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I asked my 17-year old last night if he remembered this book from when he was little… and he did! This surely is a sign of a great book!
You can watch a short vlog about it here.

Language of text: French
Type of text: picture book
Author or source: Antonin Louchard
Intended age of students: Key Stage 2/3
Source reference: 2020404419

Every other page in this book is the word “gribouillis” (scribbles) and a variation on it, ending in a different sound. Then on the following page there is a picture of something which rhymes with that sound.
This book can be read to young children just to get them used to French sounds as it has lovely illustrations to go with it. They can join in with “gribouillis” and a scribbling action, and with other variations on the word.
With older children, I will read this book backwards, starting at the end! They will then have to come up with which variation of “gribouillis” was on the page before. This will show me that they can recognise the sounds “age”, “on”, “ure” and “i”.
Rationale:
I want to use this book to work on phonics and phonemes with the children. Hopefully they are varied enough for them to feel that they can differentiate them and achieve success.
This book is so simple it can be read to little ones but also exploited in so many different ways with older primary childre: have a look at all the grammar points you could choose to teach or revisit through this simple idea for a book!
Outcomes:
After working on this book, children will feel more confident about the sounds covered, how to recognise them and how to transcribe them.
They could then try to come up with their own French words, from the vocabulary which they already know or just looking through the pages of a dictionary, whcih rhyme with the sounds in the story. They could even come up with new variations of the word “gribouillis” and write phrases to rhyme with those; there are no limits as to how you could use this book!
Topics or themes:
awareness of French sounds and phonemes; French nouns; masculine and feminine; see grammar points below
Grammar:
possession in French; adjectives which go before the noun they describe in French (nouveau/nouvelle, joli(e), petit(e)); plurals of French nouns; prepositions “sur” and “dans”
How much time required:
1-2 lessons
If you like this week’s, do check out other great books by Antonin Louchard here.
What is your favourite book to use to help your children with French sounds and rhymes?