2.14 Quelle est ta matière préférée?
14. Quelle est ta matière préférée? What’s your favourite lesson?
This section continues the theme of likes and dislikes - this time in relation to school subjects. We have included five basic subjects that are taught in primary schools in many countries. (See this chapter’s “talking point” for more information about the curriculum in French primary schools.) Some pupils will progress to add more names of subjects to their French vocabulary (see “extra words and phrases”). Pupils can already tell the time in French from Ch.6, so they will also be able to talk in French about their school timetable as part of their day-to-day routine.
VIDEO
We see five lessons in French primary schools: Games: children playing hand-ball in a school sports hall - “le sport”. Technology: children make gears with a construction set; work on computers; and test electrical circuits - “la technologie”. English: teacher introduces “parts of the body” in English: children first echo the words, then point-and-say; then sing “Heads, shoulders ,
NEW WORDS AND PHRASES le sport la technologie l’anglais (m) le français les maths (f) les mathématiques (f) la matière
- games (sport) - technology - English - French - maths - mathematics - subject or lesson
Scene from video section 14: “L’anglais” - “Heads, shoulders, knees and toes” song.
knees and toes” song- “l’anglais”. French: children talk about a poem: “Du ciel partout” by Alexis Haulot - “le français”.
Quelle est ta matière préféré? What’s your favourite lesson? Ma matière préféré, c’est ... My favourite lesson is ... Que’est-ce que tu aimes faire à l’école? What do you like doing at school?
REMINDERS
J’adore ... (le français) I love ... (French) Je déteste ... (les maths) I hate ... (maths)
Scene from video section 14: “Les maths”.
Maths: children using calculators - “les maths”. Likes and dislikes: Children give their opinions of different school subjects: Girl: “J’aime le sport”.
J’aime... I like ... Je n’aime pas... I don’t like ... CD Track 26
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Early Start French Pack 2
Planning your lessons
Boy 1: “Je n’aime pas le sport”, Boy 2: “Ma matière préférée, c’est le sport”. Boy: “J’aime la technologie”. Girl 1: “Je n’aime pas la technologie” . Girl 2: “Ma matière préférée, c’est la technologie”.
Before showing the video to introduce the new vocabulary, use a warm-up activity to remind children of the language they know for expressing likes/dislikes, and for places in school (from Ch.2.4, “A l’école”). When children are confident with the new words for school subjects, you can extend it to talking about their preferences (j’aime/ je n’aime pas), and also to the school timetable - using telling the time from Ch.2.6, “Quelle heure est-il?” and days of the week from Pack 1.
Activities
1. Warm up
Video section 14: “Ma matière préférée, c’est la technologie”.
Girl 1: “J’aime l’anglais”. Boy: “Je n’aime pas l’anglais”. Girl 1: “I like English”. Boy: “I don’t like English”. Girl 2: “Ma matière préférée, c’est l’anglais”. Girl reads French poem aloud. Girl 1: “J’aime le français”. Boy: “Je n’aime pas le français”. Girl 2: “J’adore le français”. Girl 1: “J’aime les maths”. Girl 2: “Je n’aime pas les maths”. Boy 1: “J’adore les maths”. Boy 2: “J déteste les maths” . Questions and answers: Q: “Quelle est ta matière préférée?” Girl at desk: ”L’anglais”. Q: “... et toi, quelle est ta matière préférée?” Girl outside classroom: ”Les maths”. Q: “Quelle est ta matière préférée?” Girl: ”Le français”. Q: “... et toi, quelle est ta matière préférée?” Boy on swing: ”Les mathématiques”. Girl: “... et toi, quelle est ta matière préférée?”
KEY SOUNDS
Listen and enjoy copying these typical sounds: where have you heard them before?
“ ” as in technologie
Heard before in:
You could start the lesson by playing a game from previous sections using“j’aime/ je n’aime pas” as preparation for learning the words for more “likes and dislikes”; also look at some of your previous work on places in school (Ch.2.4).
2. Watch the video
❑ Watch video section 14: “Quelle est ta matière préférée?” to introduce the new words.
3. Get used to the sounds
❑ Echoing: Make flashcards from the pictures on the activity sheet, or display on the OHP/ whiteboard. Use these together with the “happy face” symbol which represents “j’aime”. Show the “happy face” and one of the lesson pictures, and say the appropriate phrase, e.g. “j’aime la technologie”. Do this with as much enjoyment in your voice and facial expression as you can. Pupils echo the phrase and intonation. Continue with each of the pictures. ❑ Echoing: Repeat the process using the “sad/grumpy face” picture which represents “je n’aime pas”, e.g. “je n’aime pas les maths”. Pupils echo the phrase and intonation. Continue with each of the pictures of school subjects.
