Term 4 - French at Hackham East Primary School

Bonjour à tous! Hello everyone!

We have had a fantastique start to French this year, with all classes and students showing their School Values and using the Golden Rule. It’s been so wonderful to be back teaching everyone and seeing how much students have grown both physically and with their learning.

In our first lesson, students met Trevor the Aussie Kangaroo. He wants to learn French too, so is joining us each lesson. We now choose two helpers to sit with him at la table rouge (the red table) and they are also there to help the teacher as well. As the year progresses, Trevor will “visit” places in France and share his adventures with us, but for now all of his new knowledge will go onto his Word Wall, which each class will revise with him every week.

This year in French we are sticking to a routine/timetable each lesson, which all classes have taken to really well. This means that we stay on track with our learning and the lessons flow much better. We take the roll and revise Trevor’s Word Wall/choose his two helpers for the lesson. We then have some instruction time with a game to practice our language skills, then head off for our task time which might be as individuals, or with partners or a group. Finally, we pack up neatly for the next class and come and sit on le tapis papillon (the butterfly rug) for a lesson summary.

For our first unit, students in all year levels are learning/revising:

• Greetings ‘Salutations’
• Introducing and talking about self ‘Se présenter’
• French numbers ‘Les Nombres’
• Talking about own age (and others’) ‘Mon âge’
• Discussing feelings ‘Les Sentiments’
• Talking about where they live ‘J’habite’

They will then move onto exploring living in France and some French culture, which will lead into the French celebration of Pâques (French Easter).

Through these areas, students are participating in the following ways:

• Socialising and interacting with one another
• Making exchanges and greetings
• Participating in guided group activities using simple repetitive language
• Talking about self and family
• Translating simple texts from French to English and vice versa
• Understanding that French people speak formally and informally to different people
• Understanding that language is used differently in different contexts
• Translating/creating a bilingual text
• Noticing differences between French, Australian and other cultures’ practices

Highlights from the term so far, have been:

• Receptions starting their very first French lessons.
• Students enjoying games such as Pinball, Arjie Parjie, Buzz and Number Bingo
• Castle students learning the French Welcome Song ‘Bonjour Mes Amis’
• Stillwell and Holly students introducing famous characters of their choice
• Stillwell and Holly students creating class number flip books for younger students

I look forward to the coming year and sharing future learning with you all.

Merci!

Madame Mawson