Petit poème de Noël

http://www.carolinesfrenchlessons.com/

Proverbe de Noël

 .Vert Noël,
Blanches Pâques

 

(Green Christmas

White Easter)

 

http://www.carolinesfrenchlessons.com/

Rêver de Noël

http://www.carolinesfrenchlessons.com

Une vieille lettre au Père Noël

Hopefully Pierre received his paint box, colour pencils, drawing board, pencil case and dictionary that year.

 

 

http://www.carolinesfrenchlessons.com

Blague d'écoliers

 

 

http://www.carolinesfrenchlessons.com

 

 

 

Un p'tit boulot

http://www.carolinesfrenchlessons.com  

             un boulanger

                                                                                             un jardinier

un garçon de café

New Vocabulary Poster

I have just finished illustrating my latest poster. It represents the rooms in the house.

 

 

I am now in the process of doing the flashcards. It will be a set of twenty.

 

And the pronunciation will be included on a voice recording.

 

 



Quiz Results

Thank you to everybody who has taken part in this month quiz.

Here are the answers to the questions

1) bleu, blanc, rouge

2) des chaussures

3) un chien

4) une tartine

5) jeudi

6) quinze


 Tim P. is the winner of the illustrated poster. Well done!!

April Quiz

Find the correct answer for each question and, send them to me at languageresources@btinternet.com - subject: French Quiz. One of you will receive a beautifully illustrated  French Food  Poster with Pronunciation on a voice recording.


What are the colours of the French flag?

- bleu, blanc, rouge
- noir, vert, jaune
- rose, marron, gris

What do you wear on your feet?

- une chemise
- un pull
- des chaussures

Which one of these animals is a pet?

- un serpent
- un chien
- une vache

What do you eat for breakfast?

- une pomme de terre
- une tartine
- une glace


What day of the week comes between mercredi and vendredi?

- jeudi
- dimanche
- ananas

Which number is 15?

- quatorze
- cinquante
- quinze

The results will be posted on Monday the 15th of April.

Bonne chance

French Food Poster with Pronunciation

How to Use Children's Own Curiosity to Spice up Mundane Classroom Activities

Let's face it: school work can be boring. Poorly planned lessons or little in the way of fun or interesting content can be a significant factor in reduced concentration and all round poor learning experiences. We need to spice things up a little and create an enjoyable and motivational learning experience for all students and invite the whole class to learn together through teamwork and a beneficial approach. Here are just a few ideas to help classroom activities particularly if the course is learning French. Here's some food for thought...

Learning French or studying French people and their customs will at some stage point to food and French eating habits. Who hasn't heard of French Fries? Even if you are only learning French as a foreign language, it is always useful to quickly learn the unfamiliar names of food and dishes and maybe how they are prepared.

Classroom activities can involve splitting the class in half for competitions. How about getting the teacher to act as hangman (or maybe guillotine as we are learning French) on the board and suggest a food related word (such as croissant) by underscoring the number of letters. At random, a student is pointed to and offers a letter. the letter is added to the word if correct or added to the hangman's scaffold. Alternating the teams a letter is suggested until one team  guesses the word correctly or both teams fail and get hung by the teacher.

The classroom can be made into small groups and be supplied with a stack of alphabet cards and have the desks arranged into longer tables. Once again a word is suggested by the teacher and should be of a level to challenge the students. This is one of the noisy classroom activities. The teacher shouts out the chosen word, and the teams race to arrange their alphabet cards on their table and first team to spell correctly wins a point. How about continuing up to ten words or until the noise is high enough?

A quieter alternative for learning French names, especially for the younger students involves picture cards of food items held by the teacher and are one at a time revealed. The teams can be split into four, and the first team to spell the name of the picture correctly sends one member to the front of the class where they get one go at spelling to the teacher the name of the shop, such as boulangerie (bakery), to win the game. If they are incorrect, they stay at the front and another card is revealed to repeat the process. The difficulty increases for the dwindling teams to spell the card in time, but they have more chance of spelling the shop as more team members come forward. These types of classroom activities also have uses for team bonding and helping draw certain students closer together.

Spelling contests are always fun and need not be limited to learning French. There are numerous spelling games that are a perfect way to build teamwork and promote competitive excitement and friendship. The teacher is always at liberty to choose the teams to split close friends, etc. to create balanced classroom activities. If you have picture cards or pretend money, mystery games with shopkeepers can be fun especially if you have spare hats, for instance, to dress up the little ones!

