French Focus

Bonjour à tous! In the Classroom

Year 5 & 6 Students

This term students explored vocabulary related to ‘les matières scolaires’ – ‘school subjects’. They applied this knowledge to create their own school timetable. Students then wrote about their preferences e.g. ‘J’aime les maths mais je préfère la géographie’ - ‘I like maths but I prefer geography’. They also explored cultural differences between the school day in France and Australia.

Year 3 & 4 Students

Our students discovered vocabulary related to ‘les directions’. They participated in a game of ‘Twister’ using this vocabulary e.g. ‘main gauche bleu’ – ‘left hand blue’, etc. They also explored language related to shops in French such as ‘la pharmacie’, etc. Students applied this vocabulary to create their own ‘plan de ville’ – ‘map of the town’.

Year 1 & 2 Students

Students learned vocabulary related to ‘la famille’ this term. They explored this vocabulary through matching card games, simple texts and songs such as ‘Ma Famille’. Students made connections to prior knowledge such as reference to family members in ‘Bébé Requin’ – ‘Baby Shark’ and the use of ‘frère’ – ‘brother’ in Frère Jacques. Students applied this knowledge to create simple written tasks. Students then created their own family trees using French vocabulary.

Foundation Students

During term two, students in Foundation began to learn ‘les couleurs’ and numbers to ten. They played games and completed simple French ‘colour by numbers’ with support. Foundation students also began to learn the song ‘Sur le Pont d’Avignon’. They looked at photos of the real bridge in Avignon and explored the fact that this song is based on a real place in France.

Alliance Française Berthe Mouchette Poetry Competition

Earlier this term 21 students in Year 4 participated in the annual Alliance Française Berthe Mouchette Poetry Competition.

This competition involves learning a French poem by heart and then reciting it to an examiner from the Alliance Française via Zoom. The examiners assess students on a range of criteria including their knowledge of the selected poem, pronunciation and effort.

The students who participated in this competition volunteered to take part. They attended lunchtime meetings and worked diligently at school and home to learn the poem by heart. All our participating students were all able to successfully recite the poem on the day – félicitations!

Later in the year these students will have the opportunity to celebrate with un croissant and un chocolat chaud!

Où es Pepito…?

The mystery of our French room teddy bear continues…

As you may recall, last term we discovered the shock disappearance of our beloved French classroom bear, Pepito. After much speculation about his whereabouts we received a mystery carte postale from Paris…

The plot has thickened this term… with the disappearance of Vincent from the Art Studio! Oh là là! Thankfully we received another carte postale informing us that both bears are safe and well and exploring Paris together.

No doubt they have made the most of this opportunity to visit the Mona Lisa.

Hopefully we will receive another carte postale with an update on the location of our travelling teddies in term three…

Wishing you all ‘les bonnes vacances’!

~ Emily Lindsay-Smith, French Teacher