9B Las Tiendas de ropa dialogues

Today we peer assessed our shopping dialogues. Add your What Went Well comments and your Even Better If comments below. Sound files will be added to this post later...

Miss Hardman

Year 10 Au Camping

Here is some of our year 10 work on the topic "Out and About" where pupils had to design an advert for a camping site. I have given comments but written on the rearside of these pieces as they seemed too nice to write on! Why don't you add comments below.

New Flag pictures!

7D have been helping to create their own versions of foreign flag pictures for the blog. Look below on the right hand menu to see the examples. We have put the French one up today (thank you student "AR KA$H" ). More to follow... :o)

8S Spanish Invitation Dialogue Medley

¡Hola!

Today we recorded some dialogues in Spanish using our Easi-Speak microphones. The sound files were then combined into a medley using Audacity software and then uploaded to our Podcast. Listen to the podcast entry for today's date and leave some comments below.

What do you think the students did well (WWW) and what could they improve on (EBI)?

Señorita Hardman

Languages Laboratory - Teacher review

I loved our lessons in our languages laboratory today. My year 10 pupils had the opportunity to record a conversation complaining about a campsite that they had stayed at. This followed on from a written homework of the same nature. Each pupil then listened to another pupil's recording. They were provided with the Edexcel speaking criteria and a peer assessment sheet where they could comment on their partner's achievements within this speaking activity. Well done to all of them for their hard work today.

Miss Hardman

Spanish Verbs

Having problems with your Spanish verbs? Check out the below!

(Miss Hardman)

Homework / Les Devoirs / Los Deberes... by Miss E Hardman

This is a great site - based on a recent discussion I had with one of my year 10 French class I've called my wall "Homework / Les Devoirs / Los Deberes" - what kind of languages homework would you like to do? Click on "Post a sticky" to add your ideas. (UPDATE - due to an error I have recreated the wall - thanks to those who added ideas previously but unfortunately we could not see them. Please try again! Thank you - Miss Hardman)

RSS Feeds - RTL.fr

Want to listen to French Radio online? Check out this link to various RSS feeds for "RTL.fr - a French radio station.

Écoutez bien! RSS

Blogtastic!

Here at Weald we see the value of blogs a source of information to the wider community. Hence the launch of our WoK to Weald MFL Transition blog! Do take a visit to check out our virtual tour which our year 10 "Les Langues et la Technologie" students put together in July 2009. See also the student reviews on the making of the virtual tour earlier in this blog.

Why Learn Languages?

We often hear the "Why learn languages?" cry when people rely on English as being one of the current international languages. However, one must be careful in setting presumpions about the prowess of English in the world's eyes, especially when you are not on your own home turf (WARNING: this makes uncomfortable watching):



"Just imagine a German Reporter demanding that our own Mr Milliband, his counterpart, answers his questions in German!" José Picardo, Teacher, Nottingham High School

European Day of Languages 26th September 2009

This week our year 9 French students are celebrating the European Day of Languages by entering a French poetry competition! See some of the results below:

Poetry Competition 2009-10

See more presentations by wok20mfl Upload your own PowerPoint presentations

You can read more about the European Day of Languages at the Council of Europe's website.

Les Languages et La Technologie - UPDATE

At the end of last term we had a successful videoconference with Mascalls Secondary School. The pupils presented their schools in French and played buzz word bingo on the topic of Careers and Work Experience. This was a timely topic as both sides of students were about to embark, or had just embarked upon their work experience placements. Students also learned about Videoconference etiquette and presentation skills.

A successful videoconference needs careful preparation and organisation, and the students demonstrated professionalism and teamwork throughout. We look forward to holding more in the future.

Mr Oakley checking the webcam...









...and Miss Sheehan helping to test the equipment prior to the videoconference.

Intercultural Understanding

Check out this video link: Eels

As we welcome our new year 7's we are embarking on a transition project which includes looking at Intercultural Understanding. This is reflected in the KS2 Framework for Languages and we hope to build upon students learning in this area as they start their KS3 language studies.

