Day 1573 (Tuesday) 28th September 2021.

It was a gloriously sunny day today and I had to get up super early to start in Ipag at the ridiculous hour of 8.20, thankfully Huw very graciously dropped me off.

Yesterday I had left my adapter in the classroom Roma so I popped in to see if it was still there and thankfully it was. I had to interrupt a teacher, but she was fine, she  turned out to be the Welsh woman that I’d been told about. She asked me if I realised that I had a Welsh surname and what part of me was Welsh – I laughed and said 96%. She was amazed when I told her I was from Llanelli, she is from Caerphilly. We were both about to start work so we didn’t have time to exchange numbers but I can’t wait to meet her properly. There are plenty of English and Irish around and some Scottish but it’s very rare to find Welsh people – they are a bit like Guinness, they don’t travel well.

The two hours with the IELTS learners flew by and they are so much better behaved than my regular general English group, but the general group are a lot of fun.

I caught the bus home and spent far too many hours preparing for six hours of teaching on Thursday and to get ready for tomorrow.

I just want to sunbathe for an afternoon. At 3.30 I joined a Teams meeting with some Ipag staff and my boss in Paris, it was fairly enlightening and I found out that I have to give all my IELTS students an internal oral exam before November 27th and grade them - that’ll be a new one for me.

I had an hour off before my Zoom lesson with the teenager in Toulouse so I started to write this but then my boss in Monaco called asking me to take a new group even though I’ve told her over and again that I can’t take on any more students.

My teenager was as brilliant as ever, she is the smartest young person I’ve ever met and I’ve met loads over the years. We did our usual grammar and vocabulary and finished off with a spelling test. I was stunned when she spelt all these words correctly without even writing them down

Foreign  

Assignment

Necessary

Privilege

Cough 

Knowledge 

Efficient

Rough

Persuade

Huw was on the balcony for this test and could hear her and said, ‘she can spell better than me’ and she was chuffed when I told her.

The following article is too long to post in one day so I have broken it down to cover a few days – I hope you enjoy it

20 Most Common French Idioms to Get You Talking Like a Native

The French love their idioms and use them often in everyday life. As a French learner, it is then necessary (and fun) for you to learn them.

If you listen to French natives speaking to each other, there will be moments where you scratch your head and go: "What in the world are you talking about? A guy put a rabbit on you?" 

Some 'expressions françaises' ( that's how French call idioms, which translates to "French expressions") have easy-to-guess meaning. And some are so quirky that you can't possibly know without learning them first or asking a French native. French idiomatic expressions are so unique that they're listed as the best idioms in the world in the book 'Idiomantics.'

Also, French like to use random animals and food items in their idioms. If you're a visual person and start picturing the literal meaning of the idioms in your head, you'll be laughing out loud.

So, let's get to know awesome French idioms! In this article, I'm listing some of the most common French idioms. From the more general to the ones that use food and animals, use them whenever appropriate to sound like a native.

What I mean by "general" is that these idioms don't mention a particular animal or food items. Some may sound totally random, so I'll try my best to explain the connection and/or origins of the idioms to you.

But since the French language is ancient, and these idioms have traversed generations, it may be hard for us to trace them back to understand fully the why and how.

Anyway, they're still fun to learn.

1. Ça marche

Literal translation: it walks.
Figurative translation: 'it functions', but also 'got it' or 'okay'.

You'll hear this one a lot when you're watching to a French movie. It's extremely versatile because you can use it in many ways.

J'ai réparé le grille-pain, et maintenant ça marche de nouveau.

Translation: I've repaired the toaster, and now it works again.

X: Je viendrai te chercher à 8 heures demain matin, donc sois prêt.
Y: Ça marche.

Translation: X: I'll pick you up at 8 tomorrow morning, so be ready.
Y: Got it/okay.

'Ça marche', in the second definition of the term, is a slang, though. Sometimes, and this is more informal than 'ça marche', you can also use:

Ça roule

to say 'got it' or 'okay'.

We hear 'Ça marche' constantly

2. Être dans la lune

Literal translation: to be in the moon
Figurative translation: to daydream, to pay zero attention.

This is easy to guess, right? Sometimes, French also use this for the same meaning: être tête en l'air - which literally means 'head in the air,' but actually means 'to be distracted'.

X: Est-ce que tu as compris ce que je viens de te dire?
Y: Quoi? Désolée, j'étais dans la lune.

X: Do you understand what I just told you?
Y: What? Sorry, I was daydreaming.

Mon mari est tellement tête en l'air qu'il a égaré son portefeuille cinq fois.

My husband is so distracted that he's lost his wallet five times.

3. Ça coûte un bras

Literal translation: It costs an arm.
Figurative translation: It's super expensive.

I know, there's an identical idiom in English - It costs an arm and a leg. Who copied whom? Although French often claim they're the origin of so-and-so words, this idiom is probably English.

A theory says that it originated from the first and second World War, where the price to pay is really heavy - body parts or even life.

From the same category, we have:

ça coûte les yeux de la tête (it costs the eyes in the head)

and ça coûte la peau des fesses (it costs the skin of the butt).

Cette voiture m'a couté un bras/les yeux de la tête/la peau des fesses.

This car was extremely expensive.

4. Faire la grasse matinée

Literal translation: to do a fat morning.
Figurative translation: to stay in bed until late in the morning.

This is a useful idiom during your vacation in France so that your concierge doesn't come knocking at your door at 9 AM.

Chaque samedi, j'aime bien faire la grasse matinée.

Every Saturday, I like staying in bed until late.

In the same category but with a contradictory meaning, there is 'faire une nuit blanche' (to do a white night/to stay up all night long).

Je dois faire une nuit blanche pour finir ce travail.

I have to stay up all night to finish this work.

The origin of 'faire une nuit blanche' is quite interesting if you like history. It came from the fact that noblemen used to pray in white cloaks all night long before being knighted.

5. Coup de foudre

Literal translation: a lightning strike.
Figurative translation: to fall madly in love at first sight.

Did you guess it right? Use it if you feel like you've been hit by a lighting bolt when you see someone for the first time.

If it's only a 'moderate' love at first sight, this is what you use: coup de coeur.

C'était un coup de foudre entre lui et moi.

We fell madly in love at first sight, him and me.

J'ai eu un coup de coeur pour cette maison. Je pense que je vais l'acheter.

I fell in love at first sight with this house. I think I'm going to buy it.

6. Être sage comme une image

Literal translation: to be reasonable like an image.
Figurative translation: it's usually used to define kids who are very calm.

This is one of my most favourite French idioms because I've also wondered why it's not 'être sage comme un ange' (to be calm like an angel). For me, it makes way more sense and also rhymes to perfection.

But anyway, nobody knows why it's the word 'image' that's chosen here.

Les enfants que je garde sont sages comme des images. C'est un travail facile et je suis très content.

The kids I babysit are very calm. It's an easy job, and I'm so glad.

7. Boire comme un trou

Literal translation: to drink like a hole.
Figurative translation: well, you can guess, I think 

Vous devrez le conduire chez lui, il boit comme un trou.

You'll have to drive him home; he's drinking heavily.

Badger settled on Huw’s lap in his tunnel again this evening

Translations 

Cats