Archives: Events

Love those French restaurants? Feel like you need to speak English more but in a relaxed atmosphere? Join this club which schedules a lunch in a great local restaurant. Click here to send an email to the coordinator for more information and the full schedule.

Treat yourself to an afternoon of a collective reading of Shakespeare. The activity consists of watching a BBC production on DVD and then reading relative scenes. This is a great activity for lovers of language and fans of the great wit. The activity is free for library members. Please sign up at the front desk.

The American elections: how do they work, what is at stake and how do the Americans in France feel about them? How exactly does the American electoral system work? How will the outcome sway the future? What are the pronostics?

Come and spend the whole afternoon of Friday, November 4th at the library and learn the answers to these questions and a great deal more. Everyone who comes into the library can cast their vote to be counted at the end of the day to determine the winning and future President…at least in the hearts and minds of the members and friends of the library! Coffee and tea will be served all afternoon.

The library will be organising a series of talks and round table debates in English:

14h – The presidential elections in the United States are coming up, and Americans will vote on November 8, 2016. Eric Beaty, Economic and Commercial Attaché at the U.S. Consulate for Western France will explain the electoral system and go over what’s at stake.

15h – Round table discussion from the point of view of the Americans living in France chaired by John Cassini, retired professor of English and a specialist in American civilization.

16h – John Webb, professor of English and former VP for International Relations at the Université d’Angers, will organize a game based on the American elections. Not only will this be a lot of fun, but you will learn a great deal about the United States…and how the states vary in so many ways.

17h15 – Counting the votes. Announcement of the results.

18h – event ends.

Free and open to the public. No need to reserve.

This halloween workshop for young adults between the ages of 11-14 takes place in the library and runs over three consecutive afternoons of three hours each. This is a wonderful way for kids to have fun learning English through games, songs and lots of speaking and moving around. Cost is 75 euros (includes snack, materials and library membership). Please contact the front desk to sign up. Limited to 15.

Time to get outside! Get on those hiking boots and take some time to revel in the great outdoors! The idea is to organise an easy walk once a month – approximately 10 km, 2 to 3 hours, in the afternoon – in order to discover or re-discover the beautiful hiking paths of the Maine-et-Loire. Come along with good walking shoes, protection against rain, cold or heat according to the season…. a bottle of water and a little “en-cas” to keep you going ! Maximum group is 20 so make sure to sign up!

Want to sign up? Easy as pie!

Sign up by sending your name, email address and phone numbers (perferably cell phone) to this email address. You will be sent full details of the walk in due time.
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Bend It Like Beckham is a 2002 romantic sports and Indian-themed comedy-dramafilm produced, written, and directed by Gurinder Chadha, and starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anupam Kher, Shaznay Lewis, and Archie Panjabi.

A kaleidoscope of color and culture clash humorously as an Indian family in London tries to raise their soccer-playing daughter in a traditional way. Unlike tarty elder sister Pinky, who is preparing for an Indian wedding and a lifetime of cooking the perfect chapatti, Jess’ dream is to play soccer professionally like her hero David Beckham. Wholeheartedly against Jess’ unorthodox ambition, her parents eventually reveal that their reservations have more to do with protecting her than with holding her back. When Jess is forced to make a choice between tradition and her beloved sport, her family must decide whether to let her chase her dream…and a soccer ball.

Screening begins at 15:00 sharp. This activity is free of charge for all library members. Please reserve by signing up at the front desk in advance. A discussion in English will follow the film.

The October read for the bookclub is “Hallucinating Foucault” by Patricia Duncker. In this ravishing tale of sexual and textual obsession, the young unnamed narrator sets forth from Cambridge on a quest. He is to rescue the subject of his doctoral research, Paul Michel, the brilliant but mad writer, from incarceration in a mental institution in France. What ensues is a drama of terrible intimacy and tenderness played out one hot and humid summer in Paris and in the south of France. “Hallucinating Foucault” is a literary thriller that explores with consummate mastery the passionate relationship between reader and writer, between the factual and the fictional, between sanity and madness. In blurring these boundaries, Patricia Duncker has written a novel of astonishing power and beauty.

For any enqueries about joining the bookclub please send an email to bookclub@ellia.org.

The Saturday Reading Group is for anyone who loves to read, socialize in English, and meet new people. Come join us on October 15th at 3pm at the library. There is the line-up of great reading for 2016-2017! Click here for full schedule and line-up of titles 2016-2017. 

The October selection is the book “Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates and its 2008 film adaptation (of the same name) starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. In the hopeful 1950s, Frank and April Wheeler appear to be a model couple: bright, beautiful, talented, with two young children and a starter home in the suburbs. Perhaps they married too young and started a family too early. Maybe Frank’s job is dull. And April never saw herself as a housewife. Yet they have always lived on the assumption that greatness is only just around the corner. But now that certainty is about to crumble. With heartbreaking compassion and remorseless clarity, Frank and April mortgage their spiritual birthright, betraying not only each other, but their best selves.

When and where: Meetings will be held in the library once a month on Saturday afternoons starting at 3:00. Cost: FREE to all members of the library. To join: Please contact Anne Kaar at bookgroup@ellia.org

Treat yourself to an afternoon of a collective reading of Shakespeare. The activity consists of watching a BBC production on DVD and then reading relative scenes. This is a great activity for lovers of language and fans of the great wit. The activity is free for library members. Please sign up at the front desk.

This is a special moment when the community gathers together to talk about everything and anything (…in English of course!) and sips coffee and tea. Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop in, no need to reserve! Coffee house is every Friday except during school holidays.