Week of January 7th

Bonjour,

First, I want to wish you and your amily a wonderful new year 2013. In French, Happy New Year, is "Bonne annee".

Tuesday, we started a new unit about food. Usually, my students love this theme because there is a lot of hands-on activities. I started the class by showing them a glass and a plate with a fork. I would take the plate and fork and mime the action of eating, then say: "Je mange" (I'm eating). Then I would take the glass and mime the action of drinking and say: "Je bois" (I'm drinking). Brigitte, the assistant teacher, would do the same and I would say: "Brigitte mange" (Brigitte is eating) and "Brigitte boit" (Brigitte is drinking). Then, I took some plastic fruits and veggies that I have from my kids and show them: "Je mange une tomate/une carotte/une banane, etc." (I am eating a tomato/a carrot/a banana, etc.). Brigitte would do the same: "Brigitte mange du raisin/un kiwi/un ananas, etc." (Brigitte is eating grapes, a kiwi, a pineapple, etc.). I wrote all the words on the blackboard. Then, I distributed a fruit/veggie to each student and I asked them: "Tu manges quoi ?" (What are you eating?). They had to answer: "Je mange une banane" (I am eating a banana).

Then, we moved to another subject, which is "le petit-dejeuner" (breakfast).
I have a few flashcards with other kinds of food, so I used them to ask them if they would eat them at breakfast... some answers where very funny, because some students would eat all kind of food for breakfast (even ice cream!). Then, we learned some specific food and drinks for breakfast: "le lait" (milk), "le pain" (bread), "le cafe" (coffee), "le chocolat chaud" (hot chocolate), etc. They had to write what they eat for breakfast. I asked them: "Tu manges quoi pour le petit-dejeuner ?" (What do you eat for breakfast?) and they had to answer: "Je mange du pain" (I eat bread) and then: "Tu bois quoi pour le petit-dejeuner ?" (What do you drink at breakfast?), answer: "Je bois du cafe" (I drink coffee).

They did a bunch of worksheets related to that specific breakfast theme, which would help them enrich their vocabulary. We'll continue this theme next week.
At the end of the class, they made their own sandwich. They had to choose "les ingredients" (ingredients) and make the sandwich. They could choose "le pain" (bread), "le jambon" (ham), "les tomates" (tomatoes), "la salade" (salad) and "le fromage" (cheese). They had to glue together all the ingredients and label them.

Next week, I will give you your student's report card. If you have any question regarding it, please feel free to email me or call. I am sorry I am unable to discuss them after class, as I have to go to Berkeley each Tuesday directly after class. But we can definitely make a phone appointment if you'd like to.

A mardi prochain (see you next Tuesday)