4. Respond with understanding
bonjour rouge
(Listen to the native speakers - try to copy their typically French sounds.) CD Track 26
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❑ Invite seven confident pupils to come to the front of the class. Give five of them one of the pictures of school subjects and the remaining pupils the “j’aime” and “je n’aime pas” symbols.
2.14 Quelle est ta matière préférée? When you say, e.g. “j’aime le sport”, the pupil with the picture of children doing Games holds it up for everyone to see, and the child with the “j’aime” symbol holds up his/her picture. The rest of the class echoes the phrase.
“Je n’aime pas lefrançais”.
❑ Play “true or false?” Show each of the pictures in turn either as flashcards or display them on the OHP/ whiteboard. With each picture, also show either the “happy” symbol which represents “j’aime”, or the “sad/grumpy” symbol (“je n’aime pas”). As you show each picture and symbol, say either the correct phrase, e.g. “j’aime les maths”, or a different phrase. If what you say is correct, pupils echo the words; if it is incorrect, they remain silent. Sometimes you could show the correct “j’aime/ je n’aime pas” symbol with the wrong activity picture; at other times you could show the correct picture and the wrong symbol.
❑ Play “j’aime” with the class puppet Show the games-lesson picture as a flashcard or display it on the whiteboard/OHP. Use your class puppet to demonstrate the following question and answer sequence: Ask the puppet, “Tu aimes le sport?” Puppet replies: “Oui, j’aime le sport”. N o w show the picture of Technology. Puppet asks you, “Tu aimes la technologie?” You reply: “Non, je n’aime pas la technologie”. Repeat this question and answer sequence with the pupils. Either you or the puppet can ask the questions. The children reply, “Oui, j’aime ...” or “Non, je n’aime pas ...” At this early stage, it is a good idea to show the appropriate pictures.
❑ Play “mime the activity” Agree a specific action to represent each of the five school subjects seen in the video, eg: les maths - mime tapping the keys of a calculator le sport - jump up and down on the spot le français - pick up a book, pretend to read it la technologie - mime typing on a keyboard ❑ Activity sheet: Give everyone a copy of the “J’aime / je n’aime pas” activity sheet (above). For each picture, you say, for example, “ j’aime les maths” or “je n’aime pas le roller”. Pupils draw the appropriate happy or sad face in the correct circle. ❑ Make multiple copies of the school subject pictures. Each child in the class selects ONE picture of a subject s/he likes doing. Demonstrate what to do with the puppet: you and the puppet each choose a picture -which (for the game) will be the only pastime you like. If yours is the maths picture, say to the puppet, “Moi, j’aime les maths - et toi?” If the puppet has chosen a different picture, e.g. English, he says, “Non, j’aime l’anglais.” If he has chosen the same picture, he says, “Oui, j’aime les maths.”
“J’aime le sport!”
l’anglais - mime “Heads and shoulders” song. When you call out “J’aime ...”, pupils perform the agreed action in a “happy” way. But when you call out a phrase using “je n’aime pas”, they act as if they really don’t like doing it!
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Early Start French Pack 2 as the card is played. To make the game fun, they will need several sets of pictures. ❑ Play “pairs”
Now ask everyone to move round the room and repeat the question-and-answer dialogue with as many people as possible. It is a good idea if you and the puppet join in. When everyone is familiar with the new vocabulary, you can introduce a wider range of school subjects (see “extra words and phrases”) and repeat some of these activities.
Extension activity
Each pair of pupils has a complete set of pictures of school subjects and sports and pastimes. They shuffle them and arrange them out face down on the table. They take it in turns to turn up two cards. If a pupil reveals two identical pictures, s/he must say what the activity is to keep the cards, e.g. if two of the maths pictures are turned up, the pupil says “J’aime les maths” (or, simply, “les maths”). If the pictures do not match, they should be turned down again in the same place and it is the next pupil’s turn.
❑ Play “which room?” Make sure pupils now know all the subjects and room names in their timetable for this game, which reinforces what they learned previously about rooms in school (Ch.2.4) and places in town (Ch.2.2). We suggest playing it in the hall where you have plenty of space. Place flashcards representing each of the places in which the children have a lesson in different parts of the hall, e.g. la piscine, la salle de technologie, la bibliothèque, la cantine, la salle de classe, la cour de récréation. When you call out, for example, “le sport”, pupils run to the appropriate “room” (i.e. the flashcard representing la cour de récréation). When pupils arrive in the correct place, you could say, “Oui, j’aime le sport dans la cour de récréation.” Some other possible combinations: la natation - j’aime la natation dans la piscine. le déjeuner - j’aime le déjeuner dans la cantine. les maths - j’aime les maths dans la salle de classe.
