Lassé de chercher tes mots en colle de langue ? Major Prépa est là pour toi !
Avec du recul et de la pratique, on se rend compte que les colles de langues suivent une méthodologie bien précise et rodée. Avoir en tête tous ces mécanismes permet d’aller beaucoup plus vite dans la préparation sur papier de la colle. Voici donc un exemple complet de colle d’anglais, basé sur l’article suivant du NY Times:
“As Trump Goes on a Twitter Rampage, Melania Trump Announces a Solo Trip to Africa”
Avant de commencer, quelques rappels de méthodologie
L’introduction
L’introduction est là pour commencer avec une accroche, « the hook », qui vous permettra de faire la différence. Cette accroche est de préférence une citation, un fait d’actualité (cf article sur les citations d’accroche en anglais). On enchaine avec une petite mise en contexte, et on soulève l’intérêt du texte, que l’on souligne par la présence d’une problématique. Le tout doit être court mais complet et logique.
Le résumé
Le résumé n’a pas besoin d’être linéaire. Ici, l’article est long, et fait des allers-retours dans les tweets de Trump. Inutile de tous les citer, mais il convient de garder une logique de résumé. Enfin, je vous conseille de terminer le résumé par une phrase résumant elle-même l’idée essentielle du texte, pour montrer que vous ne vous éparpillez pas : soyez dynamiques lorsque vous l’énoncez. De quoi ensuite enchainer sur votre commentaire en ayant compris le challenge principal du texte.
Le commentaire
C’est la partie la plus importante de votre exposé. Le commentaire est la majorité du temps en 3 parties. Je vous conseille de faire une première partie plutôt descriptive sur la situation, une deuxième partie sur les solutions à opporter et les problèmes soulevés et enfin une dernière partie sur les conséquences. Ici, on a cherché à faire un plan en 3 parties. Comme pour un plan de dissertation, il faut faire en sorte que les trois parties aient un vrai sens ensemble. Le contenu permet au jury d’avoir de la matière pour un débat en reprise.
La conclusion
Vous devez vraiment éviter de faire un simple résumé de tout ce que vous venez de dire. Vous pouvez par contre résumer en une phrase le problème que le texte cachait. Elle peut se composer d’une citation si cela n’a pas déjà été le cas en introduction. Dans l’idéal, il faut ouvrir sur le futur, et surtout donner votre avis, pour que le jury connaisse votre position.
Déroulement d’une colle
(Intro)
« Donald Trump was very … present » were Hillary Clinton’s words used to describe Donald Trump’s performance during an October 2016 presidential debate. Fully using any means of communication to depreciate his opponents’ words has always been at the center of Trump’s strategy in communication. From mimicking his opponents to publicly insulting them on Twitter, Donald Trump has tried it all to gain attention from his electors, and has forged his success in presenting himself as the Anti Establishment Candidate. In the meantime, his wife Melania hasn’t shown support to her husband’s tweets : can this paradox hamper the White House’s diplomacy ?
This article from the NY times intends to establish and comprehend the numerous realities that emerge from this modern way of communication.
(Résumé)
The article starts off by presenting Melania Trump’s newest campaign, « Be Best », a program aimed at improving our children’s future, which the First Lady tries to expand with conferences on cyber-bullying. Coincidentally, her husband immediately retaliated with a series of tweets aimed at discrediting the director of the CIA, calling him a « hack ». As a consequence of his discriminatory comments on the « shithole countries », Trump hasn’t been welcomed on Melania’s trip to Africa next fall. Therefore, the bond in the presidential couple appears more than ever feeble.
As the article goes on, we progressively get familiar with Melania’s efforts for future generations. Her campaign aims at assuring an appropriate transition for younger kids on social media, a field which has paradoxically been used by her husband to attack 487 people, recently blaming the special counsel investigating the Trump campaign’s bonds with Russia for unfair and biased treatment in terms of political investigation.
In parallel, the Twitter’s head department, represented by Lauren Culbertson, has consciously ignored Donald Trump’s activity to focus on Melania’s efforts, intending not to undermine Twitter’s credibility as a firm. On her side, Melania wants to ignore the skeptics and focus on her own job, despite her husband’s aggressive comments, and prepare for her own mission in Africa.
