Early Start French

2.1 Où habites-tu?

Where do you live?

Early Start French 2: “Où habites-tu?” will help pupils talk about the wider environment in which they live - to add to what they can already say about themselves in French. In this section, they will be able to say where they live: in which town, in which country (OPTIONAL)-and to understand when French people say where they live.

They will hear the names of some towns in French-speaking countries, find out how to pronounce them, where they are, - with a few interesting facts. They will also learn some of the countries where French is spoken.

Planning your lessons

Before watching the films, have a warmup session to find out how much children already know about places in France. Until pupils are confident with the new

Films to see

A1 - Town or countryside?

B1 - “I live in THIS TOWN”; B2 question & answer

B3 - SONG “Où habites-tu?”

C1 - Presentation: “I live in THIS COUNTRY”

phrases, use them with familiar place-names of where they live. We suggest some other French towns to introduce, paying attention to how they are pronounced. Choose other towns to reflect the interests of your class. You could start groups of pupils on an extended project to produce a Town Guide for French visitors - see Ch.2.16.

It is a good idea to have a large map of France on display in your classroom

Part A: Town or countryside?

Activities

1. Warm up

As well as talking about places the children know of in France, you could practise familiar phrases from Early Start French 1: “Salut! Ça va?”, where pupils learnt to exchange personal information. Begin with everybody standing in a circle. Throw a soft ball to different children as you ask their names, ages, when their birthdays are, what pets they have and whether they have any brothers or sisters.

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES: A1

Où habites-tu?

Where do you live?

J’habite... à la campagne

I live... in the countryside

J’habite... en ville (f)

J’habite en France (f)

I live in France.

I live... in town see Talking Dictionary

Watch Film A1: “Town or countryside?”

❑ Watch film A1 which shows children saying that they live in the town or countryside. Children saying they live in the countryside: The first two children say that they live in the countryside, “J’habite à la campagne”. We see them in the small rural village of Auchy-lesHesdin.

Film A1: “J’habite en ville...” Mustapha lives in the urban setting of Roubaix.

Où habites-tu?

We also see the village mayor’s office (la Mairie); the little river, La Ternoise, and the wide open spaces of countryside around the village, with fields of wheat and cattle.

Boy: “Je m’appelle Romain, j’ai 9 ans, et j’habite à la campagne.”

Girl: “Je m’appelle Audrey, j’ai 11 ans, et j’habite à la campagne.”

Children saying they live in town : In contrast, the next two children live in the urban setting of Roubaix - part of the big city of Lille. They say, “J’habite en ville”; we see busy scenes of traffic, crowds, trams and the Métro.

Boy: “Je m’appelle Mustapha, j’ai 9 ans, et j’habite en ville.”

I live in France: We see a map of France and neighbouring countries. Four children each say, “J’habite en France”- then a voice asks, “Où habites-tu?”

Get used to the sounds

(a) Town or countryside?

❑ Echoing: show the countryside scene using the e-flashcards with sound on and text off: “J’habite à la campagne”. Pupils echo the phrase. Then show the French town scene: “J’habite en ville.” Pupils echo the phrase. Let the class puppet join in; children echo what the puppet says too.

Now show the pictures again, this time with text showing. Children echo.

❑ “Stand up - sit down” game: Make picture cards of the “en ville” and “à la campagne” scenes, and distribute them at random round the class, one to each pupil.

If you say “J’habite en ville”, all the children who have that card stand up. Now say “J’habite à la campagne”; they sit down and the others stand. To add variety, tell pupils to swap cards.

❑ Now let the puppet ask different children where they really live. The puppet asks, ”Où habites-tu?, pupils reply,“J’habite en ville” or “J’habite à la campagne”.