6. Watch the video again
❑ Show video section 14: “Quelle est ta matière préférée?” again for reinforcement.
7. Look again at sounds
❑ Now that the new words and sounds are familiar, play either “listen to the sounds” (described in Chapter 2: “En ville”) or “find the sound” (described in Chapter 3: “Toutes directions”).
5. Working in pairs
❑ Give each pair multiple copies of the pictures of both school subjects and sports/ pastimes, also the “j’aime”/“je n’aime pas” symbols. They make two piles, one of activities and one of symbols. They take it in turns to select a symbol and a picture and to say the combination.
Introducing the written word
When pupils have had plenty of exposure to the sounds of the new words and phrases, you may like to show them the final sequence of video section 14: “Quelle est ta matière préférée?”, in which each of the key phrases are repeated with text superimposed on the pictures.
❑ Play “snap” Pupils can cut out the school activity pictures and add them to their sporting pictures. They pool their sets and use them to play “snap”. The game should include saying the activity
❑ Play “word-picture match 1 and 2” (described in Chapter 2.2: “En ville”).
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2.14 Quelle est ta matière préférée? CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Revise telling the time (Ch.2.6: “Quelle heure est-il?”), then follow suggestions in the box. ❑ Classroom routines - preferences: In any lesson, you can ask individuals whether they like that subject: “Tu aimes l’art?” etc.
❑ Survey - ICT: Pupils can find out from each other what school subjects they like and don’t like. See “extra words and phrases” for more words for subjects. You could also help children find words they want in a bilingual dictionary. Some pupils may be ready to talk about reasons for their preferences, as they did in Ch.2.13 for their pastimes. See that chapter’s “extra words and phrases”; also Ch.2.10 for more about conducting a survey in French. Children can record the results of their survey on a spreadsheet and display it as a graph. You could ask a French school to do a similar survey, swap results, and talk about and compare the two sets of results.
❑ Art and design: Pupils can add pictures of themselves doing their favourite school
❑ Daily class routines - the timetable: See “How French works” box below. Every day, you can talk with children in French about what lessons are on the day’s timetable.
Video section 14: “Le français”: French children in a Literacy activity, talking about a poem.
HOW FRENCH WORKS: SCHOOL TIMETABLES - when is the lesson? Talking about the day’s sequence of lessons is a good opportunity to use lots of children’s French vocabulary: school subjects, days of the week, and telling the time. Make word-cards for the subjects on your timetable, and use either a clock-face with movable hands, or another set of flashcards showing the times for the start of each lesson through the day. ■ Random timetable game Display two cards: a time, and a subject. Ask children to say what the lesson is and when, e.g. “On a technologie à 11h 00.” ■ Guess the timetable game Conceal 10 cards face-down (or covered over on an OHP): 5 subjects and 5 times. Give the class a limited number of goes to guess the timetable for the day. * NOTE: These phrases reflect current everyday usage. You could follow the textbook phrasing, “on a le français/ ... la musique/ ...les sciences”, but French children and teachers do commonly omit the article in
EXTRA WORDS AND PHRASES
On a ...(sport*) à quelle heure? What time is ...(PE)? ...avant ou après le déjeuner? ...before or after lunch? ...à deux heures? ...à 2 heures et demie?
...at 2 o’clock? ...at half-past two? On a...(technologie*) à 11 h aujourd’hui.
(Technology)... is at 11 o’clock today. Le mardi, on a ...(sciences*).
We have ... (science) on Tuesdays. Hear these phrases pronounced on the audio CD for teachers. CD Track 26
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Early Start French Pack 2
Talking point
EVERYDAY LIFE IN FRANCE The primary curriculum
National control Each school in France teaches within a framework set by the government. In past generations, it was said that the Minister of Education in Paris could look at the clock and know exactly what was being taught in every classroom in France. Now there is more local flexibility, but still a national curriculum: for each year of their schooling, children have a syllabus called “le programme”. Age
School year
Video section 14: “les maths” - for about 5 hours a week.
Programme
6 Y2-P3* CP Cours préparatoire Preparatory 7 Y3-P4 CE1 Cours élémentaire Elementary 8 Y4-P5 CE2 * The equivalent year in England & Wales and in Scotland.
