This was my Christmas story of choice for the winter 2016 and I still love it! I now have all the accessories to go with it too… There are another 2 “Petite Taupe” stories; find out about the original one here!
Click below for a short introductory video to the story:
Language of text: French
Type of text: picture book
Author or source: Orianne Lallemand, Claire Frossard
Intended age of students: Key Stage 2/3
Source reference: 9782733836217
Approaches:
You can use this story even if you have never shared “Petite taupe, ouvre-moi ta porte!” with your class; however I recommend you do because it will be even better if the children are already familiar with all the characters and it is a fantastic story! You can read more about the original Petite taupe story here!
This story can be used to introduce or recap vocabulary which relates to Christmas as every animal brings something to help Petite taupe celebrate in her house. I am lucky enough to own hand puppets of all the animals and gathering the things they bring is fairly easy; if you don’t have hand puppets you can print pictures of the animals (and the objects) on cards and make them circulate as you tell the story.
The children could of course try to predict who is going to come next and what they might bring with them.
Rationale:
I want to use this book because it is a lovely story about friendship and thinking of others around special occasions like Christmas. From a cultural point of view, it enables you to discuss with the children how in France people have a big meal on Christmas Eve.
Outcomes:
All children will enjoy joining in with “Toc-toc-toc! Qui frappe à la porte (de la petite taupe)?” They will feel more confident after practising the names of the animals and of the objects whilst enjoying the story. You can challenge them to remember who is bringing one thus making them work on their memorisation skills. They could then use their imagination and dictionary skills to look up extra forest animals and what they might bring to the feast in French!
Topics or themes:
Christmas, animals of the forest
How much time required:
1 lesson
There are some amazing resources to exploit this album further here . Enjoy it!
You can buy it from Little Linguist by clicking here.
Do you like moles? Check out this other “Petite Taupe” story by Orianne Lallemand illustrated Claire Frossard. You must also check out “De la petite taupe qui voulait savoir qui lui avait fait sur la tête” here … but be warned, it is an acquired taste!!
There are more ideas of Christmas stories in French and how you can exploit them here. Please share your favourite one in the comments!
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Merci !
Nathalie