February 2021 Program
Switzerland Month
Special events and classes
Perspectives of Switzerland
February 11th, 6PM
Alliance Française de Jacksonville Zoom Conversation
Please join us for our February Perspective program as we explore the Francophone country of Switzerland. Swiss native, Rolf Liemgruber will take us on an intimate journey highlighting the country's many attributes including its storybook villages and dazzling scenery. Highlighted topics will also include a discussion of time pieces and famous swiss chocolate.
French is one of the 4 official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western region of the cantons of Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel and Vaud.
The presentation will be in English.
Please purchase a ticket for each person viewing the presentation
Special Saturday Grammar Boot Camps
Saturday-February 13th
Current students and members can take part of in this special GRAMMAR SATURDAY. All of our teachers are onboard to teach varying levels of grammar for one Saturday only. Special prices for currently enrolled students. Click below for access to the Schedule.
Saturday-February 13th
Current students and members can take part of in this special GRAMMAR SATURDAY. All of our teachers are onboard to teach varying levels of grammar for one Saturday only. Special prices for currently enrolled students. Click below for access to the Schedule.
Fondue Party!
February 26th
6:00 pm
Did you know? The best fondue on the east coast is right here in Jacksonville. Join fondue expert Rolf Leimgruber as he demonstrates his secrets to fondue success. Invite your "pod" and prepare your own fondue to share. List of ingredients, including where to purchase the "right" cheese" will be sent prior to the event.
Lecture on the Nantes Shipyards
February 25th 6:30-7:30 pm
Via Zoom
Jacksonville Sister Cities Association-Nantes Committee- Invites AFJAX members to its presentation about Nantes Shipyards. Richard Shieldhouse will discuss the fascinating history of the shipyards and its transformation into a major destination for tourists and local Nantes citizens. To RSVP Contact@afjacksonville.org
February 25th 6:30-7:30 pm
Via Zoom
Jacksonville Sister Cities Association-Nantes Committee- Invites AFJAX members to its presentation about Nantes Shipyards. Richard Shieldhouse will discuss the fascinating history of the shipyards and its transformation into a major destination for tourists and local Nantes citizens. To RSVP Contact@afjacksonville.org
As a member of the Alliance Francaise de Jacksonville, you can enjoy these FREE national events. Not a member? Join here
The Secrets of Mastering French
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021
9:00am Pacific/10:00am Mountain/11:00am Central/12:00pm Eastern
Federation of Alliances Françaises USA
In English
Whether you are dreaming of tackling French for the first time, or simply keen on picking up some valuable new tips, these secrets from the language-teaching experts at the Alliance Française will help guide you to the next level… “à toute vitesse”!
A panel of key experts from all corners of the vast USA network of over 100 Alliance Française chapters have put their heads together to bring a highly instructive session to you via Zoom.
They’ll cover concrete tips on how to sound French, tell you where and how to focus your studies for the maximum benefit and fastest results, and share the worst “gaffes” and errors to avoid—the toughest stumbling blocks for Anglophones who want to do justice to “la langue de Molière”.
No matter your current level or how high your ambitions are for your personal mastery of French, you’ll come away from this entertaining session with brilliant inspiration and newfound confidence!
This event will be on Zoom and is free for Alliance Members. Please click here to register.
French Conversation
Every second Tuesday and Wednesday of each month
Federation of Alliances Françaises USA
En français
Join a hosted national conversation group group that meets via Zoom on the second Tuesday of each month. Participants are invited to enjoy their favorite beverage during our “Apéro” conversation.
The group is for intermediate to advanced (or fluent) speakers who are current members of an Alliance Française chapter in the U.S. (if you are not a current member of an Alliance chapter, visit the Chapters page and sign up for membership at one of your closest AF chapters) or AATF members. Native speakers are welcome. This group conversation is for adult participants, ages 17 and up.
Note that conversation groups are not substitutes for taking an official French class. Conversation groups are for informal practice and for sharing the joy of conversing in French with other like-minded Francophiles or Francophones.
The national group meets by Zoom for 55 minutes on the second Tuesday and the second Wednesdays of each month, and meets in two different time windows to accommodate our after-work Apéro theme (choose the time that works best for you):
2nd Tuesday of each month @ 2:15 pm PT / 4:15 CT / 5:15 pm ET
2nd Wednesday of each month @ 5:15 pm PT / 7:15 CT / 8:15 pm ET
The groups are now hosted by two members of the Federation of Alliances Françaises board – Charles Coulon for the Tuesday session and Linda Witt for the Wednesday session. Attendees will be assigned to breakout rooms of 4-5 people, with each breakout session lasting 14 minutes. The rooms are then are re-created (for a different mix each time). In this way, participants get to meet and chat with a variety of participants from different backgrounds, regions, and fluency levels.