❑ Echoing: Display the first picture from C1 “country e-flashcards” (or use your class room display map). Pupils echo: “J’habite en France”. Now show the text and hear the phrase: The children echo

KEY SOUNDS

Listen and enjoy copying these typical sounds: where have you heard them before?

as in France, en ville, campagne

Heard before in: vendredi blanc

janvier, maman

as in en ville, j’habite

Heard before in: vendredi, gris, dix

as in j’habite

(Listen to the native speakerstry to copy their typically French sounds.)

NOTE: phonetic symbols are for teachers ONLY! See “Introduction” for how to use symbols)

Seen before in: salut, blanc see Talking Dictionary

❑ “Town or countryside” game: Pupils stand in a circle with you in the middle. Throw a soft ball to a confident pupil. As you throw the ball, ask “Où habites-tu?”. S/he replies “J’habite en France” as s/he throws the ball back to you. You return the ball asking, “Tu habites à la campagne?”. The pupil replies either, “Oui, à la campagne” or “Non, en ville”. Repeat with other children in the circle. Some confident pupils may like to take your place in the middle of the circle to ask the questions.

Part B: I live in... THIS TOWN

WORDS

PHRASES: B1

Où habites-tu? Where do you live?

J’habite à ... - I live in ...

Names of TOWNS in Northern France

Béthune, Boulogne, Calais, Hesdin, Lens, Lille, Roubaix, Saint Omer, Sars-Poteries, Wimereux.

TOWNS in the rest of France

Lyon, Marseille, Paris, Saint Malo, Toulouse.

Talking Dictionary

Planning your lessons

Part B aims to give children a general impression of what French towns are like, and of their diversity. You might want to focus on just a few. If you have a large map of France ready to display, you can also give a rough idea of where different towns are. A map of your own country is also useful.

Warm up

■ Before watching Film B1, make a list of all the French towns the class know already:

◆ remembered from Early Start French 1

◆ from family holidays in France,

◆ seen watching sport on television. Perhaps you have a partner school in France?

Watch Film B1: I live in THIS TOWN

❑ Watch film B1 which shows some towns in northern France. To pinpoint where certain towns are, you will see their names written on a map of France .

Towns in Nord-Pas de Calais: First, the location of Calais is marked on a map

o

of France. A child says, “J’habite à Calais” and we see images of the town.

Some other northern French towns and cities are identified on the map, followed by typical scenes.

We hear children saying: “J’habite à Boulogne ”, “J’habite à Wimereux”, “J’habite à Saint Omer”, “J’habite à Hesdin”, “J’habite à Sars-Poteries”, “J’habite à Lille”, “J’habite à Roubaix”, “J’habite à Béthune” and “J’habite à Lens”.

Towns in your country

❑ Echoing: Tell the pupils which town you live in, e.g. “J’habite à Plymouth” Pupils echo the phrase.

❑ Echoing: Using a map of your country, point to a selection of different towns and cities and say, e.g. “J’habite à Liverpool”

Pronounce such town names as you would in your country, unless the French have their own name for the place - see “cultural awareness”.

❑ Now let the puppet ask different children where they really live. The puppet asks, ”Où habites-tu?”, pupils reply “J’habite à Luton” etc. or, for a more natural response “à Luton”.

Watch Film B2: “Question & answer”

❑ Watch film B2 in which children answer the question “Où habites-tu?”, as well as: “Ça va?”, “Quel âge as-tu”, and “Comment t’appelles-tu?”.

2.1 Speakers of another language sometimes change the name of a foreign town to fit the sounds they are used to, or spell it the way they link sounds to writing. English-speaking people have their own way of saying Paris. For French-speakers, Dover is Douvres; London is Londres, and Edinburgh is Édimbourg.

Où habites-tu?

Cultural awareness

❑ Following the example of the question & answer sequences in film B2, you ask individual children “Où habites-tu?”.

They reply “à ...(-name of their town)”. You ask “Tu habites en ville ou à la campagne?”

Pupils reply, “en ville” or “à la campagne”.