Year 10 German Exchange, May 2009

Our Year 10 students went to stay with their German partners from the Beethoven Gymnasium, our German partner school in Bonn, in May this year. Luckily we had great weather most of the time so our excursions were really good. We went on a double-decker train from Bonn to Düsseldorf where we saw the really expensive shops as well as visiting the 21st century art museum.

Some students went with their families to Fantasialand which is one of the biggest theme parks in Germany and others went to Aqualand which is a huge water park.

Another day out was a trip down the river Rhine by coach to a picturesque village called Bacharach where we embarked on a cruise boat and sailed up river to the Marksburg castle. The picture shows a view from the castle battlements down on to the river. It is one of the few castles in Germany which has furniture and interior decoration. We saw the medieval kitchen, the bedroom complete with a very short bed with curtains (they believed you should not sleep lying down in case you did not wake up again) and a baby’s crib, cannons with their muzzles pointing down to the river, a herb garden and the torture chamber.

We went to the school one morning which was very different from Weald of Kent, not least because it started at 8am and finished at 1.15. On our last day we took the train again, this time to Cologne. Lots of us climbed to the top of the cathedral tower which was over 400 steps and from where, once we had got our breath back, we had a fantastic view over the city. We then had time to look around the shopping streets and spend the rest of our money.

The students had a great time with their partners and families and learned such a lot of German during their stay.

Work Experience in France - Student Feedback

Let me first start by saying that I never chose Weald of Kent aged eleven because it specialised in languages, but by the end of year ten I found that language was definitely something that I wanted to be a part of my future, and in comparison to other schools in our area Weald of Kent offers the most outstanding opportunities for language students. One of which is doing work experience in France.

Although the emphasis of ‘work experience’ is usually the aspect of ‘work’ I found that the entire ‘experience’ was what made the trip particularly rewarding. Working in France really offers a unique insight into a completely different way of life and gives a rare opportunity to really appreciate another culture. I found my colleagues more than enthusiastic to talk to me about the way things work in France and, having actually experienced it for myself, I now understand and appreciate it to a level far above and beyond just reading from a textbook. As I personally worked in two different placements, a town hall and a library, I was also able to experience as much as possible in a short space of time.

Needless to say, in terms of language I feel much improved and more than anything a lot more confident in my skills which I feel will do nothing but help me as I begin my A2 year of French.
Besides the language and cultural aspect of the trip, it was genuinely fun and even after five years at the same school we all found that we made lots of new friends and memories which are in many ways just as valuable as anything else. It was really one of those experiences that we just didn’t want to end.

I think the scariest thing about the work experience was actually being brave enough to go. This wasn’t helped by the fact that I was met with a look of horror and disbelief whenever I mentioned ‘France’ and ‘work experience’ in the same sentence. However, once I was there I felt completely supported by my colleagues, French family, friends and teachers. Everyone in the workplace seemed just as interested in “une anglaise” as I was in them and although I was sad to leave, I know that I made international connections that are invaluable for my future in languages. Alice yr 11 2009

In June 2009 I took part in one of the biggest challenges of my life so far. I spent a week in Elbeuf, France on work experience at a local primary school. Having decided not to carry on French after GCSE in year 10 along with the rest of the people on the exchange, I was pretty nervous, however I was thankful that I was paired up with an AS student.

As we walked across the playground for the first time, the children were all amazed. It was as if we were aliens. They pointed and whispered “L’Anglais”. This interest in us did not die down over the week though. You could guarantee that that at each break or lunch there would be a small (or large) group of group of children gathered round you, keen to try out their best English, asking who you’re going to eat lunch with or whether Mr Oakley is your dad or simply babbling on in French about their favourite music or hobbies.

Throughout the week we travelled round each class in the school, ranging from five and six year olds up to eleven and twelve year olds. In each class we would introduce ourselves in English and answer some of their questions the best we could, even when one asked us, “is this a cat?” We would then teach them a bit of English and even teach them English songs such as “heads, shoulders, knees and toes” which became very popular and was requested all round the school by both teachers and students. We also had fun reading them books and teaching them English games which proved very hard to explain, especially in French. On the last day at the school, I even had to write about 20 autographs!

