FRENCH

Bonjour à tous,

Aujourd'hui (today), nous sommes (we are ) in the region 'Centre - Val de Loire'. 

To say that the castles (a castle = un château) in this region are part of the landscape would be an understatement.  Whether they are famous French châteaux or less well-known manor houses, their silhouettes are everywhere. B ut why are so many of them concentrated in this part of France?

Those heritage sites are the legacy of the French kings who loved the Loire Valley. Alongside the medieval fortresses and the royal estates, a large number was built by leading figures of the nobility.  Initially used for defensive purposes in the troubled times of the Middle Ages, the castles gradually opened outwards during the French Renaissance (15th century), abandoning their austere ramparts and drawbridges to make way for a style inspired by Italian culture.  It was at this time that the tradition of gardens, considered as ‘outdoor salons’, came into being in the Loire Valley.

Today, each castle tells a unique story, which is part of the French history: the sumptuous feasts of the royal court at the château d'Amboise, the legendary meeting between Joan of Arc and the French Dauphin in the town of Chinon, the multi-talented genius Leonardo da Vinci at the chateau du Clos Lucé, the epic marriage of a Windsor at the Domaine de Candé, the work of the great gardener Dom Pacello at the Royal estate of Château Gaillard,… you’ll be spoilt for choice!

The revival is here to stay.  Almost everywhere, there are initiatives helping to improve the ways of discovering the Loire Valley castles, such as cycling along the Loire River to combine an active holiday in the French countryside with discovering this Unesco World Heritage Site.  Even if summer is the ideal season for beautiful night shows or a wine tasting organised by winemakers in a castle courtyard, wintertime has got surprises in store.  This region has become the place to be in December thanks to “Christmas in the land of châteaux”, when 7 of the most famous ones dedicate their monument to the magic of Christmas and celebrate the end of the year.

Which Loire Valley castles to visit absolutely?

If you plan to go to France in the future, you must go and visit this region. Here is a website that will give you some key information (history of France, remarkable elements…) to help you make your choice of self-guided or guided tours: https://www.touraineloirevalley.co.uk/discover/loire-valley-chateaux/

De retour à l'école.... (back to school)

Board games are a great way to learn French in class.  The students have fun playing them and, at the same time, they have to answer questions about the vocabulary and grammar rules that they've learnt in previous lessons.  It is the only way they can move forward on the board, no matter what the game is.  They always play in teams so they can help each other with the questions. It teaches them to be patient, to take turns and try their best. They also get a chance to earn extra Dojo points, depending on their final score at the end of the game.  At the end of each year, the 4 students who scored the highest number of points during the year compete in a French competition to earn a prize.  As you can imagine, the competition is high when playing these board games :-)

Here are 3 of the games that we play once in a while:

• A game to remember colours, numbers, fruits and vegetables with the Preps:

• Le Jeu de l'Oie (the Game of Goose), which can be played with any topic of my choice. Last week, Year 1 students had to answer questions about greetings and breakfast food:

• Next week, I will introduce a new game that I have just finished preparing. It is my own version of the board game 'A ticket to ride', for those of you who know it. Year 4/5 and 5/6 students will get a chance to learn the challenging rules of this exciting game. It will also be a great way to keep learning the geography of the country as well as its main cities and towns: 

While some students played board games, others did a Word Search activity (Year 2 - 'rooms in a house').  In Year 3, the students drew their own city map and described it using the two expressions 'il y a' (there is/there are) and 'il n'y a pas de' (there isn't/there aren't):

To end up for today, here is the song 'Dernière danse' (last dance) by Indila:

Passez de très bonnes vacances! (Have a great holiday!)

A bientôt,

Delphine