F3.09 Past v31 2023

9. Le passé et le présent Past and present

In this section children learn to compare a a present-day town (such as their own community) with how it was in a particular year in the past.

They already know the names of ‘places in town’, and they have previously talked about the past in Ch.3.1 when they talked about what they had eaten or drunk.

They will learn to say the year in French, revising their knowledge of numbers; and to say in what year an event happened - such as when someone was born or died.

The class could develop their work into a tourist guide for their town, with a focus on its history for French visitors.

Films to see

Part A: Saying the year

A1. A French school’s celebrations

A2. Classroom of the past

Part B: My Town then and now

B1. Sars-Poteries - then and now

B2. Béthune - then and now

Part C: Changes in everyday life

C1. Coal-mining in the 1950s

C2. Fashions in 1907

Find transcripts online

Part A: Saying the year

Planning your lessons

In this section, before children learn to say the year in French, we suggest ways to revise numbers previously learned.

Two films show the inhabitants of SarsPoteries celebrating the founding of the village school . This is the starting point for saying dates in French. Children can then say the dates when things happened, e.g. when famous people were born or died, or when the class were born.

Activities

Warm up

Before watching film A1, talk about your school. Is it old or new? When was it built? Show pictures of the school in the past. What do children notice?

If your school is very new, why was it built? Look at pictures of older schools in your town. Introduce the idea of things changing and developing as our needs and attitudes change (especially to girls and boys).

Watch film A1

Watch film A1 to see Sars-Poteries village school re-enact the opening of their school.

Ask children to talk in English about what they think is happening. Explain about Madame Geyler-Bouduin and her role in helping the village get a new school. (see “Talking Point 1”).

n Talk about “La Marseillaise”, the French national anthem played at the end of the school’s opening ceremony (see “Talking Point 2”).

Start of work on ‘Dates’

Introduce numbers 100-2,000

Children can already count and do sums with numbers up to 200.

If they can extend this pattern up to 2,000, they will be able say years in French.

Film A1: Sars-Poteries school -“en 1907, c’était une nouvelle école”.

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES

A1: Saying the year

mille neuf cents deux mille vers 1341 avant JC (Jésus-Christ) l’an

e.g. j’ai dix ans l’année

e.g. l’année 1907 en quelle année?

- 1900 - 2000

for more about years, see “How French works 1”

- about 1341 BC

OR ‘BCE’-before Common Era

- year - with numbers, e.g. I’m 10 years old

- year with dates, last, next; e.g. the year 1907

- in which year?

KEY SOUNDS

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

as in... an, cent, en, avant heard before in épouvantail, janvier

other words from film A1 une fille un garçon nouveau/nouvelle

l’histoire de l’école

Vive la République!

la Marseillaise

- girl - boy

- new

- story of the school

- Long live the Republic!

- French national anthem

Start by jogging their memories with some “number tennis”: you say a number, they say the next one.

❑ Echoing: Show the e-flashcards to introduce counting in hundreds up to 2,000.

Show each number, initially with sound ON and text OFF. Pupils echo the words, e.g. “mille quatre cents”.

n Go through the sequence again more quickly, clapping the rhythm - “cent, deux cents, trois cents .... MILLE!”

n Remind them of “un mille-pates” (centipede/ millipede), and point out that “mille” is a false friend - it sounds like a million, but it isn’t!

n Showing the words may help some children remember the pattern of numbers. Children don’t need to learn to spell out the numbers or dates, since they will almost always see them written in numbers.

as in année , est né(e) heard before in été , décembre as in...fille, Marseillaise but NOT mille or ville heard before in oeil, oreille, juillet as in...aujourd’hui, cent, vers seen before in huit, c’est

as in...mille, qui, suis heard before in hiver, aujourd’hui

Respond with understanding

❑ Play “Counting in tens”: you say a number, throw a soft ball to a random child and ask them to say the next in sequence up to 200.

n Play games with these numbers, e.g. give each child a card; when you call a number, those children jump in the air.

n Sing the “ Numbers song ” (French 2 Ch.2.8) which ends “deux fois cent, deux cents” (2x100=200).

n Go round the class in groups chanting in a round, e.g. group 1: “cent”, group 2: “deux cents”, group 3: “trois cents”, etc. up to 1000.

n Do some sums out loud in French, e.g. “200 + 400 = 600”to get comfortable with the sound of “deux cents, quatre cents, six cents”, etc.

