| French fact | There are 128 million people worldwide who speak French as a first or second language. |
The Open Centre was awash with French flags, food, music and entertainment on Tuesday 25th July 2006. This was all to coincide with BBC 2’s ‘Excuse My French’ series starring Esther Rantzen, Marcus Brigstocke and Ron Atkinson. The programme sent the three stars to a villa in Provence, in the south of France and set them a series of challenges to learn and speak the language. We decided to link with the series and bring a bit of France to Coventry. Free French beginners lessonCatherine McKay, a tutor from Coventry's Adult Education Service ran a French beginners course in the morning. The session taught the basics of French, including greetings, numbers and the alphabet. We tested those who attended the French lesson at the end and they all did very well, greeting Malcolm Boyden with a "Bonjour. Ca va?”. Many hope to take up the full 10 week course next term. Coventry Adult Education service had a stall to offer support and advice to learners. They offer a range of language courses at different levels, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek and Arabic. French cuisine and French wine| ""I've had a wonderful time, when is the next one?"" | | Betty Townsend |
As the course finished, the French food arrived, croissants, brie, camembert, ‘crepes avec chocolat’, ‘crepes avec citron’, ‘quiche lorraine’, ‘tarte au pomme’ and much more. Everyone enjoyed tucking in and eating their ‘déjeuner’. Malcolm Boyden carried out the wine review with a selection of French wines in the Open Centre. Mark Archer from Vinology brought three different white wines from French vineyards. Betty Townsend and Janet Wright only came in for the free French lesson but enjoyed the food and critiquing the wines with Malcolm! A lot of hot air! | | Tasting French wines in the Open Centre. |
Did you know that the hot-air balloon was a French invention? On 21st November 1783 two French brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier launched the first hot air balloon over Paris which flew for 20 minutes. To celebrate this French invention, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire attempted to create and make our very own hot air balloon in the Open Centre. Our hot-air balloon challenge was to make a 6ft high balloon made from crepe paper and straws. The challenge led by our guide, Rosie King got off to a great start with all the pieces of paper being glued together, then cut into sixteen long crescents that when glued formed the balloon.  | | Bob Brolly tries Can Can dancing |
The straws had to be cut and made into an octagon which formed the mouth of the balloon. We had some helpers who helped to finish the balloon and gave it a trail run in our Open Centre, using a hairdryer to fill up with hot air, it raised off the ground slightly so we were pleased with our success. Yes, we Can Can!Some Can Can dancers from The Belgrade Theatre, came in to show off their high kicks and even did the splits for us! The duo, who are normally in a troop of 30 Can Can dancers wore black leotards, red skirts and red feathers in their hair. Bob even had a go, but found it difficult to alternate from one leg to the other! Encore!If you have an appetite for learning French, then why not try learning online via the BBC’s Ma France website? The website will help improve or brush up your basic French with the help of Stéphane Cornicard and 24 interactive video units. The films were shot around Lyons, the Alps and in Provence. --- | 
