Week 18 / 18ème semaine ♥ Jan 31th & Feb 2nd ♥ 2nd semester 1st class

Wednesday Feb. 2^nd ☼ Happy Ground Hog Day!

Saam, one of the birthday boys - Thomas, Daphné & Alessio showing up for cupcakes!

Basil, the other birthday boy, and Daphné, Alessio & Fauve

Basil, Zackary, Daphné, Thomas, Fauve, & Alessio

Fauve, post cupcake!

 

Only crumbs left!

Today was sunny, so the groundhog saw his shadow, so we should have 6 more weeks of winter!  We looked for shadows in the sunshine too: There was a little birthday party for Saam and Basil (from the other group) on the table outside,  and they had cupcakes. Thank you, Cheryfa, for the photos!

Class activities: 

Penpal project: they wrote postcards to an English class in Chartres, France – to students close to their ages. Hopefully they will find a penpal!

Cahier : p. 31

Methode: p. 35-36, listening exercise. They all seem to understand well. Roleplay: Qu’est ce que tu sais faire? Je sais faire/jouer…+ activity.

Explanation about how sometimes we say faire (make/do) or jouer (play) and sometimes we just say “Je sais + activity”

Examples: Je sais faire de la cuisine, (I know how to cook) je sais jouer de la flûte, (I know how to play flute) je sais jongler (I know how to juggle)

Negative:  ne + verb + pas  

Example: Alex ne sait pas jongler.

Homework for Monday: Cahier: We did p. 31 in class, finish if not finished. Then p. 32 & 33, all except ex. 3A. They can also do their dictionary for Unit 8 from p. 67. This vocabulary will help with their homework.

Monday Jan 31^st

Today they all got an envelope with their “report card” and the EFBA survey inside, in case you haven’t had a chance to do it. Please turn in the survey to me or Valérie as soon as possible. They also all now have in their notebook or binder the complete schedule for the spring semester, as well as information about the library, la bibliotèque. Many thanks to Mathilde for classifying all the books, and to Valérie and to Cheryfa for their help in this area!

I corrected les cahiers for the homework due today. I still haven’t corrected what they did last week. :( We also did an exercise on the definite article the: le, la, les, l’  from Unit 6 p. 76 in their cahier. They did a revision worksheet on classroom materials.

There is no homework.

Wednesday about 5:45 we can meet, outside if the weather permits, to discuss your expectations for the 2^nd semester. If the weather isn’t suitable, and if it isn’t suitable to stay in the classroom, we could go to Peet’s café next to Nob Hill on Bay Avenue.

Week 17 / 17ème semaine ♥ Jan 24th & 26th

Wednesday Jan 26^th

Méthode Unit 8 p. 34. We did a lot of listening, repeating, and roleplays. We also did additional vocabulary relating to Qu'est-ce que tu sais faire? What do you know how to do? Je sais... I know... 

They took quite a few notes from the board.

Recently they are really starting to progress, and we are able to do more role-plays with fuller sentence structures.

Homework for Monday Jan 31^st : 
Cahier p. 30 1A & 1B. Refer to p. 34 in la Méthode to refresh their memory. 

Monday Jan. 24^th

Today we corrected the cahiers, and some of them got their dictionary from Unit 7 done. We did a worksheet on fruit, and illustrated another on the weather. Check it out, as there are some very funny drawings!

We also did exercise 3B p. 28 in their cahier, where they interviewed each other about which foods they like.  

Tu aimes….? Do you like…? Oui, yes, non, no, comme ci comme ça, so so.

Homework/Devoirs :

• Write out the sentences at the bottom of exercise 3B.

• Finish the dictionary from Unit 7 p. 65-67: cut out the words and glue them into their dictionary. Or write them if they prefer

• If they are keeping a journal, they can write in it, using as much French as possible, and draw in it! They can also think of a postcard length message they word like to write to introduce their self to a potential penpal.

Week 16 / 16ème semaine ♥ Jan 17th & 19th

"Petit Jean qui danse" annotated and illustrated by Daphné, with a little help from her friends!

Monday was Martin Luther King Day, so we only had class on Wednesday Jan 19th, and it was rather musical! We practiced the traditional song "Petit Jean qui danse." There were also several songs (p. 30, 32) in Unit 7, which we mostly finished this week. (I'd like to post a sound file of the song, which I have on CD, but haven't yet figured out how, or if, this is possible.)
We did role-play with the story on p. 33. The main vocabulary in the unit was about foods and likes: "Qu'est-ce que tu aimes?" (What do you like)
 "J'aime..." (I like...)

NEW:
1) A lending library! Thanks to a generous contribution from Giacomo, and books Valérie has, we now have a collection of children's magazines and books in French. We will set up a lending library: they will be able to sign out books to take home. The conditions will be that they bring the book back in a timely manner, and not write in them or otherwise alter them. I suggest for the activity books using tracing paper, for doing a maze or crossword, for example.

2) I have received a green light from EFBA regarding covering the cost of postcards and stamps for corresponding with a class in France. A friend of mine is teaching English to French children in Chartres, France, so our students can write to her class, and depending on who writes back, get a French penpal!  Our students can write in a mixture of French and English, and put their own return address on the cards. For this they should have their address written down in their binder or notebook, so we can clearly put it on the postcards.

Homework: (be sure to refer to the Méthode for the vocab)
Unit 7: Cahier p. 28-29 Ex. 3A. (not 3B) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D.
Dictionary p. 65-67: cut out the words and glue them into their dictionary.
If they are keeping a journal, they can write in it, using as much French as possible, and draw in it!

Week 15 / 15ème semaine ♥ Jan 10th & 12th

 NO CLASS MONDAY JANUARY 17TH. Happy Martin Luther King Day.

Wednesday they did a book about themselves. They seemed to enjoy this project! Not all of them finished it, so although they might need help for some of the vocabulary, hopefully they can finish it at home.

Homework for next week: Cahier p. 27 Ex. 2B. They should refer to the textbook (Méthode) for the vocabulary.

Monday: In case you missed class, please catch up on:

Civilisation booklet: p. 10 & vocabulary, about which foods they like.  
Méthode p. 30 and corresponding listening exercises. Game on p. 28-29.

Homework for Wednesday in their cahier: Unit 7 p. 26-27 Ex. 1A, 1B, & 2A.

Week 14 / 14ème semaine ♥ Jan 3rd & 5th

Happy New Year! Bonne Fête des Rois!

Today Wednesday Jan. 5th we celebrated the Fête des Rois (King's Day) a traditional celebration for the Three Kings on the 12th day of Christmas, which is Jan 6th.
Valerie baked us a Galette des Rois (Kings' Cake.) First we discussed the origin of the tradition, and  how it is celebrated in France through the month of January. Everyone gets together around a frangipane (almond paste) cake and has a piece. The one who finds the fève, or bean (nowadays a figurine) wears the paper golden crown, and is King. That person also must bring the next Galette des Rois. 

We did a word-search exercise about this story. Then they watched the short animated film of Roule Galette, (a French story like "The Gingerbread Man") and we did some worksheets about this story. After their break we had the galette and Sophie was King!


EFBA is selling these cakes, if you would like to try one! The cost will go to help pay for student scholarships for EFBA French classes.


Monday Jan 3rd was our catch-up day: *they should have completed everything related to Unit 6.  They practiced with the CD-Rom, and from their cahier did their dictionary from page 65 and the review in the back of the book page 76. We also worked on some winter vocabulary with a worksheet.
Homework: *