Introduce how to say the year...

❑ Echoing: Show the e-flashcards again; this time include the dates. Ask everyone to echo.

n Then switch sound and text OFF; ask children to say the year in French out loud.

❑ Make cards for the children to form dates from single digits, e.g. 2-0-2-3, 1-9-0-7. Start with a few dates, e.g. the current year, the year of the children’s birthdays and 1907; leave others until later in the chapter).

HOW FRENCH WORKS: Two ways to say the year

In English, we often say the year as a pair of numbers, e.g. for “2013” we say: as a pair - “twenty-thirteen”, but also like this - “two thousand and thirteen” 1976 would be - “nineteen-seventy-six”

In French, you hear 1976 said like this:

“mille neuf cent soixante-seize”

LIT. thousand nine hundred seventy six That’s the way dates are said in this chapter, but you will also hear them said like this:

“dix-neuf cent soixante-seize”

LIT. nineteen hundred seventy six

“cent” is always part of the year in French. Children may notice that years like 1900 where no number follows are written: “mille neuf cents” with an ‘s’.

NOTE: We show dates in words ONLY to help children remember how to say them - they are most likely to see dates written as numbers.

...and the year of birth or death

The e-flashcards illustrate how to say the year that someone was born (or died*).

Click here to change between births / deaths

❑ Echoing: Select ‘Births’ to introduce the new structure. Ask children to echo the phrase shown, with text ON. Take care with pronunciation, especially of “Key sounds”including how they say the names. Each card shows a famous person, giving their year of birth. Most are French. You could ask children to find out why each is famous.

Concentrate on children reading out the year, which is only shown as a number; also see if they can spot how ‘né(e)’ changes.

n Switch to ‘Deaths’* and ask children again to echo the phrase shown. Can children spot how ‘mort(e)’ changes? See “how French works 2”.

NOTE: be sensitive to any child’s possible feelings about a recent bereavement.

Respond with understanding

❑ Play “Can you remember the date?”

Show the e-flashcards with sound and text off. Ask children about the person shown, e.g. : “Marie Curie, elle est née (morte) en quelle année?”.

2

❑ Play “When were you born?”

Ask children: “Tu est né(e) en quelle année?”

Praise an attempt to say just the year, then repeat the phrase, "tu es né(e) en... (2015)".

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES

A1: Births and deaths

Teacher questions 1: about births

Qui est né en 2015? Who was born in 2015?

Tu es né(e) |en quelle année?

When were you were born?

LITERALLY: You were born in which year?

Marie Curie,|elle est née|en quelle année?

Marie Curie, when was she born?

LITERALLY: MC, she was born in which year?

Napoléon, |il est né |en quelle année?

Napoleon, when was he born?

Ton frère/ta soeur, |il/elle est né(e) |en quelle année? Your brother/sister, when was he/she born?

(Moi,*) je suis né(e) en 1987

I* was born in 1987

* “Moi,” emphasizes “I”

Il est né/ Elle est née... en 2014

He/She was born in 2014

2: about deaths

Marie Curie,|elle est morte|en quelle année?

Marie Curie, when did she die?

LITERALLY: MC, she died in which year?

Napoléon Bonaparte est mort en 1821

Napoleon Bonaparte died in 1821

Marie Curie est morte (f) en 1934

Marie Curie died in 1934

NOTE: some sentences are made up of |“building blocks”| divided like| this|, which you could order differently

n Ask children to work out how long each person lived, and say the answer in French.

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ Play “Find the famous person” game: Display pictures of famous people on the walls around the room; you can print out paper copies from the disc, or create your own. Each should be labelled with the person’s name and the years of their birth and death (if applicable) - as a number. You call out a date in French; the children have to find a picture that has that date, and then give you the correct name.

OR, you can call out, e.g. “qui est né en 1628?”, “qui est mort en 1901?”; children again find and tell you the person’s name.

NOTE: you can adapt this game to fit with whatever is your current History topic.

End of work on ‘Dates’

Warm up

Film A2 returns to the school celebrations seen in film A1

Before watching, ask children to anticipate what the Sars-Poteries school of 1907 might have been like - what differences would they expect? ... and what similarities?

