Organising a successful French day!

This autumn half-term, I worked closely with the primary languages co-ordinator in one of the primary schools where I teach French in order to organise a French afternoon.  Such an event (a French day/a special week or term of activities related to France) can be a great way to fire up children’s passion for language learning and their curiosity about the French language and culture.

There are a multitude of reasons for creating time in the busy school calendar to run a French day.  Not only does it give you the opportunity to explore aspects of French language and culture in more detail, but it also provides many exciting ways for children to learn together, cross-phase and even cross-school if you collaborate with your feeder high school. A French week is also a brilliant way to bring together the whole community: children and adults in the school, parents, governors, local businesses, the local press and social media.

There are all kinds of engaging activities that could be organised for a French day.  Here are a few ideas to help you start planning, ensuring that the whole school is involved and that spoken French is encouraged both in and out of the classroom.

1. Decorate the whole school in the French colours (blue, white, red)!  

Purchase some French flags and plenty of French flag bunting: 

http://www.flagandbuntingstore.co.uk/

You could also involve the children by making your own French themed bunting:

http://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/resources/French/fr-bunting-nameetc.pdf

Balloons could also be used to decorate the school.

Place French signs around the school building:

http://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/resources/French/school-signs-fr.pdf

Label equipment in French:

http://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/resources/French/fr-equipment-labels.pdf.

Purchase some French posters:

https://www.little-linguist.co.uk/

Print off some French display resources:

http://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/resources-fr-dis.htm

You could even invest in some outdoor French vocabulary playground signs:

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/number-vocabulary-french-playground-signs/1003289.html

2. Dress in the French colours!

Pupils and staff could be invited to replace their school uniform with items of blue, white and red clothing! 

You might also consider allowing face paint and colour hairspray or wigs.

Alternatively, pupils could be invited to dress up as a French monument or a fictional Francophone character (Le Petit Prince, Tintin, Astérix, Madeline, Babar, a character from Les Misérables such as Gavroche or a sans-culotte etc, a fairy tale character from one of Charles Perrault’s Mother Goose Tales http://www.perraultfairytales.com/en/bio ) or a significant person in French history (Napoleon Bonaparte, Marie Antoinette, Coco Chanel, Saint Bernadette, Zinedine Zidane, Joan of Arc, Claude Monet, Claude Debussy etc…).  This offers lots of options, it is a great conversation starter and pupils could be asked to bring in an interesting fact about their character and dates they were alive.  Each class could even get into order with their dates of birth and do a catwalk with the host briefly interviewing them by asking who they are and why they are famous!   A prize could be awarded for the most original costume.

http://www.thefamouspeople.com/france.php

 

Prizes can be purchased here:

https://www.little-linguist.co.uk/french-motivational-rewards.html

3. Hold a traditional French dance workshop or book a performance with a visiting French theatre company!  

You might like to book a company such as French dance for schools to run traditional French folk dance workshops: 

http://www.frenchdanceleeds.co.uk/

http://www.frenchdanceschools.org.uk/

Alternatively, you could book a touring French theatre group for a special performance.   

Here are some useful links:

http://www.freshwatertheatre.co.uk/sessions.php?ref=modern-foreign-languages

http://www.tsf.org.uk/

http://www.school-workshops.com/foreign-language-shows-for-schools-big-wheel-theatre-company-70.html

http://www.flyingtheatre.com/bon-voyage-178.html

http://www.onatti.co.uk/

http://www.frogandrosbeef.org.uk/

http://www.redhousetheatrecompany.co.uk/frenchworkshops.html

4.  French food tasting sessions!  

A French day is a great way for pupils to discover the delights of French cuisine and there are lots of ways in which this can be embraced! 

Transform your school hall into a French cafe.  

Decorate with French flag bunting.  Use blue, white and red tablecloths, plates, cups, napkins and French flag table toppers.  

https://www.partydelights.co.uk/themes/france-party-supplies.aspx

Play traditional French cafe accordion music in the background.  Have a slideshow showcasing primary French work as a backdrop or broadcast the Tour de France live if your event is being held in July.  Invite past pupils or language ambassadors from your feeder high school to play the role of waiters and waitresses as a transition activity.  It’s very effective if children are greeted in French as they arrive in the cafe and see each other having a go at using French.  Parents could be invited in for an hour after the school run and be served croissants and coffee.  Organise a rota and invite a class at a time into the cafe and encourage the pupils to sit down and order a croissant and hot chocolate or fresh orange juice from a menu in French.  Alternatively, encourage pupils to queue up and sample a smaller amount of a wider range of French pastries: croissants, pains au chocolat, brioches, pains aux raisins etc.  Tip:  It might be worth approaching local supermarkets to ask them to contribute some French food to help subsidise the cost.  Pupils could return to class after their food tasting session and complete a simple tick list to express their opinions about the food tried or carry out a class survey and present their findings as a tally chart.

