More French class news

Huge congratulations to the 5/6 and 7/8 French classes who participated in our "compétition de pinces".  We used clothespins as counters to help us keep track of how many French sentences we spoke in the month of November.  Both classes together spoke a total of 951 sentences!  Bravo!

Our "word of the week" is actually two words, "frère" (brother) and "soeur" (sister).  We will be talking about our family as we discuss Christmas traditions in the coming weeks.

We have started "French Fridays" by beginning our Friday with a French version of "O Canada" and a weather report by a student volunteer, en français.

Please go to the next blog entry below to find photos and a recipe for crèpes from French club!

Mme Christensen

Crèpes de Memère

This past Wednesday, five students from Gr. 7/8 participated in our first noon-hour French club and prepared (and enjoyed!) crèpes.

 

 

 We prepared the batter using a simple recipe (see below).

 

 

 A cast iron pan gives better results.

 

 

 Chefs work diligently on their presentation!

 

 

Powdered sugar adds a finishing touch.

 

Crèpes de Memère  (Grandma’s crepes)

Passed down in the family for many generations, this recipe is often enjoyed in our home, especially at Christmas.  Multiply this recipe by the number of people being served.  The recipe below can make about 3 large or 5 small crèpes.

 

1 egg

Pinch of salt

Flour (approx. ½ cup or so; whole wheat works well too.)

Milk (approx. ½- ¾  cup; whole milk is best.)

Butter

 

Possible ingredients for fillings or garnish: Whipping cream, fresh fruit, yogourt, powdered sugar, brown sugar and butter, scrambled eggs and ham; the possibilities are endless! Great for brunch buffets; guests can build their own crèpes.

Beat egg well with electric beater.  Add salt and flour gradually until a thick paste forms. (Turn off electric beater. Generally, if the batter is thick enough to cling to the beaters when you raise them out of the bowl, you've added enough flour and batter is thick enough.)  

 

At this point, thin the batter by adding milk slowly, beating until batter is a smooth creamy consistency.  Melt butter in a cast iron frying pan over medium heat; make sure the pan is well-heated and the butter is bubbling a bit.  Pour about ¼ cup of batter in the pan. Spread with the back of a spoon to make a thin, round crèpe.  When crèpe has lost its shine and starts to bubble a bit, turn it over and cook for a minute or so more.  

 

When cooled, add fillings and garnish.  Crèpes freeze well. 

 

Mme Christensen



Les vidéos!

I enjoyed meeting with families during our student-led conferences.  Students did a great job demonstrating their learning with their dice game.  It was a good review of some of the work that we have done.

I came across this collection of short videos that provides a good review of some of the basic French vocabulary we have encountered this term. Enjoy!

Our word of the week is "la tradition" as we will be exploring some French Christmas traditions very soon.

À bientôt!

Mme Christensen

Canadian Parents for French

Our French students came to class with excellent examples of French culture in our environment.  Some noted advertisements for “French for Life” on the back of city buses or on bus stop benches in their neighbourhood. 

As described in their website, French for Life was created by Canadian Parents for French (Manitoba Chapter) and "provides links to games and learning activities, information on current cultural activities, information on exchange and employment programs, as well as information specific to parents and educators".  You can access their website at http://www.frenchforlife.ca/ .

Canadian Parents for French "is a national volunteer organization of adults who recognize the value of learning French and actively promote opportunities for young Canadians to learn and use French."  Find this information and more on their website at http://mb.cpf.ca/.

Our word of the week is "année".  We will be using this word to help us talk about what grade we are in.

We have been working hard, preparing for the presentation of our French portfolios. We look forward to the celebration of learning at our student-led conferences this week! 

Mme Christensen

Le 11 novembre, c'est le Jour du souvenir.

We begin our week with “Le Jour du Souvenir” or Remembrance Day.  We have heartfelt gratitude for those who gave their lives so we can relish a life of peace in our beautiful country of Canada. 

The map of France on our French bulletin board indicates the location of Flanders Fields.  It is a vast area, covering the tip of northern France and a southern portion of Belgium.

Word of the Week: Our word of the week is “nom”, as used in the sentence, “c’est mon nom de famille.”  Literally translated, that means “This is my family name,” or last name.

Most classes made contributions their “sac culturel” in which we wrote our observations of French culture. This past week we discussed where we find French in the world around us.  Students were sent on a bit of a treasure hunt looking for evidence of French culture and some of us had no further to look than at our “nom de famille". Great work, everyone!

 

We will be doing some journal submissions and writing samples this week.

Have a wonderful week, tout le monde!

 

Mme Christensen

Le mot de la semaine, c'est la culture!

As our "Word of the Week" suggests, we will be thinking about and discussing the presence of French culture in our classroom, home and surrounding community.  Let's keep our eyes and ears open to all the French that is around us.  We might be amazed to see how much we find!

As well, this week all students will be busy presenting their dialogue presentations.  Bonne chance!

Mme Christensen