 

 

 

 

How to brighten up the classroom?

Students always enjoy school when there is lots of fun learning involved.  A bright classroom with colorful school posters adds appeal and puts a smile on everyone’s face.

The right school posters can actually be a timesaving resource in your classroom while the students learn without even realizing it!

Here’s why – Approximately 1/3 to ½ of all children are visual learners and they respond best to a bright classroom.  Images, diagrams and pictures on school posters are very helpful for visual learners.  They understand and remember new ideas when words are associated with pictures and get reinforcement for important ideas.

School posters can also be an alternative to asking the teacher – if a student has a reference on the wall, they can often figure out their work themselves, which is the whole concept of school!  When the information is connected to the classroom work, students can do their work and enjoy a sense of accomplishment that they did it on their own.  This is another great step in their education!

A teacher can also refer to the posters during the regular lessons and by changing them often, the bright classroom continues to stimulate the students and introduce fresh ideas to keep the fun learning model  for ongoing knowledge.

School posters are useful for small and large groups or for independent studies and they make presenting new information to students easier because they contain smaller digestible pieces of data.  This is very helpful when teaching a new difficult math, language, spelling or science idea and makes it easier for students at all ability levels.

Motivational quotes on posters can inspire and encourage. Students, particularly in primary grades are easily bored, so another benefit of school posters is that they can be changed easily and often to keep the bright classroom feeling.  Children will begin to look forward to the next new and exciting poster that the teacher has for them.

Whether they realize it or not, student also learn that a poster is a good way to display information and ideas – something they can use when they have to provide a presentation at a time in their life.

The versatility of school posters is a welcome tool for a teacher also.  They are easy to put up and take down and don’t require any special help from the school support staff that may or may not be available to them.  Posters can also be used all around the classroom.  They can be placed on the wall, on a door, on a cabinet, on the blackboard or even an easel and they are easy to move around or take down when it is time for tests or exams.

School posters are a great educational resource that helps to make a bright classroom which leads to fun learning for the students and assists the teacher.   So add a little fun to your classroom by displaying colorful posters in different styles and subjects!

Quiz Results

Thank you to everybody who has taken part in this month quiz.

Here are the answers.

1) black

2) un manteau

3) la vache

4) treize

5) la poire

6) bonjour

7) dans la chambre

Ali N. is the winner of the illustrated number poster

French Quiz For Children

Find the correct answer for each question and, send them to me at languageresources@btinternet.com - subject: French Quiz. One of you will receive a beautifully illustrated French Poster with Pronunciation on a voice recording.

The answers will be posted on Saturday.

1) What does "Noir" mean?

     -  blue
     -  yellow
     -  black
     -  pink

2) When it is cold, what do you wear?

     - un manteau
     - une casquette
     - un short
     - des sandales

3) Le/La. Which one of these animals is feminine (la).

     - canard
     - vache
     - mouton
     - cheval

4) Which number is missing? douze, ----------------?, quatorze.

     - seize
     - treize
     - huit
     - vingt

5) Which one is a fruit?

     - la poire
     - le pain
     - le fromage
     - l'oeuf

6) When you meet someone in the morning, do you say?

     - bonsoir
     - bonne nuit
     - au revoir
     - bonjour

7) Where do you sleep at night?

      - dans la cuisine
      - dans la chambre
      - dans la salle de bains
      - dans le jardin


Thank you for taking part.

Bonne chance

 

Illustrated Poster

 

with

 

Pronunciation

Introduce French Words to Children with Flashcards

Flashcards can help you or your family,

 

to
 

·         Quickly touch up or add to your French vocabulary

            ·          Prepare for a trip to France or a French class

 

·        learn something fun, new and useful

 

Food Flashcards

 

 

 

Fruits Flashcards

 

 

 

Vegetable Flashcards

 

 

 

Beverage Flashcards



What do I write to my French pen pal?

What a great way to practice your writing in French by writing to a French language pen pal!

But even when you are learning French, it is still hard to get started on your letter/email because you want to make a good first impression and you want your new pen pal to be interested in writing back to you in the French language.  You should know that everybody has trouble getting started when writing a letter or email.

