Reception - Prep 6: Café de l'école du 21 novembre 2012

Prep 6R held their first Café de l'école on Wednesday this week and it was a brilliant success. I was really impressed by their French, especially the way they managed to change their verbs from the tu to the vous part depending on whether they were serving a pupil or a teacher. They looked great, threw themselves into their Café duties with loads of enthusiasm and we made more money to go towards French trips than in any previous Café since I started at Spring Grove.

Many thanks to all thirteen members of 6R, to Prep 3 for making lovely posters in their ICT lesson and of course to Mrs Groom and her team for their invaluable help.

Prep 5: Les Instruments de Musique

Prep 5, we will be starting to learn the names of some musical instruments very soon.

Have a go at matching the words to the pictures in the instruments quiz below. Just drag the word onto the right picture to make them disappear. You might have to move the pictures around to see everything. Play it more than once to practise all the different instrument names.

Prep 4: King Jouet

Prep 4 looked at the King Jouet website to find out the names of some of their favourite toys and gadgets in French. Here is an advert for one of their shops. How many of the toys can you name in French?

Prep 4: Les Jouets

Prep 4 are just starting the topic of toys. I thought they might enjoy watching this!

Form 2: Quel âge as-tu?

Form 2 have been learning to say how old they are. This video might help them remember the question and the answer!



Look at the BBC Languages Website for more practice saying your age.

And if you've forgotten your numbers...

French Breakfast 28th September 2012

Our final event to mark European Day of Languages last week was our regular French Breakfast on Friday morning. Despite all the rain in recent weeks, the weather held and we had lots of customers for our croissants and pains au chocolat. Another big merci to Mrs Groom and her team for looking after everyone so well, and to all the parents and children who supported the languages department by coming. The proceeds will, as usual, help subsidise future French trips.

European Day of Languages

We celebrated the European day of Languages a day early today when Andrea, mother to Benito and Celina, came to visit Form 1 and Form 2. Rather than their usual French lesson, the children practised greeting each other in Spanish and learnt to count to ten, having watched and listened to La Gallina Turuleca, a lively song about a hen who lays her eggs all over the house but never in her nest. The children all enjoyed the new language, were very keen to join in with the singing and counting and we'd all like to thank Andrea for coming in to help us celebrate languages. Muchas gracias!

Here is the video the children watched. See if you can spot the Spanish numbers!

The older children had their first ever German lesson, where we practised greeting each other and counting to twelve. As well as watching the number video below, we also sang Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken. You can listen to this below too!

European Day of Languages 2012

This coming Wednesday (26th September) is the European Day of Languages. This is a day to celebrate the many languages spoken in countries all over the world.

To celebrate this day at Spring Grove, rather than having their usual French lesson, Form 1 and 2 will be having a special Spanish taster lesson on Tuesday morning with Mrs Diaz Razul, and Preps 3-6 will be learning some German during the course of the week. We will finish the week on Friday morning with our first French Breakfast of the year.

Have a look at this song. How many languages can you recognise? Why don't you try answering the register in as many different languages as you can this week? This poster can help you pronounce the word for hello in lots of different languages.



Here are some more things to do this week:

Have a look at this BBC languages site where you can learn basic words in lots of European Languages.

Play the Let's Explore Europe Game on your own or with some friends.

Can you recognise European countries by their shape? Have a go at putting the falling countries into the right position by playing this Europe Map Match Game.

How well do you know the flags of Europe? Have a go at this Flag Dropper Quiz to find out.

You could watch this video featuring European flags before you try it!




Prep 5 and Prep 6 might like to try this trickier Council of Europe Quiz to test their knowledge on European Languages. How much can you score?

Little ones could explore the CBeebies Lingo Show website and learn some new words.

Have fun!

Prep 4: Les Pays Francophones

Prep 4 will be learning about some places where French is spoken in the next week or two. How many places do you recognise?

Les pays francophones from Bonnie Rafferty

Boucle d'Or

Here is a very silly version of the story of Boucle d'Or et les Trois Ours. I think you will guess what story it is if you watch it!

 

C'est un livre!

End of year report 2011/2012

The children have worked really hard on their French this term and the highlight for me was definitely the Prep 5 trip to the Château de la Baudonnière in Normandy, which took place at the beginning of June. Mr Jones, Mrs Martin and I took a lovely group of 25 children from 5D and 5M for a week of activities, games and cultural visits. As always, all the instruction and interaction from the Château staff was carried out in French and the children soon learnt that speaking confidence would be essential not only for the group activities, but also if they were going to get more pain or grenadine from the kitchens! It was a fantastic week with perfect weather and a great group of children who threw themselves wholeheartedly into every activity, were willing to try new food and experiences, and who showed off the French they have been learning at school with pride.

