French with Yaëlle

French at Lilliput Lane Nursery

Posted on November 2, 2018November 28, 2018 by Yaëlle Chaudy

Hi,

If you are here it probably means your child started to do some French activities at the nursery and you are curious to see what they are.

Here you will find the overall class structure, summaries of what we did each week and resources with links to games and videos that you can play at home to practice.

Toddler and preschoolers are only little so it’s important to introduce everything as a game and not as a translation activity. Sing/play the songs, try the games… But try not to quiz your child!

And should you have any comment or question, feel free to contact me or post on this website !

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Thursday April 18th

Posted on April 23, 2019April 23, 2019 by Yaëlle Chaudy

After a few weeks off french, we are back. I was really looking forward to seeing the children, and they seemed very excited to see me too!

And they were excited to wake up Chloé and say hello to her. They all remembered what it meant when the puppet ask each one “Tu veux un bisou?” (do you want a kiss) and got kisses from Chloé, which made them giggle.

Today we have learnt about the animals. I had brought some of Emilie’s toys and all the children got to pick one animal each and showed it to the group. We talked about each animal, what sound they made…

IMG_20190418_103505781

They have learnt:

Une vache,
Un singe,
Un éléphant,
Un mouton,
Un cochon,
Un chien,
Un tigre,
Un crocodile

And:

Qu’est-ce que c’est? (What is it?)
C’est quoi? (What is it, an other way of saying it)
Ca fait quoi une vache/un cochon…? (What does the cow, pig… do?)

Then, I had planned on learning a song about the animals but the children were too excited to sit still so we did a little dance instead.

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Jeudi 7 Mars

Posted on March 7, 2019March 7, 2019 by Yaëlle Chaudy

We had our usual routine of waking up Chloé and singing the bonjour song. Chloé then asked every children “comment ça va?” and after the child answered she would ask: “Tu veux un bisou?” (would you like a kiss). We had never learnt the question, or the words, but as Chloé usually gives them all a kiss, then all understood straight away what it meant and replied: “yes”! So we learnt “oui“!

Then I sang them the Fish song. I was impressed; all the children knew the melody and some of the words, they all sang along with me, and shouted all the colours. Well done!

We then formed a circle to plant some cabbage, and sang “Savez-vous planter les choux“. Again, they all tried to join in singing, it was nice not to sing alone! They all came up with parts of the body to plant cabbage with, with “Genou” (knee) being a favorite.

Since today is international book day, I decided to read them a story: “émilie fait un gateau“. The youngest ones (under 3) were really captivated and did not seem to mind that they did not understand all (or any of) the words, but the older ones found it difficult to listen and stay attentive. You can find more stories from émilie adapted to cartoons on this youtube channel.

Emilie-fait-un-gateau

After that, we sang and danced to a few more body songs (Jean petit qui danse & Des os, il en faut).

And we did the fish song once again, this time, every child had a fish (and Maisie had the sea, a blue bowl). When I sang they colour, the children had to make their fish swim and at the end of the rhyme throw it in the sea.

To finish, we said “au revoir” to everyone, the children said “merci” and received their French sticker.

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Thursday February 28th

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Yaëlle Chaudy

Today was fish day (for no particular reason).

We practiced last week’s words with the cabbage song then we got to play with what Chloé brought us: a fishing game with a lot of fishes of various colours!

We did a quick recap of colours we had seen in a previous class:

colours

Then, we split the class in groups. I would say a colour and the children had to catch the correct fish. They were so excited it was difficult for them to focus on catching only one fish, and they mostly tried to catch as many as possible, so I went around the group and showed them the colours they caught instead.

poissons

We then played the “poissons/pecheurs” number game the class was split in two, half the children would decide on a number secretly then hold hands as to form a big circle and started counting. The other children would run/swim in and out of the circle. When the fishing children reached the agreed number, they would lower their hands to the floor and ‘catch’ any children/fish inside who then become fishers… until only one, or no fish remains.

Image result for poisson pecheurs

To end the class we sang the colourful fish song from week 1:

“Un petit poisson rouge,
un petit poisson rouge,
un petit poisson rouge, nage dans l’eau.
Rouge! Rouge!”

I gave the children a sticker and their passport page (Cours – poissons), they told me “Merci” and “Au revoir“.