If you are writing in French to someone who is close to your age, they will probably be interested in some of the same things that you are.  Try to think about what you would want to know about your French language pen pal.

If you ask your French language pen pal some questions in your letter, it will be easier for them to get started when they write back to you.

Here are some ideas to get you started writing in French:

§  Let your pen pal know who you are and why you are writing to them.  Tell them your first name or and your nickname if you have one and that you are learning French.

§  Explain where you found their name and email or street address, so they understand that you are serious about finding a pen pal.

§  Next, tell them your age, and if you are a boy or girl and what country you live in.

§  Write a little information about your neighborhood – for instance do you live in a busy city or in the country or somewhere in between.

§  Talk a little bit about your family – do you have brothers and sisters? – list their names and how old they are.

§  Share with them any hobbies you have or talk about what you like to do in your spare time – maybe you enjoy video games or reading.  Give your French language pen pal some details, like what are your favorite games or books.

§  Ask them if they have a pet – if you have a pet, tell them about it.

§  If there is a sport that you like you can talk a little about that and ask them if they play sports.

§  Things in your everyday life will be interesting to your pen pal.  You can talk about your favorite color, your favorite music or what you like best or least at school.

§  Trips or vacations are another topic you can add to your writing in French.  Have you been on a trip or do you plan to go on vacation?

To end your letter it is best to use something friendly in French language of course, but not too friendly – remember you are just getting to know each other.  Something like “your new friend” or “Cheers” is better than “Love”.

MOST IMPORTANT especially if you are emailing is to keep safety in mind.  Likely your parents and teachers have talked about safety online.  It is a good idea to let your parents know that you are writing in French to a new pen pal and let them look over your letter.

 

 

Expand Your French Giveaway !!

 

Win this set of French Flashcards featuring numbers

 

from 1 to 100

 

with the pronunciation on a cd

 

 

 Flashcards are a wonderful tool to help you to learn new words. They are versatile and easy to use.

They are also very much a part of the classroom material. 

 

 

These flashcards are laminated and have rounded corners for safety.

 

 

They come with accompanying voice recording on a cd for the pronunciation, for anyone who wishes to learn the French numbers on their own.

 

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/FrenchTeachingAids#

The winner is Catherine Dimelow
 



How Accurate Are Online Translators?

The world of the internet has brought us many great inventions and conveniences, but online translators for foreign languages are not reliable or accurate enough to rely on for important translation of languages.

When you only need to understand the general meaning of a written letter or email, they can be sufficient, but if you need an accurate detailed comprehension you could be in trouble.

The main reason that an online translator tool cannot provide precise information is verb tenses.  For instance, when translating French language correspondence, the conjugation of verbs will not always be correct and may result in a completely different meaning for the reader.

Also the online tools have problems with sentence structure.  The translator will take the information in foreign languages “word by word” and try to make sense of it.  The result can be something completely different from the original languages.

Slang words and local use of certain expressions will also cause headaches when using an online translator for foreign languages.  They will take the literal meaning or a phrase which may be very confusing for the person receiving it.

If you are using an online translator for translating French language to English and you do not know the French language, you may not even realize that the message you are sending to a native French-speaking person does not make any sense at all.  In fact the results of some translations are just bizarre.  You may think you are ordering a box of pencils but you are actually buying a horse!  You are going to be very confused when you receive that delivery!

This example shows why accuracy is so important and you should not rely on an online translator when specific details are important. This situation will get even worse if you and another person are corresponding and you are both using online translators.  Before long the meanings will be lost for both of you.  Imagine how important accuracy is if you are making detailed travel reservations and the person receiving your request doesn’t understand clearly.  It could mean disaster for your plans.

While there is no substitute for learning foreign languages, an online translator is fine if you just need a broad understanding of what you are reading but use caution if you rely on them for precise and exact information.

Fruit Bingo Cards



Classroom Resources

Educational Tools for Learning French Language Skills

Children learning French language skills may sometimes struggle to remember French vocabulary. Having the appropriate words to communicate is what learning a new language is all about. One of the ways in which teachers help their students to memorize basic vocabulary is through the use of worksheets.

 

Animal worksheets
 

Children have a limited attention span and so they need short, interesting lessons. Illustrated worksheets with fun exercises that children can work through do just that, Kids gain practice in using the French words correctly. The exercises are enjoyable to do and effective in teaching important French vocabulary.

Colour Worksheets