This trip was not only great fun but was also very rewarding when you improve their English and your own French. It is also very rewarding when you get home and realise that you survived a working week in a foreign country, and enjoyed it! I would recommend this trip to anyone who wishes to gain valuable work experience. Chloe Yr 11 2009

I have to admit, during the weeks leading up to the exchange, I did wonder occasionally how I was ever going to make it through a week in a French Primary school, but now I can’t believe I ever had doubts!

The most rewarding thing about working in the primary school was the reception that the children gave me. I was amazed at just how attentive they were while I taught them “Baa- Baa Black sheep,” read them “Little Red Riding Hood,” and answered their questions about England. It made me feel very proud that they would come up to me during play-time and sing “Baa- Baa Black Sheep” back to me, as it proved that they had really listened and enjoyed my teaching. At first, it was extremely difficult to understand their questions when they all tried to talk to me at once in very excited, quiet French! However, by the end I found that most of the time I could understand their questions, and was used to hearing variations on the question “comment dit-on … en anglais?” at least fifty times a day!

I was very sad to leave the pupils and teachers of Ecole Louis Pergaud, and was overwhelmed by the number of children that surrounded me for a goodbye kiss when I was leaving, asking when I was coming back, and waving pictures they had drawn for me and notes on the theme “MADDY, JTM!” (JTM being an abbreviation of Je T’aime) and so I received a solid education in French text language too!

Even if at first doing my work experience in France seemed like a daunting prospect, in the end it was absolutely worth it! Not only am I more confident in speaking and understanding the French language, but I have also improved my overall confidence, and made new friends. Maddie Yr 11 2009

When the opportunity of going to France came up I jumped at the chance. I got rather excited about going to France, the week before the French exchanges arrived for their week in England. I immediately formed a friendship with my exchange partner. This was just one less thing that I would have to worry about. At this point the work experience part hadn’t registered into my mind properly yet. Then it dawned on me I would actually have to speak French in a French School. The idea seems very daunting, however I was reassured by friends who had already been through the experience, that it is a wonderful experience working in a foreign country. I got rather apprehensive as my first day at work became closer and closer. It began on Monday 22nd June. The minute I stepped on to the playground of “Ecole Elementaire de la Londe” I felt an enormous welcome from the children. They swarmed like bees around me. I was the “new” person at the school. They were obviously prepared. The members of staff greeted me and I introduced myself.

The first class I went into was CM1, the English equivalent of Year 5. Their first lesson with Madame Duhamel was French. I thought to myself great getting to learn French in a primary school, little did I know that the French language had more tenses than I could ever imagine. The “Passe Simple” could not have possibly confused me more. Next was Maths a subject you can understand in almost any language, decimals was their first assignment.

During the course of the week children would come up to me to ask rather childish questions for example “How do you say Lucie in English?” They all expected something extravagant, but was quite disappointed to find out there wasn’t that much of a difference. There were so many great memories with the children that I hope to cherish. I was also able to visit CM2, equivalent to year 6. They seemed more mature, I was given the opportunity to help with their English lesson which was a brilliant experience. I found out that for 11 year olds their level of English was much higher than mine in primary school or even at the age of eleven. I probably just managed to say “Hello, my name is...”. I found it rather odd that in the school that English is a big part of their curriculum. Another fond memory that will definitely be kept is when I showed a picture of the Royal Family, they were able to pick out the Queen. The teacher then asked “What is Buckingham Palace?” One child put their hand up very confidently said “It’s a Casino.” Then another child shouted “No it’s a Hotel.” At this point the teacher, rather embarrassed reassured the two children that it was neither a casino or a hotel it is in fact the Queens’ residence. Later they thoroughly took advantage of my presence, they began to quiz me on my Chinese background. The question varied from “Why do Chinese family prefer boys?” to “Can you sing the Chinese alphabet? ”, which doesn’t exist. It was a pleasure to be able to explain and let them explore a different culture although I had never thought of it before.

