Before I met him in Paris, I knew I likes Matthieu Maudet’s illustrations (check out “Les orteils n’ont pas de nom” & “Bonjour docteur” as well as others here); however I didn’t know he wrote stories of his own! Here is one of them which I love!!
What do you think Matthieu is drawing for Mini Miss Paris?!? Read on!
Author or source : Matthieu Maudet
Intended age of students : Key Stage 1/2/3
Source reference : 9782211230964
Approaches :
This is the story of a little girl who is looking for her socks… however her socks turn into animals, which makes it hard (but fun !) for her to catch them !
I want to share the story with children as they will enjoy the simple text and the beautiful, simple and clear pictures ; it is an easy story for everyone to be able to understand whether they know much French or not… and can lead to developing so many linguistic skills !!
Rationale :
The text is accessible yet so rich that you can pick what you want to focus on with your children and build on it ; for instance this story could be exploited to teach/reinforce positions : the socks are “sous le lit” but where else could they be hiding from Josette ?! The children may even want to bring old socks in and if you have time make their own chosen sock puppet… who doesn’t love a sock puppet ?! Plus any sort of puppet comes in handy in languages lessons !!
Outcomes :
After sharing the story, the children can write their own simplified version with “Hé ! Je ne suis pas une… Je suis…” ; they can turn their socks into anything they like and use the dictionaries if necessary. This will enable you to develop the vocabulary of animals and/or the negative form of “être”. They could even use a different simple shape to start with, eg another item of clothing : “je ne suis pas un pantalon !” If you choose a masculine word next you can talk with the children about agreement.
Topics or themes :
Clothes ; animals ; positions
Grammar :
Negatives ; the imperative ; masculine and feminine ; agreements
How much time required :
1-3 lessons
Yes, he drew a wolf!! How did he know she loves them?! We didn’t tell him, promise!!
What is your favourite animal in picture books? I have been asked before why I seemed to be so obsessed with wolves… but they are fab, aren’t they?!
