PRESCHOOL 

Every Tuesday I join the preschoolers outside and find opportunities to use French words and phrases.  The same words and phrases  are often repeated in  different contexts.  I include the phrases I've used along with the pronunciation which I hope will allow you to use some of the phrases  at home if you are interested in doing so. The pronunciation is an approximation.  If a word ends in an "n" or "m" the "n" or "m" is nasal though in my spelling of the pronunciation it appears to sound like our "n."

Below are some of the phrases they hear on a regular basis:

Bonjour.  Je m'appelle... (bonjoor, juh mahpel) Hello.  My name is...

Merci.  C'est bon.    (maresee say bon)  Thank you.  That's good.   This is what the puppets say when given food (pebbles and grass) by the children.

Ça va?     (sa va)   How are you?/Are you okay?

J'ai faim.  (jay fen)     I'm hungry.

Lavez-vous les mains.  (lavay voo lay men)    Wash your hands. 

 ____________ se lave les mains   (_________ suh lav lay men)     ___________ is washing her/his hands.

On Tuesday, November 17th the students met "Bleu" (a blue dragon).  We counted the steps as some children climbed the ladder to the slide.  When they asked "Is the coast clear?" they were given the okay by the word "Descendez!" (Come down).  A rock concert took place on the basket ball court with some original compositions by a few preschoolers.  They then got to dance to a fast version of "Alouette."  As always, they heard many of the phrases listed above.

French News from Previous Weeks    

On Tuesday, October 20th and 27th the students met Ours (oors - bear) a friendly bear puppet.  He was taken for rides in the back of "camions" (kahmee-on - trucks) and went down the slide.  He asked the preschoolers their names (Comment tu t'appelles - Komen tyew tahpel) and introduced himself (je m'appelle Ours - juh mahpel oors).

 On Tuesday, October 13th there were many opportunities to talk about "la neige" (la nej - snow).  Some fed "Ours", a bear puppet "la neige" while others rolled the snow to make "un bonhomme de neige" (bunum duh nej - snowman).  

On Tuesday, October 6th I was not in.

On Tuesday, September 29th we were back outside.  As the children wait to go down the slide I called "Le champ est libre!" (The coast is clear, though literally it translates as "The field is free.").    Some children  asked to be pushed on the swing and as they were pushed I told them "Je te pousse au ciel!" (I am pushing you to the sky).  Others heard the word "pousse" as I helped them push the black tube.

On Tuesday, September 22nd I was treated to a feast as we were inside due to the weather.  Many waiters and waitresses served me "un oeuf" (an egg), "une tomate" (a tomato), "une banane" (a banana), "du lait" (milk)...They heard me say "C'est bon!" (sounds like "say bon") quite a bit along with "merci."

On Tuesday, September 15th we had another beautiful day outside.  I will be using the names of the playground structures in French.  Below is a list of words they will be hearing:

sandbox: le tas de sable (tah duh sabluh)

slide:  le toboggan

climbing structure/ jungle gym:  la cage a grimper(la caj ah grempay)

swing:  la balancoire (lah balanswar)

On Tuesday, September 8th I greeted the children with "Coccinelle" (ladybug-sounds like kokseenel), a puppet who only "speaks" French.  A few children pointed out some frogs (grenouilles- sounds like grunwe) to me.  Others had fun playing creemee stand.  I asked them which flavor they wanted (vanille-sounds like vanee  or chocolat -sounds like showkowla) and they added the toppings they wanted.  These got sillier and sillier as the play continued! It was wonderful to be asked how to say some things in French.  I will have to look up how to say "front end loader" in French!  For now, I told the children the word for "truck" (camion-sounds like kahmyon)

As we lined up outside for lunch I asked "Tu as faim?" (sounds like "tyew ah fen" and means "Are you hungry?") and repeated several times "J'ai faim." (sounds like "jay fen" and means "I'm hungry.")