Participants will need to use Zoom (a free videoconferencing service). To get on the invitation list for the “Apéro-National” sessions, click here.
Coco Chanel: The Woman Who Dressed the World
Friday, February 12, 2021
9:00am PST / 10:00am MST/ 11:00am CST / 12:00pm EST / 6:00pm Paris
Federation of Alliances Françaises USA
In English
Join Rhonda Garelick, cultural commentator and author of Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History, in conversation with Pamela Druckerman.
Coco Chanel, born into poverty in rural France, was—by age 40—a multimillionaire and a household name. Her Chanel Corporation is still the highest-earning privately owned luxury goods manufacturer in the world. You can see Chanel’s taste reflected in what ordinary women wear: little black dresses, flat shoes, costume jewelry and cardigan sweaters. Yet her clothes also embody her own era, and were influenced by war, nationalism and social change.
How did Chanel do it? What was the woman herself really like? Rhonda Garelick and Pamelia Druckeman will explore Chanel’s unique genius for absorbing the zeitgeist, and reflecting it back to the world in her designs.
Rhonda Garelick is dean of the School of Art and Design History and Theory, at Parsons School of Design/The New School in New York. She’s the author of three books, and writes on fashion and cultural politics for New York Magazine, The New York Times and many other publications. Garelick received her B.A. and Ph.D. in comparative literature and French from Yale.
Pamela Druckerman is the author of five books including Paris By Phone, a rhyming picture book for kids.
This program, produced by Pandemonium U, is free to the public and is part of a series sponsored by the Federation of Alliances Françaises USA. Alliance Française and AATF members can register here to receive reminder messages and the Zoom link.
Friday, February 12, 2021
9:00am PST / 10:00am MST/ 11:00am CST / 12:00pm EST / 6:00pm Paris
Federation of Alliances Françaises USA
In English
Join Rhonda Garelick, cultural commentator and author of Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History, in conversation with Pamela Druckerman.
Coco Chanel, born into poverty in rural France, was—by age 40—a multimillionaire and a household name. Her Chanel Corporation is still the highest-earning privately owned luxury goods manufacturer in the world. You can see Chanel’s taste reflected in what ordinary women wear: little black dresses, flat shoes, costume jewelry and cardigan sweaters. Yet her clothes also embody her own era, and were influenced by war, nationalism and social change.
How did Chanel do it? What was the woman herself really like? Rhonda Garelick and Pamelia Druckeman will explore Chanel’s unique genius for absorbing the zeitgeist, and reflecting it back to the world in her designs.
Rhonda Garelick is dean of the School of Art and Design History and Theory, at Parsons School of Design/The New School in New York. She’s the author of three books, and writes on fashion and cultural politics for New York Magazine, The New York Times and many other publications. Garelick received her B.A. and Ph.D. in comparative literature and French from Yale.
Pamela Druckerman is the author of five books including Paris By Phone, a rhyming picture book for kids.
This program, produced by Pandemonium U, is free to the public and is part of a series sponsored by the Federation of Alliances Françaises USA. Alliance Française and AATF members can register here to receive reminder messages and the Zoom link.
Discussion with Scott Carpenter, author of French Like Moi
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
4:00pm Pacific/5:00pm Mountain/6:00pm Central/7:00pm Eastern
Federation of Alliances Françaises USA
En français
Join Eileen Walvoord (President-Elect of the American Association of Teachers of French) as she interviews Scott Dominic Carpenter (above left) about his hilarious new memoir, French Like Moi: A Midwesterner in Paris. When Scott Carpenter moves from Minnesota to Paris, little does he suspect the dramas that await: scheming neighbors, police denunciations, surly demonstrators, cooking disasters, medical mishaps―not to mention all those lectures about cheese! It turns out that nothing in the City of Light can be taken for granted, where even trips to the grocery store lead to adventure. In French Like Moi, Carpenter guides us through the merry labyrinth of the everyday, one hilarious faux pas after another. Through it all, he keeps his eye on the central mystery of what makes the French French (and Midwesterners Midwestern).
Scott has already presented this work in English. This event will be conducted in French (except for brief readings in English), and will probe more deeply into issues of language and intercultural understanding.
