| Décembre/Janvier
Dear Parents,
As we approach the end of the first semester the children will be taking time to reflect on their achievements. The Grade 3 and 5 classes can be extremely proud of their performance in the recent Languages Assembly. They were outstanding. It was lovely that so many parents were able to join us. We have been privileged to share in your child's learning, watching your children grow in confidence as their comprehension skills and knowledge of the language and culture have steadily improved. Once again, thank you for supporting and encouraging your children at home. Please note that if you have any questions regarding your child please contact us by email.
The children have been integrating the PYP philosophy by applying their knowledge of grammatical concepts and inquiring into the rules to gain a better overall understanding. We continue to reinforce the PYP attitudes by encouraging children to show respect and empathy to their peers.
A reminder that homework begins for Grade 1 in January. It will be given on Monday and due on Thursday. Homework should be completed independently. The purpose of homework is to give your child good study habits and to reinforce what is taught in the classroom.
As Christmas approaches, songs and handicraft activities will be a focus in all classes. The children will have fun in January learning that Epiphany is celebrated with a King’s cake, a traditional French galette “La galette des rois”. This cake contains a lucky charm “une fève” which originally was a bean, a symbol of fertility. Whoever found the charm in their slice of cake, became King or Queen and had to buy a round of drinks for all their companions. Some children might be lucky enough to make a “Galette” at school.
If your children would like to do some revision in the holidays these are excellent websites for independent learning : www.linguascope.com (username: ofs password: singapore)
www.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/french/frenchstepsw
ww.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/french/primary
www.quia.com
We would like to extend a warm welcome to all of our new students and to say thank you to all the buddies who have helped them settle in so well. We would also like to wish all those students who are leaving "Bonne Chance" and hope you continue studying French in your new schools. We will really miss you all.
Curriculum Progress
Grade One and Two - Beginners
What a busy time we have had this month finishing off our unit on "Fruits et Légumes". We have made fruit and vegetables out of plasticine, carried out a survey to see what fruit and vegetables we like and dislike and we even made a fruit salad and ate it. In January we shall be starting a new unit called "En Route" about transport which involves making a graph of favourite vehicles, learning songs and rhymes, playing listening games outside and writing descriptions of pictures of vehicles made from shapes. It should prove to be a very engaging unit.
Grade Two – Continuation
The next unit to be studied is "J'ai faim" (I'm hungry). Food plays an important role in the lives of young children. They often voice strong likes and dislikes for certain types of food and enjoy experiences involving food. We shall pretend to order food in a restaurant using authentic menus, shop for food at the supermarket and enjoy a French breakfast at the end of the unit. We shall have fun acquiring food vocabulary by singing songs and playing games.
Grade Three
Mme Kimpe’s and Mme Chevot’s classes have been learning about “La Télévision”. The children have been carrying out oral surveys to find out how much T.V is watched and what are the most popular shows. The children have enjoyed playing a game where they draw a character from a favourite show and their friends have to guess what category the show falls into. For example it might be a cartoon, a gameshow, a soap opera or a documentary. Television as you can imagine is a very popular topic with the children and lends itself well to oral activities.
Mme Sim’s class have been learning about the appearance, actions and characteristics of zoo animals. They have reinforced their knowledge of adjectives (calme, féroce, gentil, lent, rapide etc.) and – -er verbs such as sauter, grimper, griffer, préférer, aimer, détester and adorer. They have had fun reading stories and singing rhymes about animals.
In January all Grade 3 classes will be studying “Les clowns”. This unit explores emotions and focuses on the agreement of adjectives with the subject e.g. “Bobo est fatigué. Lola est fatiguée. Bobo est nerveux. Lola est nerveuse.” It also looks at the activities which clowns do. Jojo est jongleur. Il joue avec des balles. Lola est acrobate. Elle fait des acrobaties. It also reviews the facial features and colours. The children have particularly enjoyed singing the songs in this unit, “Vive les clowns” and “Je suis un clown”. We hope you enjoy listening to them sing.
Grade Four
All classes have had fun studying “La pizza”. In this unit the children learn about pizza toppings, foreign foods and likes and dislikes. They learn how to say they want “Je veux” and how to respond to why questions. “Je n’aime pas la pizza.” “Pourquoi ?” “Parce que je n’aime pas le fromage.” They learn that “Il y a” is followed by “du, de la, de l’ or des” and “aimer, adorer, détester” are followed by “le, l’, la or les”.
In January, all classes will study “Les T-shirts”. In this unit the children learn about summer and winter activities. They learn how to conjugate the irregular verb faire and how to contract the preposition “de” with “le” to make “du”. They learn the vocabulary for the equipment needed to do summer and winter activities and they learn the imperative form. For example: “Achetez des skis et obtenez une tuque gratuite”. They also learn that negatives are followed by “de”. “Je ne fais pas de camping. Je ne fais pas de ski alpin.”
Grade Five
This month Mme Kimpe’s class studied Au Restaurant. They learnt how to use the future tense with “aller” and how to conjugate the irregular verbs choisir, finir, and prendre. They made and used a menu to act out role plays. They also became confident waiters and waitresses and learnt about the qualities needed to work in a restaurant.
Mme Chevot’s class studied Nathalie au Québec which also reinforced their knowledge of the future tense with “aller”. They learnt different strategies to communicate such as listening carefully, observing, making gestures and repeating. They learnt how to set the table in French and revised their knowledge of prepositions of place. They learnt the expression "Il faut" followed by the infinitive. They also reinforced their knowledge of the irregular verb "être" and the agreement of adjectives.
Mme Sim’s class studied Les Animaux de Compagnie. In this unit, the children learn about pets: how to say they have a pet or want a pet. They learn to describe pets and make puppets of their favourite pets. The children had a lot of fun listening to animal sounds and singing animal songs and rhymes.
In January, Mme Chevot’s class and Mme Kimpe’s class will study “Au travail.” This unit teaches the children about the qualities required to carry out different jobs. It enables the children to think about themselves, what they are good at, what they enjoy and what they would like to be when they grow up. It reviews –er verbs and the agreement of adjectives. It reviews likes and dislikes. The children have lots of fun working in groups, interviewing each other, playing games and doing presentations.
The next unit Mme Sim’s class will study is “La Pizza” in which the children learn when to use the definite and partitive articles. They will look at cognates and will learnt to say what is on certain kinds of pizza and whether they like or dislike the ingredients. They will write their own recipes and shopping lists and use the recipes to make individual pizzas.
Wishing you all a
Happy Hannukah
Happy Hari Raya
Joyeux Noël
and
Une Bonne Année 2008",
Marielle Chevot, Madame Kimpe, Nadine Sim
|