Luckily I was also able to interact with CE1 and CP, children aged 6 and 7. They were an entirely different experience from the older kids, they required more patience and attention. I had the opportunity to read to them which they enjoyed very much.

Along with patience one of the key skills that you need with children, I have also improved my confidence levels as I was required to be confident in introducing myself and be confident in my French. The experience has improved my French speaking , along with my French listening. Another skill I have definitively improved is being flexible. I was not given much notice about what class I was going to or what I was doing so I had to adapt what I had to what age children I was teaching.

The whole experience lasted just 4 days but it has made me consider working with children. I have learnt many skills during this work experience the most important one especially with children is patience and understanding. In conclusion this was a truly awesome experience, to be able to work in a foreign country is a feat in itself. The opportunity to see how a school works is another. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking to work in abroad in the future as there is a choice of place to work or specifically working with kids in general. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I would recommend to everyone. Maggie Yr 11 Student

On Saturday 20th June 2009 I went to France, near Elbeuf on an exchange and for work experience. As I had not studied A/S French it was a daunting experience but my language came back to me and improved drastically!

My French exchange partner and I grew a fantastic friendship and although our language limited conversations sometimes, we helped each other and learnt a lot from each other. We have arranged future exchanges and visits as we do not want to lose contact and it will continue to build and improve my French.

The work experience aspect of the trip was also extremely valuable. Working with the French children was thoroughly enjoyable and gave me a chance to see how small children express themselves differently to teenagers and adults. Although the pupils spoke fast, it tested my French and gave me a chance to use my language in a working environment. When working with the children I was able to teach them English songs such as ‘heads, shoulders, knees and toes’, games and I worked through worksheets with them that I had made for them to learn English vocabulary. I also helped teach maths and physical education in French and was able to work one on one with an autistic child who refused to work and I helped him with his maths work.

All in all, the trip was a fantastic experience and something I would thoroughly recommend. Not only did my language improve but I learnt a lot about French culture and how a French school runs. The exchange was brilliant! Abbi Yr 11 2009

WOK YEAR 7s - why learning languages is fun

What we like about languages at Weald of Kent!!!
Hello! What we like about learning languages at Weald of Kent is that the lessons are not just boring writing and copying, but we do drama, posters, projects and many more interesting things to get the new language into our brains to help us in later life
Katrina and Ellen

I think that German is great and didn’t think it would be as good as it has been.

MFL @ W.O.K IS FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Emma

I find German not too difficult and fun to learn. I like learning new words with different meanings. I think it is hard to learn verb endings but the posters and leaflets make it easier to remember. It is nice to be able to say things that people don’t understand. We also use great websites like KLAR and LINGUASCOPE. Valerie

WHY I WANT TO CARRY ON LEARNING JAPANESE

I have really enjoyed learning Japanese over the past two years as it has been interesting and fun, I have learnt a lot and have found out a vast amount about Japanese culture as well as the language.
We have done 4 external exams to get certificates. I liked doing this as it gets you used to the pressure of exams and I also got the chance to make sure that I knew and understood all of the new vocabulary that I have learnt.
I have learnt so much in the past two years. When I came to Weald in September 2007 I didn’t know any Japanese and now I know a lot of vocabulary. I have also learnt hiragana, katakana and kanji. This has been difficult at times but very interesting and is good to now know even though sometimes I still get stuck on a few symbols that I need to learn a bit more to enable me to use them with more confidence.
I have chosen to carry on with Japanese and take it for GCSE. I chose to continue with it because it is an interesting language and this way I can embrace learning even more and not forget what I have learnt in the previous couple of years. I have learnt so much Japanese now that I just want to know more.
In Year 10 or 11 there is a Japanese trip and I cannot wait for that and I am looking forward to the next three years in Japanese.


Melissa Year 8

STARTING JAPANESE

This is what Year 7 students say about learning Japanese at Weald...

