I have decided to include non-fiction picture books in my recommendations, as they are so important too. It is not all about stories! First up: a book about handball, because it is a sport that is so popular in France and on the continent but not so well known in England where I live!
Language of text: French
Type of text: non-fiction book
Author or source: Jeremy Rouche & Theo Calmejane, mes docs, published by Milan
Intended age of students: Key Stage 2
Source reference: 9782745998309
Before I show the book to the children, I play the great “1 jour 1 question” video available here. A transcript is available on my website by clicking here. It gives the children a great introduction to the sport.
Then it is up to you to pick and choose what you are going to use from the book. There is so much that it cannot be exploited in one lesson! You can focus on some of the vocabulary, eg the double page on equipment, the one of different positions; or the context, the skills. You can look at the page on the court and compare it with a basketball court and/or a football pitch for instance, or focus on faults and sanctions. I would use if over a series of lessons. Again, the choice is yours! As far as it is possible, do let the children have a go at playing the game, even if it is with a basketball because you might not own a handball.
Rationale:
I want to use this book to help introduce what will be a new sport to most of my pupils.
It is also good for cross-curricular work – I love it when the class teacher and I can take the children out of the classroom to have a go at playing! The class teacher normally has a mini game with half the class whilst I do skills, inspired by ideas in the book, with the other half. I only own one ball, so we do those skills pretending to have balls, and it works, it is fun!
Please note that at the Tokyo Olympics games, the handball teams representing France, both male and female, got gold medals! You could watch some extracts from the finals on YouTube.
Outcomes:
This book will increase the children’s knowledge of a new sport. They need to know that not everyone does the same activities everywhere!
I use it and take my pupils to the hall (or outside, but it damages my ball which is an indoor one, as handball is supposed to be an indoor sport!)
The children could also research one of the famous handball players on the last double-page.
Topics or themes:
sports; sports day; cultural awareness
How much time required:
part of a series of lessons
You can buy the book on Amazon.co.uk by clicking here.
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Nathalie