Amazing 8th Graders

My 8th grade French class is made up of ten students who began learning French in the Lower School. Their early start with French has greatly benefitted them. They know a lot of vocabulary and grammatical structure and can easily pick up on new concepts. The majority of our class is conducted in French and I am impressed daily at how well they understand and communicate. This is great preparation for their high school language experience.
What do we talk about in class? Recently we have been discussing our daily routine, what we do to stay healthy, and what our houses are like. Students have learned to read website advertisements for houses and apartments for rent and are currently creating their own advertisements. The students are able to speak about the present, the past, and the future.
I look forward to continuing to work with these bright students in the new year.

Sing-a-long à la française

The City of Lights

French is Everywhere!

The Fall project for the 10th Agers was to look for French all around them - French words and pictures found in newspapers, magazines, catalogues, and on food labels, game instructions, household products, . . . just to name a few. What a great job they did on this assignment!

Cousin, Cousine

Quelle chance! Lucky for us, one of our 8th Age girls has French cousins. They came to visit us this afternoon. Their father is French and their mother is American. They speak only French at home. They are fluent in English and in French. We sang for them and they sang for us. We also got to ask them questions while enjoying the cookies that they brought.What a great experience!

Chefs Fantastiques!

Today, the 8th graders had a special surprise waiting for them first period!Everyone got a chance to make their own delicious crepes - cooking, flipping,

and filling each one with combinations of confiture, sucre, jambon, et fromage. By the end of class, each student was happy and full and quite the

expert in the art of crepe making.

Sewing Stars

French Club was off to Belgium this week where they enjoyed sewing mini pillows and bags decorated with authentic Belgian lace. Students also saw a short film about Belgium and enjoyed a take-home treat of Belgian waffles.

French Club Architects

French Club is new to Calvert this year and we have sixteen members from the 8th, 9th, and 10th Age classes. Each week, we meet for an hour after school. We are doing fun activities that represent French speaking countries. On our first day together, we flew off to Paris (back in time for pick-up, of course.) Students created their own Eiffel Tower souvenirs while enjoying a delicious treat of baguettes, brie, and French limonade.

Fantastique!

During our first few weeks back at school, students shared their French experiences from this summer. A lot of students ate French food at home and at local French restaurants and bakeries : croisssants, baguettes, pain au chocolat, croque monsieur, frites, omelettes, ... An 8th Age boy told us that he saw Monet's painting "Japanese Bridge" in his hotel room while on vacation. Quite a few students heard French-speaking people here in Baltimore as well as in Washington D.C., Florida, California, Pennsylvania, and Maine - at the pool, on a boat, at the beach, at a restaurant, and in a museum. Some of our Calvert families traveled to Montreal and Quebec this summer and were able to speak French at restaurants, hotels, and other places that they visited. In addition, many Calvert families went to France this summer - climbed the Eiffel Tower, went to the Louvre, saw Notre Dame, ate in restaurants and cafés, spent time in the Louvre went to the Palace of Versailles, visited Monet's garden in Giverny, - all speaking some French along the way.
What a fantastique, full-of-French summer!!

Monet Masterpieces

This week, French Club members had fun creating their own Monet masterpieces. After drying, each painting was mounted on blue or purple paper and taken home to enjoy.

Encore!

The 9th Age classes and the Chorus Club performed "A la Claire Fontaine", a traditional French Canadian song, this morning for students and faculty at the Lower School Awards Assembly . This was so beautifully sung that it brought a few tears to audience members. Listen and enjoy.

Here are the words:

À la claire fontaine,
M’en allant promener,
J’ai trouvé l’eau si belle
Que je m’y suis baigné.

Il y a longtemps que je t’aime
Jamais je ne t’oublierai.

Sous les feuilles d’un chêne,
Je me suis fait sécher
Sur la plus haute branche,
Un rossignol chantait.

Il y a longtemps que je t’aime
Jamais je ne t’oubierai.

Restaurant Début

After lots of preparation and teamwork, 9th Age students opened their French restaurants to fellow 9th Agers. Each pair of students created the name of their restaurant; made menus with French food, drinks, and prices in euros; brought in restaurant props from home; and took turns being the waiters, waitresses, and customers, all the while saying everything in French. Bon Appétit!

Joie de Jardin

7th Agers enjoyed a beautiful afternoon in one of Calvert's gardens searching high and low for nature items labeled in French. Students then drew pictures of what they found next to the French words on their paper.

What Do 9th Agers Know?

