-m tmueend es f ra è r e s eetss-dtt euu s?? 141. .43.CCA oosmm snt ot ett u ''ra sp ? p e ll ll e
1.3 Comment t'appelles-tu? What's your name?
This section gives pupils the vocabulary they need to introduce themselves. Exchanging names is a way of developing a conversation with a person they have just met and gives pupils an immediate point of reference with the new language. Hearing French names spoken will introduce pupils to some more typical French sounds. They will have longer phrases and sentences with which to practise French intonation. Teachers can choose whether to follow this work with the optional section 4, “L’alphabet”, which would give children the opportunity to spell out their names using the French alphabet names for A-Z.
Films to see A1. What’s your name? B1. Calling the register; introducing friends
Talking Point, Famous French people: Louis Blériot.
Part A: What’s your name?
Talk about different ways people introduce each other. Can pupils think of situations when they have been asked to give their name?
A1: NEW WORDS AND PHRASES
Comment t'appelles-tu? What's your name?
1
Watch film 3 A1
Literally: What do you call yourself?
❑ Watch film A1: “Comment t'appelles-tu?”. Children saying their names Lili / Loïc / Sasha / Louis / Chloé / Thomas / Inès / Betty / Benjamin Children introducing themselves Je m'appelle Louis... et moi, je m'appelle Thomas Je m'appelle Lili Je m'appelle Loïc Je m'appelle Sasha Je m'appelle Chloé Je m'appelle Inès Je m'appelle Betty Je m'appelle Benjamin.
Je m'appelle ... - My name is... Literally: I call myself... see Talking Dictionary
Planning your lessons
Before watching film 3 part A1, have a brief “warm up” session to remind pupils of the French they already know, and to talk about introducing themselves. Show by example that you expect pupils to pronounce their own names as they would normally - and not to “translate” them. We suggest other activities that give children practice saying French names.
Activities
Warm up ......
Open the lesson using the French greetings and asking children how they're doing...
Film A1: “Je m’apelle Chloé”.
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ty ueSn dtt e st fa rè r eeslnl e 41 4 . .E CA a o sr m-l m F ceth s -d1teus ? s oa er u ’t r sp ? pr e More children saying their names Justine / Alexandre /Amélie / Mustafa / Arthur/ Arthur (another boy) / Zélie / Hugo/ Claire / Jérémie Children introducing themselves Je m'appelle Justine Je m'appelle Alexandre Je m'appelle Amélie Je m'appelle Mustafa Je m'appelle Arthur Je m'appelle Arthur Je m'appelle Jérémie Je m'appelle Zélie, et toi?
KEY SOUNDS
Listen to the sound of ...
as in
tu, Justine
Heard before in: salut
as in
comment, Alexandre
silent-
as in
as in
comment
je
Heard before in: au revoir
as in
appelle, Alexandre
Heard before in: très, merci
as in je,
Film A1: “Je m’appelle Mustafa”.
Question and answer
Children reply to the question, “Comment t’appelles-tu?”. The last finishes with “...et toi? Comment t’appelles-tu?”
Benjamin, Justine, Jérémie
Heard before in: bonjour
as in
Benjamin
Heard before in: à demain bien
Get used to the sounds
as in
❑ Echoing: Show ‘What’s your name?’ on the e-flashcards. Show each film clip with sound and text ON; pupils echo, e.g. “Je m'appelle Justine”.
Thomas, Catherine
see Talking Dictionary
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HOW FRENCH WORKS 1: Running words together
Just like English-speakers, the French have found ways to make everyday combinations of words easier and quicker to say: “Je m’appelle” literally means “I call myself” or, even more literally, “I myself call”. Try saying: "je me appelle”! It is much easier to run the words together like this: “je m'appelle...” It’s the same when you ask: “comment t’appelles-tu?” It’s much easier to say than: “comment te appelles-tu?”!
Explore the range of sounds heard in the French children's names (see “Key sounds”). Pupils echo the phrase each time. n Turn sound OFF but leave text ON; ask children to read the name and phrase aloud. Then click sound ON to check how well children have pronounced it. When the class can do that, turn to saying your own names. ❑ Greet the class and introduce yourself: “Je m'appelle Madame X.” (pronounce your name - “X ”-as normally)
❑ If your class has a puppet that you pretend is French, let him introduce himself: “Je m'appelle Z (his name).” Introduce yourself to the puppet, then ask his name: e.g. “Je m’appelle Madame X (your name), et toi?” The puppet says his name.