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Thursday February 21st

Posted on February 22, 2019February 22, 2019 by Yaëlle Chaudy

After a few weeks off due to sickness and work, French is back at Lilliput lane!

We were all very excited to start again. They all told me “Bonjour!” then we woke Chloé up with a very loud: “reveille toi!!”. Chloé said “Bonjour!” to every child and then asked them “Comment ça va?”.

We played Jacadi and I was surprised to see that all the children could do the actions without watching the card. Well done everyone!

We listened to the bonjour song, then learnt some old and new body parts:

corps2

We then sang “Tête, épaules, genoux et pieds” (Head, shoulder knees and toes). We repeated it quite a few times going fast or slow. After that I taught the children another french song about planting cabbage: “Savez-vous planter les choux?“. All the children sat in circle and we planted cabbages with different parts of our body (we had to use the body part to touch the floor):

Savez-vous planter les choux ?
A la mode, à la mode,
Savez-vous planter les choux ?
A la mode de chez nous.

On les plante avec le doigt / le pied / la main …
À la mode, à la mode,
On les plante avec le doigt/ le pied / la main …
À la mode de chez nous.

We had fun trying to plant cabbage with more difficult body parts such as the elbow, the knee, the nose…

We also played “Greli grelot” in groups this time so everyone was able to have a go.

You can find the passport page with all the videos and songs here: Cours – le corps

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Thursday January 24th

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Yaëlle Chaudy

When I arrived today, the children were all waiting, eager to get started. Dani asked them to say hello to me in French and they all shouted: “Bonjour!”, then they were very proud to explain to Dani that we start the class by waking up Chloé, knocking on her box and saying “Reveille-toi!“.

After waking her up, the children all insisted in having Chloé eat their hand. I went round the class, asking each child to first say “Bonjour Chloé!” then replying “Bonjour <name>!” with the puppet.

We played the bonjour song, the children are even starting to sing along to it now, and they know what’s coming next, especially the guitar part.

After that, we revised our numbers and body parts. We played Greli Grelot and at their request I added one bell, we are up to 5 now. We all repeated the numbers:

Un, Deux, Trois, Quatre, Cinq!

This time I asked some children to be the one to decide how many bells to put on the box, however since we have a big group now (10 children), the others would lose patience so we might have to split up the class for this activity next time, and have the lilliput lane ladies help us.

We repeated the words we learnt last week and adding three more, we counted them to practice the numbers again: “Deux mains, deux yeux, une bouche...”

lecorps

We then looked at some monsters, they all picked one monster card, and we discussed what colour they were, how many eyes, feet, hands… they had.

monsters

However, they quickly became agitated, so I had they stand up and dance to “Babidou qui dance” (Youtube video can be found here), all the children were very focused and tried to move everything Babidou did.

To end the class, I gave the children their new passport page (see cours6 – les monstres) and they all told me “Au revoir” et “Merci“.

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Thursday January 17th

Posted on January 17, 2019January 17, 2019 by Yaëlle Chaudy

The children are now very familiar with our class structure. Quite a few remembered to say “Bonjour” to me, and then they were all excited to wake Chloé up. Most of the children can now say : “reveille toi!”.

We listened and danced to the Bonjour song. Then we played Jacadi. I went through the 6 actions but this time without showing the pictures. I was impressed to see many children doing the actions “cours“, “saute“, “danse” and “dors“. We will keep practicing “bois” and “mange“. Then, all the children had a go at being Jacadi, it seems “cours” was a strong favorite today!

We played Greli Grelot again, this time I added one bell, we are up to 4 now. We all repeated the numbers:

Un, Deux, Trois, Quatre!

I then taught them 3 new words:

Les yeux – Le nez – La bouche

I had brought blank faces, as well as eyes, noses and mouths to glue on. Everyone sat at the tables and created faces. We then discussed everyone’s funny faces, counting eyes, noses and mouths.

IMG_20190117_101841152

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Thursday January 10th – Epiphanie

Posted on January 10, 2019January 10, 2019 by Yaëlle Chaudy

Today was our first class back after the holidays and I was looking forward to seeing what the children remembered from our sessions.

