If you are an educator, you can look for French books for teachers online or at brick-and-mortar stores. Learning a new language gives you a big advantage over everyone else. If you are sharing this enthusiasm with your students, bless you. You are helping people expand their ways of communicating with others. Language is one of the barriers to humanity, and if everyone just understood each other, the world would be a better place.
On the subject of France, they have made contributions to the world. You might be enjoying something that they had their hands on. Do you want to find out which? Here are some of them:
Movies
The brothers Louis and Auguste Lumiere are known as the men who created cinema. The projection method that you all know and love today was pioneered by them in 1895. Earlier moving picture inventions were made to be viewed by a single person. With encouragement from their father, the brothers went on to make a hand-cranked device that projected moving pictures to a screen. And the main thing was that it could be viewed by a large group of people. This is the early prototype of the movie theater.
Nowadays, France is still a big presence in cinema. There are French directors who have crossed over to Hollywood. Among them are Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who is well known for films such as Amelie and A Very Long Engagement. The former got a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. His Hollywood effort is the science fiction film, Alien Resurrection. There are also many French actors who are relevant to Tinseltown. These include Jean Reno, Marion Cotillard, and Jean Dujardin. Dujardin even won the Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar for the film, The Artist.
Pastries
There are bread and pastries that are undeniably French. You have your flaky and buttery croissants that go well with coffee and hot chocolate. These have become ubiquitous in many parts of the world. There are assembly lines built to produce thousands of them. The baguette is also a fixture in French cuisine. It can be a vessel of different food – meats, cheeses, spreads, and many others. And how can you forget eclairs? This is a rich dessert that is glazed on the top with melted chocolate. Bite into it and experience a swirl of soft and sweet custard.
Accessibility
In terms of helping out those with disabilities, the Braille alphabet system is one of the most respected and recognized. This was invented by Louis Braille. Blind since he was a kid, Braille got the inspiration for the alphabet during his teenage years by poking papers. He combined this with a military note-taking system to create the Braille system. Little did he know that this little experiment of his would become a guide for all blind people like him.
These are French products that are enjoyed by many. They are very popular, so it looks like they will stay around. These are lasting contributions indeed.