❑ Play “place name chain” in groups

Pupil 1 says, “J’habite à ...” (naming their town or village), and asks the next child, ”Et toi, où habites-tu?” Pupil 2 answers, then asks pupil 3 and so on round the group.

❑ Play “place name chain” as a race

Divide the class into groups. Start the race by saying “1-2-3... partez!” The first in each group asks, ”Où habites-tu?”; the next child answers, “J’habite à Manchester”, and so on round the group. To win, a group must finish first and have used the correct French phrases!

❑ Play “stand up - sit down” game 2: This time include more places. If you say “J’habite à ... (a local town, neighbourhood, or village), pupils who live there stand up. They sit when you say “J’habite à ... (a nearby place); children who live there stand up. Now say “J’habite à la campagne”; all the village and country-dwellers should stand. Then say “J’habite en ville”....

NOTE: If necessary, discuss in your own language about what counts as town and countryside. Extend the game by adding familiar words which pupils already know, e.g. “J’ai deux frères”, “J’ai un hamster”...

Pupils must stand up when they hear any phrase that is true for them.

1.4 See “extra words and phrases 1”.

(

EXTRA WORDS AND PHRASES 1

TOWNS in the British Isles

Londres Édimbourg

Douvres

- London - Edinburgh - Dover

French speakers use different names for these towns. see Talking Dictionary

Get used to the sounds

(c) Towns in France

❑ Echoing:

Display the map of northern France using the e-flashcards

Ask your French-speaking puppet “Où habitestu?” The puppet replies “J’habite à Calais”, or simply “à Calais” as children do in film B2. Pupils echo the reply. Ask them where Calais is on the map: ”Où est Calais? 1? ..2?” Children say which number they think corresponds to Calais. Click on the number to hear the name of the town and see if they are right. Repeat this with the other French towns identified in the video:

1 = Calais 2 = Wimereux 3 = Boulogne 4 = Saint-Omer 5 = Hesdin 6 = Sars-Poteries

7 = Lille 8 = Roubaix 9 = Béthune 10 = Lens 11 = Douvres (Dover)

❑ Play “where do you live?”: Display the map of northern France on the eflashcards. Give each pupil a number 1-10; they live in that town. Click, for example, number 10 to hear the name of the town Lens. Say to the class, “Qui habite à Lens?” Pupils with number 10 stand up. You say “J’habite à Lens”; those

Early Start French 2

KEY SOUNDS

Listen and enjoy copying these typical sounds: where have you heard them before?

as in Hesdin, Saint Omer, Saint Malo

Heard before in: lapin vingt

as in Lens

Heard before in: vendredi, France

as in où, Boulogne, Roubaix, Édimbourg, Douvres, Toulouse

Heard before in: souris, douze

as in Calais, Roubaix, Marseille

Heard before in: elle, père, mai

as in Lille, Wimereux, Sars-Poteries, Paris

Heard before in: dix, il, animal

as in Béthune

Heard before in: Thomas, Arthur

as in Béthune, Édimbourg

Heard before in: et, zéro, janvier

as in Londres

Heard before in: bonjour, onze

as in Marseille, Lyon

Heard before in: famille, soleil

as in Calais, Hesdin, Roubaix, Sars-Poteries, Édimbourg, Douvres

Seen before in: salut, blanc

see Talking Dictionary

pupils echo. Repeat several times. Then go round the class asking individuals, “Où habites-tu?”. They reply according to the number they have been given.

❑ Play “two of a kind”: Give each child the activity sheet map of northern France with ONE town ringed; that is their home town. Check that everyone knows the name of their town. They walk round, asking “Où habites-tu?” until they find a partner from the same town. Swap maps to play again.

Talking point 1

Finding out about the French towns in the film

All the towns featured are in the northern-most region of France called Nord - Pas de Calais. The online presentation gives your class a few interesting facts about each one that helps them make more sense of what they see in the film:

Lille is one of the 5 biggest cities in France. It is now where fast Eurostar trains stop on the way to Paris or Brussels from London through the Channel Tunnel.

