La Classe de Monsieur Leclercq

600th anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc

2012-01-06T09:46:00.000-05:00

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Joan of Arc on Coronation of Charles VII in the Cathedral of Reims (Louvres)

Adele à Paris

2011-12-15T21:37:00.000-05:00

Tintin et le Secret de la Licorne is coming out

2011-11-28T22:26:00.001-05:00

La Rentrée des Classes

2011-09-12T14:18:00.002-04:00

Aujourd'hui c'est la rentrée des classes. Bienvenue à l'école et bon courage pour cette année.

What I am reading this summer

2011-06-15T09:08:00.004-04:00

For this summer I strongly recommend reading David McCullough's The Greater Journey.

This is the account of how many forward thinking Americans, artists, doctors, politicians, architects, feminists, came to Paris in the 19th century to get an education, and brought their knowledge back to America to build a stronger republic. The book gives a vivid picture of the early connections between France and the United States, and of the transatlantic friendships that developed at the time when telegraph, steam power and photography were invented. Many American icons are shown in their most humble humanity, at a time when they, like you, were learning the language of Voltaire.

Septième Jour

2011-04-21T18:19:00.004-04:00

Today, we first went to the war memorial of Caen, a museum dedicated to preserving the memory of the second world war, so that its atrocities are never repeated. In a very moving way, the students learned about it from the butchery of WWI, the ill-digested peace of 1918, the rise of fachism, and all the way to the Nuremberg trial.
Bracelet making was a common way to pass time on the bus. Today, Caroline taught Ms. Limpert and a few of the other girls how to make a special knot. Haley provided the thread, so it was a real team effort.
We then visited the other big Normand city, Rouen, where we had some lunch on our own. We walked through its Gothic cathedral, walked its 15th century streets, and saw the place where Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) was burned at the stake. We also visited a museum dedicated to her story.

After this we drove to Paris, and put our luggage in the hotel.

We shopped in the Montparnasse district, and walked to our restaurant.

We then took the metro to see the Arc de Triomphe, and the tomb of the unknown soldier from close up. As we emerged from the tunnel under the place de l'Étoile, to our amazement, we saw the Eiffel Tower sparkle, which it does only for 5 minutes every night. From there, we walked down the Champs Elysées through the crowd, and shopped some more. We walked past the presidential palace, all the way to the Place de la Concorde, where Louis the XVIth and Marie Antoinette were beheaded, and where now stands a monumental Obelisk brought back from Egypt by Napoleon.

From there, we could see the Hotel Crillon, the church Sainte-Madeleine, the Navy Headquarters, the Tuileries Gardens, the Petit Arc du Carousel, in front of the Louvre, the French parliament, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and, behind it, in the distance, the Grande Arche de la Défense: we were at the center of Paris, and that is the last picture we saw, before going back to the metro for our last ride of the trip.

Sixième Jour

2011-04-20T17:46:00.010-04:00

Today we went to the Mont Saint-Michel. We visited the monastery on the top of the Island, and got lost in a maze of chapels, crypts, and hallways. Students thought that it beats Hogwarts. We also walked on the fortified walls, shopped for souvenirs and ate some lunch.

Jérôme, the best guide in France, gave us a very interesting history of the region of Normandy, where we entered next. We learned that the Normans were in fact the men of the north otherwise known as the Vikings. We learned that they eventually settled in France around 900, and also inherited the throne of England through William the conqueror in 1066. We learned that a compagnon of William, named Hugue d’Isigny, was the ancestor of Walt Disney.
Then we drove to Omaha Beach, to see the place where D-day saw its most bloody battle. After a detailed description of how the battle unfolded, some of us went down to the beach, while others visited the cemetery, the memorial, and a very moving museum.

A bit further along the coast, we saw the remains of German guns and bunkers. We also drove to Aromanche to see what was left of the allies’ harbor, and to have ice cream.

We ended our trip in Caen, and saw first hand some still visible scars of the dreadful ally bombings, as well as the monastery established by William, among other architectural wonders. Jérôme taught the students to recognize the stylistic differences between Romanesque, gothic and renaissance architecture, as we were able to contemplate examples of it all in the city of Caen.

Cinquième Jour

2011-04-19T17:28:00.008-04:00

Today, we started by visiting the castle of the Dukes of Brittany in Nantes. We learned that Brittany was once an independent kingdom before France defeated it and forced the Duchesse Anne de Bretagne to marry the King of France Charles VIII. There we had a guided tour of a very interesting museum of the city of Nantes where, among other things, we learned about and saw artifacts of the slave trade. We then rode the bus to Guérande where we visited the salt marshes and saw that the finest sea salt was still made by hand according to an ancestral method of seawater evaporation.