Film A2: Classrooms then and now

❑ Film A2 starts with school photos over the years from the school’s exhibition of its history..

HOW FRENCH WORKS:

Film A2: Photo of the Boys’ school staff and pupils in 1948. It then shows a classroom in the Sars-Poteries school which has been re-constructed to show how it would have been at the beginning of the 20th century.

Film A2:

schoolroom in 1907 (reconstruction) Follow up your discussion about how the 1907 classroom differed from those of today.

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show the e-flashcards ‘past and present classroom’. You can click between past and present. Show each of the ‘past’

Talking about the past: saying when people were born or died, in French

In chapter 3.1 we met verbs to talk about past completed actions, e.g.

“j’ai mangé...” (I ate...)

“j’ai bu...” (I drank...)

In this section, we meet more verbs where you say “je suis...” + the past participle ,e.g.

“je suis né en 2005” (I was born in 2005)

With these verbs, the participle changes with the speaker’s gender, e.g. a boy says:

“je suis né en 2007”

but a girl would say:

“je suis née en 2007”

NOTE that you can’t HEAR any difference!

To say when other people were born, use:

“il est né en 2005” (he was born in 2005) or

“elle est née en 2005” (she was born in 2005) NOTE you can hear the difference between:

“il est mort en...” (he died in...) and “elle est morte en...” (she died in...) Children should also recognise that questions like these are all asking about past actions:

“Qu’est-ce que tu as mangé?”, “Quand es tu né(e)?”

“Napoleon, il est né en quelle année?”

“Marie Curie, elle est morte en quelle année?”

Sars-Poteries

Le passé et le présent

flashcards. Ask children to echo the statement, e.g. “dans le passé, il y avait des ardoises”, paying attention to pronunciation of “key sounds”.

n Switch between pairs of ‘past’ and ‘present’ statements; ask children to echo each one, e.g. “Dans le présent, il y a des cahiers”. Take care with “key sounds” (see box), especially “avait”

Topic-specific words

The classroom in 1907 and now

dans le passé, il y avait.. (des ardoises) in the past, there were... (slates) dans le présent, il y a...(des cahiers) in the present, there are...(exercise books)

1907 classroom objects

en 1907, il y avait...

...des plumes

Switch between past/present

For each statement, see if children can spot whether it is about the past or the present-see “how French works 3”.

n Watch the school photos in film A2 again, with sound OFF. Can children say each year? You could count the boys or girls in French.

Respond with understanding

❑ Play “Spot the difference”

Show film A2 again and ask children: “Quelles sont les différences?”. You could ask them to pick out what they noticed about the past classroom: “Qu’est-ce qu’il y avait?”

HOW FRENCH WORKS:

...de l’encre un tableau noir un globe terrestre des balances un sac d’école les tables de multiplication les règles de l’école un bonnet d’âne

- in 1907, there were...

- pens LIT feathers

- ink

- blackboard

- globe

- scales

- school bag

- multiplication tables

- school rules

- dunce’s cap

LIT, “a donkey’s hat”

REVISION: modern classroom objects

aujourd’hui, il y a...

...des crayons des crayons de couleur des cahiers des stylos des calculatrices des ordinateurs

- today, there are...

- ...pencils

- crayons

- exercise books

- ballpoint pens

- calculators

- computers

Comparing now with the past - ‘there was (used to be)...’ / ‘there is...’

In Ch.3.1 children talked about ‘completed past actions’,e.g. ‘J’ai mangé...’ , ‘J’ai bu...’

- (‘I ate...’, ‘I drank...’ ). They don’t need to know that this is termed the ‘perfect tense’. Now they hear people talking about ‘there was/were...’, describing what used to be (over a period of time). Teachers will know this is the imperfect tense, e.g.

dans le passé, il y avait deux écoles; aujourd’hui, il y a une école... in the past, there were two schools; today there is a school...

il y a des livres et des crayons; en 1907 il y avait des livres, des ardoises...

Most children should be able to show they can tell the difference between:

-“Qu’est-ce que il y avait?” as a question about ‘what used to be, in the past’

- “Qu’est-ce que il y a?”, which asks about ‘what there is now, in the present’.

