Archives: Events

Join the library community for a special moment to talk about anything and everything (in English of course!) over a cup of coffee or tea. Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop by, no need to reserve!

Do you love French food and restaurants? Would you like to speak English more, but in a relaxed environment? Join the Luncheon Club! Enjoy a meal and great conversation in English once a month at a local restaurant. This activity is open to library members. Spaces are limited. For more information or to sign up, please contact the group coordinator here.

The Saturday Reading Group is for anyone who loves to read, socialize in English, and meet new people.

The November read for the group is Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They’re completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less perfect than they appear. Although her Papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home—a home that is silent and suffocating. As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili and Jaja are sent to their aunt, a university professor outside the city, where they discover a life beyond the confines of their father’s authority. Books cram the shelves, curry and nutmeg permeate the air, and their cousins’ laughter rings throughout the house. When they return home, tensions within the family escalate, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together.

Meetings are once a month on Saturday afternoons starting at 3 pm. Open to all library members. To sign up please contact the group coordinator at bookgroup@ellia.org.

The library is an authorised test center for the TOEIC Listening and Reading Test (the Test of English for International Communication). For more information please visit our TOEIC page or to sign up go to the official ETS website.

“Halloween’s Coming” is a 3-day English-learning workshop for collégiens. Participants learn English in a fun, interactive way with games, songs and activities with lots of talking and moving around! The workshop will be at the library for three consecutive afternoons of three hours each, from 2 to 5 p.m.

To sign up, please contact the front desk by phone (02 41 24 97 07) or email (info@ellia.org). The number of participants is limited so sign-up fast! Cost is 75 euros (includes snack, materials and a one-time library membership when you register for the first time).

On Saturday 23 October, from 4 to 6 pm, meet the painter Emmanuelle Tenailleau! She will be happy to discuss her art with you and answer your questions. She is exhibiting at the library from October 14 to November 23!

Emmanuelle Tenailleau believes that painting has the power to give meaning and feeling to shapes and colors. It offers the experience of visually feeling what cannot be said with words. Painting can express wonder, worry, happiness, loneliness… It takes us to what is buried in each of us.

She describes her style as figurative, without being classic, because the world as she perceives it, reveals forms that inspire her: the shadow of a tree trunk, the cut of a leaf, the posture of a kneeling man, a child running, a woman walking, the plumage of a bird. For the past two years, her painting has been inspired by fairy tales. She creates figures of children grappling with the world that they are discovering with courage and questioning. Emmanuelle Tenailleau feels that life oscillates between the imaginary and reality which confront each other and/or connect. The figure of the wolf, for example, embodies fear, without us knowing whether this fear is real or imagined.

The artists she met during her childhood, through her grandfather Jean Commère, and her career in an art gallery and in visual art journalism played a major role in her artistic education. She also developed her creativity thanks to her visits to many museums. She pursued a university course at Paris Sorbonne (History, Art History and Visual Arts) before becoming an expert in modern and contemporary painting. She is a member of the Chambre nationale des experts spécialisés (CNES) since 2006 and of the Maison des Artistes.

The film club presents a film in English once a month on a Saturday afternoon. This showing will be of “The Trip”, a feature film directed by Michael Winterbottom, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as fictionalised versions of themselves on a restaurant tour of northern England. Watch the trailer here.

Screening begins at 3 o’clock sharp and will be followed by a discussion in English. This activity is free and open to all library members.  

This is our big Coffee House kick-off date of the fall season of 2021! Join the library community for a special moment to talk about anything and everything (in English of course!) over a cup of coffee or tea. Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop by, no need to reserve!

“Books and Tea” is a monthly meeting for bookworms and tea drinkers. Bring a book you’ve really enjoyed, talk about it and pass it on! The group will meet from 2 to 3:30 pm. For the location, please contact the Front Desk at info@ellia.org or 02 41 24 97 07 since the group will meet at a café or at the library depending on the sanitary restrictions in place. No need to sign up, just come and enjoy!

Join us for our ever-popular game night and pizza party! Cost is 7 euros (covers pizza and non-alcoholic drinks, 5 euros for native English speakers and children under 13). Event starts at 6 pm sharp. Last entry at 6:15 pm. First come, first serve with 40 participants max. Children under 13 need to be accompanied by an adult.