Meet the authors of The Heart of an Artichoke

Saturday, June 11; 11:00am PT 
Federation of Alliances Françaises USA
Free for AF members, $10 for non-members
Online, in English

Please click here to register.

Join us for a conversation with Claire Lerognon and Linda Phillips Ashour, co-authors of The Heart of an Artichoke: A Dialogue à Deux about French Language, Literature, and Life. This guidebook offers a spirited approach for those learning French, encouraging task-based methods and informal cultural exploration in the French language. More important than perfect grammar, Lerognon and Phillips Ashour argue, is communicative “savoir-faire” and intercultural “savoir-être”. The student’s real task is reimagining what language learning is all about.

According to a 19th-century French maxim: “Cœur d’artichaut, une feuille pour tout le monde”, (Heart of an artichoke, a leaf for everyone.) There’s something fresh for French fanatics to discover on every page. What to do with those old grammar books gathering dust on your shelves? Instead of memorizing rules, try communicating “for real” in a fan letter to a beloved Gallic actor. Turn on France Télévisions and study the intricacies of colloquial French rhythm to fine-tune the”chuis” and “chaipas”. What about (very) informal interactions? Explore a new register with Claire’s down and dirty glossary to street argot. And recall with Linda what got you hooked on French in the first place. “Reculer pour mieux sauter”. Sometimes taking a step back really is the way to leap forward.

Claire and Linda were brought together by a French book group that met for over a decade at the famed Carlyle hotel in New York City. Though the group no longer meets, they have continued their “dialogue à deux,” teacher to student and friend to friend, across the continent and through the years. Their collaboration offers a shared course in lifetime learning with concrete suggestions stretching from the library to the bookstore, from the movie theater to the home TV, from the office to the kitchen. What are the course requirements? A taste for some lighthearted education and a serious appetite for French.

This event will be on Zoom and is free for all Alliance Française members, AATF members, and invited guests of the presenter or publicist. Non-members or persons who have no AF chapter nearby can purchase tickets ($10).