"At first I thought that Japanese would be really difficult but now I've been doing it for a whole year it's not. I actually understand the language! The most difficult part was learning hiragana. English only has 26 letters. Hiragana is over 46 symbols and sounds."

"I found travel easiest to learn. I found remembering the 46 hiragana the hardest."

"Interesting and fun things about Japanese: playing games while learning, working in groups, doing origami, creating things, being able to write hiragana with fun added!"

"At first I thought Japanese was going to be really hard but by the time I was on my 5th lesson I found it easier. We learnt about nationality and pets which were fun to learn, as everything is."

"At WOK Japanese is great fun and extremely interesting. It gives us a chance not only to learn the language but to explore their culture as well. Learning the Japanese script has been interesting but very challenging as there are 4 Japanese alphabets! (hiragana, kanji, katakana and romaji!!) At the start of the year most of us knew little to no Japanese, but now we can confidently give a short speech about ourselves to the entire class!"

Listen to some of our interviews!

http://mbm-wok.podomatic.com/entry/2009-07-12T14_55_05-07_00
http://mbm-wok.podomatic.com/entry/2009-07-12T14_43_30-07_00

Project 1: Avatars - 2D

We have been researching the use of Avatars to allow students to have a virtual presence on our blog. Vokis is one way, however we wanted to find a more immediate solution for pupils to add their identity to any text or other work input on the blog. We discovered
Laura Yr 10

Suzi Yr 10













In fact the MFL department went Avatar mad and many a hilarious moment was spent as the staff created their own...

Miss D Schulz - Voki Fever!

Miss Schulz, one of our German teachers, was so impressed by our year 10's Voki project that she couldn't wait to have a go herself. Check out the results below:

Project 1: Avatars - Student Reviews

By using the avatar Voki to create a person who speaks French and is set at my school helped me learn new skills in ICT. I now know how to set up my own avatar on a website quickly and easily. I have also learnt how to record my own voice into a small sound clip and upload it to a computer, and then upload that file onto my website as well as a photo of the school too.

The Voki website is useful for students, as you learn new ICT skills for avatars, and can listen to your accent and learn how to pronounce the words correctly.

Becky Yr 10



We created voki’s about our school by using photos of its surroundings such as the foyer, the canteen and the school field, so that they can be used by year 6 pupils to enable an understanding of the feel of the school. As with any new technology we had our issues, for example whilst trying to upload photos to set as our background, it took a while and would not always work.

By using avatars it created a fun tool for learning and incorporated the use of ICT, blogs etc, safely. By creating voki’s it can allow students to become more confident whilst speaking.

Katrina Yr 10

I had never created an Avatar before this and so was unsure what to expect, however I soon found creating Voki’s fun and a good way to improve my French- especially speaking as I could record myself and hear my fluency and pronunciation.

Sometimes the software was difficult to use as it did not always log on or upload backgrounds/sound files correctly. I found this tool useful for student learning as we had never done anything like this before, however it was prone to software difficulties. It was useful for the teacher as they can hear pupil’s pronunciation in the language and how they are in ICT. The software would be useful in other subjects – mainly languages as it would improve the pupils’ language skills.

Laura Yr10



I have never used Voki.com before so was a new experience for me, which I enjoyed greatly. It was useful for student learning because recording my French paragraph helped me improve and practise my French and it also helped me recap the school topic. It is also useful for the teacher because they can listen to my French accent and can watch the progess in my accent. This site would also be useful in art because you could upload your painting/work and talk about it etc It would also be helpful in ICT to help with your IT skills.

Helen Yr 10



Before using Voki.com I did not have an account before. I found using Voki very safe and friendly to use and also fairly easy. Using Voki is useful for student learning because you had the opportunity to speak French after the exam. It is a useful tool for the teacher as it involves the pupils to speak French. For languages Voki is useful and people got to improve the pronunciation of the French words. This website would be useful in other subject, such as Spanish and Japanese. Overall I enjoyed using Voki.

