After recently reading about Apple’s unveiling of its live translation tool (more cautious and incremental than Google, Android, or Samsung, the latter struggling with live audio translation of phone calls) and a way to beat hold muzak, I was tempted to write this month’s blog on AI and translation technology (I will Babel on about this in a month to come in order to garner more information, maybe road-test it, and certainly to consider the role of the MFL teacher in the years or decades ahead). However, this month, following the topic of Accent last month, I wish to focus on punctuation …

This month, I wish to consider what our accent ‘says’ about us. We may not be a Rory Bremner or Alistair McGowan (or even a Nat Knell!), we may try to impersonate somebody and either succeed in sounding like Margaret Thatcher or Donald Trump or make our attempt at Welsh sound Indian, or we may simply be proud of our accent that gives us a sense of identity, our origin(s), and ‘allure’.

This month, my emphasis takes a different tack and includes an interview with Jon Guthrie (club captain at Northampton Town FC), a shining example of a model professional, great human being, and altruist. Jon is currently undergoing rehabilitation following an ACL injury, yet remains positive and focused.

Following on from last month’s sample A Level/undergraduate lesson, I now suggest a GCSE-style private tutorial. I typically attempt to cover a range of skills, include some vocabulary and a language point, as well as consider both the individual pupil and the examination format/requirements.

This month, I offer a combination of two/three sample advanced lessons of mine … feel free to use this material or adapt it.

These lessons were for an individual, but could be adapted for a class/group. It features some speaking content/tasks, some grammar, and some translation techniques.

The start of 2025 brings a short piece, not written in English, which considers some words that the French language ‘lacks’ (I shall review some untranslatable French expressions into English in a future blog). The Fun bite continues the theme, albeit as a plaisanterie.

This month, I am focussing on the ‘power’ of language. Language is, in its simplest definition, how we may communicate, how we perceive, and how we connect. This season is one of giving and receiving, thus a propitious moment to consider language (maybe that of the angels, the shepherds, or the wise men).

This month, my ‘blog’ and fun bite are combined. I focus on antanaclastic sentences and lipograms.

This month’s blog is a piece about what can make a teacher inspirational; it is prompted by a letter sent to The Times some years ago (see Fun bite at the end of my writing) by a Mr Giles from Devon, then my letter response to the editor of The Times a few days later.

In my blog ‘offering’ this month, I commence with a well-known French poem by Paul Verlaine

[1844-1896] … I then go on to look at translation techniques for students and teachers alike.

This month’s piece is far shorter than previous blogs and features a few athletes (mostly from Team GB). What is, as the French state, the fils conducteurs [no, not ‘conducting sons’!]? What lessons can we draw from these traits and how might we apply them to our own life?

This is a short ‘in situ’ piece from the Olympic Village in Paris. It presents a miscellany of highlights, including the ambiance, linguistic aspects, observations, and my work in the VMC (Village Media Centre).

This blog highlights some personal reflections before I head to Paris this summer, as well as some focus on the core Olympic values.

Le grand Robert has translated this month’s blog from a FranceInfo article that looks into the work of dictionary compilation and new words in the French language.

This month’s topics are for 6th Form students and teachers on The Values of the French Republic and The Secular State in France; there is an introduction to each topic, some video and reading links, as well as some sample questions. Check out the two fun bite entries below too

The target language debate in the MFL classroom is longstanding … I offer ‘une optique’. Check out the fun bite that introduces ‘une approche lexicale farfelue’

This is not really a blog, simply a romantic poem ... because it's February (Valentine's month)

The blog this month is 'poetic',

Calming, not frenetic ... just enjoy; exophony is fun and beneficial

This month's topic looks at the influence of French on the English language - when, why, what

This month’s blog focusses on borrowings from ‘English’ into the French language. Are these ‘justified’, indeed needed? What are the alternatives? A vous de juger!