I wrote a blog about this book 2 years ago but it got lost when I changed over my website… Luckily part of it was saved in the ALL Literature Wiki, where I also share nearly all my blogs. Check it out here, it is a treasure trove of texts in other languages and how you can exploit them!
Click here to watch a 2-minute video introduction to the story and see inside it.
Language of text: French
Type of text: picture book
Author or source: Geoffroy de Pennart, published by Kaléidoscope
Intended age of students: Key Stage 2/3
Source reference: 9782877673761
This is the story of a horrible witch who meets Prince Charming and kisses him… can you guess what happens next? It is such a fun take on a fairy tale!
I will give to the children a copy of the front and the inside covers: the inside cover is a list of words (mostly adjectives) which are found in the story… but many will not be in your standard school dictionary, so access to something like word reference will be required for a competition, in groups, to see who can find the most words in, let’s say, 3 minutes. We will then discuss what the story might be about before we share it.
Rationale:
This story is ideal to share with pupils around Halloween time without doing Halloween, as it is not celebrated a lot in France.
It is extremely rich in varied and unusual vocabulary, mostly adjectives, so this will be the main focus of our work.
Outcomes:
One of the challenges for the pupils will be to find names of animals (with help: indicate how many can be found on each suitable page). The other and main task will be to find, in a set time, adjectives. When found, this will help introduce or reinforce the idea of agreements and the rules which go with it.
Topics or themes:
Adjectives and agreements; animals (some unusual ones which the children will love!)
Grammar:
Adjectives and agreements
How much time required: 1 lesson
Do you like this story? Then click here for recommendations of other books by the same author!
You can read about more stories about ghosts and other scary things in my dedicated blog, by clicking here!
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