Part A: Going to school

Planning your lessons

This part names different modes of transport in French, based on a survey of how children travel to school in northern France; your class could do a similar survey for themselves. It also shows how children get to school in Morocco.

Activities

1. Warm up

Before showing film A1 , ask children in English (or their own language) how they get to school? Later you can organise a proper class survey in French. You might like to discuss how they or their parents choose between different modes of transport. This will introduce some of the considerations that will influence the choices of the French and Moroccan children.

Watch film A1: Modes of transport

❑ Watch film A1 which introduces the names of modes of transport, illustrated with examples in northern France and Morocco.

Some modes of travel more associated with long-distance international journeys are left until later.

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show the e-flashcards which name the modes of transport.

Show each picture, with sound and text ON. Pupils echo the words, e.g. “le vélo”. Pay careful attention to “key sounds”.

Respond with understanding

❑ Give each pupil one picture from the activity sheet. You call out a mode of transport, e.g. “la voiture”. All the pupils with that card hold it up for everyone to see. Swap pictures every so often.

❑ Play “true or false?” 1

Show the modes of transport e-flashcards with sound and text off. Alternatively, use the activity sheet pictures. You say, e.g “le train”. Children respond, “Oui” if the picture shows the train. If it doesn’t, pupils say “Non”.

A1-A4: NEW WORDS

A1 Modes of transport

la voiture le bus le train le tram le métro la moto le vélo à pied la charrette à cheval le tracteur

- car

- bus

- train

- tram

- underground

- motorbike

- bicycle

- on foot

- horse and cart

- tractor

A2-A4. Travel survey

On va faire.../ nous faisons... un sondage. We’re going to do/ are doing... a survey.

Comment vas-tu à l’école? How do you go to school?

Je vais à l’école... ...en voiture. I go to school... ...by car.

...en bus

...en train

...en tram

...en métro

...en moto*

...en vélo*

...à pied

- ...by bus

- ...by train

- ...by tram

- ...by underground

- ...by motorbike

- ...by bicycle (bike)

- ...on foot

* You may hear ‘à’ instead of ‘en’

Comment viens-tu à l’école?

How do you come to school?

Je viens à l’école... - I come to school...

Key Sounds

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

as in... métro, vélo, pied heard before in légumes, marché, épaule, école as in... voiture heard before in oiseau, bois, poisson as in... train heard before in main, lapin, moins as in... pied, avion (A2) heard before in taille, oreille, oeil

❑ Play “true or false?” 2

Show the pictures again, but this time pupils only echo your phrase when it matchesotherwise they remain silent.

Watch film A2: How I travel to school

❑ Watch film A2 which shows children saying how they travel to school. We see children going on foot, by car, bus, train, métro (underground) or tram - and some riding pillion on the back of a motorbike, on a tractor or a horse and cart

See “how French works 1” for a note on which prepositions are used.

HOW FRENCH WORKS:

“I go by...” with “en” or “à”?

Children will notice that the phrase “à pied” stands out from the rest of the means of transport presented:

“en voiture”, “en train”, etc.

“On foot” is always said “à pied”; “en” is the preposition used for going by most types of transport - but you do sometimes hear “à” used where you go on a mode of transport rather than in it - e.g. you can say “à moto” and “à vélo”, but “en moto” and “en vélo” are also OK (and make an easier pattern for children to remember).

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Click to change from ‘mode’ to ‘I go by...’ on the e-flashcards - or use the activity sheet pictures.

Watch films A3 and A4

❑ Film A3 shows children answering the question “Comment vas-tu à l’école?”l

Show each picture, with sound and text ON. Pupils echo the sentence, e.g. “Je vais à l’école à pied”. Play “true or false?”as before.

❑ Give each pupil one picture from the activity sheet. Hold up a picture (e.g. the bicycle) so that everyone can see, and say “Je vais à l’école en vélo”. Move around the class asking different pupils how they travel to school, “Comment vas-tu à l’école?” Pupils respond according to the picture they hold, e.g. if it is the two children walking, “Je vais à l’école à pied”.

To help anyone who is struggling, you could offer alternatives, e.g. “Comment vas-tu à l’école? A pied ou en voiture?”

❑ Play the “miming game”

Invite an individual child to come to the front of the class. Whisper the name of a means of transport to the child, e.g. “le vélo”. Alternatively, show one of the pictures from the activity sheet (without letting the others see). The child mimes going to school by bike. Ask the class to guess the sentence that is being mimed e.g. “Je vais à l’école en vélo”

Encourage children to develop their mimes to include a whole sequence representing “going to school”, e.g. finishing breakfast; putting a coat and cycle helmet on; getting the bike out of the shed, etc.

❑ Play “pass the parcel”

Put a set of the transport picture cards into a large envelope. The children sit in a circle and pass the envelope from one to the other. When the music stops, the person holding the envelope takes out a card. If the card shows the tram, s/he says, “Je vais à l’école en tram”.

Film A3: “Je vais à l’école à pied”.

It includes a full question and answer sequence where one of the children answers a whole range of questions about herself.

Film A4 shows pupils at École Jacques Prévert in Ruitz near Béthune discussing how they travel to school with their class teacher.

Film A4: Survey - “Comment viens-tu à l’école?”. They conduct a survey of other pupils as they arrive to find out how they travel to school.

HOW FRENCH WORKS:

“Coming” or “going ”?

The French children conducting the survey ask a slightly different question,

“Comment viens-tu à l’école?”

(How do you come to school?). rather than...

“Comment vas-tu à l’école?”

(How do you go to school?).

This is because they are actually at school when asking the question. However, just as in English, both ways of phrasing the question are fine and would be understood.