Lower down the school, Nursery have been so good this year that I ran out of topics and we started on some of the Reception ones! They have been a pleasure to teach, and have loved joining in with all our songs, rhymes and games.

Reception have had another good term. They listen carefully every week and are developing lovely accents. It is rare for me to need to use any English at all in their lessons, as their comprehension is getting quite impressive!

Form 1 have been practising transport words, farm animals and seaside vocabulary this term and have enjoyed their first writing in French over the year, and they will be working on this much more next year when they join Form 2.

Form 2 are learning to copy French words carefully and accurately and to recognise that French looks very different to the way it sounds. They love interactive games at the board and have been revising zoo animals, family members and rooms of the house this term.

Prep 3 have worked on fruit and vegetable vocabulary, a French story and farm animals this term, whilst Prep 4 have been listening to music by Saint-Saëns to extend their animal vocabulary and have revised the weather, the time and have learned to talk about what they are wearing.

Prep 6 organised another successful Café de l'École in the first half of term and have spent this term learning how to talk all about themselves and their families. They are getting the hang of verbs, which will be useful next year!

Many thanks to Mrs Groom and her team for the French breakfast we held in June. The weather may have been disappointing, but I was pleased that so many of you supported the event and we were able to raise a little money to subsidise future French trips.

Bonnes vacances à tous!


http://www.springgroveschool.co.uk/

Prep 4: Quel temps fait-il?

Click on the play button below to hear 4C singing our weather song! They will be doing some forecasting this week!

listen to ‘4C Le Temps’ on Audioboo

French Breakfast 22nd June 2012

Thank you so much to all the parents who braved the intermittent rain on Friday morning for our final French breakfast of the year. We were able to raise lots of money for future French trips by selling the usual breakfast of croissants, pains au chocolat, jus d'orange, chocolat chaud, thé and café. Many thanks to Mrs Groom and her team and to all the staff who kindly helped out. I particularly enjoyed hearing Mr Jones playing La Marseillaise on the trombone and trying out some of the French he learned on our trip to the Château. Our next breakfast will be in September. 

Prep 5: Video!

Here is a video montage of some of our photos from the French trip. There are so many lovely photos I was spoilt for choice! I hope you enjoy it!

Prep 5: Un grand merci!

I have just uploaded some more photos, including some photos taken from the children's own cameras, so click on the slideshow on the right if you would like to have a look at them. There are some more to follow, as I know Mrs Martin took lots during the week.

Looking again at all the fantastic pictures made me keen to say a big thank you, first of all to Mr Jones and Mrs Martin, whose support and advice were invaluable over the week and whose lovely company helped make the trip so much fun.

Thank you also to the Château staff who as always were welcoming, patient and extremely helpful throughout the week.

My biggest thank you is to the children of 5D and 5M, who made us laugh so many times and made the whole week worthwhile. I hope they have come home full of confidence in their ability to understand and speak French. I am very proud of how well they looked after one another and worked so well in their groups to make all the activities such a success, even when they were exhausted! It was a pleasure to take them, and I look forward to taking 4W and 4C this time next year!

Prep 5: Au Château

Yippee - the Château office finally have an Internet connection (though no WiFi yet) so I can show you some photos! We had a muddy morning at the assault course this morning and are about to go climbing! The children are really enjoying the activities and are finding it hard to decide what they have enjoyed most so far! Click on the slideshow on the right to see all the photos from Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, but here are some highlights...

Prep 5: En route!

I hope you're all packed Prep 5!
See you in the morning - I'm looking forward to it!
Parents, I will be adding photos to the slideshow on the right whenever I get a moment.

Reception - Prep 6: Café de l'école

Remind yourself of the words you will need for next week's Café. Don't forget your money on Wednesday!

View more presentations from Bonnie Rafferty.

Prep 5: 18 jours!

Not long to go now, Prep 5! Have a look at last year's video just to feed your excitement!

Then have a look at this lovely book we made...

Au Château de la Baudonnière du 5 au 11 juin 2011

Finally, just for fun, watch La Chanson des Souris! I think you'll guess why I chose this. Don't forget to learn your lines!

Prep 5 - Prep 6: Le Boulanger

What job does the boy's dad do? What does he make? How much can you understand?

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Sudoku des Couleurs

Le Sudoku Des CouleursHave a go at the above colours exercise! Link the colours to the right names and then have a go at the Sudoku.