Today’s class was a bit different than usual as I decided to teach them about French culture and how we celebrate “l’épiphanie“.

ob_79d3c2_galetteok

In France, the first Sunday of January is the Epiphanie. We eat a special kind of cake (la galette des rois, a frangipane tart). In the cake there is a trinket (la fève) hidden. Traditionally the youngest child goes underneath the table and name the recipient of each piece, the person who then has the fève in his/her piece is crowned king/queen or everyone shouts: “Vive le roi/ la reine!”

I started as usual and presented Chloé’s box. All the children remembered that we had to wake Chloé up by knocking on the box. When I asked if they remembered what we should shout to wake her up, I was very pleasantly surprised to hear Calum answer: “Reveille toi!” Well done Calum! We woke her up and discovered that she had brought us a big passport to hang in the nursery room for the children to look at when they want, and also a cake!

I cut the cake into pieces and asked for volunteer(s) to tell me who to give the pieces to. Amelia volunteered and the other went to sit at the table. I taught the children how to say “C’est pour qui?” (who is that for?), and every time we asked, Amelia would tell us the name of one of the children. Once everyone had a piece of cake, they started eating. Callen discovered a medal in his piece but at first did not know what to say or do. When prompted, he showed it to us and we shouted “Vive le roi!” (long live the king).

We played Jacadi to remember our actions and again it was nice to see that the children remembered a lot. They still struggle with “Bois” (drink) but could do the other actions without me showing them the image, well done everyone!

The big activity today was to have everyone decorate their own king’s/queen’s crown. I had brought crowns for everyone as well as stickers and gems. I taught the children how to say “s’il te plait, une couronne” (please a crown)and gave the crowns, one by one, to everyone asking nicely 😉 (I waited for the full sentence from the older children and just a try from the younger ones). They then sat at the table and started decorating, they were very excited. I went round to spend some one-to-one time which each one telling them shapes and colours that they were putting on their crowns, they were very proud to show me their finished crowns and have Lauren take a picture of them.

20190106165146_img_9742-01

Note: This is a picture of Emilie, my daughter, taken at home, I do not take pictures of your children!

I tried the jingle bells game again today, this time I only took 3 bells out, I counted them “Un, deux, trois!“. I played individually with everyone, singing the song every time:

“Greli, grelot combien j’ai d’sous dans mon sabot?“

The children seem to really like the guess work and it allowed them to hear the numbers again and again. We will do it again next time.

I then showed them today’s flashcards and we repeated the épiphanie’s words:

As usual, we all said “Au revoir!” to Chloé before putting her back in her box. I gave each child their new passport page (see: cours4 – galette) and collected all the passports for them to show their parents tonight. Then the children all told me: “Au revoir Yaelle!” (although they still don’t remember my name) and “Merci”.

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Thursday December 13th

Posted on December 13, 2018January 10, 2019 by Yaëlle Chaudy

Bonjour!

Today was our third class and I could see that the children are really getting used to their French class. I was very pleasantly surprised when they all said “Bonjour” to me.

They were very happy to see their passports again, they knew that we had to wake Chloé up by knocking on her box. However they did not yet remember “Réveille-toi!!!”, so I reminded them and we all shouted it several times.

Chloé woke up and greeted all the children. They are growing fond of Chloé and all of them insisted on touching the puppet and would offer their hand for Chloé to kiss/eat.

We played Jacadi again and it was nice to see that the children are starting to really learn these 6 action verbs. Unlike last week, no-one said the words in English, they would either know the word and say it or show the card and repeat after me. Which shows that they are starting to associate the action to the French word without having to go through the English language (which is something really hard to do for an adult by the way! Your kids are amazing!). The class strong favorites were: “Cours” and “Saute“, most of the older children were able to say it without my help at all and all the children would understand them and happily do the actions!

After Jacadi, we played the Bonjour song as all the children strongly requested it! Then, we looked at what Chloé brought us: Christmas flashcards and a small bag with bells inside! We learnt a few Christmas words:

noel

After repeating the words, I asked the children to go and hide the flashcards in the room, then to go and pick them up “Où est le Père Noël / le bonhomme de neige / le lutin …?“.

Finally, I took out the pouch with the bells and took the bells out counting out loud: “Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq!“. I told them the french for bells: “Grelot”, but two bells in my closed hands and taught them a game/song :

“Greli, grelot combien j’ai d’sous dans mon sabot?“

After the song they would have to guess how many bells I put in my hands. As we did not have much time to repeat the game, the children don’t seem to have fully understood it yet; they all said “five”! I will do it again next time while working some more on numbers.