Independent language consultant, Sue Cave, has some practical ideas for organising a French breakfast here:

http://www.cavelanguages.co.uk/sharing-good-practice

Talk about different French foods specialities from different regions.

Make pancakes (crêpes) with a variety of toppings.

Organise a French cheese tasting session (Brie, Camembert, Roquefort, Boursin, Pont l’Évêque, Tomme de Savoie, Chèvre etc…)  Provide baguettes to serve with the cheese and offer red wine to parents.  Display a map of France showing which region each cheese originates from.  Encourage pupils to express their opinions about each cheese in French (“C’est bon” etc…)

Ask a chef from a local French cafe/restaurant to make a French food demonstration of various specialities. 

School lunchtime.  Ask the catering staff to offer a simple French dish and/or translate the menu into French.  Hearing the lunchtime staff greet children with a “Bonjour” or “Salut” will create a lovely atmosphere in the school canteen along with “Voilà - bon appétit!” (“There you are – enjoy your meal!”), and even more so if children are encouraged to order in French and to use their manners in French “s’il vous plaît” and “merci” when speaking to adults and each other.

International Evening.  Getting parents involved with a French international evening can also be a real highlight. Invite them for a celebration of language and culture and encourage parents to bring in dishes from French-speaking countries. Children can help to decorate the hall with their French themed art and craft work and also provide the entertainment by the school choir singing in French or the school orchestra performing French pieces of music!

5. Teaching ideas across the curriculum!

Before your French themed event, bring all school staff together for a meeting where you learn some useful phrases and share activity ideas as well as possibly sampling some French cheese and wine. This is a great way of getting everyone on board well in advance.

Here are some ideas for activities related to France for primary teachers to do with their class. Each teacher could plan their own activities for their pupils, or alternatively, subject co-ordinators could plan sessions specific to their specialist area for all phases (EYFS, KS1, LKS2, UKS2).

Literacy

Research a famous French people.  Can you create a biography about one of them?

Imagine that you could interview a French person. Make a list of questions that you would like to ask them.

Read some of Charles Perrault’s Mother Goose Tales: Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss In Boots, Cinderella etc…  Perform a short play.

Research famous French authors.  Read an extract from an English translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince, Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame or Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days.  Watch a clip of the film. 

Drama: Learn about Marcel Marceau and the techniques behind silent drama and mime.  Perform a mime piece to an audience.

Create a French-inspired reading corner.  Turn your reading area into a corner of France. Use blue, white and red drapes, pictures of France and cushions to make it cosy and create an eye-catching display of French picture books and comics to read.  Put up a pinboard for ‘J’adore/J’aime/Je n’aime pas/Je déteste…’ book review cards, so that children can recommend their favourite reads to their classmates.  You might want to provide language prompts to help them express opinions (car c’est amusant / intéressant / passionant / effrayant etc.).

Organise a reading rota, where older children visit younger classes to share their favourite French stories. 

Write a recipe for a French meal.

Write a letter to a French pen friend, or an email to an e-pal. 

Numeracy

Revise counting to 10 / 100 (or more) and then play “Loto” (French bingo).  Prepare different Loto cards that are suitable for different year groups.  The winner can receive a little prize (chocolate Euro coins, French sweets, a French pencil etc…) after the cards are checked.

Find out about the currency used in France. How is it different to the currency used where you live?  Make some Euros and spend them in the French cafe.

http://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-n-796-euro-money-cut-outs (subscription needed)

Science

Research a famous French scientist or inventor (Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, Montgolfier brothers).

The Senses: Learn more about the French way of life by experiencing a variety of smells associated with France from garlic to lavender.  Include some famous French perfumes.

Plan a menu for a French meal. Could you cook/eat some of the items on your menu?

Research wildlife that can be found in France. 

ICT

If you haven’t already done so, why not set up a link with a school in France or another Francophone country and use your French day as a platform to launch the partnership? There are lots of ways of finding a partner school.  The Global Gateway has produced a factsheet all about the best ways to link with French-speaking schools (see ‘How to link in France’ at http://www.globalgateway.org.uk ).  Setting up a videoconferencing link with your partner school could be a great way to engage pupils as they could teach each other songs, play language games together and organise joint cookery masterclasses.

Make a multimedia presentation, video guide, eBook or website about France or a Francophone country (or a city or a region).  

Use Ipad apps such as Sock Puppets, My Talking Avatar, YAKiT kids, Tellagami, Chatterkid, Puppet Pals etc to record short conversations or role plays and play back to the rest of the class and share with parents on class page blogs.

