Tara Road

In my French class, we read a lot of books mainly children’s books. So we read a story recently that I thought that I would share. Books certainly reflect the times, values and ideals of a society. I had never thought about a children’s book reflecting the times of a society. However this one certainly did. The title of the book is Le Dernier Classe.

The story is set in Alsace, France. It is in the end of the 19th century when the Germans take over Alsace and Lorraine, which the French won back several years later. More into depth of the story now, it is set in a classroom with Franz, who is the main character. I actually really adore this character. He is precious and frustrating. He is a young boy who is curious about everything. And he never listens. When he arrives late for school as always, he expects to get scolded. He doesn’t because well he is le chouchou also known as the teacher’s pet. He doesn’t know that he is because is precarious and way too energetic. He soon learns that it will be the last day of class for him. He will in fact be learning German after this. This is really where you can the history of the culture because the German only took over this particular part of France for two years. He soon begins to regret all the things that he did to torture the teacher.

In the end, he realizes that his culture and life will never be the same. Language is the key to any society. The written language of a society will knowingly or unknowingly give away clues to the past, present and future.

I went to a library book sale a few weeks ago. You could put as much as possible in a bag for $1. So I got about 30 books for my nephew and niece. Kids’ books are awesome. However, there is one that he particularly likes. He carries this book around with him. Oddly though, it isn’t a book that you would expect for a boy to be reading. The book is Cinderella.

I actually got this book for my niece but he seems to like it. The book is the French version of the story. He likes for people to read it to him. At the end of the story, he’ll ask you to read it again. The great thing about this is that he is learning another language. He calls me “Cendrillon” now. And he’ll say sentences out of the book in French.

In the french story, some words aren’t exactly translated as the same words. For example, slipper doesn’t translate well to French. There are words for a sleeping slipper and a shoe. However, a glass slipper there is not. And similarly with English, there are language barriers. Some words in French contain meanings that cannot be translated in context.

I guess the moral of the story is that kids are amazingly perceptive. It’s a great idea to give them an opportunity to be exposed to a different culture and language.