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Another parallel text on frenchteacher

Some years ago I began putting together parallel text reading tasks for beginners or near beginners. I blogged about this back in March too. The idea is to help students access interesting reading material through the use of parallel translation. Of course, without supporting exercises, students would just read the English text and barely process the French at all. The exercises I add require students to do some processing, while keeping the focus largely on comprehension. So the format is true/false, underlining cognates and completing a short bilingual vocabulary list. the latter is made possible by the English text, so overall the exercises are feasible by a large majority of students, provided their English literacy is reasonable.

Recently I have been adding further examples to the existing set of 20 or so texts. I have put some more emphasis on culturally significant content, rather than just general interest reading. You can see the format below - just imagine this on two landscape A4 sheets, with the texts side by side.

Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur est né le 27 décembre 1822 à Dole et est mort le 28 septembre 1895 à Marnes-la-Coquette à l’âge de 72 ans. C’est un scientifique français spécialisé dans la chimie et dans la microbiologie.

Il est professeur de physique au lycée de Dijon en 1848 puis de chimie, en 1849, à l’université de Strasbourg. Il épouse Marie Laurent la même année et a cinq enfants, quatre filles et un garçon.

En 1853, Pasteur est fait chevalier de la Légion d’honneur. Il est élu à l’Académie des Sciences en 1863 et il devient Professeur de Physique et Chimie à l’école des beaux-arts en 1863. Il crée la pasteurisation en 1865.

Pasteur découvre plusieurs vaccins pour les hommes et les animaux : contre la rage en 1884 chez l’humain, et en 1881 contre les maladies du charbon chez les moutons et le choléra chez les poules.

L’Institut Pasteur, un centre de recherches à Paris, porte son nom. C’est une fondation privée qui se consacre à l'étude de la biologie, des micro-organismes, des maladies et des vaccins.

 

Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur was born on December 27, 1822 in Dole and died on September 28, 1895 in Marnes-la-Coquette at the age of 72. He is a French scientist specialized in chemistry and microbiology.

He was professor of physics at the lycée in Dijon in 1848 and then of chemistry, in 1849, at the University of Strasbourg. He married Marie Laurent the same year and had five children, four girls and a boy.

In 1853, Pasteur was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. He was elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1863 and became Professor of Physics and Chemistry at the School of Fine Arts in 1863. He created pasteurisation in 1865.

Pasteur discovered several vaccines for humans and animals: against rabies in 1884 in humans, and in 1881 against anthrax in sheep and cholera in chickens.

The Pasteur Institute, a research centre in Paris, bears his name. It is a privately run foundation dedicated to the study of biology, microorganisms, diseases and vaccines.

 

Vrai ou faux ? (True or false?)

1.       Louis Pasteur est un politicien.

2.       Il est spécialisé dans la chimie et la micro-biologie.

3.       En 1848 il est professeur de chimie à Paris.

4.       En 1849 il travaille à Strasbourg.

5.       En 1853 il reçoit un titre important.

6.       En 1863 il travaille à l’école des Beaux Arts.

7.       Pasteur invente la pasteurisation.

8.       Il découvre une variété de vaccins.

9.       Les vaccins ne sont pas pour les humains.

10.      Il découvre un vaccin contre la rage.

11.      Il découvre un vaccins pour les poules.

12.      L’Institut Pasteur se trouve à Strasbourg.

13.      À l’Institut Pasteur on étudie la pasteurisation.

14.      L’Institut Pasteur est une fondation publique.


Highlight any words in the French text whose meaning you could have guessed without any help. These words are called COGNATES and help make French a relatively easy language for us to learn.

Complete this list of words

English                    French

scientist                           ___________

was born                          ___________

Chemistry                        ___________

Physics teacher                 ___________

he married                        ___________

he became                        ___________

four daughters                  ___________

he created (invented)        ___________

he discovered                    ___________

in sheep                           ___________

diseases                           ___________


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