French Wall by Zoe George

Mandinka People

22zgeorge — 2020-04-06 23:05:58 UTC

The Mandink People are located in West Africa going across parts of  Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, the Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. The main language of the Mandinka People is a form of Mande people, who all speck different forms of Mande. One of the other languages these people speak is French. Traditional the Mandinka People followed traditional animist beliefs. In the 12th century, some of the people started converting to Islam. In the 19th century, after a series of Islamic holy wars, many converted to Muslims and more than 95% of the people are Islam today. The families live and rural compounds and most men are poor subsistence farmers. The main crops are peanuts, plant millet, corn, and sorghum. The women tend to the rice fields, which is more physically demanding, and the also act as mothers and wives. Some customs of these people are circumcision for both boys and girls, arranged marriages, and men are allowed  to have up to 4 wives. They have a very strong sense of oral traditions including ¨griots¨, storytellers, to keep the stories of the families and history of the group. The stories are often told with music on the kora, a harp-like instrument.

Haitian Creole

22zgeorge — 2020-04-17 14:26:46 UTC

In Haiti, the first settlers spoke French. As times went on, this French developed into a Creole. Most of this Creole developed in the 17th and 18th centuries on Sugarcane plantations. In the 17th century, the African to French ratio was 9 to 1. By 1789, the ratio was 16 to 1 and this number only increased with the Haitian Revolution. This language developed gradually with a lot of African language influence in the dialect. They pick up this African Influence as they were slaves on the plantations. The traditional French language mostly died out during the Haitian Revolution where, after Haiti won, the French either died or left Haiti. This language was mostly developed by 1987 with more than 95 percent of the people n Haiti speaking it, especially in the rural areas. They use this language primarily in informal and domestic situations. They also use it in formal and public situations, schools, church, and political meetings.

French Haitian English entendre tande hear
attendre tann wait

Francoise Hardy (Week of 4/20)

22zgeorge — 2020-04-20 16:28:57 UTC

Born on January 17, 1944 in Paris, France, Francoise Hardy became a well know singer and was a popular singer in the
ye-ye movement. She wrote and preformed her own songs which was rare from female singers. Her early french songs established her as a famous singer but she also sang songs a different languages. After graduating high school, her father got her a guitar and she was very influenced by Charles Trenet and Cora Vaucaire. Hardy signed her first record contract at the age of 17 in 1961. The song that put her on the map and made her well know was "Tous Les Garçons et les Filles." Hardy was transformed into a culture trend setter by Jean-Marie Perier. He also convinced her to be a model and was a huge influence on her early years. She sang as openers for shows and so became one of the most famous singers in France, hanging out with many other famous singers in other countries such as America. She produced 10 albums between the years of 1962 and 1968.

Pierre Paul Broca (Week of 4/27)

22zgeorge — 2020-04-29 04:02:05 UTC

Pierre Paul Broca, Paul Broca, was a French physician, anatomist and anthropologist. Broca is known for the study of Brocas area of the brain located in the left frontal lobe and having to deal with articulate language. The start of his research began when a man came to him with epilepsy. This man was unique because he only said a couple of words, one of them resembling the word "Tan", which then became is nickname. This man died but it gave Broca an idea about the central localization of the brain. This was all ready a debate among the medical world, was the brain split into parts and each part has a job or does the whole brain work together for the same job. Broca first idea was the the whole brain worked together on everything but this man changed his mind after Broca did an autopsy. He found a lesion in "tan"'s left frontal lobe. From then on, Broca studied this specific part of the brain in patents with similar symptoms. He found the region of the brain in the frontal lobe that is responsible for articulate speech. This area was named the Broca's area after Paul Broca.

22zgeorge — 2020-04-29 04:25:13 UTC

France vs. U.S.A.: School Lunch Edition (Week of 5/4)

22zgeorge — 2020-05-05 01:03:47 UTC

Compared to America, the French take meals very seriously. The difference between lunch at schools in France and in America are astronomical. In France, in nursery school, or preschool as we would call it, they serve very health detailed meals. They send a meal plan home to the parents about what the children will be having for the next 2 months at school so they would not have the same thing at home for dinner and so the parents know. The school would introduce these children to very different foods at a young age so they have a diverse palate. If you did not sign your child up for a meal plan then they would come home so there parents can cook them lunch. In America, there is no real meal plan. Schools sometimes would send home a general menu that would have the basis but usually, if the children have extra money, they can buy extra food. The schools also don't diversify the food as much and make the children try new foods. Usually the children can have options at lunch so they get something they like. This is one of the reasons that people will order chicken tenders and fries until it is not sociable acceptable. When parents decide that they want their children not to have the Lunch provided by the school, the parents will send them a lunch that will usually be a cold lunch with the exception of some thermoses that keep things warm. These lunches are less filling and unhealthier than the lunches that the parents would make at home for their children in France.

The Menu (Week of 5/11)

22zgeorge — 2020-05-11 19:37:21 UTC

In France the people take pride in what they make for their people. In the video, the menu, we were introduced to several different workers that create a menu at a restaurant. These workers consisted of a truffle hunter, a winemaker, a baker, a butcher, a asparagus producer,cheese maker, and a farmer. The items these people produce might be different from one another but they all have one thing in common, quality. Each one of these people take time to craft their products to the best they can and to make the best product for their customer. No matter how long it takes to make the perfect product they will wait and stay up till all hours of the night just to provide for the people in their community because they are that important. Something that is different in America is we mass produce everything. We take everything and make multiple of them in factories by machines instead of homemade by actual people. Then we let the product sit on the shelf of a supermarket for a week at least until it is too bad to sell anymore. Americans could learn a few things from the French about quality.

New Perspective (Final Padlet 5/22)

22zgeorge — 2020-05-22 20:00:14 UTC

Through these padlet assignments, I have learned a lot about France and the Francophone culture. Throughout the semester I approached this assignment with an open mind to learning new things about a different culture so I could write something good and really get to know the culture or person. In 2 of my padlet posts I talk about the food in America and French. In one I talk about different producers of food and in the other I talk about the difference. This helped me see what France does with its food and how different lunches and food is in general from America. These padlets and researching the different topics has inspired me to look further into some of the topics of these padlets and more into Francophone culture. These padlets have inspired me to change some aspects of my life, for example, I will now try more foods that I might like and if I have children than I will introduce them to a variety of food at a younger age. I now have a new perspective of things in the world. Now that I have seen into another culture I see what I can learn from researching these cultures. I can use what I have learned in these padlets and use it when speaking to people in other cultures or even people outside of my bubble. I can now learn the culture others follow and adapt to what they believe in and what they think is nice and what is not. This will help me be respectful to all people in that what I say is kind and not rude in their culture or just the way they were raised. I can see that everyone has some kind of their own culture and what they believe to be respectful and what is not. This padlet exercise has helped me realize everyone in the world has things that not everyone does and when interacting with people you need to adapt to changes that will seem respectful to them.