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-m tmueend es f ra è r e s eetss-dtt euu s?? 141. .43.CCA oosmm snt ot ett u ''ra sp ? p e ll ll e ❑ Pupils can also take it in turns to adopt fantasy names and characters for themselves. ❑ Everybody stands in a circle. You start the To practise previously learnt vocabulary, you game by saying “Je m'appelle Madame X ( your can engage the “character” in conversation, name).” As you ask “..et toi?” throw a soft e.g. You: “Salut! Ça va?” ball to the pupil you wish to answer. Pupil: “Ça va bien.” S/he catches the ball and says “Je m'appelle ... You: “Je m’appelle Madame X, et toi?” (his/her name)” and throws the ball to another pupil asking “..et toi?” Pupil: “Je m’appelle Reuze Papa.” Continue this until everyone has had a turn.
Respond with understanding
Look again at sounds
n A variation on the game described above involves everyone forming a circle again. You start the game by saying “Je m’appelle Monsieur Z (your name), et toi?” to the pupil standing next to you. S/he tells you his/her name then turns to the next person and says “Je m’appelle ... (his/her name), et toi?” This continues round the circle. ❑ You can also try a “Mexican wave”. Pupils form a circle with their chairs. Each pupil says “Je m’appelle ... ”(his/her name) one after the other in rapid succession. As they speak, they stand up and promptly sit down again as soon as they have said who they are. The “wave” can take place around each of the class tables if the children normally sit in groups. See which group completes the circuit first. ❑ Invent different names for yourself (the teacher) , e.g. well known film stars and sports personalities. When you say your real name, the class calls out “oui!“ (“yes”); but “non!” (“no”) when you use a fantasy name.
Part B:
❑ Play “It’s that sound again” Now that the new words and sounds are familiar, pick out ONE “key sound” from this chapter’s new words. Ask children to suggest all the French words they know that also contain that ‘special’ sound. ❑ Play “Find the sound”where children find an example of a “key sound” in a number of word-cards scattered on the floor. Play some music and pass a soft ball or cuddly toy around the circle. When the music stops, ask the pupil holding the ball to find a word containing the ‘special’ sound. Everyone echoes the word.
Introduce the written word
Your class will soon be able to recognise some of the names they've heard when they see them written. The next chapter, “4. L’alphabet”, introduces how Frenchspeakers spell out words using the French names for alphabet letters.
Calling the register; introducing friends Thomas”. Thomas: “Salut!” Arthur: “Je m’appelle Arthur et voici Hugo”. Hugo: “Bonjour”. Voice: “Voici Thomas, voici Louis, voici Hugo et voici Arthur”.
Watch film B1: calling the register
❑ This sequence is intended for "gisting". Pupils may not understand every word, but can work out from clues what is happening. Mme Antit: "Bonjour les enfants". Pupils: "Bonjour Madame". Voice: "L'appel" (registration). She asks who’s here today: Mme Antit: Alors, qui est là aujourd’hui? She calls the children’s names; they reply “présent(e)”. If someone is absent, the class say“absent(e)”. NOTE: girls say “présente”, “absente” - sounding the ‘-t’, whilst boys say “présent”, “absent” with a silent ‘-t’.
Children introduce a friend by name Louis: “Bonjour, je m’appelle Louis et voici
Film B1: Mme. Antit calls the register, “l’appel”.
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ty ueSn dtt e st fa rè r eeslnl e 41 4 . .E CA a o sr m-l m F ceth s -d1teus ? s oa er u ’t r sp ? pr e B1: EXTRA WORDS AND PHRASES
l’appel - registration présent - present (BOY) présente - present (GIRL) absent(e) - absent (BOY/GIRL) voici... Arthur - this is... Arthur qui est-ce? - who is it? c’est Claire - it’s Claire
Voice: "Voici Inès, voici Zélie, voici Jérémie". Jérémie: "Bonjour". We see some of the children out and about. Each time we hear the question: "Qui est-ce?" (Who is it?) followed by the reply: "C'est Inès" (It's Inès); "C'est Zélie"; "C'est Jérémie". Film B1: Louis, “Voici Thomas”.