Prep 3 - Prep 6: L'Arche de Noé

This is a song all about the story of Noah's Ark (l'Arche de Noé) Listen and read the words of the song. how many animals can you spot?



D'abord avancez les girafes
Et puis les vaches et les chevaux
Les crocodiles et les corbeaux
Les souris, les hippopotames
Et les chimpanzés
Rangez-les moi bien dans le ventre
De l'Arche de Noé

Les hommes nous ont gonflé la tête
Avec les guerres et la misère
Et la bêtise, alors on a décidé le déluge
Mais les animaux n'y étaient pour rien
Et c'est pour ça qu'on a fait
L'Arche de Noé

Alors rentrez les hyènes et les serpents
Les autruches, les pies, les dindes et les faisans
Les zèbres, les chèvres, les perroquets
Rangez-les moi bien dans le ventre
De l'Arche de Noé

Les tigres, les aigles, les buffles, les lièvres
Les mouches et les chameaux
Les éléphants, les tortues, les escargots, les marsupiaux
Les chiens, les chats, les puces, les tiques
Les ours et les blaireaux
Rangez-les moi bien dans le ventre
De l'Arche de Noé

Et tous les autres
Qui n'avaient pas pu rentrer
Regardaient la pluie
Qui commençait à tomber
Ils étaient des milliers
Devant la porte fermée
Pendant que la mer emportait
L'Arche de Noé

Nursery, Reception: Voici ma main

This is a lovely simple finger rhyme for little ones. I will be trying this out with Nursery and Reception!

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Va-t'en grand monstre vert!

This is the a video of the book "Va-t'en grand monstre vert!" by Ed Emberley. Those of you in Prep 5 and Prep 6 coming in for Saturday's Open Day at school might get to design and talk about your own monster!

Grand monstre

View more presentations from Bonnie Rafferty.

Nursery - Prep 6: Lapins!

 Do you recognise this Easter film from its French trailer?

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Joyeuses Pâques!

Have a look at this video to see how this Parisian pâtissier makes hand made chocolate eggs at Easter time. How many times does he say the word chocolat?

 

This next video explains why chocolate eggs have come to be associated with Easter. How much can you understand?

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Les Jeux Olympiques

Jeux olympiques

Prep 4 will be doing these sporty worksheets whilst I am away this week!

View more presentations from Bonnie Rafferty.

Prep 3: Jacques et le haricot magique

Do you recognise the story?

Prep 3 - Prep 6: C'est l'Halloween

In what order does the witch put the vegetables into the soup?
des tomates
un chou vert
trois carottes

Now watch this Halloween video. Can you work out what the following words mean?
un fantôme =
la lune =
une chauve-souris =
une sorcière =
un tigre =
un serpent =

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Quelle heure est-il?

Watch this video with dancing skeletons. Can you tell the time in French?

Prep 4 - Prep 5: Au café

Watch this video about a visit to a café. What does the man order? Can you say the items he orders in French? Can you work out what the last thing that he orders is?

Prep 4 - Prep 6: Adjectifs

What is an adjective? How many French adjectives can you understand in this video?

Prep 5, Prep 6: Les pouces en avant!

Prep 6 do you remember doing this dance as a warm-up for the assault course at the Château last year? Prep 5 get ready!

Reception - Prep 6: Les Poissons

Watch the video. What do the animal words below mean?
Un poisson =
Un oiseau =
Un escargot =
Un lapin =
Can you say the following sounds in French?
i
on
o
in

Form 2 - Prep 6: Les Vêtements

Practise some clothes vocabulary with Toto!
Can you remember the words for the seasons?
Which one below is spring? Which is summer? Which is autumn and which is winter?

l'hiver =
l'été =
le printemps =
l'automne =

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Les Parties du Corps

How many of the body parts in the song did you remember? Did you learn any new ones? How do you say bones and muscles?

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Les Jours de la Semaine

A song all about the days of the week!

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Les fruits

Lots of good fruit vocabulary for the older ones in this fruity alphabet song!

Nursery - Prep 3: J'aime les fruits

Which fruits are mentioned in this fruity song? Can you say them all in French?

Reception - Prep 6: Le transport et les couleurs

Another colours song. Prep 5 and Prep 6, can you tell from the colour words which type of transport is masculine and which is feminine?

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Les Couleurs

A very silly catchy colours song!

Prep 4 - Prep 6: Ce qu'on mange

Have a go at this exercise testing your knowledge of French food words. How many can you get right?