KEY SOUNDS

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

Talking point 1

EVERYDAY LIFE IN France

Madame Geyler-Bouduin

as in... passé, présent, différences heard before in année, été, école

as in avait heard before in Calais, mauvais as in...ardoise, noir, aujourd’hui heard before in oiseau, poisson

as in... aujourd’hui, différences, multiplication heard before in fille, hiver

as in... présent, avait seen before in c’est

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES

A2: Teacher questions

Quelles sont les différences?

What are the differences?

Qu’est-ce qu’il y avait?

What was there?

Qu’est-ce qu’il y a?

What is there?

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ History - “Then & now”:

Give each group pairs of “then and now” photos of your school, or of a school your class is studying in history. You could add pairs of objects, e.g. using loans from a local museum. When children share each item with the class, they say the year it comes from, and name it in French (use bilingual dictionaries).

Ask them to spot the differences:

“Quelles sont les différences?”

“Qu’est-ce qu’il y avait en... (1948)?”

“Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans le présent?”

In France, each community (“commune”) has to provide its own primary school building and facilities; the French government appoints and pays teachers and decides the curriculum.

Compulsory free primary schools

In the 1880s, French republicans were determined to ensure that French children no longer grew up under the influence of the Catholic church. They made attendance at primary school free and compulsory from age 6 to 13, and banned religious education and teaching by religious orders in state-funded schools.

Need for a school in Sars-Poteries

At the start of the twentieth century, Sars-Poteries had two rapidly growing glass factories that were taking on more workers who moved into the village with their families.

As a poor community of factory workers, SarsPoteries found it difficult to provide a bigger school for all its extra children. They had to go to nearby villages, or miss school altogether. Locally-born Madame Geyler-Bouduin came to the rescue with money to build a new school.

The benefactor’s speech

Mme Geyler’s speech at the opening ceremony was repeated at its centenary: “the school will help cultivate the children’s moral code; it will stop them being vagabonds; it will help prepare the boys for being agricultural workers or for military service; it will help prepare the girls for their future lives looking after the household....

Film A1: Madame Geyler-Bouduin arrives by horse-drawn carriage.

as in.. présent, différences, encre heard before in an, cent

...We need to form citizens who are free, honest, workers; truthful, informed patriots.”

The headteachers’s speech

The headteacher’s speech was also recreated for the centenary (but not included in film 9). He told the audience the story of Mme Geyler’s remarkable adventures, and how she came to be a local benefactor: “Mme Geyler was born in Sars-Poteries in the rue Pasteur (where the school is). She was intelligent and always at the top of the class. At 18 she went to live in Paris with her grandfather’s sister. Aspiring to knowledge and independence, she studied in a maternity clinic, then in the hospitals of Paris where she followed the professors in the clinics and at operations.”

Talking point 2

EVERYDAY LIFE IN France

‘La Marseillaise’ - the national anthem Remind the class of school children in Morocco (Ch.3.6) who sang their national anthem each morning and raised the flag.

French Revolution

The headteacher told how she met Louis Geyler, a republican who took part in the 1848 revolution against the kings reinstated after 1815. Louis refused to live in a country ruled by the Emperor and became an ex-pat in Brazil.

“Mme Geyler continued her work in Paris. When Louis returned to France, they married and the couple went to Venezuela, where she made a fortune using her medical knowledge, and saved the son of a high-up person. In 1872 Louis was killed in the Venezuelan forest by bandits. They were both awarded medals for services to Venezuela.”

Mme Geyler’s good works

“On returning to France she became part of the Society for elementary education. In 1889 her daughter died, and she decided to use her big fortune to do good works in her home commune, and joined with the municipality to create this school. In addition, she gave money to help the most deserving children. “

n What difference do you think the new school made to the children of Sars-Poteries?

n Discuss with the class Madame Geyler’s expectations as expressed in her speech.

The French national anthem dates from the time of the French Revolution, when the people of France overthrew their King, Louis XVI. Following the storming of the Bastille prison and fortress in 1789, a Republic was declared in 1792, followed by the execution of the King for high treason.

Execution of the French King by guillotine, 1793. Monarchs of neighbouring European countries (Great Britain, Prussia and Austria), alarmed that their own citizens might follow this example, got together an army to invade France, capture Paris and restore the King to power.

Call to defend the French Republic

The new republic raised a citizen army to defend its western frontiers along the River Rhine. The mayor of Strasbourg asked Rouget de Lisle to compose a song “that will rally our soldiers from all over to defend their homeland that is under threat”.

