camus english corner

LET'S RECAP !

• On September, 9th 2015 Elizabeth became the longest-reigning monarch in British history, thus surpassing Queen Victoria. Elizabeth has been the Queen of the UK and the Commonwealth for 63 years, since 1952 when her elder sister Mary I died.
• On this occasion, all the British newspapers – tabloids and broadsheets alike – displayed very different frontpages to honour record-breaking Elizabeth. We had a close look at The Sun and The Times in particular.
• The Sun, which is known as the most popular scandal newspaper in GB, with twice as many readers as The Times, aims at catching the readers’ attention and making as many people as possible buy it, by all means. On the official photo provided by Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth is wearing an elegant but not too formal burgundy dress. She is sitting facing at a slight angle, giving her the image of someone easy to talk to, very close to the people. Anyone who does not know she is the Queen would not necessarily guess she is. This feeling is emphasized by the massive headline : « reigning champion ». Many people would find it inappropriate for so-called journalists to dare address the British Queen in such a familiar way. On the photo Queen Elizabeth is sitting at her desk in front of an open red box, which traditionally contains all the important documents coming from the government for the Queen to study every day. The message is clearly announced in the newspapers headlines or articles : Queen Elizabeth is still as hard working as ever, even though she has been reigning for such a long time.
• The Times, on the contrary, decided to show the Queen in a beautiful golden dress, with her crown on top of her head, looking away through an open window. This artistic photo almost looks like a painting using light and colour in a very subtle way. The news editors also chose to quote the Queen’s coronation speech and publish it on the frontpage. The Queen certainly does not seem very close to the people on The Times’ frontpage. She may also look behind the times and disconnected from everyday life. We could even imagine that this frontpage could be the one announcing the Queen’s death. 
• Between tradition and modernity, sometimes working at her desk sometimes sending the first royal tweet at a high tech conference, multi-faceted Queen Elizabeth - as well as the rest of the Royal family - regularly makes the headlines. We may conclude that the British press plays a major role in the image of the Royal family that is conveyed today.

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COURSE MATERIAL

• 2 frontpages : The Sun and The Times
• 2 audio documents from Audio-Lingua : Mary about the British press and Jenny talking about the Royal Family and the press part 1 & part 2.

NOTIONS

• Forms and places of power
• Myths and heroes
• Idea of progress

ISSUE

• The British Royal Family today: tradition or modernity? How has the Queen become a symbol?
  
• To what extent does the British press help shape a certain image of monarchy today?
• To what extent has the Queen known how to evolve through time
  

TO GO FURTHER (click on the links)

• Kellogg’s royal cereal  
  
• Elizabeth’s first royal tweet
• Elizabeth’s biography
• 3 queens, 3 destinies out of the ordinary : a timeline, Password p.76-77
• Helen : audio document on the press in GB
  

This infographic might help you find new arguments to defend your frontpage for next Thursday's debate :

Here's what we learnt from each other :

Please write this down in your copybooks for our next lesson. 

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SIMPLE PRESENT (presentation, likes, dislikes, habits)

• Alice B. & Alice C. both live in Bois-Colombes whereas Désirelle lives in St Leu-La-Forêt. It takes 50 min for her to come to school everyday.

• Swelie loves drawing. She also practices the violin 1 hour per day.

• Alice C. absolutely hates spiders. She freaks out when she sees one !

SIMPLE PRETERITE (in the past. finished, dated)

• Agathe went to Lyon and Brittany over the Summer holiday. Violette visited her family in Canada.

• Swelie was impressed by the cruel shooting of Cecil the Lion by an American dentist.

PRETERITE BE+ING

• Last night Anaïs dreamt she was a duck and she was walking down the road :) Even weirder, Melissa dreamt she was at her aunt's. A whale shark was swimming in her aunt's swimming-pool and Melissa had to feed it with insects !!

PRESENT PERFECT (sthg that happened in the past, consequence in the present time)

• Chloé has already been to Australia, Ireland and the UK.

• The most beautiful place Faiza has ever visited is the Maldives. It looks like paradise but it's a long time she's been there. She would like to go again.

PRESENT PERFECT BE+ING

• Alice C. can speak French, English, Italian and a bit of Brazilian. She has been studying Italian for 6 years now.

FUTURE

• One day, Melissa will go to NYC.

CONDITIONAL

• She would also like to visit Australia.

• Chloé wants to be a psychologist when she's older whereas Elise would like to become an artist, just like Eva.