I bought this cute little story a couple of years back… but seemed to have misplaced it… so I bought it again second hand at a vide-grenier at home around Easter!
Click here to watch a short video of me showing you what the book looks like.
Language of text: French
Type of text: picture book
Author or source: Orianne Lallemand, Eléonore Thuillier, published by Auzou
Intended age of students: Key Stage 1/2
Source reference: 9782733822388
This is a lovely story about P’tit Loup’s first day at school: to start with he is worried, but the book focuses on all the great things he does throughout the day.
You can look at the cover with the children. Where do they think P’tit Loup is going to go today? They may not think of school as he is not wearing a uniform and he is taking a rucksack. Cultural differences can be discussed. Give to the children the challenge of noticing, as you read the story, and remembering what P’tit Loup is doing at school today.
You can read the story all the way through, showing the images as well of course, then ask the children what they have understood or worked out and how: they will mention pictures and hopefully certain words too.
On second reading, you can stop after each page to check your children’s understanding then get them to join in with actions to demonstrate it. You can discuss cultural differences as you come across them.
Lastly, you can pick out the words and phrases that you want the children to learn from this book and practise them.
Rationale:
This story is simple: there is only one short sentence in French per page and it is illustrated in a very clear manner, so it is accessible to all children, even if they do not know French.
The story is full of cognates, which makes it the perfect story to ask your children to be language detectives with: highlight the words you want them to work out and associate with English words (see presentation here for ideas of the words you may want to work with: cognates in ptit loup rentre a lecole).
Outcomes:
This story will reassure young children that it is ok to feel anxious about school, but hopefully it will all be fine.
It shows aspects which are specific to schools in France.
The work on cognates will develop the children’s skills as language detectives (inference).
Topics or themes:
going back to school; school in France
Grammar:
introduction to the prefect tense in French – spotting it
How much time required:
1 lesson
You can buy this lovely story here at Little Linguist.
Looking for a different story in French about school? Click here to look at others I recommend too!
What is your favourite story with which to start a new school year? Please tell me in the comments! Merci !
N.B. Would you like to read about books, ideas, resources and opportunities for the primary languages classroom? Then click here to receive a monthly round up of my blog (and more!) straight in your mail box!