As usual, we all said “Au revoir!” to Chloé before putting her back in her box. I gave each child their new passport page (see: Cours3 – Noel) and collected all the passports for them to show their parents tonight. Then the children all told me: “Au revoir Yaelle!” and “Merci”.

N.B. I will be in France next week for the holidays but I will be back for more classes in January. “Joyeux Noël” everyone!

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Thursday December 6th

Posted on December 6, 2018December 13, 2018 by Yaëlle Chaudy

Re – Bonjour!

Today was our second class, and we made some changes to adapt to the children. I spoke less French and more English and the children engaged a lot more.

Because I’m Émilie’s mum, when I reminded them that my name was Yaelle they all insisted on telling me their parents’ names too!

We then woke Chloé up, the children were really engaged in it this time since they knew what/who was in the box, and they all shouted : “Réveille-toi!!!” very loudly and banging on the box. Once she woke, we all said “Bonjour Chloé!”.

We discovered Chloé brought a present with her: Passports for all the children! We talked a bit about passports and what they were for (with some children discussing how they needed them when they went on holiday). I/Chloé gave them all their passports while asking “Comment tu t’appelles?” and I asked them to thank Chloé: “Merci Chloé!”. Then, as usual, we answered : “Comment ça va?“ using the happiness scale.

The children then requested the Bonjour song which we played. They seemed to enjoy it a lot more this week and danced along and even tried singing some of the time (especially the “bonjour, bonjour” part!).

We revised the actions we learnt last week.

actions

Everyone of us took turns telling everyone what action to do. The older children were very successful at repeating the words and the youngest just enjoyed showing the cards and listening to me say it.

Then we worked on colours some more. I had brought lego bricks and coloured bowls. I showed them a colour and we all repeated them while shouting them, or repeting them as many times as we could in one breath! The children seem to find that very fun.

colours

Then I put four bowls in the room corners. I would tell them a colour and the children all ran to the corner representing the right colour.

To finish, I put some French Christmas music (Vive le vent) and we played Jacadi again everytime I paused the music.

We all said “Au revoir!” to Chloé before putting her back in her box. I gave each child their new passport page (see: Cours – les couleurs) and collected all the passport for them to show their parents tonight. Then the children all told me: “Au revoir Yaelle!” and “Merci”.

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Thursday November 29th

Posted on November 3, 2018December 13, 2018 by Yaëlle Chaudy

Bonjour!

Today was our first class at lilliput lane. The children were unsure at first but overall responded very well. We met Chloé, our French friend:

lipstick-sockette-puppet

She was sleeping in a box so we had to knock hard on the box and say: “Réveille-toi!” (Wake up). When she finally woke up, we all said “Bonjour” to Chloé and answered when she asked us “Comment tu t’appelles?” (What’s your name).

We told everyone how we felt this morning as Chloé asked us : “Comment ça va?“, we used the happiness scale below to answer, apparently, everyone was very happy!

happinessScale

Then, we listened to the Bonjour song, although the first time the children were too unsure to dance.

Next, we introduced a game: Jacadi (Simon says) and we learned 6 actions:

We had them printed as flashcards (you can download them here: Jacadi). I would show them a card, say the word and do the action. Then, once we’d seen them all, the children took turns to be Jacadi. They would pick a card and show it to everyone, I would say the word (hoping they would repeat, so far not so much, but we will practice!) and everyone would do the action.

Then, we needed to move some more so I played the bonjour song again. This time the children could go crazy while the music was on, but when I paused it, they had to look at me and do the action I showed and said. This seem to picked their interest, they loved running around and jumping!

Last we all sat down and started learning 4 colours: Bleu, Jaune, Vert and Rouge. We sang a song about fishes of various colours swimming. The children all had a block of one colour and they had to make it swim when their colour was up.

“Un petit poisson rouge,
un petit poisson rouge,
un petit poisson rouge, nage dans l’eau.
Rouge! Rouge!”

Then, it was time to say goodbye. We all said “Au revoir!” to Chloé before putting her back in her box.

We did not have the children’s French passports ready this time, but we will for next week and they will all have today’s page on it: passport_1_actions