12 hours Ago By Susan Owensby
Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winners' names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music ..
. so be sure and listen every week. Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.
fr Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all! Facebook: Be sure to send your photos to [email protected] for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner! More tech news: Did you know we have a YouTube channel ? Just go to YouTube and write “RFI English” in the search bar, and there we are! Be sure to subscribe to see all our videos. Would you like to learn French? RFI is here to help you! Our website “Le Français facile avec RFI” has news broadcasts in slow, simple French, as well as bilingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.
Go to our website and get started! At the top of the page, click on “Test level”. According to your score, you’ll be counselled to the best-suited activities for your level. Do not give up! As Lidwien van Dixhoorn, the head of “Le Français facile” service told me: “Bathe your ears in the sound of the language, and eventually, you’ll get it.
” She should know – Lidwien is Dutch and came to France hardly able to say “bonjour” and now she heads this key RFI department – so stick with it! Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts! In addition to the news articles on our site , with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts that will leave you hungry for more. There’s Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, The International Report, and of course, The Sound Kitchen . We also have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis .
Remember, podcasts are radio, too! As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Please keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with! To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page.
You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone. To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. Teachers take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students.
If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.
fr If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St.
Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants , and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., too.
They are also a good way to help you improve your English - that’s how I worked on my French, reading books that were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.
Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni ([email protected]) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence.
Remember to copy me ([email protected]) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. N.
B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload! We have new RFI Listeners Club members, all members of a student radio club in West Bengal, India, headed up by their teacher, Ratan Kumar Paul. Join me in a hearty welcome to new members Deep Paul, Dilip Meta, Sima Pal, and Rimil Paul, with of course, their teacher, Ratan Kumar Paul.
Welcome, one and all! So glad you have joined us! You too can be a member of the RFI Listeners Club – just write to me at [email protected] and tell me you want to join, and I’ll send you a membership number.
It’s that easy. When you win a Sound Kitchen quiz as an RFI Listeners Club member, you’ll receive a premium prize. This week’s quiz: On 8 March, I asked you to listen to Alison Hird and Sarah Elzas’ Spotlight on France podcast number 124.
They covered AI in the show, and the EU-backed "third path" approach, midway between the US' private tech firm-dominated model, and China's state-controlled technology. You were to re-listen to their AI report, specifically about the French company Lingora, who recently released a large language model trained on French and European content. You were to send in the answer to these two questions: When was the company Lingora founded, and in which year did they begin work on their AI model? The answer is, as Sarah noted: Lingora was founded in 2000; the company began working on AI in 2016.
In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: "Is it wrong to disobey laws?" Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us! The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Jayanta Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India. Jayanta is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Jayanta, on your double win.
Also on the list of lucky winners this week are RFI Listeners Club members Radhakrishna Pillai from Kerala State, India; Zenon Teles, the president of the Christian – Marxist – Leninist - Maoist Association of Listening DX-ers in Goa, India, and Mahfuzur Rahman from Cumilla, Bangladesh. Last but assuredly not least, there’s RFI English listener Shaharier Sadman Shihab from Naogaon, Bangladesh. Congratulations, winners! Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Kashmir” by George Fenton and John Leach; “Bamboule” by Pierre Bensousan; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and “Yé ké yé ké” by Mori Kante, performed by Mori Kante and his ensemble.
Do you have a music request? Send it to [email protected] This week’s question ..
. you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “RN leader Le Pen battles for political future after embezzlement conviction” , which will help you with the answer.
You have until 28 April to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 3 May podcast. When you enter, be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number. Send your answers to: english.
[email protected] or Susan Owensby RFI – The Sound Kitchen 80, rue Camille Desmoulins 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux France Click here to learn how to win a special Sound Kitchen prize . Click here to find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club.
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