First Two Weeks

Here we go, already two weeks into school: it's amazing how the time goes by. We have jumped back into our books and studies both feet first in all classes. Below, please find a brief summary of what we are learning. Also, check out the article about Foreign Language Learning on the side bar on the French page.

Kindergarten: Review of our songs, Bonjour, ça va? Comment tu t'appelles? Counting to ten, big and little, rhyming words: mouton, cochon, maison, garçon, papillon, avion, camion. We are learning a story about a family to use related vocabulary.

1st grade: Review of last years songs to help new students learn greetings, the alphabet, numbers and such. Vocabulary relates tokids named Lili, David, and Julien, and students are learning to say Julien plays ball at the park or Lili plays with her dog. I incorporate this vocabulary into stories I make up for the class.

2cnd grade: Some review and becoming acquainted with Grenadine, the funny witch and the cast of characters: Leila, Hugo, Monsieur Valette, Marion, Kim, Thomas, and Sébastien. We are also working on classroom commands, and writing greetings and the characters names.

3rd grade: Review of our greeting, numbers, and name songs. We are getting to know the characters in our series as well as how the series works. Today students got their workbooks which we will use in third and fourth grades. The book uses some cursive which fits nicely with what third graders do in English. We also listened to the BD or the bande déssinée, the comic strip that is part of each chapter, and learned that A+ is a quick way to say goodbye in French.

4th grade: Review of foods, with the Goûter de Zoé, (Zoé's snack) and a smelling activity where kids had to sniff containers and guess what foods they were smelling in French. Now we are learning to say what we know and like to do. New vocabulary includes: savoir, faire la cuisine, faire du judo, faire du cheval, jongler, jouer de la flûte, and jouer au tennis.  

5th grade: Learning to talk about characters Lili, Julien, and David going places, playing games or watching TV, with their dog, their skateboard, their bags, their friends...and practicing writing and spelling.

6th grade: Review of numbers, alphabet, and spelling using accents, cédille, tréma. Moving into mes affaires: my things. The verb donner, donne-moi, c'est à moi, mon crayon, ma trousse, épeler, comment ça s'écrit? Students took a quiz about the use of the accent aigu, and did quite well.

7th grade: Review of the accent aigu, emotions, je suis triste, and physical sensations, j'ai chaud. Body related vocabulary, saying j'ai mal à la tête...aux mains, au dos. Trop, assez, pas assez...saying I sleep too much (je dors trop), or I don't eat enough (je ne mange pas assez). and then putting the two together: J'ai mal à la tête parce que je dors trop. We are also reading Pauvre Anne, and a basic reader to work on vocabulary building.

8th grade: Review of presenting oneself and speaking about countries using French names and prepositions: very complicated! We will be learning about Victor Hugo, one of the shining lights of the 1800's in France, whose social commentaries made him into a senior statesman in France. We will have very brief overview of French history from the Revolution through the 19th century.