I discovered the author Gaëtan Dorémus and this brilliant book, “Les oreilles”, at the South Ken Kids Festival at the Institut Français in London in November 2017. I was a volunteer there and he was kind enough, right at the end of a book signing, to make time to sign my copy too! Merci Gaëtan!
Language of text: French
Type of text: picture book
Author or source: Gaëtan Dorémus
Intended age of students: Key Stages 1/2/3
Source reference: 9782226327406
This is the fab story of 2 friends who, upon seeing Dumbo fly, wish they had big ears like him… and imagine all the things they could do with them!
I read it to children and ask them, with each page, to join in with an action. There are lots of them!
Rationale:
I have used it in the past to introduce work on infinitives as they are found in all shapes and forms in this fun story. The illustrations are original, simple and clear for the children to use.
Outcomes:
Once we shared the story a couple of times, we focused on the verbs and worked out that there were 3 endings in the infinitive form: -er, -ir and -re. We classified some of them. The children also learnt about how reflexive verbs behave in the infinitive and how to make them negative.
You could then do dictionary work and ask the children to come up with other things they could do with big ears… or choose another body part and go wild! I am sure they would be very motivated to do it.
Topics or themes:
relationships; hobbies; using the dictionary to find infinitives
Grammar:
infinitives; infinitives of reflexive verbs; infinitives in the negative form; pronouns
How much time required:
1-2 lessons
Here is a sypnosis in French of the story if you would like to read it.
You can buy it here on Amazon.co.uk.
Gaëtan’s new website is here; you can all find out about his other work!