Roubaix used to be a big town of smoky textile mills. In the 1970s, most were closed in the face of cheaper imports, and the owners turned to businesses like mail-order warehouses.

Crowds gather along the route of the annual Paris-Roubaix cycle race where the world’s top cycle-racers struggle over stretches of cobbled roads (which are now specially preserved).

Nowadays Calais is the main port for ferries crossing the Channel from Dover. When the Channel Tunnel was built, people in Calais feared the port would have to close - but it is still busy with car-ferries!

In medieval times, Calais was ruled by England! It was a fortified English stronghold on the other side of the Channel.

The town was captured by an English army after a siege lasting for a whole year. This statue shows the leaders of the starving townsfolk surrendering.

Où

habites-tu?

This statue of the Calais Burghers surrendering to the Eng lish in the 14th century is one of the most famous works of the 19th century French sculptor, Rodin.

Lens and Béthune are former coal-mining towns both featured in Early Start French 1. Lens is the home of a top division football club.

Boulogne is a busy fishing port on the coast of northern France: its boats go out towards the North Sea and the Atlantic.

In Saint Omer we see the fine Gothic cathedral, ruined medieval abbey, and the Town Hall, which overlooks the busy market square.

A small country market town, Hesdin is sur rounded by miles of fields and forests.

The King of Spain ordered Hesdin to be built around the time of the Spanish Armada, when he ruled this part of France. You can still see his coat of arms on Hesdin Town Hall.

Wimereux is a traditional seaside resort near Boulogne. The town railway station is on the main line from Calais to Paris. Before the First World War, summer trains brought better-off British families for a seaside holiday in France.

In July and August, families on holiday pay for children to spend time learning to sail in the sheltered bay.

“J’habite à Wimereux”. Children playing on the sandy beach at Wimereux.

Sars-Poteries is a village that still has some pottery workshops; its glass factories are now remembered in the local glass museum, which we see more of in chapter 2.2.

Watch Film B3: Song

❑ Watch film B2 which shows the song, introduced by children speaking the opening lines. Then we hear: “Moi, j’habite à Hesdin, Moi, j’habite à Lille; Moi, j’habite à la campagne, Moi, j’habite en ville. Moi, j’habite à Calais, Moi, j’habite à Lens; Moi, j’habite à Saint Omer, Moi, j’habite en France...”

A child says, “J’habite en France,” followed by the final line of the song: “...Où habites-tu?”

Child says to the viewer: “Et toi, où habites-tu?”

❑ Pupils can join in with the karaoke versions of the song

Early Start French

Part C: I live in THIS country...

OPTIONAL EXTENSION:

What is your country called in French? Some pupils may want to say which country they come from.

(See “extra words and phrases 2”)

Get used to the sounds

(c) Different countries

❑ Echoing: show the e-flashcards "I live in this country" with sound on and text off. Children echo. Now show them again, this time with text on. Children echo.

WORDS AND PHRASES

J’habite en Angleterre

I live in England

J’habite en Écosse*

I live in Scotland

J’habite en Irlande

I live in Ireland

J’habite en Irlande du Nord

I live in Northern Ireland

J’habite en Grande Bretagne

I live in Great Britain

J’habite au pays de Galles

I live in Wales

J’habite en Belgique

I live in Belgium

J’habite en Suisse

I live in Switzerland

J’habite au Canada

❑ Display a map of your country, e.g. the British Isles. You ask your French speaking puppet, “Où habites-tu?” The puppet replies “J’habite en France”. Pupils echo the puppet. The puppet then asks you, “Où habites-tu?”. You point to where you live on the map, and say, e.g. “J’habite en Ecosse.” (I live in Scotland) Pupils echo your reply.

❑ Use your puppet to help children practice both phrases. The puppet asks individual pupils: “J’habite en France. Où habites-tu?”. Pupils reply with the phrase that it true for them, e.g. “J’habite en Angleterre” (I live in England) or simply “en Angleterre”. Pupils can also take it in turns to work the puppet and ask the question.