In the village of Guérande we ate authentic Briton crêpes and galettes.

Continuing further North along the Atlantic coast, we finally reached the town of Saint-Malo where Jacques Cartier was born. There, we put our luggage in our hotel rooms which overlooks the National Fort at sea and, since the tide was low, we took a walk on the beach.

We ate at another wonderful restaurant by the sunset, where we sang Happy Birthday to Natalie, who turned 14 today. Our guide, Jérome, then brought us for a stroll on the city wall to explain to us how those fortifications worked to prevent an English navy attack. Every one has color on their face by now as we have had sun each day. Tonight we’ll sleep by the sound of the waves.

Quatrième Jour

2011-04-18T17:51:00.005-04:00

Today we had breakfast at the café in front of the hotel in Loches, and drove immediately to La Rochelle. There, we went shopping, and had lunch in the district near the old harbor.

In Rochefort, not too far, we saw the shipyard where a small group of Navy enthusiasts are rebuilding the frégate l'Hermione, which was originally sailed by Lafayette to come and help the Americans fight for their independence from the British. Our guide Miriame taught us how ships were built and what life was like on a ship. Be ready, l'Hermione is going to sail to Boston in 2015.

We then too the bus to Nantes, where we had a long walk all the way to the restaurant. Some of us had oysters for the first time.

Troisième Jour

2011-04-17T17:31:00.003-04:00

Today we left Paris early, and drove on a touring bus to the castle of Fontainebleau in the middle of an immense forest, where the kings of France used to hunt. We met our chauffeur, Stéphane. Fontainebleau is the most magnificent castle, and features decors from the renaissance to the 19th century. We saw rooms used by Louis XIII, Marie Antoinette, and Napoléon. We walked the courtyard where the latter said farewell to his army when he abdicated to the English. We were the first ones there, so we almost had the castle to ourselves.

After this, we drove to the Castle of Chenonceaux on the Cher river, an afluent of the Loire river. The Castle was a bit crowded, but we also visited the gardens, and got lost in its princely maze.
Finally, we went to Loches, where we had diner, and went for a night tour of the 12th century medieval fortress there, with our guide Jérome, who is a history buff, and had a thousand anecdotes to share with us.

Deuxième Jour

2011-04-16T18:11:00.003-04:00

Today was sunny and warm. We visited the archeological crypt buried under the ground on the Isle de la Cité. We saw the remnants of Roman houses and middle ages basements. We translated a third century Christian Tomb stone from Latin into English.
After that we went to visit the Sainte Chapelle built by Saint Louis before he left for the crusades.
We split into two groups for lunch and had crêpes and sandwiches. We then explored the medieval Island in search of shops and curiosities. Among other things we saw street musicians and jugglers, beautiful flowery vines growing on buildings, the oldest flower market in Paris, and the city hall across the Seine.
We met back up near Notre Dame, climbed inside the towers to see the gargoyles and the giant Bell. There, we had the nicest view of Paris.
We then walked across to the right bank, where we had an ice cream break by the water. We continued our walk in the district of the Marais all the way to the house of Madame de Sévigné, which now houses the Musée Carnavalet, museum of the history of Paris, and saw the history of Paris from 3000 BC to present: Neolithic canoes, celtic sarcophagus, renaissance rooms, art and furniture from the 18th century, reliques of the French revolution, personal belongings of Napoleon, and paintings depicting early 20th century life in Paris. Some of us took a sunbath in the courtyard after that. It was hot.
We took the metro to Montmartre, and walked the steps to the Sacré Coeur, which we visited. There, we met up with my aunt Catherine. Up on the hill we had portraits drawn and we saw the sun set after a nice diner at the restaurant La Crémaillère, in an art nouveau decor.

France 2011!

2011-04-15T19:10:00.008-04:00

Dear Mom and Dad, Family and Friends,
We made it! We're safe and sound, if not a bit sleep deprived, but in good spirits and quite happy to be here in Paris. It's officially Saturday morning at 1:30 am! Everyone has been asleep for a long while now, but it's taken me this long to get the hotel internet to work and I promised a few girls that I would get a post in so you wouldn't worry! (I insisted M. Leclercq get some sleep).

Our day was jam-packed! After a long and, for some, restless/eventful plane ride, we began our day with a two hour bus tour of Paris. Our guide, Jerome, is a Parisian who knows an impressive array of history about this grand old city. The tour oriented us to famous landmarks and, as we a we toured various arrondissements along the way, allowed us to plan our shopping and site seeing for the tail end of the trip.

