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I bought this book at a car boot sale (well, a vide-grenier) in France this summer and fell in love with it instantly. What’s so great about it? You can start by watching a short introduction to this book (by me!) by clicking here. Then come back to the whole blog please!

Language of text: French
Type of text: picture book
Author or source: Chris Raschka
Intended age of students: Key Stage 1/2/3
Source reference: 9782882581778

This is a book which shows one side of a phone conversation with short, snappy and useful phrases in French. Should you want to use it, it does give a script of you the full dialogue at the end.
I have used it many times and always start by reading it all the way through; I exaggerate my tone of voice and facial expressions according to what I think/know is happening! Then I ask the children what THEY think was going on. They have come up with some amazing scenarios and I tend not to tell them the real one!
I may then read through it again and get the children to repeat each phrase after me whilst holding an imaginary phone; this has led in the past to children asking questions about French pronunciation, which is always great.
Afterwards, I pick the phrases or words which I want to work on with each each specific group.

Rationale:
This book has been loved by French native speakers and speakers of other languages alike; I have used it with little ones from the age of 4 to 11-year old and would use it with older children. It is a winner! I think this is because the words are so big that a whole class of children can see them and feel they are part of the story. The illustrations are so clear that every child can have a guess as to what is happening and what the boy might be feeling.

Outcomes:
The children love trying to guess and predict what is actually happening in the conversation. They then really enjoy joining in. Older students could attempt to come up, in French, with what the other person might be saying. Younger children will benefit from practising question words and useful phrases in French.

Topics or themes:
it can be used for a special date, when you want to focus on communication in French; it is great when you want to work on question words and pronunciation; it is also perfect for picking out useful phrases for in the classroom.
All children can do some work on answering the phone in French – check this blog more more ideas on this.

Grammar:
questions and question words

How much time required:
1 lesson

If you want to do work on how to speak on the phone in French, you will find some ideas and resources by clicking here.

What is YOUR favourite story about a phone conversation? Please share it below!