Form 1 - Prep 6: Peppa Cochon à la plage

Can you work out what these words mean?

la plage =
le sable =
le seau =
la pelle =
la crème solaire =
le château de sable =
le parasol =
la serviette =
le ballon =
le soleil =
le chapeau =

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Qu'est-ce qu'on mange?

Do you know the French for all the foods that are mentioned in the song?

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Les fruits Oasis

Watch this French juice advert. Which fruits are mentioned in the song?

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Sounds

Watch this video. What sound are they practising? What 3 words do they make with that sound?

Nursery - Form 1: Bonjour!

Bonjour! How many times do you hear the word Bonjour! in this song?

Form 1 - Prep 6: Les fruits

This nursery rhyme has four fruits in it and one is the odd one out? Watch and find out which is the odd one out! Can you understand why?

Form 2: Il pleut!

Form 2 will be learning how to talk about the weather in French this week and I will be showing them this video! Quel temps fait-Il?

Reception - Form 2: Les chiffres

Revise your numbers from 1-10!

Form 1 - Prep 6: Les jours de la semaine

Revise the days of the week with this song. Can you spell all the days correctly?

Prep 3 - Prep 6: Les animaux du zoo

How many animals can you find in the wordsearch? There are twelve altogether. I will give a prize to anyone who comes to me with a list of all twelve animals!

Prep 5, Prep 6: Les animaux

We haven't revised animals for a while. Why don't you have a go at this animal exercise. If there are some animals you haven't met before, use this online dictionary to look them up and broaden your vocabulary.

Prep 3 - Prep 6: À l'école

Watch this French video all about a day at a French primary school. What times are mentioned? What lessons do the children do during the day? What differences did you spot between the French school and your school?

Form 1 - Prep 6

Have a go at this exercise - can you label all the colours?

Prep 6: Practise Classroom Objects

Have a go at the quiz below to practise your classroom objects in French for tomorrow's test!

Study Classroom Objects | Word Dynamo

Prep 6: Spellings

Here are the words for next week's vocabulary test!
Good luck!

un sac - a bag
un bic - a biro
un cahier - an exercise book
un stylo - a pen
un livre - a book
un crayon - a pencil 
un feutre - a felt tip pen 
un taille-crayon - a pencil sharpener
un compas - a compass
une gomme - a rubber
une règle - a ruler
une calculatrice - a calculator
une trousse - a pencil case
des ciseaux - scissors


Practise with Espresso!

Prep 5, Prep 6: Les Rimes

Next time we write a poem together in class, you may like to use this French site to find a rhyming word!

Joyeux Anniversaire!

Happy Birthday to the Blog du Bosquet! 

One year old next week and I've just reached

10000 visitors. Thanks to everyone who has dropped by...

Prep 6: Les Crayons

Prep 6 will be watching this short French film after half term. We have been revising classroom vocabulary and this film features some talking crayons...

Nursery - Prep 6: Ludovic et ses animaux

Watch this lovely Canadian animation about a teddy called Ludovic who makes some animals out of paper. Even Nursery will know some of the French words in this! Can you say the names of all the animals he makes in French?

Prep 3 - Prep 6: J'aime les chiens!

Watch this Canadian film about a girl who is so desperate to have a dog of her own that she takes her roller skate for walks to convince her parents she is old enough to look after one!

Prep 4: Sports

Which of the following sports does Tom try in this video?
le basket?
le surf?
le cyclisme?
le rugby?
le foot?
le skateboard?
le tennis?
la course?

Prep 3, Prep 4: Qu'est-ce que tu aimes faire?

Prep 3 have been learning how to talk about some activities they enjoy and Prep 4 are about to start the topic of sports. This video features some French children talking about the activities they enjoy. How many can you understand?

Prep 4 - 6: La Guerre des Etoiles en 3D

This is a clip from today's French news all about the premiere of the 3D version of Star Wars (La Guerre des Etoiles) Episode 1, which came out yesterday in France.

La guerre des étoiles en 3D, les fans au rendez-vous

Here is an article all about it in French. How much can you understand?