CLASSROOM ROUTINES
Qui est là? - Who’s here? Qui n'est pas là? - Who isn't here? le déjeuner - lunch Qui mange... à la cantine? - Who's eating... in the canteen? Qui mange... à la maison? - Who’s eating... at home? Qui mange... un pique-nique? - Who’s eating... a packed lunch?
Get used to the sounds
❑ Echoing: Move around the class introducing different pupils, e.g. “Voici Sam”. Pupils echo the phrase.
Respond with understanding
❑ Ask pupils to introduce themselves and the person sitting next to them, e.g. “Bonjour, je m’appelle James et voici Alex”. ❑ Now point to different pupils and ask, “Qui est-ce?” Pupils reply, “C’est James”. ❑ Play “Who is it? 1”: Ask a child to point to someone and ask, “Qui est-ce?” You reply “C’est X”. If you give the correct name, pupils say, “Oui, c’est X”. If you give the wrong name they say, “Non, c’est Y!” ❑ Play “Who is it? 2”: You walk round the class selecting pupils to tap on the shoulder; ask the class “Qui est-ce?” The class replies with his/her name. Ask that pupil, “Qui est-ce?” pointing to the child next to them. The pupil introduces them using “voici”.
Asking a pupil’s name
Comment tu t'appelles? Tu t'appelles comment?
Other ways of asking someone their name see Talking Dictionary
Cultural awareness
❑ Having practised some of the language from films A1 and B1, this is a good time to talk with pupils about the interesting cultural points linked with French names. See this chapter's “talking points.”
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-m tmueend es f ra è r e s eetss-dtt euu s?? 141. .43.CCA oosmm snt ot ett u ''ra sp ? p e ll ll e CROSS CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
❑ Classroom routines - taking the register: This is a good time to start taking the register in French. In France, the teacher may call out the roll of names for pupils to reply, or may simply note the names of anyone who is absent see "extra words and phrases". The daily routine of answering the register will give pupils the opportunity to practise a little French on a regular basis. As you call out their names, pupils can reply with “présent” or “présente”. Alternatively, they can respond by saying “oui, madame / monsieur” or “bonjour, madame / monsieur” when they hear their name called. ❑ Classroom routines - lunchtime: See "extra words and phrases" for how to conduct your lunch-time routine in French. ❑ PE: The pupils line up in three teams. The child at the front of each line turns to the person behind and says “Je m'appelle ... (his/ her name) Comment t'appelles-tu?” The second child then says his/her name and turns to the person next in line and asks “Comment t'appelles-tu?” and so on. The child at the back of the line runs to the front and the sequence is repeated. The winning team is the first one back in the original order. ❑ Drama: Pupils can use their puppets to extend their conversations. They can now greet each other, ask how they are and introduce themselves. Pupils work in pairs. Each pair decides which emotions or characteristics they are going to express through their puppet's conversation, e.g. “happy”, “shy”, “angry.” The rest of the class has to guess which emotion is being portrayed.
Talking point 1
Famous French people
You can introduce pupils to the names of some famous French people using the “Talking points” presentation, “Famous French people”. Our suggestions here are just a few examples of the many possibilities. These can be incorporated into games such as “Fantasy Names” and can also be used as starting points for a variety of activities in different curriculum areas.
The French pronunciation of names marked is included in ‘Talking Dictionary’.
Art:
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was a famous painter. As an old man, he directed his helpers to make giant collages of painted paper, cut out and stuck into place. Claude Monet (1840-1926) was the leading member of the Impressionist painters. His most famous paintings are a series capturing the water-lily pond in his own garden in different weather and seasons - see the “Talking Point” “Monet’s weather” in Ch.1.16 . ❑ You could show pupils examples of Monet's paintings and encourage them to paint their own pictures in a similar style.
Cultural awareness
History/science/technology:
❑ Find out if pupils know of any contemporary famous people from European countries, especially France. Are there any sporting personalities or pop stars they know? The chances are that pupils knowledge will depend very much on current television exposure e.g. if a French racing driver is in the news or a French tennis player is doing well at Wimbledon.