After checking into the hotel, we visited the Tour Eiffel and had a entertaining and relaxing guided boat tour on the Seine. By dinnertime, we were all famished and glad to take a seat in the 17th c building that housed our restaurant and offered us and course after course. We had so much food in fact, that most refused to order dessert because we were too full (and tired)! It was almost 11 pm Paris time when we hopped on the Metro (they're quite skilled at navigating this mode of transportation after just one day!) and headed back to the hotel.

Now they're tucked away, dreaming of how lucky they are to have parents like you who sent them on this cool trip. Thanks mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and everyone else who made this trip to France possible. There was so much to take in today, but mostly, we're overwhelmed by your generosity. xoxo!

MPH trip to France

2011-04-13T18:12:00.003-04:00

The bus for JFK leaves from the church parking lot across from the school at 1:00 PM tomorrow. Our plane, American Airlines flight 120 will depart from New York at 9:00 PM and arrive in Paris on April 15th at 10:35 AM. We'll return on flight AA 121 on April 22nd, which will arrive in New York at 5:10 PM, and take the bus back to MPH.

Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power

2011-04-11T09:27:00.001-04:00

Listen to the story by Gretchen Cuda-Kroen

Les Avions Français en Libye

2011-03-28T15:22:00.001-04:00

La musique polyphonique: Guillaume de Machaut

2011-03-17T13:09:00.001-04:00

French Trip Info

2011-02-10T09:21:00.001-05:00

The final payments for the trip are due February 15th. The total price for the trip is $3075. please make your check payable to "Prométour" and send it directly to:

Prométour Educational Tours
Attn: Isabelle Colgan
339 St-Paul Est
Montréal, Québec H2Y 1H3
Canada

Also send a photocopy of your child's passport.

Dessin Animé

2010-11-16T13:06:00.002-05:00

Bicycling in Paris

2010-11-01T18:28:00.001-04:00

La Grève en France

2010-10-25T09:08:00.002-04:00

Regardez ces images de la grève en France: cliquez ici

The French trip is on!

2010-10-13T18:59:00.008-04:00

We have enough participants to go to France this coming April. You can still sign up late for a while, but you must hurry.

View of Paris from Notre Dame's tower

Fashion Week in Paris

2010-10-10T11:04:00.001-04:00

Sign up before October 15th for the trip to France 2011

2010-05-17T11:54:00.007-04:00

If you want to register your child on this trip, and can't get a hold of me, read this letter, fill this form, and send it directly to the project manager, Isabelle Colgan at Prométour in Montréal, Canada:

Letter to parents

Booking and payment form

Les Chaussettes Noires

2010-05-13T16:26:00.001-04:00

L'orgue de Barbarie

2010-03-03T11:46:00.002-05:00

Spend 3 weeks in France this Summer

2010-02-26T23:56:00.011-05:00

Two French 9th grade boys from our sister school Sainte-Marie in Bourges, are looking for 9th grade MPH students with whom to make an exchange this Summer. If you are interested, please contact Monsieur Leclercq.

Bourges cathedral

Le Tremblement de Terre à Haïti

2010-01-21T13:42:00.001-05:00

Ali Farka Touré

2009-12-01T15:26:00.002-05:00

Ali Farka Touré sur Wikipédia

Philippe Jaroussky

2009-03-28T20:42:00.001-04:00

Entre les Murs

2009-03-11T14:55:00.001-04:00

Le Conservatoire de Musique et de Danse de Paris

2009-02-04T13:13:00.001-05:00

La poésie

2008-12-07T11:54:00.000-05:00

Écoutez ces écoliers du Congo réciter des poèmes en Français:

Louis Blériot

2008-11-25T13:08:00.005-05:00

C'est un pionnier de l'aviation et il a fait la première traversée de la Manche en 1909.

Mademoiselle de Scudéry

2008-11-05T12:50:00.005-05:00

"Les femmes chérissent la mode, parce que la nouveauté est toujours un reflet de jeunesse"

Mademoiselle de Scudéry sur Wikipedia

Louis et Auguste Lumière

2008-10-23T10:01:00.003-04:00

Ils sont frères et sont les pionniers du septième art.

Regardez ces vieux films des frères Lumière (1895):

Musique française

2008-10-10T23:06:00.001-04:00

Écoutez les petits chanteurs du film Les Choristes:

Bienvenue

2008-09-05T14:53:00.011-04:00

C'est la rentrée des classes. Bonne chance et bon courage!