1. Let’s enjoy stories Session 4

2. What to look for in the text of a familiar story anything surprising about the spelling of the words any silent letters what the accent might do on santé, été, était what the little squiggle under the ‘c’ in ça might be for any spelling patterns they already recognise (such as oi from trois) anything that reminds them of English words (or words in another language they know), e.g. content could remind them of ‘contented’, now they see how it is written.

3. Teaching Tips Make sure the children’s pronunciation does not change when they see the text written down. When necessary, hide the slide or get the learners to turn to the back of the room so they cannot see the screen, and recite that part of the story again. Moving from speaking to reading can be a big step so allow time for this and take the time to look at each surprising sound-spelling link as it crops up.

4. Do one thing! How you can practise the new language Look carefully at the sound-spelling links in the written text of the story. Which other words can you think of that have the same graphemes?

5. What you can do with your class Ask the children which other French words they can think of with particular sound-spelling patterns (e.g. eu in bleu, neuf). Ask children to think of how someone might read a word if they had not learnt any French, and how a French person would read it. Visuals such as flags can help with this: show the French flag and they read it as a French person would read it, show the Union Flag and they read it as an English person would read it etc.

6. Classroom Routine Greet the class in French ‘Bonjour’ ‘Au revoir’ and take the register in French as before. Use any French the children recognise in its written form, and take opportunities to explore the sound-spelling links in those words.

7. Ensemble Languages Project, 2015 2015 for the Ensemble Languages Project, Ensemble_Let ’ s Enjoy Stories Session 4,5 and 6 Takeaway Notes This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.