(Continued from Page One)

by Gerard Martin

Undeniably, the technology of a laserdisc player offers a tremendous improvement upon one's more traditional media technologies. Among other features, it allows one to quickly reverse upon a scene - immediately replaying one line over an over again with only a minimal delay while the scene re-finds itself. In addition, each frame can be stopped literally in its tracks - allowing one to expand one's lexicon of the French language via the visual exploration of each scene frame by individual frame. For these and other exercises of classroom or laboratory instruction, the manual is complete with a chapter on how to integrate À la rencontre de Philippe into traditional curricula of language instruction.

Presupposing that students have achieved a rudimentary comfort with the French language, À la rencontre de Philippe is indeed a fine addition to any one's resource library of intermediate French language instruction. Moreover, there are hundreds - if not thousands of still-photographs which introduce a full-spectrum of vocabulary-building possibilities. Between distant voices on the answering machine and accents from places far from Paris, international French blends with argot in an extraordinary lexicon of possibilities. "De quoi je me mêle?" might ask a beleaguered Philippe. A befitting response on our part could simply be "Bon...Justement!"

Recommended for grades
4-12 and college level

Yale University Press,
1-800-YUP-READ

parisiennes = Parisian

un appartement = apartment

une aventure = love affair or adventure

amère = bitter

un compagnon = chum

un conseil = advice

un système = method

débrouillard = a "go-get" attitude

T'es plus en province = You're not in Kansas anymore

Ça tourne plutôt à la catastrophe = It's quite a disaster now

Chacun pour soit = dog-eat-dog

un coup de main = favor

argot = slang

De quoi je me mêle? = What business of it is yours?

Bon...Justement! = Precisely!