“No, thanks, I can say yes and no in French, that’s all I need really.” Heard last week from a friendly woman in her thirties as I was distributing leaflets in the bar.  Basing myself on this but also on the rag she was reading, I am led to assume that she believes that people visiting Britain should speak English, that France would be a nicer country without the French and that she agrees with comedian Nick Coppin that English people don’t need to learn foreign languages.
To be fair, Nick did moderate his statement as the Richard Bacon show on Radio 5 Live drew to a close on Monday night (or more accurately early Tuesday morning).  He accepted that people visiting a foreign country should know how to greet locals in their own language and that Brits moving abroad should learn the lingo.  Hey Nick, we never said that holidaymakers should pass a degree in Chinese before going to have their picture taken on the Great Wall of China.  As for speaking the language of your host country, any chance you could use your stage charisma to pass on the message to the ex-pats who’ve come out of their ghettos for a shot of British humour? 
Thinking of which, I wonder how many ex-pats living in Normandy will read the article on the Top Up your French sessions in their local paper the Paris-Normandie?  And how many will see the news report on the FR3 Regions channel next week?  Just like the British, the French media are intrigued (or amused). They think that attempting to get the Brits to speak foreign languages instead of shouting and pointing is like trying to get the French to become vegetarian!  
How wrong are they!  We are still weeks away from the “rentrée” but everyday I receive emails and phone calls from adult students asking me when their class is going to start again or which class they should join.   From the “débutant/e” to the “nearly native” level, the excitement is growing as we get nearer the start of the new academic year. 
I have some new projects in mind for this coming year.  Following the success of the Charleston Farmhouse guided tour in French, I will suggest more cultural visits conducted in French.  I will also organise trips to Dieppe with Top Up Your French sessions on the ferry and a guided tour of the Dieppe museum.    More exciting projects will be revealed very soon.

Best cosmofil greetings to all.
Babette
 
 
 

It’s already a month since the first Top Up Your French session took place on board the Côte d’Albâtre.  A steadily increasing number of passengers are joining me around the captain’s table with especially more children now that the school holidays have started.  How lovely to hear their laughter and their first attempt at ordering a meal in French! 

I hope you were able to listen to the interview on BH, the Sunday morning Radio 4 program.  The BBC South East Today team will join me on Thursday 14^th of August and I am told their report will appear in the evening program. 

We’ll soon have a link from the Transmanche LD Lines home page.  This is excellent news and I am sure it will bring more people to the sessions.

The Top Up Your French sessions are an essential part of the cosmofil concept.  Helping people to communicate in the language of the country they are visiting is the first step towards a better understanding of different cultures.  This is the message I want to put through to MEP Sharon Bowles when we talk this week.  I am a passionate European and I believe cosmofil can help promote Europe in the UK.

Best cosmofil wishes

Babette

Bonjour!

Today is the big day, with our first national broadcast.  When I say “our”, I’m not using the regal plural but I am thinking of all the people who have supported me from the very beginning.  So, we are on Broadcasting House today and I hope you don’t feel I’ve let you down.  As I said in my previous blog entry, I can only get better, but this is assuming we get another chance.

I’ll be distributing flyers and trying to get people to come to a Top Up your French session while you’ll be drinking your third cup of tea with the Sunday papers spread around you Radio 4 in the background. 

I went to see Norman Baker MP yesterday at his surgery in Lewes, Normie as my friend Mayke calls him.  I did not kiss him on both cheeks on her behalf as she had asked me to do but we’re not on those terms (yet!) and actually I don’t think she is either!  She’s a Dutch woman with a big heart, and when she kisses you  you’d think she has a loo plunger adapted to her lips!

So Norman Baker was very receptive and offered to help me with the media and with getting in touch with our MEP Sharon Bowles.   He also said he would write a press release for me.  My natural French arrogance (don’t you like stereotypes?) made me think “well Normie, that’s very nice, but I didn’t wait for you to write a press release that got me to BH and also a “sounds great, what are your sailing dates in the summer” from, wait for this, Simon Calder, yes, the Independent Travel writer! ”  Funnily enough, I still haven’t managed to secure an article in the local papers such as Sussex Express and The Argus.  I accept that reading about a mad French woman trying  to get people to learn foreign languages is not as exciting as “Kitten found in geranium” (Sussex Express), but hey! I’m local (Alfriston) and I can prove it; can the kitten???

Ooops, nearly 7 am and I must get ready for the ferry.  It’s a later start today but I still woke up at 4.30!  I’m meeting my Transmanche contacts and supporters Emmanuelle and Marie in Dieppe for lunch.  First time I have the opportunity to step off the ferry since I’ve started the ferry sessions. 

Best cosmofil greetings

Babette

Hello

I still can’t believe it!  Cosmofil on Radio 4, Broadcasting House (BH) on Sunday at 9am?  Up to the last minute, this morning 6.15 I did not really believe that  Paddy O’Connell would be boarding the ferry in Newhaven to join me on a day return trip to Dieppe.  Actually, he almost did not make it, arriving just seconds before the bus took the foot passengers to the ferry, in real “Tintin reporter” style!

If you know me a little, you will have an idea of how anxious I was about meeting him, but believe me, my anxiety subsided as soon as we met.  He could have been an old friend of mine and in fact I felt more at ease with him than with many people I have known for years.  I guess that’s what makes a good reporter, this ability to make people comfortable so they confide in them. 

Paddy helped me set up for the day’s crossings (sticking posters on the wall and setting up the captain’s table for the first Top Up your French On Board session).  He then followed me when I went to the cafeteria and the bar with my questionnaire and £1 off vouchers trying to get people to  join a session.  Amazing how the sight of a microphone (and Paddy’s light hearted questions) can get people talking!   There was much laughter and frank admissions along the lines of “yeah well, I know I should make the effort but what the heck, I’m on holiday, let me finish my drink and I might think about it”.

Top Up Your French On Board broke a new record today with 10 people attending the first morning session, 6 adults and 4 children.  It was a joyful session, with 3  generations of one  family playing their part in the roleplay “ordering a meal at the Cosmofil restaurant”.  So much fun and just what cosmofil is about, bringing people together to enjoy communicating in a foreign language.

Only two people came to the afternoon session, despite the £1 off voucher and Paddy’s rich voice making the announcement on the loud speaker.  Still, two is better than none, and I’m sure they’ll help spread the word, one way or another.

I hope I did not miss this fabulous opportunity to put the cosmofil message across.  Of course I am annoyed with myself for not always giving short and sharp answers or sounding cleverer but hey, it was a first  so I can only get better.  Anyway, I am sure the children’s laughter is worth ten times more than anything I could have said.

Tune in to BH on Sunday at  9am if you can.  I will be  almost mid-way between Sussex and Normandy so I’ll listen to the broadcast on the internet when I get home on Sunday night. 

 Best cosmofil greetings to You

Babette