French Like Moi is published by Traveler’s Tales, an imprint of Solas House. Available in hardcover, paper, ebook, and audiobook.
Press excerpts:
“A delightful read…filled with levity and grace.” --Kirkus Reviews
“This quirky travel memoir uncovers lesser-known facets with verve.” --Foreword Reviews, “Editor’s Pick”
“Carpenter has a knack for turning potential catastrophes into comedy.” --Publishers Weekly
“A delightful romp through French life and Midwestern sensibilities, all combined in one compelling story.” --Midwest Book Review
“Loaded with lacerating wit and trenchant but tender observations, Scott Carpenter’s French Like Moi is also a true original: a serious memoir that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is this humility that gives Carpenter’s book its undeniable strength—that, and his vivid, often hilarious storytelling.”--Marcia DeSanctis, NYT best-selling author of 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Go
Scott Dominic Carpenter teaches literature and creative writing at Carleton College (MN). Winner of a Mark Twain House Royal Nonesuch Prize (2018) and a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, he’s the author of Theory of Remainders: A Novel (named to Kirkus Reviews’ “Best Books of 2013”) and of This Jealous Earth: Stories. His shorter work has appeared in a wide variety of venues, including South Dakota Review, The Rumpus, Silk Road, Catapult, and various anthologies. His website is sdcarpenter.com.
Eileen Walvoord is the President of the Alliance Française of the North Shore (IL) and the President-Elect of the American Association of Teachers of French. A longtime French teacher and a fluent French speaker, Eileen has been decorated by the French government as an Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques.
To purchase the book from your local bookstore, click here. To see purchase options from Amazon, click here.
This event is en français and is free and open to all AF members, AATF members, and to invited guests. Register here.
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
4:00pm Pacific/5:00pm Mountain/6:00pm Central/7:00pm Eastern
Federation of Alliances Françaises USA
En français
Join Eileen Walvoord (President-Elect of the American Association of Teachers of French) as she interviews Scott Dominic Carpenter (above left) about his hilarious new memoir, French Like Moi: A Midwesterner in Paris. When Scott Carpenter moves from Minnesota to Paris, little does he suspect the dramas that await: scheming neighbors, police denunciations, surly demonstrators, cooking disasters, medical mishaps―not to mention all those lectures about cheese! It turns out that nothing in the City of Light can be taken for granted, where even trips to the grocery store lead to adventure. In French Like Moi, Carpenter guides us through the merry labyrinth of the everyday, one hilarious faux pas after another. Through it all, he keeps his eye on the central mystery of what makes the French French (and Midwesterners Midwestern).
Scott has already presented this work in English. This event will be conducted in French (except for brief readings in English), and will probe more deeply into issues of language and intercultural understanding.
French Like Moi is published by Traveler’s Tales, an imprint of Solas House. Available in hardcover, paper, ebook, and audiobook.
Press excerpts:
“A delightful read…filled with levity and grace.” --Kirkus Reviews
“This quirky travel memoir uncovers lesser-known facets with verve.” --Foreword Reviews, “Editor’s Pick”
“Carpenter has a knack for turning potential catastrophes into comedy.” --Publishers Weekly
“A delightful romp through French life and Midwestern sensibilities, all combined in one compelling story.” --Midwest Book Review
“Loaded with lacerating wit and trenchant but tender observations, Scott Carpenter’s French Like Moi is also a true original: a serious memoir that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is this humility that gives Carpenter’s book its undeniable strength—that, and his vivid, often hilarious storytelling.”--Marcia DeSanctis, NYT best-selling author of 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Go
Scott Dominic Carpenter teaches literature and creative writing at Carleton College (MN). Winner of a Mark Twain House Royal Nonesuch Prize (2018) and a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, he’s the author of Theory of Remainders: A Novel (named to Kirkus Reviews’ “Best Books of 2013”) and of This Jealous Earth: Stories. His shorter work has appeared in a wide variety of venues, including South Dakota Review, The Rumpus, Silk Road, Catapult, and various anthologies. His website is sdcarpenter.com.
Eileen Walvoord is the President of the Alliance Française of the North Shore (IL) and the President-Elect of the American Association of Teachers of French. A longtime French teacher and a fluent French speaker, Eileen has been decorated by the French government as an Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques.
To purchase the book from your local bookstore, click here. To see purchase options from Amazon, click here.
This event is en français and is free and open to all AF members, AATF members, and to invited guests. Register here.