There is, of course, a very long list of key people who have featured in French history and the history of scientific achievement. The list below gives some examples of famous French figures which may stimulate ideas for topic work:
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ty ueSn dtt e st fa rè r eeslnl e 41 4 . .E CA a o sr m-l m F ceth s -d1teus ? s oa er u ’t r sp ? pr e Guillaume le Conquérant (1028-1087) conquered England in 1066. He is called ‘William the Conqueror’ in English. He was Duke of Normandy, a large area of northern France. In 1066 he took his army across the Channel, and killed the English King, Harold, and most of the English nobles in the Battle of Hastings. He conquered England and put his Norman followers in charge. His knights built strong castles like Dover, and his bishops built fine cathedrals like Canterbury. For the next 300 years, the King of England and all the important people in the country spoke only French. Today, English still has thousands of words which come from French. Jeanne d'Arc Joan of Arc (1412-1431 approx.) was a village girl, the daughter of a farmer. She believed that the voices of St. Catherine, St. Margaret and St. Michael had ordered her to lead the French army into battle against the English and to see the heir to the throne crowned King Charles VII of France. Joan persuaded Charles and the generals of the French army to let her take on this task and raised the siege of the town of Orleans. Charles was crowned King in Rheims Cathedral, but Joan was captured during a later attempt to reclaim the city of Paris. At this time the Catholic Church was dominant in both France and England. Joan was accused of heresy and was burnt at the stake. In 1922 she was canonised as "Saint Joan". Louis XIV (the fourteenth) (1638-1715) was king of France, the most powerful ruler in Europe. To show off his riches, he built a huge palace at Versailles in the country outside the capital city, Paris. Many French peasants were very poor, and resented paying taxes to keep the King and his court in luxury. Later his successor King Louis XVI (the sixteenth) was deposed in the French Revolution and later beheaded by the guillotine. France became a Republic. Today it has no Royal Family and no House of Lords - instead French people elect a President to be head of state. Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a famous French general who became Emperor of France in the aftermath of the French Revolution. He introduced measures which form the basis of many French institutions that still exist today,
including an educational law to set up state grammar schools (lycées) which aimed to provide well-trained army officers and civil servants. During his reign, France was constantly at war. Napoleon built a huge empire, so that by 1812 he controlled the greater part of Western Europe. Eventually he was defeated when France was invaded by Russian, Prussian, Austrian and British armies. Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba. He managed to escape and ruled France again for just a hundred days before being defeated by Wellington at Waterloo. He was sent as a prisoner to St. Helena, where he died in 1821. Louis Blériot (1872-1936) was a French airman who became the first person to fly across the English Channel. On 25 July 1909, he flew from Calais to Dover in 37 minutes. Louis Braille (1809-1852) invented the system of raised dots which form letters for the visually impaired to read. Louis Pasteur (1822-95) was the first person to understand the connection between microbes and disease. He developed a process called “pasteurization”, a method of killing the microbes in milk products by heating the liquid to a temperature high enough to kill the germs that are present, but not so high that it spoils the taste. Pasteur's experiments showed that microbes can be passed to people and animals in the air they breathe, the food they eat and the water they drink. He believed that microbes are the cause of many serious diseases and began work to find out if it might be possible to control diseases by controlling the micro-organisms that caused them. Pasteur discovered that it was possible to vaccinate people and animals with weak cultures of specific disease-causing microbes. The weakened microbes caused a resistance to the disease to build up, and this resistance provided protection against infection. Through his trials Pasteur developed successful vaccines to prevent anthrax (a deadly cattle disease that was ruining agriculture in France at the time) and rabies. The rabies vaccine has since saved thousands of lives and led the way for the development of vaccines against many other diseases.