Suzi Yr 10




Using the Web 2.0 tool was user friendly because it was fairly easy to use.
Using the Easy Speak microphones were good because we could record our voices and then the teacher could say on what we could improve on with our accents, and the microphones were easy and effective to use. The teacher can monitor the progress that is being made too. We can practice our accents and our writing skills using the Voki’s and it was quite fun making them into avatars of ourselves. It can be useful for learning in other subjects such as ICT – to practice with technology, Humanities – for research into the subject.

Lucia Yr 10



Using the web tools was easy but it helped that other people already had experience with them. It is useful for what we used it for but I don’t see how vokis could be incorporated into everyday lessons, but something similar would be useful for the other departments too. Another way in which they could be used is in ICT lessons to learn about blogs and avatars. They helped improve our accents and French writing, and would be useful for language teachers to use for this purpose.

Sophie Yr 10



I have never used an account like this before but now that I have I found it very fun. It was use friendly as it was clearly set out with clear instructions. I think it is a good idea for student learning as it can let students from other schools or primary schools look at what are school looks like through the backgrounds and they can hear our opinions on the school. It is useful for teachers as it is a fun way to engage students with talking about the school. I think it is useful for languages because it’s a fun way to speak and present different languages. It could also be used in many other subjects such as English where people could talk about recent books that they have read in class with a picture of the book in the background. It could also be used to show other students what they have been doing in Drama.

Sasha Yr 10



[Read Harri's review on the previous post below...]

Harri Yr 10



I have enjoyed using the Voki’s, as they are fun to use and was a different way to use our knowledge of French. I think that they would be useful for younger students who have just started learning the language, as it is an interesting way to learn and it encourages them to use what they are learning.

Vickie Yr 10

I have enjoyed learning about the Voki’s and new forms of ICT I hadn’t heard about it, because they were a fun way of learning and allowed us to continue to use our French even after the exam. I think the Blog and Voki’s will be useful for year 6 students wanting to learn about Weald of Kent languages. It also presents interesting ways in which we learn and work within school.

Alexandra Yr 10

I found the Voki project very enjoyable and useful for our language and confidence skills. Recording our own scripts and characters gave us freedom and helped us with useful French school vocabulary. I really liked using this software as it was easy to use and good for student learning. This was also easy for teachers as it kept us busy and was not complicated. However, I think that this software is best used for languages as it may be too easy to create Vokis in other subjects.

Maddy Yr 10

Les Langues et La Technologie - Student Review

Technology Project – Harri Yr10

Throughout the past couple of weeks we as a class have been trying, exploring and experimenting with different technology to see how it could improve learning languages at the school.

We started off trying out our language laptops which took a long time to start up. By the time we had logged onto the various web-sites half the lesson had gone and soon after we had to take them back. So the laptops aren’t really a safe bet but once up and running there wonderfully easy to use and very light and portable.

[Note from Miss Hardman: we have discovered a weak link in the wireless connections in the corridor outside this room – we are looking into it over the summer]

After the laptop trial we had a look at “Voki’s” the wonderful animated characters with voices and background pictures! We spent time playing with our various Voki’s first getting to grips with the various faces, cloths and features available. Then we moved onto the more technical aspect… uploading the background and sound. We used photos of the school to upload as our Voki backgrounds. For some students the uploading process happened immediately, for others it took a long time which was a downside to the technology. Finally we wrote French scripts and recorded them using two hand-held easy to use microphones! The voki’s were defiantly fun to use and most of the class had good fun creating rats and elves as well as our final characters.

Year 10 Voki Practise

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by wok20mfl | Upload your own presentation

Now we have moved onto looking at 2D characters called wee-mee’s however due to firewalls at school and various web-site bans we are having problems getting onto the relevant web-site so for now we are just experimenting with Kar2ouche.

Note from Miss Hardman: This is a shame re www.wee-mee.com as this would enable each student to have a 2D virtual identity on this blog without having to use photos. We will investigate further options]

Thank you Harri for a balanced critique of the project so far.

