Category: French Studies

Chers Parents,

As we approach the end of November, I wanted to share a little recap of what the children have been doing in our French class since September.

We started the year with learning to say hello and goodbye in French and how to say your name. Everyday I start by saying bonjour to each child in French as a way to connect and to reinforce the ability to greet someone in French.

To learn/review the colors we have played color matching games and puzzles, movement activities and the children worked hard on completing a full color booklet!

It’s been wonderful exploring the Fall season with the children.  Through our songs, hands on and art activities, they have learned new vocabulary while at the same time enjoying this beautiful time of year. The children had fun dissecting apples, building apple trees with popsicle sticks, pompoms and toilet paper rolls and collecting leaves outside to make leaf rubbings.

Here’s the vocabulary that we have focused on for the Fall:

L’automne, les pommes, le pommier, l’arbre, les feuilles, les feuilles tombent, orange, rouge et jaune

…and the songs we sang:

Luc va a l’ecole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rhulHCMlIo

Michaud est monte dans un grand pommier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZmObD5sbac

C’est l’automne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TMrzNKAKVU

In addition to these units of exploration, we are now also incorporating letter work activities to our French time and this week we have been doing activities related to music and musical instruments.

Everyday the children are getting more and more comfortable speaking French and are making connections between French and the other languages they know.  It’s wonderful to witness their understanding growing.  Bravo, les amis!

Dear Parents/Chers Parents, 

It’s hard to believe the end of the school year is HERE! It’s been a wonderful year with the SK children and I have savored these last days with them!

Since our temporary move to KBI after the Passover break, the children have been enjoying the following themes: 

 Les Fleurs du Printemps (Spring Flowers)  

Over a couple of weeks, the children were introduced to a new flower everyday – la tulipe, la violette, le lilas, le muguet et le pissenlit. For each flower, the children learned the name in French, drew the actual flower, colored it and stamped the name of the flower beside their drawing.  They also had a lot of fun going outside to gather bouquets of dandelions.  For the tulip, we learned about Holland’s yearly gift of tulips to Ottawa and the children painted a beautiful field of tulips using a dot painting approach.  We completed this unit by learning about les parties de la fleur (parts of the flower).  Next spring, your children will be able to identify some of the spring flowers, en francais!

Here’s a song children singing a spring song about a little bird:

La Nourriture (Food)

For our food unit, the children learned about 4 main food groups (les groupes alimentaires).  They did a lot of sorting using make-believe food and food images in order to become familiar with the food groups.  Learning about the names of the food as well as the food groups in french was not easy, but they rose to the challenge.  We also explored what constitutes a healthy meal.  For a fun hands-on activity they made a delicious fruit salad. 

In order to for them to make concrete connections with the language, we did an exercise where they had to say: 

“Je mange une pomme”… and once they had said the sentence, I gave them a piece of an apple to enjoy!    

Listen to these videos of a few children saying: Je mange une pomme

Here’s a song that we sang to go along with our food theme: 

J’aime les fruits

Les Lettres  

We have continued to learn the sounds of the French alphabet through various activities.  To help the children develop an ear for the sounds, I’d say a list of words, some that started with the target sound, some that did not. The children had to stand up when they heard a word that began with the sound, and stay seated when the word did begin with the sound we were working on.   

Please keep an eye out for the children’s letter booklets that I am sending home today.  Over the summer, I encourage you to read through these with your children.

Le Shabbat

Here are some pictures of an activity that the children did to become familiar with Shabbat terms in French.  The children drew a picture of the Shabbat table, then labelled the items with the French terms. They shared their work with the other children in the class by presenting their drawings and naming the Shabbat items in French. Bravo, les amis!

I wish you and your children all a great summer!  Thank you for all your support and for everything you do to ensure your children are ready to learn, play and grow at OJCS!

Chers parents,

It was wonderful to see all of you at our Franco Fête evening last week.  The children worked hard to prepare for our performance, while still having fun and enjoying the experience of putting together a presentation for an audience.  Bravo, les enfants!

Other activities for the week of Franco Fête included a fun afternoon of French activities, that we wrapped up with a delicious snack of croissant and hot chocolate. We also learned about making maple syrup and associated terms (le sirop d’érable, la cabane à sucre, la tire d’érable, l’eau d’érable, etc.).  We are lucky to have our own maple syrup expert here at OJCS, Miss Beswick, who came into our class to share with the children how she makes maple syrup on her family property.

On another note, the children are progressing well with learning the sounds of the French alphabet.  We typically focus on one new sound every week, and through hands-on activities, learn words that start with the first sound of the letter. The children finish with making a booklet for the sound learned.   Starting this week, they will have the chance to share and read their booklets with the Grade One students.

Here’s a link to a few of the letter videos that we have watched, that you may also wish to watch with your child:

Lettre D

Lettre E

Lettre O

A bientot!

Maryse

Dear SK Parents,

During this first term, we have played with getting to know colors in our French classes:

As a way of learning the words for the colors, the children colored objects in a booklet, which I’m sending home with them this week. I invite you to have a look at them.  Together, you  can go over colors as it will help your child in remembering them.

You could even extend this by playing a little game where you ask your child to bring you something rouge, something bleu or something vert, etc.

Please post any comments or let us know if you have questions.

Wishing you and your family an enjoyable and restful Winter break.

Madame Maryse