Film A1: Sars-Poteries school - Headteacher’s speach.

Ch.3.6, film A3: a Moroccan school raises the flag to start the day.

Strasbourg was attacked just a few days later; the new song was sung by volunteers from Marseille (known as Marseilles in English) as they marched into Paris to help defend their country’s capital city.

The song became known as La Marseillaise, and it was used all over France as a rallying call to join the French Revolution.

Bloodthirsty lyrics

The song’s lyrics reflect this desperate situation. The lines “Do you hear the roar of those ferocious soldiers?... They’re coming... to cut the throats of our sons and women” speak of the desperation felt by ordinary French people faced with a “kill-or-be-killed” situation.

The invading forces were repulsed from France following their defeat in the Battle of Valmy, and the King was executed in 1793. The French Republic adopted the tricolore as its flag in 1794 and the Marseillaise as its anthem in 1795.

“la Marseillaise” The French national anthem

Allons enfants de la Patrie, Let’s go, children of the Fatherland, Le jour de gloire est arrivé ! The day of glory has arrived!

Contre nous de la tyrannie, Against us (is) some tyranny,

L’étendard sanglant est levé, (bis)

The bloody banner is raised, (repeated)

L’étendard sanglant est levé, The bloody banner is raised, Entendez-vous dans les campagnes

Do you hear, in the countryside, Mugir ces féroces soldats ?

The roar of those ferocious soldiers?

Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras

They’re coming right into our arms

Égorger nos fils et nos compagnes !

To cut the throats of our sons and women!

CHORUS:

Aux armes, citoyens, To arms, citizens, Formez vos bataillons, Form your battalions, Marchons, marchons !

Let’s march, let’s march!

Qu’un sang impur

n When do you hear your national anthem? (sporting events, e.g. Olympics).

n Compare the words of the French anthem with those of your own country’s. Is the tone and sentiment different?

That an impure blood

Abreuve nos sillons ! Waters our furrows!

The Tricoleur - flag of the French Republic

Part B: My town then and now

Planning your lessons

Section B shows fairly simple ways children can make statements in French about how a town has changed over time, comparing past and present - based on previouslylearnt ‘places in town’, with possible crosscurricular links to their history work. The films show two towns that have lost old industries that once had many workers in hard, dirty manual work:

n Sars-Poteries had glass-making factories;

n Béthune was a centre for coal-mining. Your class could use these examples as the basis for similar work on your own locality or that of your French partner school.

Activities

Warm up

Before showing film B1, use the e-flashcards to re-visit ‘places in town’ from Ch.3.7 (and earlier work in Early Start French 2) by playing games such as ‘true or false’.

In the past, Sars-Poteries’ streets saw lots of horse-drawn vehicles; now there are only cars. The old girls’ school has become a “médiathèque”, there’s no longer a railway station, but the church and bandstand are still there. Probably the biggest change is that the old glassworks have closed, losing hundreds of factory jobs.

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show the e-flashcards ‘Then and now ’ which are marked ‘B1: Sars-Poteries’ ; children echo examples of pairs of statements about how a place has changed over time.

Switch between

past/present

See next place

Pay attention to “key sounds” (see box) and repeat the flashcards until children are confident with the sounds.sounds

KEY SOUNDS

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

Tell the class they will be looking at one town and how, over a long period of time, some things have changed but others stay the same.

Film B1:Sars-Poteries past and present

❑ Film B1 shows Sars-Poteries past and present.

as in...maison, patron, rénovation

heard before in bon, saison as in c’était, maison

as in...kiosque à musique, usine heard before in mille, hiver

heard before in avait, Calais, saison

as in patron, parc

heard before in préféré, réptile, rouge

as in... toujours, beaucoup

seen before in printemps, pas

Film B1: “(à Sars-Poteries) ...en 1907 il y avait une gare”.

HOW FRENCH WORKS:

Comparing now with the past - ‘there was (used to be)...’ / ‘there is...’