❑ You could reproduce the classroom discussion with your own pupils. Ask questions such as,

“Qui va à l’école à pied?”

“Qui va en voiture?”

“Qui va en moto?” t

The children respond by putting up their hands. Encourage everyone to join in counting up who travels by each mode of transport.

❑ Geography: Travel to school survey

Pupils can conduct their own survey and collate the information as a graph. If conducting a whole school survey, the questions could be asked in English and the results collated and presented in French. The results could be shared with your partner school.

A4 Extension activity: International travel

Pupils already know the names of continents from Ch.3.5, and of some countries from Ch.3.6. They also know the names of various towns and cities in France and Morocco. Now they can extend the use of this chapter’s phrases to talk about international journeys and ways of travelling to different towns and cities. See “How French works 3” for how to say you are going “to” a country or city.

❑ Echoing: Show the e-flashcards , for “international travel” which are found at the end of ‘Travel to school’

Extra Words

International travel

Pupils echo the new words.

HOW FRENCH WORKS:

3

“How are you going to X ”?

In this phrase, “en” is used to talk about countries that are feminine, e.g.

“Je vais en France”

“au” is used for countries that are masculine - e.g. “Je vais au Maroc”.

“à” is used for towns and cities - e.g.

“Je vais à Paris” le bateau en bateau en avion en TGV en train à grande vitesse en Eurotunnel en Eurostar

Où vas-tu? - Where are you going?

Je vais... (en France (f)) en... (bateau).

I’m going... (to France) by... (boat).

Je vais... (au Maroc (m)) en... (avion).

I’m going... (to Morocco) by... (plane).

- by boat

- by plane

- by TGV l’avion (m) - boat/ship - aeroplane ... a city

- by high-speed train

- by Eurotunnel

- by Eurostar

Je vais à... (Londres) en... (train).

I’m going to... (London) by... (train).

❑ Play “where am I going? 1”

Show the e-flashcards “modes of transport” including ‘le bateau’ and ‘l’avion’ (sound and text OFF).

Using a large world map or globe, point to a country and say, for example,

“Je vais au Canada...”

Pupils complete the sentence by looking to see which transport picture is displayed on the white board, e.g. “... l’avion”. Some pairings will, of course, be rather silly e.g. “Je vais en France... en tram” - but if the children find it funny, it means they have understood!

❑ Play “where am I going? 2”

Put the names of some familiar countries and the transport picture cards face down on a table. Invite pairs of pupils to pick a country and a means of transport. Child 1 starts the sentence, e.g. “Je vais au Maroc...” and child 2 completes the sentence, e.g. “...en avion”. Ask pupils to show the country on a map or globe.

❑ Play “human sentence”

Invite 6 children to come to the front. Give each child a word card. Ask the children to arrange themselves into the correct order.

Extra Words

Why are you travelling?

Pourquoi vas-tu (à Manchester)?

Why are you going (to Manchester)?

Pourquoi vas-tu (en France en bateau)?

See examples of possible responses in the “extra words” box..

❑ Drama: Each group chooses a journey which includes a starting point, a destination and at least one means of transport.

- for a holiday

- for work

Why are you going (to France by boat)? pour les vacances pour le travail pour le football

Je suis réfugié(e) un réfugie/une réfugiée c’est rapide (en avion) c’est plus rapide... c’est moins rapide...

- for the football

- I am a refugee

- refugee (m/f)

- it’s fast (by plane)

- it’s faster...

- it’s not so fast...

The class reads out the sentence.

❑ Play “Is it possible?”

This activity requires pupils to think about how a real journey from one country to another might take place.

Before starting this activity, you could talk with the children in English about why people travel from country to country (e.g. holidays, business, or refugees fleeing from war). What can influence the choice of transport (e.g. cost, time)?

Using a map or globe, give pupils an example of a possible journey, e.g. “J’habite en Angleterre. Je vais en France en bateau et en voiture”. Pupils work in pairs or small groups.

Each group has a set of transport picure cards and a selection of names of countries.

Each group chooses a country for their starting point and another destination country. They locate them on the map and work out what ways they might travel between the countries. They can discuss in English what their reason for the journey is.

Each group presents their journey to the class. You can use a range of questions to find out about the journeys, e.g. “Ou habites-tu?”;

“Ou vas-tu?”;

“Comment vas-tu (en Afrique/au Maroc?”

“Vas-tu en avion? Vas-tu en bus?”

Some children may be able to give reasons for their journey in French. You could ask:

“Pourquoi vas-tu (au Maroc/en France)?”

”Pourquoi vas-tu (à pied)?”

They then think of as many different ways of telling the rest of the class about the journey. e.g. they can be excited; scared; bored; showing off; angry etc.

Some children may be able to give reasons for the journey in French.

❑ Geography: “City to city”

Pupils can be more specific in the descriptions of their journeys by including cities and towns. These could be in the UK or abroad. e.g.

“J’habite à Londres.

Je vais à Douvres en bus.

Je vais à Calais en bateau.

Je vais à Paris en bus.

Je vais à Paris pour les vacances.”

Talking point 1

EVERYDAY LIFE IN France

The “deux chevaux” (2CV) car

The e-flashcard depicting “la voiture” shows a 2CV car. Nearly 9 million of this famous car were produced in different variations between 1948 and 1990, making the “2CV” an instantly recognizable icon of France.

Like Germany’s Volkswagen Beetle, the basic idea was conceived before the Second World War. They designed a car to be cheap to make and run, simple to use, reliable - even off-road - and versatile: with its canvas roll-back roof, it could be used as a car, van or truck, and could carry large and heavy loads, even farm animals!