Palais de la Porte Dorée
On Thursday, April 4th, our French Graduate Reading class headed over to Palais de la Porte Dorée, just next to Bois de Vincennes to present in pairs and individually on the building’s architecture, history, artistic works and overall mission statement… in French!
Starting with the inside forum, discussing the frescos and iron work, as well as the usage of the building today, one of our students presented beautifully ensuring all of her pronunciation was on par.
Secondly, the class listened in on another student who discussed the artistic installation of Barthélémy Toguo, which can be found in the museum/exhibition section of the museum. Sadly, at this time, our class was reminded the Palais was closing, and continued the rest of the presentation outside in the sun.
The next few presentations explained the gate surrounding the Palais, the building itself and the facade, which shows, in an Art Deco style, an iconographic agenda commissioned from the artists of the Colonial Exposition of 
1931, with a very clear ideological function: to raise the colonial consciousness of the French people and demonstrate the wealth and diversity of the inhabitants, fauna, flora and products of the colonies.
The class was completely blown away by each others improvement in the French language, and their abilities to present so confidently on a Parisian monument!