Subjects studied Each programme specifies a broad curriculum, with most time allocated to helping children towards literacy and numeracy - as in primary schools world-wide. Within each subject, the class teacher is expected to help children express themselves clearly in French. The government is worried that some children from the slum suburbs of big cities reach secondary school with literacy problems. CM1-2 - Weekly Time allocation* (26h) French literature - 5h French grammar/ literacy - 2h A foreign or regional language - 1h 30 History and geography - 3h “Vie collective” - 0h 30 Maths - 5h 30 Science and technology - 2h 30 Art and music - 3h PE and sport - 3h Cross-curricular themes: Language, citizenship, ICT.
* See www.earlystart.co.uk for more details.
Foreign language learning All French children learn a foreign language in primary school, which is usually English. In border areas, they are encouraged to learn the neighbouring language (Spanish or German).
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Music and art Time is given for singing, listening to music, and experiencing a wide variety of arts from painting to video. Citizenship There is a strong international dimension throughout the syllabus: pupils learn about the European Community and the euro in geography lessons; and in science about the environment as well as sex education. Religious education France is the only country in Europe where there is no religion taught in state schools, and no school assemblies that include a religious service - not even carols or a nativity play at Christmas. This dates back to the principles of the French Revolution, though free compulsory state primary schooling started much later. Originally this was a compromise with the Church: schools closed on Wednesdays so children of devout Catholic parents could spend a day in Church having religious instruction. For most children today, Wednesday is an opportunity for school outings and activities, e.g. classes go to the sailing club at Wimereux (seen in video section 13: “Les passe-temps”). Sporting activities French schools have la gym and le sport, but there are no inter-school team matches or competitions. Children join local clubs instead. In the summer term, most schools have a week-long trip for children to explore another environment: city children might go to a farm. ■ Ask your French partners for a copy of their
2.14 Quelle est ta matière préférée? timetable: compare with the subjects you teach, and how time is allocated. The primary school day To cover such a broad curriculum, French children have 26 hours of lessons a week, with possibly the longest primary school day in Europe: 9am to 4.30 or even 5pm! French secondary schools have even longer hours: some work from 8am to 6.30pm! French primary schools generally close on Wednesdays, but work on Saturday mornings. La vie collective For half an hour each week, the class and their teacher talk about any problems in the class and between pupils; about how children should behave, about bullying and respecting others, accepting differences, and resolving problems without violence; why there are school rules. If children do not reach the required standard at the end of the year, they might have to “redoubler” (stay down and repeat that year). ■ Does your school have a school council? Do pupils discuss bullying and behaviour in class? Do they think the threat of “redoubler” is a good incentive to work hard? Schools in other French-speaking countries In most of France’s former colonies, school lessons are still taught in French rather than the local language(s). Bright students from North and Sub-Saharan Africa still aim to go to universities in France, where many of their teachers are trained. There are over 1 million French people working abroad in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and America: some as teachers or aid workers. Their children can still be educated in
Video section 14: “J’aime la technologie”: children test electrical circuits with batteries.
EXTRA WORDS AND PHRASES SCHOOL SUBJECTS la gym(nastique) l’éducation physique (f) or l’EPS (f) l’art/ le dessin la citoyenneté la géo l’histoire (f) l’informatique (f) la musique l’éducation religieuse les sciences (f)
- gymnastics - PE - art/ drawing - citizenship - geography - history - ICT - music - RE - science
THE SCHOOL DAY l’appel - the register la récréation - playtime le déjeuner - lunchtime Hear these phrases pronounced on the audio CD for teachers. CD Track 26
French, follow the French syllabus and exams, by attending the French Schools established in London, New York, and many other cities. In Québec, French Canadians have a separate French-language school system and universities.
Cultural awareness
■ Pupils can swap information with their French partner school about their favourite school subjects. To avoid complicated language, use drawings, photographs or video of the activities taking place. ■ You could extend this and ask pupils to make a picture/photo /video diary to present a typical day at school and after. Exchange diaries with your French partner school. Ask pupils to try to write the captions carefully in simple English that their French counterparts can understand. ■ When the photo diaries produced by the French pupils arrive, pupils can enjoy the challenge of interpreting the French text - with your help, the aid of a bilingual dictionary, and with clues from the pictures.
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Je m’appelle ............................. Quelle est ta matière préférée?
This page may be photocopied for classroom use
© 2004 Early Start Lan-
Je m’appelle ............................. J’aime Je n’aime pas
This page may be photocopied for classroom use
©2004 Early Start Lan-