French with Mrs McNaughton

Bonjour Everyone,

It has been a long time since I studied  French for a number of years in Secondary School but it has been an absolute joy to introduce French as our LOTE ( Language Other Than English) subject this term. Some people may say why do young children need to learn another language when they can hardly read and write in English? Learning another language is an excellent way to enhance children's listening skills. It requires them to focus and pronounce sounds in different ways and to gain confidence in speaking out aloud. All these skills aid their learning in other subjects. Sometimes it takes them outside their comfort zone but it also gives them the opportunity to learn about a different culture and maybe just one day inspire them to visit a country that speaks French.

Grade F/1

We have learnt greetings such as Bonjour (good morning), Salut (hello/hi), Merci (thank-you) and Au Revoir ( good-bye). I have been impressed by how well they have been able to listen and pronounce these words correctly, often with the French musical lilt!

Gr. 3-6

We started off by discovering there are many French words that we use in our everyday English. Others are spelt slightly differently but we were able to guess what they meant. So we already had a bank of French words in our knowledge. The students also began with basic greetings and then learnt how to introduce themselves. Je m'appelle ... (my name is ...) and Comment t'appelles-tu? (What is your name?)

We had great fun discovering how our names are pronounced in French. Some students names  didn't change, sorry Max, Sam and Mae, whilst others were spelt differently Pepin (Pippa), Miette (Mietta), Noe (Noah), Houx (Holly), Huges (Hugh), Jacques (Jack) and Flecher (Fletcher) but it was with great excitement, we discovered one student in the class, whose name was completely changed. Hundreds of years ago in English speaking countries, craftsmen who made wooden barrels and buckets were called coopers. They were very important. In France they also had a name for people who made the wooden barrels. It was tonnelier  (ton-l-ee-ay). So we have our very own French boy, bienvenu (welcome), Tonnelier Leese.

French Awards - Mrs McNaughton

Noah Weilbaecher - wonderful pronunciation of French words

Hunter Keymer-Newley - super effort with saying new French words

Pippa Quinn - being able to conduct a conversation in French