Star Wars - La Menace fantôme - premier épisode de la saga de George Lucas, ressort en 3 D. L'occasion pour les fans de retrouver les films sur grand  écran. Et ce n'est qu'un début.
Quand George Lucas a sorti le premier épisode de sa Guerre des étoiles, en 1977, le film s'appelait simplement "Star Wars". Il avait tout de suite eu l'idée de faire une trilogie [trois films] mais ne pensait pas encore à tout ce qui suivrait.
Malgré des moyens technologiques très limités, George Lucas avait réussi à innover et son film a finalement eu plus de succès qu'il ne l'espérait.
Le début de Star Wars, qui raconte l'histoire de Luke Skywalker et de Leia, est aujourd'hui considéré comme l'épisode 4 de la saga. Ce qui est finalement logique quand on sait comment le réalisateur a imaginé sa saga.
Celui-ci a en effet commencé son histoire au milieu et l'a amené vers la fin. Mais c'est vrai que dans le premier film, la guerre a déjà débuté entre l'Empire et l'Alliance ou que Obi Wan Kenobi et Darth Vador se connaissent déjà. Quand George Lucas a décidé de faire une suite à la Guerre des étoiles, il a donc tout naturellement raconté... le début.
Le film "La Menace fantôme" est sorti une première fois en 1999. Ce début de la deuxième trilogie raconte essentiellement l'histoire de Darth Vador. Quand on le découvre, il est encore enfant mais il est déjà très doué. Il a déjà fabriqué un robot et est un pilote exceptionnel.
Pendant ce film et les deux suivants, on peut découvrir comment ce garçon, plutôt gentil, va devenir très méchants.
La nouvelle version 3D de "La Menace fantôme" vient de sortir au cinéma. Tous les ans, les fans découvriront un nouvel épisode de leur saga, également en relief, sur grand écran. Cette deuxième sortie de Star Wars se poursuivra donc jusqu'en 2017.

Prep 4 - 6: La Fête des Rois

Watch this presentation all about the Fête des Rois. Can you work out the answers to the exercise at the end?

A special song is sung for the occasion. Watch this video to hear the song.

Here are some French children singing the same song:



Now watch this extract from the French news to see one of the last remaining fève factories in France.

Epiphanie : dans les allées d'une fabrique de fèves

And finally, here's a famous French children's story all about a galette!

Form 1, Form 2, Prep 3: Bon Appétit Monsieur Lapin

Another great French book brought to life by a class of French school children. I will be showing this one to some of you in our French lessons!

Reception, Form 1, Form 2: La Chenille Qui Fait Des Trous

I'm sure you've all read the English version of this, and Form 2 read it with me in French last year. Here you can hear and see the book read by a class of French children. I hope you enjoy it!

Form 2: Promenons-nous dans les bois!

Form 2 are learning how to talk about what they are wearing and I sang this song to them in today's lesson. I hope this version doesn't scare them too much!

Reception: Savez-vous planter les choux?

Reception have been revising parts of the body by singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in French and today we read a book featuring this well known French song. What body parts do they use in this version to plant their cabbages?

Reception: La ferme

Reception are learning all about the farm at the moment, so we have been learning the names of some farm animals in French too. Why don't you listen to this song which is half in English and half in French? It has a few animals we have learnt in class, plus some extra ones too! Can you count how many animals are in the song? You could print out the dot to dot above if you like, colour it in and then bring it into school to show me!

Prep 5, Prep 6: Tintin!

For those of you who went to see the latest Tintin film, here is a link to a site which will generate Captain Haddock insults for you in French. It might prove useful one day - you never know!

Prep 5: La Fête des Rois

In their French lesson today, both Prep 5 classes celebrated a belated Epiphany with some delicious galettes des rois very kindly bought in France last night by Mr Brooks. We learnt about the festival, sang the special song (see the post below) and then the youngest member of each class chose the first slice of galette. Ellie and Georgie were the lucky winners of the fève and each chose a friend to share their royal status for the day!

Prep 5, Prep 6: Phonics

Prep 5 and Prep 6 have both been doing some phonics practice this week. We have looked at lots of French sounds over the last year and their hard work is starting to pay off - when they meet new words or read aloud in French their pronunciation is getting quite good!
These are some of the sounds we have been looking at together:

Prep 3 - 6: Making a comic strip

Prep 6 have been revising greetings and have made up some dialogues in the last week. This week they will be designing a comic strip of a basic conversation using this website. Watch out here for some of the results!

Prep 3: Playground Games

This term, Prep 3 are learning the French names for some playground activities. One of them is la marelle (hopscotch). I found this great video of some French children playing la marelle. It will help you revise your numbers too!

Also, if you want to have another look at the video of the children from Martinique playing clapping games, you can watch it again here. Ten stars for anyone who can learn the first rhyme!

Prep 4: La Belle au Bois Dormant

Prep 4 are learning how to talk (and sing!) about the story of La Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty) this term. Why not watch these clips from the French version of the Disney film? There are two parts (see the two videos below), which show the most important moments from the Disney story in French.
Can you remember who wrote the original French version of the story. When was it written? What other stories did the same man write? Stars for anyone who can tell me the answers! Look at this website to help you find out if you have forgotten!