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Monday, September 29, 2014

l'aphabet - PRACTICE FOR LISTENING QUIZ

Bonjour!


I have recorded 4 practice listening exercises to help your prepare for the alphabet listening quiz on Wednesday of this week.  Listen to each set of 6 letters and write them down.  I will send out a group  email with the answers at the bottom of the email for you to check your work.  Don't peek at the answers until you have tried all of the listening exercises.  Then, identify which letters are giving you trouble and then go to the link at the bottom of this posting to hear those letters again, individually.

Bonne chance!

Madame



Friday, September 26, 2014

Répétez les lettres - try this to prepare for le petit examen mercredit

Thursday, September 25, 2014

les voyelles - oral demain

Here are some notes to remind you what we discussed in class:

Bonjour!

I thought I would send along a helpful reminder about the vowel quiz tomorrow.  Here is what we discussed in class to help with accurate pronunciation:
*remember that all vowel sounds are SHORT but strong
"A"    your mouth is open wide   'ah'
"E"   Think of how you say "My name is..." (Je m'appelle...) --> take the first word and drop the 'j' sound; your lips are kind of puckered and the sound comes a bit from your diaphragm (near your belly button)
"I"  smile and show some teeth  'ee'
"O"   UNLIKE English, do NOT close your mouth at all when pronouncing this vowel  'oh'
"U"  Pucker up a lot, put your hand over your belly button, and sound like a monkey

Remember "go BIG" in your vowels so that you achieve the correct sound

Bonne chance!
Madame

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

les Voyelles (VOWELS)

  
Listen to this recording to practice your vowel sounds.  The sound of the vowel itself is the same as the final sound in the sentence.




J'ai du chocolat

    J'ai du chocolat  A A A A A
    Je vais le manger  E é é é é
     Il est trop petit  I i i i i
    J'en veux un plus gros  O o o o o
     Tu n'en auras plus  U u u u u
    A é i o u !

la Phonologie: les Voyelles (VOWELS)

2. Regardez, écoutez, répétez et imitez! The following video clip shows you how the French vowel sounds LOOK like as well as sound like. Écoutez et répétez!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

l'Alphabet des Scouts - French Alphabet Scout Song

Here is a French alphabet song that children all over France know.  In French, each line of the song ends with a letter in the alphabet, going in alphabetical order. The last sound, of the last word of every line, rhymes with that line's letter.
In French, "w" is called "double v" ("double u") and "y" is called "i grec" ("Greek i") - in French and there are no words ending in the sounds "double v" or "i grec" - so they skipped these letters in the song. This reduced the alphabet to 24 letters. Therefore, each verse has exactly 4 lines and we have a perfect pattern for the song!

(The song is literally translated into English. Since it would be very difficult to follow the song's pattern in a translation, the English lyrics aren't following the alphabetical pattern. Therefore, we didn't write the letters at the end of each line.)
Click on the link below to hear the song and practice your alphabet.


Alphabet des Scouts
 
Un jour la troupe campa A A A
La pluie se mit à tomber B B B
L'orage à tout casser CCC
Faillit nous inonder A B C D

Le chef s' mit à crier É É É
À son adjoint Joseph F F F
Fais-nous vite à manger G G G
Les scouts sont sous la bâche E F G H

Les pinsons dans leur nid I I I
Les loups dans leur logis J J J
Chahutaient quel fracas K K K
Avec les hirondelles I J K L

Joseph fit de la crème M M M
Et du lapin de garenne N N N
Et même du cacao O O O
Mes amis quel souper M N O P

Soyez bien convaincus Q Q Q
Que la vie au grand air R R R
Fortifie la jeunesse S S S
Renforce la santé Q R S T

Maintenant qu'il ne pleut plus U U U
Les scouts vont se sauver V V V
Le temps est au beau fixe X X X
Plus besoin qu'on les aide U V X Z

l'alphabet français

3.  Écoutez la chanson de l'alphabet.





Saturday, September 20, 2014

Ecoutez de la musique et dansez...le Flash Mob en France

If you have ever seen a Flash mob video, here is one that took place in France with a popular song by Keen'v.".  Listen and perhaps even try to follow the dance moves if the spririt moves you!  Enjoy!


la rentrée - the return to school

le hockey!!!!!