Miss Hardman

Les Langues et La Technologie Project 1: Avatars

Project 1: Avatars

Hypothesis:
Avatar’s can be used to promote MFL at Weald of Kent.

Aims:
• To provide year 10 post GCSE students with a purposeful context in which they can use their knowledge of French.
• To provide year 6 / primary level pupils with a window into Weald of Kent via visuals, target language audio and humour.

Miss Hardman's example:



Year 10 pupil examples to follow...

Inspiration for this project came from Nodehill Middle School, Newport, Isle of Wight: http://www.nodehillfrench.typepad.com/

Post GCSE French Projects

We are very excited to be embarking on our Post GCSE Projects with our year 10 French students. Students were allowed to choose between three different projects: "Les Languages et la Technologie", "Le Cinéma Français" et "La Culture Française". We will post up some results of these projects as they evolve...

Year 9 French Exchange, Buc 20-27 May 2009

On est de retour! We have just come back from another successful exchange trip to Buc near Paris. Instead of the teachers writing up the experience we asked our Weald students to answer a few questions about what they learned about France and the French during their stay.

Enjoy their responses below:



What were our best bits?

The hot weather.
The Paris boat ride.
Visiting Eurodisney.
Visiting the school.
Meeting great new people.
Becoming closer to people.
The P.E. lesson at school.
The Eiffel Tower (4 km high!).
Everything apart from leaving.
Visiting the gardens of Versailles.
Experiencing a different house and lifestyle.
The whole trip was immense and I didn't want to leave.
Visiting Montmartre with my French family on the weekend.
Staying in with my French family in the evenings and playing games.


What new French phrases did we learn?

Vraiment? (Really?)
On y va! (Let’s go!)
Je suis désole (I am sorry)
Je suis fatigué (I am tired)
J’ai une rhume (I have a cold)
À demain (see you tomorrow)
La même chose (the same thing)
De rien (no problem / it’s nothing)
Tourne à gauche/droite (Turn left/right)
Tu as bien dormi? (Did you sleep well?)
Je me suis trompé de chemin (I went the wrong way)
Vous prenez la carte bleue? (Do you accept debit card ?)
As-tu besoin de quelque chose? (Do you need anything ?)
Je regrette, je ne comprends pas. (I’m sorry, I don’t understand)
Je voudrais boire quelque chose (I would like to drink something)
Je voudrais du pain s’il vous plait ( I would like some bread please)
Quand est-ce que je peux prendre une douche? (When can I have a shower ?)

Familiar language

Quoi? (What?)
Salut! (Hi / bye)
Tu veux? (Do you want [some / any]?)
Allez, allez, vite, vite ! (Go / hurry / quickly!)
T’as vu ? - familiar form of : Tu as vu ? (Did you see?)



What did we learn about French culture / way of life?

La Nourriture!
Snails are nice.
They always eat bread.
They eat cereal out of mugs.
They don't drink fresh milk.
They eat cheese at most meals.
They put vinegar on their salad.
They eat a lot later than we do at home.
They drink coffee out of breakfast bowls.
They eat salade either before or after dinner.
They have a starter, main and dessert course every day.

Au collège Martin Luther King
They start school at 8.00 a.m.
The teachers were really strict.
They don't wear a uniform at school.
They aren't allowed to talk in lessons.
They learn history and geography together at school.

En général
The houses are different.
Lots of them speak English.
The French are really hospitable
The toilets are in a different room to the bathroom.
They kiss each other, even when they meet strangers.

Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé?

Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé? (What's happened?). I'm setting my year 8D class a challenge: use www.toondoo.com to practise and reinforce some of the problems and accidents language that we have been using in class. I'll publish the results below mine entitled "L'Accident".

Note to teachers: www.toondoo.com was a good website visually, motivated the students and allowed them to practise using language in context via the medium of a Web 2.0 tool, but we did encounter some gremlins in the system with it's use.

Miss Hardman

Emma Cushen

Emma Rumgay

Sarah Fisher

Melissa Hudson

Sofia Phillips