Planet French/Booksmarts

Bonne St-Valentin! Il y a une nouvelle vidéo sur Planet French, en français facile!

Le Carnaval de Québec is a great way to engage French students with French culture.

Do you know what’s possibly the most insane winter competition in the world ? Out in Quebec city they race canoes on the St-Lawrence River. In February. It’s part of Le Carnaval de Quebec and let me tell you, it’s freeeezing. I know, I’m there every year producing the French culture kit "Le Carnaval" available at www.booksmarts.biz... Consider this: Teams of competitors have to race in a deadly slush of bone chilling water while the most powerful river in Canada hurls blocks of ice the size of locomotives at them. Then, suddenly, there’s no water so they have to get out and run on sheets of ice that can crack at any time and swallow them whole. The St-Lawrence River has a discharge of 9,850 m3/s, even more than the mighty McKenzie and way more than the majestic Yukon River. Brave (insane?) competitors have to go from Quebec City to Levis, across the river dodging moving walls of ice. And then come back ! Twice ! Some years, the weather is so mad that only a few teams make it. In 1958, only 4 of the 21 teams finished ! You can preview video excerpts, including a couple of canoe race teasers, from the Booksmarts Bienvenue au Carnaval French culture kit right now by clicking here. The race was originally held to determine who would get the lucrative contract to carry the mail. Today, it’s one of the many amazing attractions at Le Carnaval

Planet French: Weekly news videos in easy French for French students. This week: The Quebec Carnaval, visit with French teachers, sciences have a whale of a time and youth olympic highlights!

One of the best ways to learn French is through French culture. One of the least known but most interesting French cultural hotspots is Haiti. This video shares samples from the French resource Bienvenue en Haiti, from www.Booksmarts.biz, one of the leading French resources provider.