In Ch.3.1 children talked about ‘completed past actions’,e.g. ‘J’ai mangé...’ , ‘J’ai bu...’ - (‘I ate...’, ‘I drank...’ ). They don’t need to know that this is termed the ‘perfect tense’. Now they hear people talking about ‘there was/were...’, describing what used to be (over a period of time). Teachers will know this is the imperfect tense, e.g.

dans le passé, il y avait une école de filles; aujourd’hui, il y a une médiatèque in the past, there was a girls school; today there is a media library en 1907 il y avait 2 usines de verre; aujourd’hui, il y a le Musée du verre in 1907 there were 2 glass factories; today there is the Glass Museum en 1907 il y avait un kiosque à musique; aujourd’hui, il y a toujours un kiosque in 1907 there was a bandstand; today there is still a bandstand en 1907 il y avait une gare; aujourd’hui, il n’y a pas de gare in 1907 there was a station; today there isn’t a/any station

Children have already been introduced to these questions in part A2:

-“Qu’est-ce que il y avait?” as a question about ‘what used to be, in the past’

- “Qu’est-ce que il y a?”, which asks about ‘what there is now, in the present’.

Respond with understanding

❑ Still using the e-flashcards, ask children to say whether the statement shown is about the past or the present? They could show understanding by standing and stepping back a pace for a past statement. Can they spot which key verb changes?

(“il y a / il y avait”).

❑ Tell the class that the e-flashcards show a town and how, over a long period of time, some things have changed, some gone altogether, but others stay the same.

Look for key words that tell you what’s happened, e.g. “il n’y a pas de...” (there isn’t a...), “il y a toujours...” (there is still...).e d

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ History: Collect “then-and-now”photos of your community, or of a place whose history the class is studying.

Ask children to prepare statements in French about each pair of photos using the structures “il y avait..., il y a ...”. This might involve finding new words using a bilingual dictionary. Have the children show their pictures to the class, and say their French phrases. Encourage them to say “when” and “where”, using the phrases from the films and the flashcards.

Il

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES

B1 Sars Poteries then and now

Il n’y a pas de... (gare) There

Topic-specific words

une médiathèque une usine de verre 800 ouvriers

un kiosque à musique c’était...

...la maison du patron

- media library

- glass factory

- 800 workers

- bandstand

- it was...

-...the boss’s house

❑ Geography: See suggested activities for B2.

❑ ITC: Ask each group to make a multimedia presentation with their “then-and-now” photos, and sound recordings of their “il y a / il y avait” statements in French. OR, make a wall display about your changing community - with captions written by the children in French.

Film B2:Béthune past and present

❑ Film B2 shows historic Béthune where the town is finding new uses for old industrial sites as part of its regeneration.

NEW TOPIC-SPECIFIC WORDS

Film B2: “Dans le passé il y avait un canal”. Today, Béthune station is busy with modern commuter trains that link it with the big city of Lille, where many people work. There’s a big centre commerciale, attracting many shoppers in cars, buses and bikes.

In the past, when Béthune had several coalmines, the canal was also busy - with many boats carrying coal in the Gare d’eau (Water Station). Now, with the mines all closed, this derelict area is being made into a park as part of a regeneration project.

All that’s left of the mines are the “terrils” (slagheaps). These are piles of waste stone dug out by the miners in order to get at the coal seam, then discarded near the pit-head. One terril has recently been turned into an artificial ski-slope, creating new jobs in leisure and tourism.

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show the ‘ Then and now ’ e-flashcards marked ‘B2: Béthune’; children again echo examples of pairs of statements comparing how Béthune has changed over time.

Switch between past/present

See next place

la Gare d’eau beaucoup de...(mines)

un parc un projet de rénovation

- shopping centre

- canal

B2 Béthune then and now le centre commercial un canal pour transporter le charbon

- to transport

- coal

-the Water Station

-lots of (many)...(mines)

- park

- renovation project

Pay attention to “key sounds” (see previous box) and repeat the flashcards until children are confident with the sounds.s

Respond with understanding

❑ Using the e-flashcards for BOTH towns, ask children to say whether the statement shown is about the past or the present? Again show understanding by standing and stepping back a pace for a past statement.

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ History: See suggested activities for B1.

❑ Geography: Give groups of children sets of “then-and-now”photos of your community, or of a place connected with your current geography topic. Examples might be:

n How places (e.g. seaside) evolve over time;

n A contrasting UK locality.

Ask groups of children to collaborate to write a pair of sentences in French about each pair of photos using the structures “il y avait..., il y a ...”. They can find new words using a bilingual dictionary.