Design Technology

Use blue, white and red plastic straws to create a model of the Eiffel Tower.

Challenge pupils to build the Eiffel Tower using a number of different materials:  paper art straws and masking tape, spaghetti and marshmallows, jelly sweets and cocktail sticks, baguettes, recycled kitchen rolls or lego (duplo lego for younger children).  

Make the Eiffel Tower from paper craft using a template:

http://madebyjoel.com/2011/08/paper-city-paris.html

http://madebyjoel.com/2012/01/travel-size-paper-city-paris.html

http://papertoys.com/eiffel.htm

Can you create a model of another famous French landmark?

Organise an Eiffel Tower competition and/or exhibition.

Art

Organise a whole school project where each class learns about a different famous French artist (Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Robert Delaunay, Henri Rousseau, Marc Chagall, Auguste Herbin, Françoise Nielly, Paul Signac, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Fernand Léger).  Try to create some of your own art work in a similar style, for example, Seurat and pointillism using cotton buds or Matisse and cut paper collages or decoupage.  You could paint or make a collage etc…  http://artprojectsforkids.org/portfolio/matisse-collage/

http://artsycraftsymom.com/top-10-artist-henri-matisse-projects-for-kids/

http://thecraftyclassroom.com/crafts/famous-artist-crafts-for-kids/seurat-art-project-for-kids/

Create a piece of art that is worthy of being displayed in the Louvre.  Select some pieces from each class to display in the school hall and invite parents to visit your “art gallery” (play some classical French music in the background) or organise a “show and tell” style celebration assembly where a pupil from each class shows their artwork and shares an interesting fact about the French artist they have been learning about.

Draw and decorate a picture of the Eiffel tower or other famous French landmark.

Have your picture taken as Mona Lisa or Napoleon.

Colour the French flag or make a collage.

Draw a picture of an artist's palette and label different colours in French.

Create a shield, logo or poster that displays the French motto ‘Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité' (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity).

Go on a virtual tour of the Louvre museum in Paris http://www.louvre.fr/

 

Make French themed bookmarks http://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/resources/French/fr-bookmarks-1.pdf

 

Music

Can you learn the lyrics to a French song and perform it?  EYFS children could learn a simple French lullaby (une berceuse) or a simple nursery rhyme (une comptine) such as Frères Jacques https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC6rvbxdywg. KS1 children could learn a French finger rhyme (jeu de doigts) or an action rhyme (comptine à gestes) such as Un petit pouce qui danse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x5Gx06Vn-I. LSK2 children could learn a popular nursery rhyme (une comptine) such as Un éléphant qui se balançait https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_GqzWecDZg.  UKS2 children could learn a traditional French song (une chanson traditionnelle) such as Sur le pont d’Avignon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJKfxtYAt0s  or Alouette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_hFw_cWg9U.  Lyrics and QR codes could be sent home so that pupils can listen to the French song again at home with their families! 

Organise a French singing contest – Ask past pupils to be on a judges panel and create your own version of the X Factor, the “French Factor”!  

Research famous French musicians and singers (Claude Debussy, Edith Piaf), and listen to some of their music.  Express simple opinions in French.

Learn a few facts about the French conductor Camille Saint-Saëns.   Play extracts from the “Carnival of the Animals”.  Challenge pupils to recognise and say the names of the animals in French referred to in the Carnival of the animals. Can they recognise which piece of music portrays which animal?  See Unit 9, lesson 40 http://lightbulblanguages.co.uk/resources-pr-fr-schemeofwork.htm 

Learn about La fête de la musique, a music festival that originated in France that has become an annual international event in June.  

http://fetedelamusique.culturecommunication.gouv.fr/

Challenge the school choir to learn and perform a French song.

Challenge the orchestra to learn and perform a French piece of music (Au Clair de la Lune or the French national anthem La Marseillaise etc… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K1q9Ntcr5g ) 

Geography

Use a blank outline map of France to plot the locations of French cities, towns and places of interest.

Set a jigsaw challenge of the map of France.  Pupils could work in groups and record the time it takes for each group to complete the task.  Make your own jigsaw by printing off a picture of map of France.

Research your twin town! 

Plot the route of the latest Tour de France.  

Visit France and other French-speaking countries around the world using Google Earth.  You could plan and record a virtual tour of, for example, Paris, taking children to places of interest. You might like children to plan their own tours of a city, region or country and present them to the class using simple language, e.g. Voici la tour Eiffel, or Voici Antananarivo. Antananarivo est la capitale de Madagascar.