❑ Where do they speak French?

The e-flashcards show several countries where French is spoken. This might be a good point to talk with the class about where in the world people speak French. (See Talking Points).

I live in Canada

J’habite aux États*-Unis

I live in the United States

* NOTE: accents are shown for reference, but are usually omitted over capital letters. see Talking Dictionary

❑ Play “longest sentence”

Pupils can try to construct their longest French sentence ever - using “et” (“and”) as a linking word, which pupils know from “Salut! Ça va?” They can either speak themselves or through the class puppet, e.g. “J’habite à Londres en Angleterre et j’ai un chien, un hamster et un frère.”

If pupils are confident, they could play “Just half a Minute” - in which they experiment to see what is the longest statement they can make in French without repetition. This could be done in groups using a stopwatch. If the children enjoy this, do it regularly. Individuals could try to improve on their personal best. What is the class record?

Où

Watch the films again

habites-tu?

❑ Show the films again for reinforcement. Pupils will be surprised at how much they can now enjoy even more second time around.

Look again at sounds

❑ Play “It’s that sound again”

This game was first introduced in Early Start French 1. By asking pupils to pick out some distinctive French phonemes, it helps them listen attentively to French sounds in general, and so improves their pronunciation.

Now that the new words and sounds are familiar, pick out a “key sound” from this chapter’s new words. Ask children to suggest all the French words they know that also contain that sound.

You could make this a regular short feature e.g. “Today’s sound is X as in (example) . Try writing each word on the board as it is added to the list, underlining how the key sound is writ ten - refer to the “key sounds” in this chapter and to the Talking Dictionary.

As the children’s vocabulary expands, you can repeat this with some of the other sounds. This will help them remember the French they already know.

Introducing the written word

Pupils havee already seen the French town names spelt on the screen maps, so will know that, as with other proper nouns, the pronun ciation and spelling of place names is often idiosyncratic.

❑ Play “find the sound”

As described Early Start French 1, place some word-cards on the floor. Seat pupils around the cards, and play music. Pupils pass a soft ball. When the music stops, you say a sound, e.g. “Find a “i”, as in “Lille”. The pupil holding the ball has to pick out a word-card containing that sound (e.g. dix, lundi) and the whole class says that word.

Spot the SILENT letters

Try this game, in which children listen to a word while they look at how it is written.

You display a word on a text-card or write it on the whiteboard and tell the class the letter you

have picked, e.g.“s”. As you say the word, point to each occurrence of “s”. Ask them to raise a hand if they hear that letter (YES), but to shake their head if it’s silent (NO): e.g. “Calais (NO)”; “S (YES) ars (NO)-Poteries (NO)”

Try also: “samedi”, “souris”, “hamster”, “sept”...; with “t”: “salut”, “vingt”,“où habites-tu?”... ; with “h”: “Hesdin”, “huit”,“hamster”...

This game can also be played as a knockout competition. You could repeat it in later sections as children learn more new words, to continue developing their ear for French sounds.

NOTE: you hear the “l”s in “Lille” and “ville”, but in “Marseille” there is just a faint “y” sound. The final “-s” of “Lens” is not silent.

CROSS CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ Geography - mapwork:

Give pupils copies of the two activity sheet maps of France and Nord-Pas de Calais. They can label the dots with the names of the towns mentioned in the films and the talking points. Add the names of any other French towns which are significant to them.

❑ Extended projects:

We suggest activities that can be worked on by groups or individuals throughout Early Start French 2.

Town Guide project

Pupils could develop ideas for a simple guide, in French, to your home town. It could be a printed leaflet for visitors to carry (perhaps a “trail guide” with a map), a wall display, or a multimedia presentation. When finished, find some real French visitors to try it out - such as your partner school - see Ch.2.16.

