8. Les quatre saisons

The four seasons

This section brings together many aspects of the work pupils have done in this and Early Start French 1 and 2 when they learnt to talk about months of the year, birthdays, weather, hobbies and clothes. With only FOUR new words (and some connecting words), children will discover that they can now talk at considerable length and some subtlety about the seasons in the context of all the other topics they have explored.

Pupils will see French children learning a simple poem about spring which they can easily join in with. They will find out about creative responses to the seasons in northern France - a village scarecrow festival and how fresh seasonal vegetables like cauliflowers once excited the aristocrats of the French king’s Court.

Films to see

Part A: Introducing the seasons

A1. The four seasons

A2. Seasons and weather

A3. JOKE

Part B: Talk about the seasons

B1. Describe a season

B2. Birthdays and seasons

B3. Q&A: What is your favourite season?

Part C: Creative responses to seasons

C1. French class introduced to poem: ‘Le retour du printemps’

C2. Film illustrating the poem

C3. Scarecrow festival

C4. Cauliflowers in Saint-Omer Find transcripts online

Part A: Introducing the seasons

Planning your lessons

Part A names the seasons in French, and links this with previous work on weather. With some additional vocabulary and phrases, children can explore describing seasonal weather variations in French.

Activities

Warm up

Before showing film A1, introduce children to the music of “The Four Seasons” concertos by Vivaldi (see “Talking Point 1”). Use the ‘match music with season’ activity (it has the short versions also heard in film A1) or you could use your own resources, CDs, downloads etc. Play each piece of music and ask pupils to write down in English which season they think it represents - but do not tell them the answer! Talk in English about their choices and make a note with the class of how many people thought piece (i) represented “spring” etc.

Watch film A1: Naming the seasons

❑ Watch film A1 to introduce typical French sights and activities for spring, summer, autumn and winter - in that order.

New Words And Phrases

A1: The seasons

C’est quelle saison?

What season is it?

le printemps l’été (m) l’automne (m) l’hiver (m)

- spring - summer - autumn - winter

3. Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show the e-flashcards ‘A1: The Seasons’, or use copies of the activity sheet.

Key Sounds

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

as in... été heard before in vélo, pied, légumes, marché as in... printemps heard before in devant, jambe, antennes, santé as in... printemps heard before in train, main, lapin, moins as in... printemps, hiver seen before in escargot, huit

Show each picture, initially with sound ON and text OFF. Pupils echo the words, e.g. “l’hiver” - pay careful attention to “key sounds” and silent letters as these words all have elements of pronunciation and spelling which are strange for English speakers. n Use the e-flashcards, to play “true or false” to further practise the new words until children say them well and remember them.

❑ Play “ listen and clap”

Pupils can clap the names of the seasons. Ask them to focus on the key sounds as they clap each syllable, e.g. l’é-té (2 syllables); l’au-tomne (2 syllables); l’hi-ver (2 syllables); le prin-temps (3 syllables).

Respond with understanding

❑ Decide a physical action for each season - e.g. shiver for winter; dig the garden for spring; eat an icecream for summer; pick apples for autumn. They perform the action as you call out the seasons. Make it funny by speaking fast, whispering etc.

❑ Vivaldi music: spot the season

Use the e-flashcards to play Vivaldi’s music again. Talk with pupils about their responses. Click the musical note button to play one of the seasons concertos at random; pupils say which season they think it represents by clicking on the picture, e.g. summer...

How many identified the “correct” piece of music for each season?

Warm up

Before showing film A2 , warm up by playing some of the games from Early Start French 1 & 2 ‘weather’ sections to remind pupils about describing the weather. You can also show the e-flashcards ’Weather revision’ to remind pupils of all the weather phrases they know.