For those of you who watch, play, or otherwise enjoy the game of hockey, here is a video about an aspiring French goalie.  See how many cognates that you can recognize and understand.  [A cognate is a word that looks, sounds, and means the same in French and English.]


Une Chanson de Disney...en français!

If you want to try to sing along..., try this video!

Monday, September 15, 2014

Vocabulaire - Chapitre Préliminaire

 


Click on the link above to practice the vocabulary that we have been learning since the beginning of school.
**Be sure to click on the AUDIO so that you can hear, read, and look at the words that you are practicing.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Comment ça va?

Here are two videos to help practice "Comment ça va?". The first will give you several examples of how you could answer this question in class. The second video is an upbeat video from Fandarama, a musical group from Madagascar, that has a lot of the vocabulary that we have and/or will be learning. I think you will enjoy it!


Saturday, September 6, 2014

Funny French Commercials

Here are a few examples of French commercials...

Why Study French?

Why Study a Foreign Language?

Justin Bieber parle français!!



 Check out this second music video...he sings most of the song en français!!!

 

The importance of Learning a Second Language

Let me know what you think of the following video...leave a comment for me.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

NEWSLETTER - septembre

septembre

Bonjour et bienvenue à la classe de français! Welcome to the first monthly Newsletter for your child’s French class. My name is Madame Heather Leger and I am looking forward to a great year with your child! Last week, I sent home the Foreign Language Newsletter and Student Pledge for you to read and discuss with your child. On the newsletter was listed my contact information as well as the link to my French Blog. By now, these papers have already been read and signed and should be in your child’s binder to keep for future reference.

This month, after choosing a French name , your child will learn how to ask someone’s name and how to answer “My name is…”. They will also learn greetings and expressions of goodbye, basic classroom commands, and other questions such as where you live, how you are feeling, and how old you are. All of this information will be combined into a variety of short conversations that will be practiced in class. Towards the end of the month, students will begin learning the French alphabet and how to spell words with French accents.

As soon as your child has access to their iPad, I would ask that you download the following apps (if they are not already on their iPad) that will be used periodically throughout the beginning of the year: Morfo, Voice Record Pro, Socrative, and SAS Flashcards. If your child has difficulty locating these apps, please ask them to see me during class.

As stated in my Welcome Letter, I maintain a French blog that is available to your child at mmehleger.blogspot.com Please have your child navigate to this site on his/her iPad and save it to the iPad homescreen. Students are encouraged to read, watch, listen and interact with the blog as it offers culture, French learning games, and review before quizzes/tests. If there is anything that you would like to share with me regarding your child that would help them have a successful year learning French, please email me. I can be reached at HLeger@shrewsbury.k12.ma.us.

Thank you for allowing me to teach your child French. ☺

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Devoirs: Ecoutez la chanson! - les salutations

What is school like in France?

Here is a short video on how children in France spend their schoolday.  How different is this from school here in the US?

la Rentrée






Louise se préparait hier à accueillir ses élèves de CP-CE1./Photo DDM, Caroline Muller. ladepeche.fr

La rentrée
roughly translates to "the coming in" or "the re-entry." In France, it marks the end of les vacances, the languid July-August period when nearly all small businesses close for at least a week or two (some take a whole month off). ~www.examiner.com

"A la rentrée!"--along with "Bonnes vacances!", it's the last phrase on everyone's lips as they head joyfully off on long July and August vacations. It means "(see you) at the return" or more literally, the re-entry, as I like to think of it. Because after the famously long French vacation (5 weeks per year mandatory, most of it taken in late summer), you've been away so long that you do feel like you're re-entering--like astronauts re-entering the earth's atmosphere after orbiting around in space. Re-entering the world you left behind after what seems like eons of days that you experienced in the slow-motion time warp of vacation. And from a distance that often seems as great as that to the moon, if you've spent those weeks in a very different culture or perhaps halfway around the globe. ~ www.frenchgardening.com

In August, major sectors of France slow down or close up shop completely. School is out, of course, the government is more or less AWOL, and many restaurants and other businesses are closed as well. Therefore, many French people are on vacation for all or part of the month, which means that la rentrée, in September, is more than just students and teachers going back to school; it's also everyone else returning home and going back to work, returning to normalcy.

À la rentrée ! is a valediction, similar to bonnes vacances ! (have a nice vacation), a way of saying good-bye and an acknowledgement that you'll see the other person when you both re-enter the real world after your prolonged vacation. ~www.about.com