Wednesday 9 November 2011

A Poem and Then Some

I don't have perfect recall of the kind of homework I did in my early years of primary school.   I don't particularly recall  doing any.  I do remember song time, rows of single digit arithmetic (I guess it was too simple to be worthy of the moniker 'mathematics'), and reading the Bobbsey Twins.

I certainly don't recall being given 10 days to memorize this poem and recite in front of the class in second grade:
La Cigale et la Fourmi

La Cigale ayant chanté
Tout l'été
Se trouva fort dépourvue
Quand la bise fut venue
Pas un seul petit morceau
De mouche ou de vermisseau
Elle alla crier famine
Chez la Fourmi sa voisine
La priant de lui prêter
Quelque grain pour subsister
Jusqu'à  la saison nouvelle
"Je vous paierai, lui dit-elle,
Avant l'août foi d'animal
Intérêt et principal
La Fourmi n'est pas prêteuse
C'est là son moindre défaut
Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud?
Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse
Nuit et jour à tout venant
Je chantais, ne vous déplaise
Vous chantiez? j'en suit fort aise
Eh bien! dansez maintenant

God bless the French and their mighty curriculum.  It's nice to see them pouring cream instead of skim milk into those young open minds.  Pretty impressive for an 8-year old doncha think?  At J's age, I was lucky if I could remember what time Get Smart was on TV...and it didn't get me any smarter.

2 comments:

Laura Wright @ The ODD Mom said...

Holy cow! This is how they teach French in Australia? That's pretty impressive. Bear's in a French school (all French), and I doubt very much he'll be reciting that next year.

Sheila Cook said...

Oh,how I laughed. Good luck Jack. Tell him the time you had to memorise "If" in french and english for a very scary Mrs Keshishan (sp?)!!!