Discuss possible regeneration projects for old derelict sites and land-uses. Avoid children needing to know the future tense by asking them to write as if they were a person in the future,using phrases such as “En 2025, c’est un parc; en 1950 c’était une mine”.

Make a display, or create a multimedia presentation or web page about the area being studied, to share with a chosen audience, e.g. other classes or a partner school.

Part C: Changes in everyday life

Planning your lessons

In section C your class can explore a social history topic in a cross-curricular way, using French to compare what things are like now with a past era.

We give two examples where your class can use the ‘past-present’ language they have learned, and find adjectives to describe ‘what was’.

C1: Coal-miners

Warm up

Film C1 features what life was like for coalminers in Béthune - a way of life seen in film B2 that has now disppeared. Before watching, ask children to anticipate what they’ll see.

Film C1:Coalmining in the 1950s

❑ In film C1 the French class look at an old black-and-white film about coal-mining locally in Northern France, made in the 1950s.

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES

C1 Coal mining

le métier de...(mineur)

...était... (dangereux)

the job of...(a miner)...was... (dangerous)

c’était... sale

...lourd

...dangereux

...facile

...difficile

le métier

- it was... dirty

- ...heavy

- ...dangerous

- ...easy

- ...difficult - job

Topic-specific words

une mine

les mineurs des lampes

le charbon

un coron

une explosion

- mine

- the miners

- lamps

- coal

- settlement

- explosion

Teacher question

Le métier de...(mineur)..., c’était comment?

The job of...(a miner)..., what was it like?

Film C1: Class discuss an old film about local coalmining

They see the working life of miners underground, and also the narrow rows of smoke-blackened slum terraces (“corons”) where they live.

These children live in a different world from their grandparents or great-grandparents who might have featured in the film. They describe the miners’ lives as ‘hard’ and ‘dangerous’.

Get

used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show film C1 again, asking children to pick out all the words and phrases they hear that describe the miners, their work and their lives, e.g. “dangereux”, “lourd”, “sale” Write each on the whiteboard and ask children to read it aloud as part of the phrase, e.g. “C’était sale..”, etc

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ Make a multimedia presentation: If possible, make this about your current social history topic, e.g. ‘our town in World War II’.

Film C1: These might have been the children’s great-grandparents.

Le passé et le présent

KEY SOUNDS

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

(‘un abri anti-aérien’), show children how to research printed or online bilingual dictionaries

as in mine, mineur, métier heard before in facile, diff icile, mille as in...explosion, coron, heard before in charbon, bon

as in...lampe, heard before in an, janvier

as in...charbon, heard before in charette à cheval,

as in... métier, était heard before in année, été, école

Ask children to work in groups, picking pictures about which they can make a simple statement in French.

If their pictures compare past and present, they should use the “il y avait...”/ “il y a...” structures; otherwise, just “il y avait...”.

To find topic-specific words, e.g. ‘a gas mask’ ( ‘un masque à gaz’ ), ‘an air raid shelter’

HOW FRENCH

The past - ‘what it was like...’

Children also hear people use adjectives to describe what jobs used to be like (over a period of time). Teachers will know this is the imperfect tense, e.g

le métier de... (mineur 1)... était ...(dangereux 2) the job of... (a miner)... was... (dangerous)

NOTES:

1. In French you often refer to a job without an article, e.g. ‘le métier de mineur...’, ‘je suis mineur.’ (I am a miner);

2. ‘métier’ (job) is a masculine noun, so the adjective describing the job is masculine, e.g. ‘dangereux’ NOT ‘dangereuse’.

❑ Make a tourist guide to your town: Ask children to prepare a tourist guide for French visitors to your community, or to the place your class has been studying. Compare what things are like now with a past era, with text or recorded commentary in French. Discuss whether you want to make a printed leaflet, an audio guide, or an online multimedia guide that visitors could even use on their smartphones as they go round your town.

Talking point 1

EVERYDAY LIFE IN France

Coal mining in the 1950s

The coal mines of Northern France were made famous by French author Émile Zola’s 19th century novel “Germinal”. Zola exposed the brutal exploitation of the poor miners by private mine-owners, who grew rich whilst paying the miners as little as possible to work in dirty and dangerous conditions underground.