So the main idea that this article brings up is that social media and education are at the center of Melania’s campaign as a first lady, which causes some friction with her husband’s comments.
(Commentaire)
In order to fully understand the importance that this article gives to the couple’s newest decisions, I would first argue that education in social media is a crucial point in Melania’s program, to then see in a second part that this effort is slowed down with her husband’s overwhelming behavior, therefore making it possible to situate her role in the history of First Ladies in a third and final part.
I) Social media education is at the center of Melania’s campaign …
First of all, understanding the social media is a contemporary challenge : on the internet, kids are easily exposed to talking with strangers. Even if campaigns have already emerged against child abusers, everywhere increasingly more children are victims of child predators. But more less obvious challenges emerge from the surface. Mass shootings are often announced on the internet, and encouraged by obscure Facebook groups. The abusive use of social media and the « thumbs up culture » has rapidly and quietly encouraged young kids to starve themselves, or deteriorate their body to look like their favorite celebrities. Also, the hyper dependance to the social media also draws us closer to even more difficult parents/kids relationships and eye diseases. Let’s not also forget that, just like in David Fincher’s film The Social Media, that the social media’s initial aim was to elect the Uni’s most attractive student, highlighting and foreshadowing the cult of the body that the social media has lead to.
Therefore the technology itself is revolutionary and useful, but the way it has to be used has to be thought over. Proposing courses in the early years of school, but also forcing parents to educate their kids on the upcoming dangers are priorities. Understanding the real coding behind a social media could also be an encouraging proposal, which Tim Cook has already intended to develop in his « everybody can code » curriculum. Melania’s efforts answer an obvious but needed priority. I personally think that parents will feel more concerned in two or three more generations.
However, and this is where I come to my second point,
II) Her husband’s behavior slows down her effort
Donald Trump’s success comes from pressuring and exposing his opponents on the internet. His large audience believes or is left amused and convinced by Donald Trump’s roaring accusations. Making politics from accusations isn’t quite new : in the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy was known for building his political success on accusing communists of witchcraft, which was for example seen on the biopic Trumbo starring Bryan Cranston. Therefore, discrediting the opponent is an aggressive and complex way of making politics, which Trump masters.
Melania’s campaign is therefore placed in a difficult position : the first lady has ultimately been seen as Donald’s puppet, so skeptics have criticized Melania’s effort for being too shallow.
But even if it’s a paradox to see Melania at the center of a campaign promoting social media education, I would argue that it only reinforces Melania’s legitimacy, because by not encouraging her husband’s comments, she clearly shows that something has to be done.
Finally, this paradox is a struggle…
III) Which therefore offers us another consideration of her role as a first lady.
-Let’s intend to think about where Melania ranks in the First Lady’s hierarchy. As this article highlighted, Melania’s image as a first lady isn’t as shining as it was for her predecessors. Michelle Obama, for example, was a greater ambassador, being a wider icon, and more people, mostly Afro American, identified themselves to Michelle’s profile. Some First Ladies even had a great political responsibility, like Hillary in the 1990s when she was named in the White House as a health representative. When her husband was handicapped in his later years, Eleanor Roosevelt proved herself to be a great ambassador, being present in all of the presidential trips. Even if Jacqueline Kennedy wasn’t present in politics, she still turned out to be one of the most popular first ladies in American history.
To conclude, I would argue that the first lady’s popularity will always be linked to the president’s actions. Melania Trump wants to separate herself from her husband’s dynamics, in order to follow the path of historic first ladies. Her effort has to be praised, but will for sure be undermined by her husband’s silly comments on the internet, which he uses as a political force, that might potentially greatly hamper his future political success
A retenir :
Rentrez absolument dans la salle en vous disant que vous êtes bilingue, vous prendrez beaucoup plus facilement l’accent de la langue.
Je vous conseille de bien faire attention aux éléments mis en gras, ils permettent de bien structurer vos propos. Avec de la pratique, tous ces éléments seront automatiques et vous feront gagner un temps fou.
Le smile !
