This time last year I shared a post called “Oh what a year!” … after les gilet jaunes¹The yellow vests and l’incendie de Notre-Dame²the fire at Notre Dame it seemed surely 2020 would be a better year. And like 2019, 2020 has had des hauts et des bas³highs and lows, but « Oh quelle année ! » once again seems like a fitting title.

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Janvier

Despite news of a possible new virus out of China, l’année a commencée dans le calme⁵the year started calmly enough. January was all about vocabulary and grammar and Tell me why was the most popular post.

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Février

In February, “normal” news was still à la une. La météo et la politique⁶Weather and politics were both a bit

agitées⁷agitated, but things were calm enough that the unveiling of France’s 2020 entry to the Eurovision song contests was a big story.

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Mars

In March, tout a basculé⁸everything tipped over when France (and many other countries) instituted their (first!) confinement.

Avril

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As early as April, even though travel was still highly restricted, everyone was already ready to get out of town. The French group Trois Cafés Gourmands and their catchy chanson⁹song A nos souvenirs took us on a virtual visit to la province.

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Mai

In May, Bridgette joined us here on the Transparent Language French blog and despite the cancellation of the Eurovision competition things seemed like they might be improving enough for us to turn back to more normal topics like the post-Revolution history of France’s surprisingly resistant monarchy.

Juin

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And suddenly it was summer! In June, hop-là, Bridgette brought us a little onomatopoeic fun.

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Juillet

For un quatorze juillet pas comme les autres¹⁰a different kind of July 14th/Bastille Day this year we had virtual fireworks  and took a tour of French regions  and reviewed useful vocabulary for talking about cities and towns.

Août

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In August, la période des grandes vacances en France¹¹vacation season / the “big break”, we spent some time down on the farm and rediscovering the classic French conte¹²story, tale Le Petit Prince.

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Septembre

September of course means la rentrée and so we went back to school  … a perfect opportunity for sharing some more great musique française to help you learn new vocabulary with a groove.

Octobre

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Unfortunately as we turned les pages du calendrier from été to l’automne¹³the pages of the calendar from summer to fall, it became clear that we weren’t quite done with la Covid-19 and France instituted un couvre-feu to try and tamp down the spread of the virus.

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Novembre/décembre¹⁴Remember that les mois de l’année are not usually capitalized in French.

By late November it seemed everyone was ready for the year to be over and for les fêtes de fin d’année¹⁵the year end celebrations/holidays (even though they would be very different this year) and we started to put up les décorations de Noël perhaps just a bit earlier than usual.

And so here we are, another year ending … and it is time once again de vous souhaiter tous Bonne Année¹⁶to wish you all a Happy New Year and to vous remercier pour votre fidélité¹⁷and to thank you for your continued support.

Et que 2021 vous apporte beaucoup de bonheur et pleine d’occasions d’apprendre (surtout le français !)

And may 2021 bring you much joy and many opportunities for learning (especially French!)

• 1
  The yellow vests
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  the fire at Notre Dame
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  highs and lows
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  In partnership with the city of Paris
• 5
  the year started calmly enough
• 6
  Weather and politics
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  agitated
• 8
  everything tipped over
• 9
  song
• 10
  a different kind of July 14th/Bastille Day
• 11
  vacation season / the “big break”
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  story, tale
• 13
  the pages of the calendar from summer to fall
• 14
  Remember that les mois de l’année are not usually capitalized in French.
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  the year end celebrations/holidays
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  to wish you all a Happy New Year
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  and to thank you for your continued support