essay tells the lives of the famous men who were at the origin of the principal religions : Rama, Krishna, Moses, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato and Jesus.

La Reine Margot : the plot is set in France in 1572. Marguerite de Valois is married to young Henri de Navarre (the future Henri IV) in order to make peace between Catholics and Protestants. This wedding is an opportunity for great festivities in Paris. This novel tells about conspiracies and love affairs at court.

Les Fleurs du Mal : is a collection of 100 poems about art, aesthetic creation, eternal beauty, melancholy, rebellion and death. The poet also evokes the women he has loved.

Germinal : the title refers to the name of a month of the French Republic calendar, a spring month. The novel’s central character is Etienne Lantier, a young migrant worker who arrives at a coalmining town in the north of France. The author describes the difficult working and living conditions of miners in the 19^th century and how they go on strike.

Belle du Seigneur is the story of a passion. The heroes are a young protestant aristocratic woman, Ariane, and a young Jewish diplomat, Solal. They fall in love although Ariane is already married. They settle in a luxurious hotel on the French Riviera but their passion declines, they get bored and commit suicide.

In Love Story, between Oliver and Jennifer, two American students, it is love at first sight. They decide to marry although Oliver’s father disagrees. Oliver becomes a lawyer and Jennifer a music teacher. As they can’t have a baby, they undergo blood tests. A specialist informs Oliver that his wife has leukaemia … 

La Conjuration des imbéciles : the story of this comic novel takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the 60’s. The main character is Ignatius J. Reilly who is intelligent but lazy and hypochondriac. He lives with his mother although he is 30. One day he is forced to look for a job for the first time in his life.

L’Alchimiste is a tale about Santiago, a Spanish shepherd who dreams of a treasure that is  buried near the Egyptian pyramids. One day a king tells him that this dream represents his personal legend and that he must follow it and go to Egypt to see the pyramids.

3. Mise en commun puis exercice d’appariement : les élèves doivent associer avis et titres pour retrouver quel livre est apprécié par chaque personnalité.

Catherine Laborde : « I love poetry. I know all of Baudelaire’s poems off by heart. »

Christine Kelly : « I’ve read this book several times with the same pleasure. The story is a real philosophy of life. »

Françoise Laborde : « I appreciate historical novels. I’ve always been interested in kings and queens. »

Pierre Mathieu : « I enjoy romantic stories, especially those that take place in the States. I won’t tell you if she survives in the end … »

Anne-Sophie Lapix : « I’ve always been interested in classic novels set in the past with drama, passion and colourful characters. »

Mireille Dumas : « I discovered this book when I was a teenager. I love when the

miners rebel against oppression. »

Karine Le Marchand : « I like humour but I admit the hero isn’t pleasant at all. I don’t like him. »

Franz-Olivier Giesbert : « I’ve always been interested in religion and the relationship between God and religion. »

Arlette Chabot : « I find this story very moving. It’s surprising to see how love can lead to self-destruction. »

Dove Attia : « This book feeds my personality and helps me answer lots of mystic questions I’ve always asked myself. The study of these religious characters is exciting. »

4. Les élèves récapitulent les manières de donner un avis positif et, grâce à un brainstorming, apportent des expressions négatives.

Ensuite, ils présentent un livre qu’ils ont lu et disent s’ils l’ont apprécié ou pas.