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-m tmueend es f ra è r e s eetss-dtt euu s?? 141. .43.CCA oosmm snt ot ett u ''ra sp ? p e ll ll e Music/PE/Drama:
Marie (1867-1934) and Pierre (1859-1906) Curie were scientists who did pioneering work on radioactivity. Marie Curie was born in Poland and went to Paris in 1891 to study science. She met her husband Pierre while she was working as a laboratory assistant at the famous Sorbonne University. They worked together to isolate two unknown radioactive elements, polonium and radium. They received the Nobel physics prize in 1903. The radium the Curies had prepared was still a compound and so they set out to produce pure radium. When Pierre was tragically killed in a street accident in 1906 Marie continued the work on her own. She became professor of physics at the Sorbonne; the first French woman to achieve such high academic honours. In 1910 she succeeded in preparing a minute amount of pure radium which won her a second Nobel prize. The Curies’ work played an important part in research leading to the treatment of cancer. Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) designed the famous Eiffel Tower for the World Fair in 1889 which marked the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. At the time, the Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world. It was built with 15,000 pieces of metal joined together by 2,500,000 rivets and stood 320 metres high. At night time, it was lit up by 10,000 gas lamps. Gustave Eiffel received the Legion of Honour medal in recognition of his achievement. In the first year, 1889, two million visitors each paid five francs a head to climb to the top. Originally the intention had been to design and build a temporary structure for the Fair, but the Eiffel Tower proved so popular that it remains standing today. It earned Eiffel the nickname, "the magician of iron". He also built what for many years was the tallest railway bridge in the world, in southern France; and he designed the framework for the Statue of Liberty, France's gift to New York.
Claude-Achille Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer whose work is often linked with the Impressionist painters. He is famous for piano pieces such as “Children’s Corner” and his orchestral work “The Afternoon of a Faun” (“L’après-midi d’une faune”). Camille (Charles) Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was a French composer who is well known for “The Carnival of the Animals”, a composition for orchestra, piano, xylophone and harmonica. ❑ “The Carnival of the Animals” and music by Debussy could be used to stimulate pupils’ own musical compositions, as well as providing starting points for dance-drama activities.
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ty ueSn dtt e st fa rè r eeslnl e 41 4 . .E CA a o sr m-l m F ceth s -d1teus ? s oa er u ’t r sp ? pr e Popular first names
Names go in and out of fashion. Here are some of the most popular names for babies born in 2010: (boys) Nathan, Lucas, Enzo, Léo, Louis, Hugo, Gabriel, Ethan, Mathis; (girls) Emma, Léa, Chloé, Manon, Inès, Lola, Jade, Camille, Sarah, Louise. In the early eighties, their parents might have been called: (boys) Nicola, Sébastian, Julien, David, Christophe, Cédric, Frédéric, Jérome, Guillaume, Olivier. (girls) Céline, Émilie, Aurélie, Virginie, Stéphanie, Laetitia, Marie, Sabrina, Audrey. "France" as a girl's first name was very popular in the 1950s - a common name for some of today’s grandparents.
Talking point 2
Some common French names SURNAMES
The French pronunciation of names listed here is included in the “Talking Dictionary”. French surnames have varied origins, as with those in every country. French people have been officially required to have a family surname since 1539. Some are taken from saints: Bernard, Lambert, Marie, Martin, Michel (=Michael), Robert, Thomas. Others come from a place - perhaps a description of where the family lived when they first chose a surname: Dubois = from the woods Laforêt= from the forest Duval = from the valley Dupont = near the bridge. Some names may have described an ancestor possibly the head of the family when the name was picked: Legrand = large/ tall person Leblond = person with fair hair Petit = short person Other names came from a job (Monsieur Boulanger), where the family came from (Madame Langlais - from England), or a family relationship (Monsieur Cousin).
Nicknames
French children are often given a nickname, but this is generally known and used only by their family and close friends.
Activities
❑ Talk about the origins of first names and surnames in your own culture, perhaps taking your class’s names as an example. Parents may be able to help with suggestions if they have researched their own family name - or the names they gave to their children. Compare what you find out with the “talking point” information on French names. ❑ If you are linked with a school in a Frenchspeaking country, ask them to do a survey to find the most common first names in their class. ❑ You could also ask them to collect a list of their parents’ first names. You could collect similar information, and arrange to swap by e-mail.
Women's names
When a French woman marries, legally she keeps her own family’s surname (her maiden name) as her official name, although it is still common for a French wife to give her husband's surname in everyday use.
First names
Until quite recently, the French government had a law that limited what first names parents could choose for their child - most of those regarded as acceptable were saints’ names. Now you are allowed to choose any name, so long as the government official thinks your choice is not ridiculous or would harm the interests of the child in later life.
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