LE BLOG DE MADAME BIRTWISTLE: September 2015

Saturday, 26 September 2015

Happy European Day of Languages 2015 !

Bonjour !

Click on link:

http://edl.ecml.at/Portals/33/sound/hello.mp3

This week, we have been celebrating the European Day of Languages throughout Key Stage 2 !

At the initiative of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, the European Day of Languages has been celebrated every year since 2001 on 26 September.

A range of events are organised across Europe: activities for and with children, television and radio programmes, language classes and conferences.

This year, pupils have been discussing why it is important to learn a language...

Each Year 6 pupil was given a European Union poster to take home and learn a little bit more about modern Europe:

Why not watch this short clip about languages ...

... and then learn some more fun language facts to share with your classmates :

http://edl.ecml.at/LanguageFun/tabid/1516/Default.aspx

Happy European Day of Languages 2015 !

Sunday, 20 September 2015

Bonjour ! Ça va ?

Year 3 have been learning how to greet someone and ask how someone is.

The children started off by learning various ways of greeting someone in French.

We watched a short clip about common greetings:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/french/all_about_me/videos/

Then, we talked about what "Faire la bise" means.

French family, friends, and some colleagues exchange kisses on both cheeks upon meeting and leaving, as well as to congratulate or thank someone. This French gesture may also be made by two people, especially children and young adults, introduced by a mutual friend. The Year 3 pupils commented on how this is quite different from greeting someone in the UK ! The number of kisses exchanged can vary from region to region as shown on this map:

We followed on by introducing the question "Ça va ?" (How are you ?) along with different ways of responding.

We watched a short clip about Roller and his friends saying how they were all feeling ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/french/all_about_me/videos/

...before saying how we were all feeling ourselves:

Pupils then practised this simple greetings dialogue in pairs:

Some pupils recorded their conversations using the app YAKiT Kids:

Bravo les enfants !

We ended the lesson by joining in with this fun greetings song...

Why not watch this short BBC episode of Virtually There, Let me introduce myself to learn a little bit more about greetings :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01sxlr7

Le sport

Years 4, 5 and 6 are learning how to talk about leisure activities in French this term.

Our first topic is sport !

The children started off by learning how to name various sporting activities in French.

Next, they were introduced to the structure "Tu aimes...?" ("Do you like...?") and learnt how to express whether they love, like, don't like or hate various sports.

Pupils enjoyed working in pairs, taking turns to ask each other whether they liked certain sports. Some pupils recorded their interviews using the app YAKiT Kids on the iPads.

VIDEO FOOTAGE TO FOLLOW SOON

They followed on by answering written questions about liking sport and some children were also able to justify their answer with an opinion. Many children looked up extra opinions using a bilingual dictionary ! Bravo les enfants !

Finally, we discussed how sport plays an important role in French society, and how the country has a strong sporting history. The most popular sport in France is football ! Basketball, handball, rugby, ice hockey, tennis, cycling, sailing, pétanque, orienteering, cricket and skiing are also extremely popular sports !