Specialists

FRENCH

The prep students are starting a new topic, fruit names, and learning how to express preferences with the four following expressions:

'j'aime' (I like)
'je n'aime pas' (I don't like)
'j'adore' (I love)
'je déteste' (I hate)

Here are the six fruits we are focusing on:

In Grade 1/2, the students are designing and labelling the map of a French town. I will show you some photos of their work in the next newsletter.

In Grades 2/3 and 3/4, they are finishing their portfolio activity and consolidating the concept of possessive adjectives 'my', 'your, 'his' and 'her'. The fact that French nouns and adjectives are gendered can be a bit tricky to grasp but it is becoming easier for all students to understand this grammatical rule.

In Grades 5/6, we will do revisions until the end of the term and we started last week with numbers 0-100. The revisions are done with a fun activity, the Game of Goose (Le jeu de l'oie), played in four teams. This enables the students to help each other if they have forgotten the vocabulary, and so they don't feel intimidated.

Years ago, a class helped me design our own Game of Goose board that the students love:

After rolling the dice, each team counts in French to land on a square. Once on a square, the team members work together to answer a question related to a theme (e.g. numbers, animals, food, etc.). If their answer is correct they can move forward on the board. Otherwise, they stay where they are until they get their next turn. To make this game a lot more fun, there are many rules to follow along the way, and until the very end, it is usually hard to know which team will win.

A bit of history..... The 'Game of Goose' originated in Italy in the 15th century, with its modern commercial form emerging around 1500. It was famously gifted by Duke Francesco de Medici to King Philip II of Spain around 1580, after which its popularity quickly spread across Europe. While its exact origins are debated, it has been linked to ancient Egyptian games and is based on a spiral race game where players advance based on dice rolls, with certain squares representing events, dangers, or penalties. This game is very popular in France and comes in many different styles. Here are some old and modern examples:

Physical Education

The middle grades are busy creating exercise programs for their peers. They are including many fun activities to keep their class mates fit and healthy.