Au revoir et merci!

Sadly, this will be my (Madamoiselle Leda’s) last post on this blog, as I’ve finished teaching French at Montessori. Teaching was my senior project, and it was an absolutely amazing opportunity, one that I will never forget. It was such a joy to have the opportunity to teach such bright, funny, and generally wonderful children and to get to watch them grow and learn before my own eyes. I absolutely love the French language and culture, and I hope that I passed a little bit of that love on to the children.

For my last lesson, we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but in this story Monsieur la chenille (Mr. Caterpillar) was French, so we had to help tell him what foods and how many of each he was going to eat. La Chenille qui avait grand faim (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) was one of my favorite books as a kid, and when I saw the caterpillar puppet in the Montessori room last June, I was instantly so excited to see how we could incorporate it into our lesson plans for this year. While I’ve loved each and every day at Montessori, the day we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar was probably one of my favorite days.

Reading the Very Hungry Caterpillar to the class -- at this point Monsieur la Chenille is eating trois prunes (three plums)

Introducing Monsieur la Chenille to the class

My big final project for the year was our Day in Paris, which was right before spring break. It was so much fun and went better than I ever could have hoped for! While I helped plan the entire event (along with Anna, Bev, and all the wonderful teachers at Montessori), “in Paris” I got to sell the children snack at the market. Ordering their snack incorporated material from the entire year — they had to know colors, foods, and numbers (they each got trois euros, three euros, to buy their snack with). It was incredible to see how much they’ve learned — and retained — this year! I had such a fun time traveling to Paris for the day with all the students.

Mademoiselle Leda serving snack at the market

I’d just like to thank Madame Anna, Bev, and all the wonderful teachers at Montessori for all their guidance and support this year, and to all the parents for allowing me to teach their children French this year (which was as much a learning experience as a teaching experience for me!). This experience was one of the highlights of my year and I’ll truly never forget it.

Au revoir et merci beaucoup! (Goodbye and thank you very much!)

J’aime la nourriture!

To help review the foods we learned in class, we learned a simple song that can be sung with any of the fruits or other foods you would like!

J’aime la nourriture (I like food) — to the tune of “The Bear Went Over the Mountain”

J’aime manger le fromage. (3x) (I like to eat cheese.)
C’est une bonne nourriture. (It’s a good food.)

J’aim boire le lait. (3x) (I like to drink milk.)
C’est une bonne boisson. (It’s a good drink.)

J’aime manger le pain. (3x) (I like to eat bread.)
C’est une bonne nourriture. (It’s a good food.)

J’aim boire le jus. (3x) (I like to drink juice.)
C’est une bonne boisson. (It’s a good drink.)

Click here to listen to Madame Anna singing J’aime la nourriture

Snack at our Day in Paris

To get ready for our day in Paris, the children learned how to ask for the special snack they would be eating. To ask for something, you can say Je veux (I want), je voudrais (I would like), or je veux acheter (I want to buy). Also, in French when asking for some of something, you say “du” instead of “le” before the word — so you say Je veux du pain as opposed to j’aime le pain– otherwise you would be asking for bread in general, or all the bread in the world!

For our snack, the children had the choice between:

• du lait(milk)
• du lait au chocolat (chocolate milk — the children didn’t have this option at the Day in Paris but we learned it anyway!)
• du fromage orange (orange cheese)
• du fromage blanc(white cheese)
• de l’eau (because “eau” starts with a vowel)(water)
• du pain(bread)
• du jus de pomme(orange juice)
• du jus d’orange (apple juice)
• des raisins violets(purple grapes)
• des raisins verts (green grapes)

At the Day in Paris, a typical conversation at the market might have proceeded:

Madamoiselle Leda:Tu veux du fromage orange ou du fromage blanc?(Do you want orange cheese or white cheese?)

Pierre (student): Du fromage orange, s’il vous plait (Orange cheese, please)

Madamoiselle Leda: Voila (here you go!)

Pierre: Merci!

French people are very polite and always say s’il vous plait and merci (please and thank you)!

Frère Jacques

To get ready for our Day in Paris (next Tuesday, March 27!), last week we learned another traditional French song called Frère Jacques.

Frère Jacques

English translation (in parentheses) and the hand motions we learned [in brackets]

Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, (Brother John [or Friar Jack], Brother John [or Friar Jack],)
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? (Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?) [Lay head on hands.]
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! (Ring the morning bells! Ring the morning bells!) [Make motion of swinging rope to ring bells.]
Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don. (Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.) [Clap three times.]

Click here to listen to your children sing Frère Jacques

We also learned a version we made up for the girls, called Soeur Jeanette.

Soeur Jeanette
English translation (in parentheses) and the hand motions we learned [in brackets]

Soeur Jeanette, Soeur Jeanette, (Sister Jane, Sister Jane)
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? (Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?) [Lay head on hands.]
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! (Ring the morning bells! Ring the morning bells!) [Make motion of swinging rope to ring bells.]
Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don. (Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.) [Clap three times.]

Click here to listen to your children sing Soeur Jeanette

One very famous French landmark is Notre Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris. In this and many other cathedrals, there are large bells. Can you see the bell towers?

Notre Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris. Can you see the bells?

