Les quatre saisons

Watch film A2: Seasons and weather

❑ Watch film A2 which shows a variety of seasonal images of France representing different kinds of weather in some of the towns and villages which featured in Early Start French 2.

New Words And Phrases

Film A2: ”C’est l’été... à Sars-Poteries il pleut!”

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show the ‘seasons and weather’ e-flashcards.

Pupils echo the phrase describing each picture, e.g. “Au printemps il y a des averses”.

Respond with understanding

❑ Talk about the language in film 8 A2 Children may notice in the film how the phrase “au printemps” is used to say “in spring” but with the other seasons you use “en...”?

“How French works 1” suggests this is for ease of pronunciation.

Talk about the film A2 which shows that, during any one season in France there can be quite diverse weather. For example, in summer, we see children sailing on the sea in bright sunshine, then on a lake when it’s cold and grey and it rains.

It’s similar in spring: the kite flying sequence shows lots of different kinds of weather over the course of a spring day - cold, windy, showers, and sunshine after the showers.

Quel temps fait-il... (en hiver)?

What’s the weather like... (in winter)?

A2: In a season (En été) ...il fait beau (In summer) ...it’s fine au printemps en été en automne en hiver

- in spring

- in summer

- in autumn

- in winter

A2: Weather (REVISION) il y a du soleil il y a du vent il fait mauvais il fait beau il fait chaud il fait froid il pleut il neige il y a des averses il fait gris il y a du tonnerre et des éclaires il y a du brouillard

- it is sunny

- it is windy

- it is nasty

- it is fine

- it is hot

- it is cold

- it is raining

- it is snowing

- there are showers

- it is cloudy

- there’s thunder and lightning

- it is foggy

A2: Weather (NEW) le ciel est bleu tout est calme

- the sky is blue

- all is calm

HOW FRENCH WORKS: Saying “in...” a season

Children may notice that, in French, you say: “au printemps” but “en été”, “en automne”, “en hiver”

Why? It’s not gender - all the seasons are masculine nouns, unlike with countries.

A plausible explanation is to make the phrases easier to say: “en” flows naturally into the following vowel or silent-h, whereas “au” equally easily runs into the opening sound of “printemps”.

Languages are built by custom and usage rather than logical rules!

❑ Play “Which season is this?”

Here are a variety of ways in which the children can respond to the questions, “C’est quelle saison?” and “Quel temps fait-il (en hiver)?” n Mime the season n Weather descriptions e.g. “Il fait froid. Il neige” n Dressing up

Pairs of pupils prepare a mime to represent a season. The rest of the class must guess which season they are miming.

Present the class with a series of weather phrases which are appropriate to a particular season.

Pupils say what season you are describing, e.g. “l’hiver”. You could also invite confident children to choose the phrases.

Provide the children with a collection of “weather” clothes and props such as sunglasses and umbrellas.

Extra: Joke

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ Literacy: Use the jokes as a starting point for discussion in English about jokes and what makes them funny. Look at examples of English jokes. Pupils can collect simple jokes in English that they think pupils in their French partner school should understand. If you are holding a video conference, pupils can tell each other jokes in their native tongue.

Watch film A3: seasons joke

❑ Watch film A3 in which the joke is told, first by a French child, then repeated with a cartoon.

❑ Literacy: Help pupils work out the meaning of the French joke. This joke is a surreal flight of whimsical fancy.

The answer to “Que fait un éléphant pour déscendre d’un arbre?”- “What does an elephant do to get down from a tree?” is of course, “It sits on a leaf and waits for autumn!”

(“Il se met sur une feuille et attend l’automne!”)

As you make statements about a particular season, pupils take it in turns to dress up in response to the phrases they hear, e.g. “En éte il y a du soleil”; “Au printemps, il y a des averses”.

You could also play this as a game with two teams competing to be first to dress appropriately.

Key Sounds

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

as in... éclair heard before in été as in... chaud, froid, pleut, fait, vent, brouillard seen before in printemps, hiver

Joke: “Il se met sur une feuille et attend l’automne!”