Enjoy learning about Paris with this interactive guide: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/465955385098895360 

Un Quiz: Make a French board game based on a route through major French cities. Children could start at Marseille and progress to Paris where they are ultimately aiming to reach L'Arc de Triomphe.  Each correct answer means that they progress one town along the route.  Questions vary according to the level of the children undertaking this game. Have a variety of questions about culture, spelling, vocabulary etc. The winner of each game could get a small prize.  Alternatively, prepare a geography based quiz on a Powerpoint in the style of the popular game show “Who wants to be a millionaire?”.

Research the current weather in France.  Record a weather forecast.

Find some facts about France or a Francophone country and make a fact file or create a tour guide for people who are planning to visit France.

Plan a trip to France.  How will you travel there?  What will you visit etc…  

Compare the population/area of France with other countries.

Find out the countries that share a border with France.

History

Create a timeline showing some of the key events in French history.

Research key people in French history.  Can you create a biography about one of them?

Find out about the Lascaux caves. http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/fr/00.xml

Can you create your own versions of the Stone Age cave paintings that were discovered there? 

Turn your school hallway into a Stone Age cave art display!

Learn about the French revolution.  

Watch a clip of Les Misérables https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Y7in-04Ng .    How French people celebrate Bastille Day today?  Make some French revolution rosette cockade pins (Tricolore cockade) https://snapguide.com/guides/make-a-tricolore-rosette/.  

Alternatively, design your own simpler version using cupcake cases. 

Physical Education

Plan and carry out your own mini 'Tour de France' cycling competition in the school playground.  KS1 children could design their own cycling strip http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/tour-de-france and bring in their own little bikes, tricycles or scooters.  Organise a timed circuit around cones with the names of French towns attached to them and/or pictures of famous French landmarks and buildings to cycle past en route.  The other children could wave flags (either made in class beforehand or previously purchased) and cheer on the teams (Allez…!) during the semi-final and the final!  The winner could get to wear a yellow t-shirt (Le maillot jaune!)  and/or be awarded with a medal whilst the national anthem La Marseillaise is playing in the background!  There could be a final “lap of honour” where the winner leads the other children waving the French flag.

Organise a Boules tournament.  See the rules for this traditional French game here  http://www.earlystart.co.uk/esfrench1/boulrule.pdf.  It might be worth asking to borrow sets of boules from the MFL department at your feeder high school. 

Play some traditional French playground games such as La Marelle, Un, deux, trois…soleil, Le Facteur and Jeu de l’épervier.  

Example: Le facteur (the postman).  Children sit in a circle, with one child (le facteur) holding a handkerchief and walking around the outside of the circle, while the song is sung:

Le facteur n’est pas passé

Il ne passera jamais,

Lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche.
Fermez les yeux...........Ouvrez les yeux!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Dw0hMsY_k

At the end of the song, while the other children have their eyes closed, the postman drops a handkerchief behind someone's back.  Then he or she says "ouvrez les yeux!" and all sitting children look behind to see who's got the handkerchief.  The child who has the handkerchief jumps up and attempts to run around the outside of the circle chasing the postman to sit back down before the postman sits in their empty place.  If the postman is caught, he or she continues for the next round. If not, the child whose place in the circle has been taken becomes the postman.  This is an enjoyable way to learn the days of the week!

Here is a link to the rules for some more traditional French playground games: https://year3french.wikispaces.com/file/view/PlaygroundGamesInFrench+from+BartonCourt+Primary.pdf

 

Have fun, get fit, learn a language with Five-a-day French disco fitness video in the school hall:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVhfIgghOPw

Get some skipping ropes out and teach a fun skipping rhymes like this one:

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,

Violette, Violette,

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,

Violette à bicyclette.

Create a human Eiffel Tower in the school gym or playground.

Religious education

Investigate the festivals and celebrations that take place in France.

Research the life of a French saint (Saint Bernadette, Saint Therese of Lisieux, Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Vincent de Paul etc…)

Learn a simple prayer or a hymn in French. 

Find out some facts about Lourdes http://en.lourdes-france.org/ or another Catholic shrine in France. 

Primary Languages

Rehearse a simple French conversation about ordering food in preparation for the visit to the French cafe.  This could be performed and recorded.

Make a passport using personal information in French.

Make a French dictionary to teach younger pupils some French words.

Learn a simple French poem and recite it.  Organise a French poetry reciting competition!

The day or week could end with a whole school French-themed assembly, with classes showcasing what they have been learning and with whole-school singing or performing in French.

Pupils could be given a certificate as a special keepsake of this cultural event.

Amusez-vous bien! 

If you have any other suggestions, please add a comment at the bottom of the page.

Merci!

A huge thank you to all members from the Languages in Primary School Facebook Group (LIPS) who have shared cross-curricular ideas, lesson planning examples and photographs showcasing activities done on various French themed days.  You have inspired this blogpost!  Merci beaucoup!