9th Agers know a lot of French! Here are the topics that we have worked on this year:

Clothing vocabulary
Describing people and things
Describing ourselves: what we look like, where we live, our likes and dislikes, our age, ...
School subjects
Poem: C'est l'Automne
French artist Georges Seurat
Transportation
Places in a town
New songs: C'est l'Halloween, A la Claire Fontaine
Food and drinks
French cuisine
Similarities and differences between French and American customs: eating, manners, meals,...
Restaurant vocabulary: how to read a menu, order, ask for the check, use euros, ...
Fun classroom projects: Ma Ville Imaginare, Mon Restaurant Francais

9th Agers also brought in a lot of French items from home to show their classmates: French perfume, soap, intructions to games and machines, clothing labels, candy, coffee, shopping bags, cheese, food boxes, chef hats and aprons, postcards, music, words in books... incroyable how much French is all around us if you know where to look!

It has been a lot of fun! Next year in 10th Age will be fantastique!

What do 7th Agers Know?

7th Agers have really been zipping along in French this year. This is what 7th Agers know:

Weather Expressions
How to count from 1 to 60
Days of the week
Months of the year
The four seasons
How to say the day's date
Classroom vocabulary
Songs: Le Facteur; Un, Deux, Trois, Allons Dans les Bois; C'est le Printemps
Poem: Chere Maman
Animals
I like, I don't like
Table setting vocabulary
Mardi Gras customs
Nature vocabulary
French artist Claude Monet and his garden

And, of course, 7th Agers continued to use what they learned in Pilot and 6th Age: greetings, colors, body parts, songs, ...

7th Agers have also been very excited to share their knowledge of French learned outside of the classroom by bringing in French books, dolls, postcards, berets, movies; telling stories about going to French restaurants and bakeries in town; hearing people speak French in town and while on vacation; telling about family members speaking French; traveling to French-speaking places; going to Baltimore museums and seeing French artists that we've talked about in class, ...
It's been fun to hear about all of the French that these students encounter outside of school.

I can't wait to see what you can do in the 8th Age next year!

What do Pilots Know?

This year, the Pilot classes have learned a lot!
Here is what they know:

Hello, good-bye, see you soon

I'm doing well, I'm doing so-so, I'm doing badly

How to count from 1 to 20

Colors

Body parts

Small and big

Weather expressions: It's sunny, It's cold, It's raining

Impressionist artists Vincent Van Gogh and Mary Cassatt

Songs: Frere Jacques; Tete, Epaules, Genoux, et Pieds; Les Marionettes; J'aime Maman

Pilots also listened to a lot of French stories.

Nice job, Pilots! I am looking forward to seeing you next year in the 6th Age!

Precious Pilots Perform

The Pilot classes sang two French songs, "Frere Jacques" and "J'aime Maman" to adoring mothers last Friday morning for Calvert's Mother's Day Tea. Felicitations on a job well done!

What's the Weather?

7th Agers have finished their French books about weather. As you can hear below from one of our 7th Age girls, students have learned how to read all of the pages outloud, including a special Mother's Day poem on the last page. Enjoy this special gift from your 7th Ager.

Marvelous Madeleines

Enthusiastic 9th Ager shares his homemade Madeleine cookies with fellow classmates in French class. Bon Appetit!

Bienvenue Baptiste

Three of the 9th age classes were visited last week by Baptiste, a French exchange student currently attending Park School. Baptiste is also working at Calvert as an intern for the Phys Ed department. Prompted by their questions, Baptiste told the students about where he lives in France (in the country, on a vineyard), when he started learning English (age 7), his favorite American food (hamburger), his favorite color (red), his typical breakfast in France (coffee, bread, and cereal), his usual dinner time (7:00), his best friend's name (Etienne), his girlfriend status (none at the moment), and differences between the States and France "the cars are smaller in France, the houses look different, the French take longer to enjoy their meals, ... American people are really nice. "

Quite the Queue

9th Age students enthusiastically wait in line each morning to sing a traditional French Canadian song called "A la Claire Fontaine" to Madame Cooke. What a great way to start the day! (Take a look at Mrs. William's and Mr. Howe's blog to see and hear our classy French singers.)

Wonderful Weather

In the 7th Age we have been busily working on making a French book called Mon Livre de Temps (My Weather Book.) Students have learned how to read all of the weather expressions in their books and are now working on learning to recite a French poem which will be on the last page. Be on the look out for this special French book . . . coming to a home near you in May.

Fantastique French Towns

The 9th Agers recently finished creating their imaginary French towns in class. Four to five students worked together designing two or more French buildings for their town. This experience taught them new vocabulary in a fun, hands-on way.

Monet Magic

In Seventh Age we have recently been studying about Claude Monet. We have learned that he loved to paint outdoors. He also loved to see how light affected what he was painting. Here is one of his paintings. It is called "The Japanese Bridge" and is in his garden in France.