A project of this kind can develop skills in geography, design & technology, ICT, art, literacy and numeracy. You could ask your French partner school to do a parallel project.

Make an “en France” display

Make a display area in your classroom where you show what the class finds out about a French town. You could choose a town where:

◆ your partner school is situated

◆ a French person they know comes from

Early Start French 2

◆ a famous French person comes/came fro

◆ you are going on a school trip.

Throughout this pack, you will discover things that you can add to the display.

“Our Imaginary Town” project

“What would it be like to be French and live in a French town?” You could discuss with pupils what they would like to include in an imaginary French town or village.

As they work through Early Start French 2, they could gradually realise a model or drawing, based on what they discover and see in the films.

❑ Geography and ICT - French Railways: France has a good network of long distance trains between Paris and the main French cities. Fast international trains go to other European countries, like the high-speed Eurostar trains to London via the Channel Tunnel. In section 2.02 we will also see local trains that stop at all the towns and villages along their line.

To help pupils get to know some French towns, you could choose a destination in France, and ask them to plan how to get there by rail using timetables and maps.

They could start from Calais (the French port where cross-Channel ferries land) or from your home town. Travel could be by plane or ferry as well as by rail.

If children find timetables too complicated, try the simpler summary leaflets prepared for tourists.

❑ Literacy - creative writing: Pupils could write (in their own mother tongue) about experiences on a journey they would like to make to France. It might be a school journey to visit their partner school; travelling to Lens for a football match; going on holiday to the seaside or a well-known city.

Children could refer to the previous activity, and find out more about the place(s) they plan to visit from the internet, tourist leaflets, and your school library or the local public library.

Local travel agents may be willing to provide illustrated brochures. Tourist Offices in France will often send brochures, leaflets, maps and travel timetables - and, of course, you can print information from the internet.

Talking point 2

‘The Hexagon’

On a map, France has a roughly 6-sided shape - which is why French people talk about their home country as “l’Hexagone”.

France and Britain have about the same population -60 million - but France is much less crowded because its land area is twice as big.

One in 5 French people live in Paris, and 3 out of 4 live in towns.

■ Ask pupils to find out from an atlas map:

Which seas are on three sides of the hexagon?

Which mountains make two sides?

Talking point 3

NOTE: different spelling in English.

Talking Dictionary

These towns are marked on the activity sheet map of France, and also shown in the presentation online: with Lille, they include the five biggest French cities:

Où habites-tu?

■ The capital, Paris (pop: 11 million), is much the biggest (see ch.2.15 on Paris as a centre of fashion).

Talking point 4

Where do they speak French?

Most people living in France speak French as their everyday language - although 1 in 6 has a parent or grandparent from outside France. French is also the first language of many people in neighbouring countries: Belgium (the capital Brussels and the south); Luxembourg; Switzerland (around Geneva); and Corsica.

French-speakers beyond Europe

In the 18th century, France had big colonies in North America, and helped the USA gain independence from Britain. ,

■ Next are Lyon and Marseille (pop: 1.5 million each) and Toulouse - all in the warm south of France, a region of growing prosperity and high-tech industries, where more and more French people want to live.

■ We also show Saint-Malo, a small historic port and one-time pirate base

Today there are 7.5m French-speaking Canadians in Québec ; French is the main language in former Caribbean sugar islands like Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe; and in the former prison colony of Guyane, now famous for its rocket base.

Until the 1960s, France also had large colonies in Africa, stretching from the Mediterranean south across the Sahara desert to the Congo. French remains the main language of over 5m Africans in many countries of North and Central Africa (l’Afrique du nord, l’Afrique centrale); and on island relics of empire in the Indian Ocean like Madagascar, and in the Pacific like Tahiti French is one of the most widely learnt second languages in the world - one reason being that France attracts so many tourists. It is the most visited country on earth, way ahead of the USA, Spain, Italy and Britain.

We find out more about nationality and French speaking countries in Early Start French 3 .