Fiche de révision : Being Amish

📋 Plan du Cours

1. Découvrir le mode de vie amish
2. Rumspringa et choix religieux
3. Origines et organisation amish
4. Témoignages de Barbie et Bates
5. Critique ironique de Amish Paradise
6. Quitter ou moderniser la communauté
7. Contraste et concession en anglais

📅 Repères chronologiques

1. 18th centuryThe Amish migrated from Switzerland to Pennsylvania
2. September 15, 2017The New York Times published an article by Kevin Granville and Ashley Gilbertson about Amish businesses and their need to use modern technology — In Amish Country, the Future Is Calling, Sept. 15, 2017
3. 2019Eirene Eicher published an autobiography extract about the pain of leaving her Amish family and community

📖 1. Découvrir le mode de vie amish

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Amish way of life : The Amish way of life is old-fashioned, secluded, traditional and plain, with restrictions such as no technology, homeschooling and no cars.

★ À maîtriser

• The Amish are known for three things:
  • plain lifestyle
  • refusal to use modern technology
  • plain dressing

Compléments

• 🔄 To prepare an oral presentation, students follow these steps:
  1. pick a number and an event
  2. watch the attached video several times
  3. take notes
  4. write a summary
  5. present it to the class

💡 Astuce mémo

Vie simple et traditionnelle, mais attirance pour le monde moderne

📖 2. Rumspringa et choix religieux

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Rumspringa : Rumspringa is an Amish tradition during which young people, at age 16, discover the outside world and experience life before choosing whether to commit to the faith.

★ À maîtriser

📌 The Amish believe that faith is a choice and should not be imposed on young people.

Compléments

• The Amish community is religious, traditional and secluded, and its members generally avoid interacting with strangers.

💡 Astuce mémo

À 16 ans, découvrir le monde → choisir librement sa foi

📖 3. Origines et organisation amish

★ À maîtriser

• Jacob Amman founded the Amish movement, and the Swiss and Alsatian Mennonites separated in 1693.

• There are more than 300,000 Amish people in the United States, and they speak a dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch.

• Amish children attend school only until the 8th grade, usually at about 14 or 15 years old, and are deprived of higher education.

Compléments

• Amish men grow beards after marriage, while Amish women wear bonnets on their heads.

💡 Astuce mémo

Jacob Amman → 1693 → Pennsylvanie → communautés actuelles

📖 4. Témoignages de Barbie et Bates

★ À maîtriser

• Barbie feels watched and judged, and her family controls her choices about what she can do, her commitment to God and marriage.

• Bates feels restricted and lives in poor conditions in a barn; after getting a mohawk and getting drunk, he is expelled from the Amish community and feels rejected.

Compléments

• Barbie is 22 years old, the preacher’s daughter in one of the strictest Amish communities, and spends her days sewing, baking and ironing.

💡 Astuce mémo

Barbie reste sous le contrôle familial, Bates est rejeté après sa transgression

📖 5. Critique ironique de Amish Paradise

★ À maîtriser

📌 The song uses ironic, sarcastic and humorous tones to describe hard work, sacrifice and life in an Amish paradise.

Compléments

• The song Amish Paradise is a parody of Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio, performed by “Weird Al” Yankovic.

• The song refers to several aspects of Amish life:

  • buggies
  • milking cows
  • barns
  • beards
  • conformity
  • building houses
  • churning butter
  • looking at the time with the sun

💡 Astuce mémo

Un buggy, une grange et du beurre face à des paroles modernes et sarcastiques

📖 6. Quitter ou moderniser la communauté

📝 Points essentiels

• Eirene Eicher describes a joyful and peaceful childhood with her brothers, but also remembers chores, hard work and the unfair fact that her brother could attend school while she could not.

📌 Marilyn considers phones useful in emergencies and accepts some change, while John accepts phones only outside the house and Lizzie fears addiction, obsession and the replacement of God by technology.

📌 In English, contrast links two opposing ideas, whereas concession acknowledges an opposing idea before expressing a different or stronger point of view.

💡 Astuce mémo

Eirene souffre en partant, tandis que la technologie divise ceux qui restent

📖 7. Contraste et concession en anglais

📝 Points essentiels

📌 In English, but introduces a contrasting point of view, as in the idea that Amish people love their way of life but cannot live as they did 50 years ago.

📊 Tableaux de synthèse

Positions face à la technologie