It used to be that it was the job of the friars (Catholic monks, or frères in French) to ring the bells in the cathedral in the morning to make sure everybody woke up in time to go to church. But during this song, Friar Jack, or Frere Jacques, was sleeping and didn’t wake up in time to ring the morning bells (les matines)!

A bell inside Notre Dame de Paris

We also learned about le Tour Eiffel (the Eiffel Tower), another very famous French landmark. Le Tour Eiffel is in the center of Paris and was designed by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World’s Fair.

La Nourriture

This week, we started our unit on food (la norriture). Mademoiselle Leda is very excited because she’ll be leading all the lessons for this unit!

To start our unit, we met a new puppet, Monsieur le Chef (Mr. Chef), who taught us about les fruits (fruits). We have learned six fruits so far:

• une pomme (an apple)
• une orange(an orange)
• des raisins (grapes)
• une fraise (a strawberry)
• une poire (a pear)
• une prune(a plum)

We also reviewed how to say “I like”:(J’aime), so we can talk about what fruits we like:

Tu aimes les pommes? (Do you like apples?)

Oui, j’aime les pommes!(Yes, I like apples!)

Sur le Pont d’Avignon

To get ready for our “Day in Paris” (March 27!), we have been learning some traditional French songs in class. Last week, we learnedSur le Pont d’Avignon:

Chorus

Sur le pont d’Avignon [Make a “bridge” with your hands]
L’on y danse, l’on y danse. [Make a flourish with one hand, then the other]
Sur le pont d’Avignon [Make a “bridge” with your hands]
L’on y danse tous en rond. [Make a flourish with one hand, then an “O” above your head]

On the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there, we all dance there.
On the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there in a ring.

First Verse

Les beaux messieurs font comme ça [The boys bow, etc.]
Et puis encore comme ça. [Hands out in front of you, then bow again]

The handsome young gentlemen do like this (bow)
And then like that.

Second Verse

Les belles dames font comme ça [The girls curtsy, etc.]
Et puis encore comme ça. [Hands out in front of you, then curtsy again]

The beautiful young ladies do like this (curtsy)
And then like that.

Click here to listen to your children singing Sur le Pont d’Avignon

Color song #2

To finish our color unit, we learned another song about colors last week!

Click here to listen — In this recording, Madame Anna sings each line first, and then the children repeat the line
Colors Song #2
(To the tune of “Frere Jacques”–point to colors as you sing them)

Bleu, rouge, vert, jaune. (2x)

Rose et blanc. (2x)

Orange, violet. (2x)

Les couleurs. (2x)

Mardi Gras

Last Tuesday was Mardi Gras! Since Mardi Gras is a French holiday, we learned a little bit about it in class.

In French, Gras means fat and Mardi is Tuesday, so Mardi Gras literally means “Fat Tuesday.”

Mardi Gras is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. In the Christian church, Lent is the 40 days before Easter. In France and other countries, during Lent people are not supposed to eat butter or eggs or meat. So the day before Lent starts, on Mardi Gras, they eat lots of butter and eggs and meat and “get fat,” since they won’t be allowed to eat those things for forty days.

The tradition of dying and hiding Easter eggs is also Lenten in origin. During Lent, people are not supposed to eat eggs, but the hens don’t stop laying them! People started dying Easter eggs to use up the excess eggs they had during Lent.

During Mardi Gras festivities, people often wear elaborate masks like this one

Elaborate parties and parades like this one are often held for Mardi Gras -- in France, they're called "les carnavals"

Les couleurs

Last week we started our unit on colors (les couleurs)!  To help remember the colors we’ve learned, we have a small toy for each color:

• bleu (blue): a blue fish
• vert (green): an angry green army plane
• rouge (red): a fast red car
• jaune (yellow): a sleepy yellow face
• rose (pink): a pink rose
• violet (purple): a purple violet
• blanc (white): a blank piece of paper
• orange (orange): an orange!

We also learned a song to help us remember the names of the colors, which is to the tune of Glug, Glug Went the Little Green Frog.

Click here to listen!

Colors song 1

Bleu Bleu goes the little blue fish.

Rouge Rouge goes the fast red car.

Vert Vert goes the angry green airplane.

And Jaune Jaune goes the sleepy yellow face.

Rose Rose goes the pretty pink rose.

Orange goes the delicious orange.

Violet goes the violet plant.

and Blanc Blanc goes the blank white paper.

De Bons Amis

Last week, Pierre and Claire helped us learn a new song! Here are the words:

“De Bons Amis” (“Good Friends”) (To the tune of Three Blind Mice)
(Two friends sing this together while holding hands and turning in a circle.)

listen to the song here!

note: In French “un ami” is a male friend and “une amie” is a female friend. However, this doesn’t change the pronunciation.

First Friend:  Je m’appelle _____________________.  (2x)  (My name is ______________________.)
Second Friend: Je m’appelle ___________________. (2x)  (My name is ______________________.)
Together: Nous sommes de bons amis!  (2x)  (We are good friends!)
First Friend: Salut, mon ami(e).  (Hi, my friend.)
Second Friend: Salut, mon ami(e).   (Hi, my friend.)