Exploitation of miners

Miners were encouraged to dig out as much coal as quickly as possible, whilst not “wasting” time on making the mine safe by putting in wooden pit-props to stop the roof caving in.

1906 Courrières disaster: mounted troops face angry miners’ families Wages were paid in a “pub” run by the mineowners, where miners were encouraged to drink their wages. In 1906 in nearby Courrières, 1,099 miners died after an explosion underground. The public and government saw there was no pay or help for sick or injured miners and their families, and no paid annual holidays apart from religious festival days. Miners lived in rows of slum cottages built by

WORKS:

the mine-owners around the pit-head, next to a towering heap of waste rock (a slag-heap or “terril”) that was dug out to get at the coal. Miners could lose their house if they fell sick, if they went on strike, or if the owners could not sell enough coal.

C2: 1907 Fashion

Planning your lessons

Film C2 looks at fashions in another epoque - which are described in the present tense. For your class, you can compare fashions in any period that might fit with your work in history, the resources you have available, or with the history of your own community. Other history topics could be, say, the Second World War or Victorians.

Activities

Warm up

One of the coal-mines near Béthune. By the 1950s, French mines had changed out of all recognition, although the miners’ houses still look like squalid dirty slums to modern eyes. The French coal-mines were nationalised (‘owned by the government’) and were much safer with fewer accidents. Miners were provided with baths and showers to clean themselves before going home. But in the 1970s coalmines were closed as people changed to using oil and petrol instead. The French government helped the old mining areas find new industries, and to clean up the mess left by the past. They even found new uses for old slag-heaps; in film B2 one is shown transformed into an artificial ski slope.

Before showing film C2 , warm up by reminding children of clothes they can already say they are wearing in French, using the phrase “Je porte... (une robe fleurie)” You could use the e-flashcards from French 2

Watch film C2: Fashions in 1907

❑ Watch film C2 which shows people in the school celebrations wearing fashions from 1907, also contemporary illustrations from the school’s exhibition. People in the procession describe their clothes in the present tense.

Film C2: “Mon bébé porte une robe blanche avec un chapeau de l’époque”

Discuss with the class (in English or your own language) how the fashions shown differ from those familiar in your community today

Try to identify some key characteristics of men’s, women’s and children’s fashions of the time, e.g. ‘the women wore long dresses’, the men wore hats’, etc.

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show film C1 again.

Pause the film so that children can describe what different people are wearing; you could

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES

C2: 1907 fashion

Je porte... (une robe fleurie)

I’m wearing... (a flowery dress)

Les dames portent*... (des robes longues)

The ladies wear... (long dresses)

* ‘-ent’ is silent - see pronunciation note in “Key Sounds”.

une queue-de-pie

un costume marin un béret un manteau

la mode de 1907

une femme

une dame un homme une fille

un garçon un bébé un enfant

les enfants riches

les enfants pauvres ... de l’époque

- tail coat

- sailor suit

- beret - coat

- fashions of 1907

- woman - lady

- man - girl - boy

- baby

- child

- rich children

- poor children

- ...of the period

Teacher questions

Que portent*... (les dames)?

What are.. (the ladies) ...wearing?

Qu’est-ce qu’elle porte?

What is she wearing?

Qu’est-ce qu’il porte?

What is he wearing?

Est-ce qu’elles portent* des pantalons?

Are they wearing trousers?

replay so they can hear the film’s commentary repeated if necessary.

Ask children questions such as:

“Qu’est-ce qu’elle porte?”or

“Qu’est-ce qu’ils portent?”

Show they could answer by echoing the commentary, taking care with the pronunciation of ‘portent’ - see “key sounds” box.

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ History: Changing fashions

Give children pictures of fashions from the era you are studying, e.g. World War II.

Ask them to work in groups, picking pictures about which they can make a simple statement in French.

As in film C2, statements can be made about what people are wearing in a photo using the present tense, e.g. “Les dames portent des robes longues”.

Film C2: “Les dames portent des robes longues.”

This is what children have learnt before and avoids teaching more past tense verbs. Encourage children to say, e.g. “elle porte un masque à gaz...”.

KEY SOUNDS

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

as in enfant , manteau, heard before in janvier, sandwich

as in... garçon, heard before in bon, pantalon

as in...fille heard before in chenille, pied, oreille

as in... portent, enfants, riches, béret seen before in printemps, c’est