Thursday, December 10, 2015


Dear Parents and Guardians,

We have finished working on the gender, counting how many of us are girls and boys in class and stating our nationality. The students are encouraged to practice introduce themselves to others. We’ve been learning also the colors and the numbers.

The goal for us is to count easily and rapidly till 31 ( we are still working to get there) which will enable us in the future to write the date for each day we have French.

As we move forward, we will be working on the phases of the day. The French don’t use the expressions a.m. and p.m. Instead they use expressions “in the morning”-du matin, “in the afternoon- de l’après-midi” and “in the evening- du soir”.  Knowing the phases of the day, we will be able to say the appropriate salutation every time.

2nd grade will be learning:

- Morning: le matin ……………….   We say : « bonjour »

 Good morning

-Evening: le soir……………….          We say : « bonsoir »

Good evening

- Night : la nuit ………….      We say : « bonne nuit »,

                     Good night 
3rd, 4th-5th grade will be learning the entire above plus:

Noon: le midi, à midi   …………………  We say “bonjour”

Afternoon: l’après-midi ………………   We say “bonjour”

I encourage 3rd-5th Grades students to review their vocabulary daily and repeat the words 5-10 minutes while you are listening. Have fun with the learning and always remind your children to do their best at all times.


If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at:


 

Friday, October 23, 2015

Dear Parents and Guardians,


We are currently working on learning the objects of the School. The students are required to learn the vocabulary words and recall the right articles that precede every word as we have masculine singular articles (un, le) and feminine singular articles (une, la). Please find the list of words for every grade:

- 2nd Grade:  une école, un crayon, une gomme, un cahier, un livre, un bâton de colle, des crayons de couleur

- 3rd Grade: une école, un crayon, une gomme, un cahier, un livre, un bâton de colle, des crayons de couleur, un papier

- 4th-5th Grade: une école, un crayon, une gomme, un cahier, un livre, un bâton de colle, des crayons de couleur, un papier, un cartable

 Greeting the visitor

Bonjour, je m’appelle……….

Bienvenue en classe de Français.  “Welcome to French class”.

Asseyez-vous s’il vous plait (Pointing to the chair and inviting the guest to sit)

Et chez vous! …. And at Home!

Even if you don’t know a word of French, you can still support your child’s learning in many ways. Have the child review their notebook daily (5-10 minutes) and repeat the words several times while you are listening. Repetitions lead to mastery and Forvo.com or google/translate are helpful with pronunciation.

Have fun with the learning and always remind your children to sit tall and straight during instruction time, participate often and do their best at all times.
Mille mercis.



It was my honor and pleasure to get to meet with some of you to discuss the children’s progress in French. As we continue on, here are the guidelines for the learning happening in class.

     Songs and Poems: We are learning

2nd Grade: “Meunier, tu dors….”
Meunier, tu dors
Ton Moulin, ton Moulin va trop vite
Meunier, tu dors
Ton Moulin va trop fort

Ton Moulin, ton Moulin va trop vite
Ton Moulin, ton Moulin va trop fort

Meunier, tu dors
et le vent, et le vent soufflé, soufflé
Meunier, tu dors
et le vent soufflé fort

Ton Moulin, ton Moulin va trop vite
Ton Moulin, ton Moulin va trop fort
 
           3rd Grade:  “1,2,3 Nous irons au bois”. The students will be required to connect the             vocabulary words to the right image and put the sequences of the song in the right order.

1,2,3           Nous irons au bois
4,5,6           Cueillir des cerises
7,8,9          Dans mon panier neuf
10,11,12     elles seront toutes rouges

 

4th-5th Grade:  “Les crayons” de Corinne Albaut as a poem. We are still working on memorizing the poem. Yes, we are going to sing it at the end. Meanwhile, the students will be required to fill in the blank and copy the right vocabulary word. Next, they are going to write the colors mentioned in the poem and use the right color appropriately.


Les crayons

Mais à quoi jouent les crayons

Pendant les récréations?

Le rouge dessine une souris

le vert un soleil  

le bleu dessine un radis

le gris une groseille

le noir qui n’a pas d’idée

fait des gros pâtés.

Voilà les jeux des crayons

Pendant les récréations.


 

 

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Monday, September 7, 2015

As week 4 is coming to an end, we finished the simple greetings (non formal), learned and practiced most of the commands to be used during class to facilitate a smooth transition of all tasks.

The non formal greetings include:
- Bonjour, (salut)/Hello
- Comment ça va?/How are you? How is it going?
- ça va bien, (fine)ça va comme ci comme ça,(ok) ça va mal (not well).
- Tres bien, merci (very good, thank you)
- Fantastique, merci(fantastic, thank you).

We showed compassion when one of us is not feeling well and we said: désolé (e).

The commands of the class include but not limited to:
- levez-vous/ stand up
-Asseyez-vous/ sit down
- Rangez / put away
- ecoutez/listen
-regardez/ look at
- ecrivez/ write
-dessinez/ draw
-Sortez/take out

We are still practicing to distinguish between the first name (prénom) and the last name (nom).

As we move forward, we are going to continue with the last commands, telling our age and learn the formal greetings rapidly. Our next theme is to learn the objects of the school : it is going to require a lot of repetitions and perseverance to pick up the masculine, feminine nouns and the possessive related to it.

Songs and Poems:
2nd "un grand cerf" (You tube: dans sa maison, un grand cerf)
3rd-5th " le Serment de la Fidélité".

Reinforcement at home:
ask your child to teach you some words and songs, and repeat them often. When having a doubt on the pronunciation, please check forvo.com.

Please remind your children to remain attentive and focused during instruction time and always to do their best at all times.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

We are excited to learn the Pledge of Allegiance in French

                                                                         or

                         Le Serment de la Fidélité

Je jure fidélité au drapeau

Des Etats-Unis d’Amérique

        Et à la République

        Qu’il représente 
Une Nation, sous Dieu, indivisible

Avec liberté et justice pour tous.






Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Bonjour et Bienvenue!

it is only week 2 and the students are following smoothly within the class period.

We are currently working on the greetings, personal introduction and commands of the class. This will allow us to be able to execute different tasks upon hearing the command rapidly and efficiently.

We are moving forward to the objects of the school with an introduction to the distinction between masculine and feminine nouns and the polite necessary sentences to use in class.

Our journey will lead us to the house, exterior and interior (define all the rooms), where we live, name the family members and we won't forget our pets. Our next theme will be the food (likes and dislikes, sweet or salty, etc..) and we finish with the weather and the appropriate clothing for each season.

My goal is to keep your students motivated to continue the school year with enthusiasm and perseverance to learn more French.

I am so excited about our curriculum night, look forward to express my joy to teach your students and answer any question you might have.

Thank you so much for all the attention you give to the French language.

"A ce soir", see you tonight.


Wednesday, August 5, 2015




Bonjour et Bienvenue !

I am so excited about the year ahead of us and look forward to meeting each of your students and help them learn the French Language. They will gain an elementary knowledge of the language, the francophone culture, traditions, geography, and history.  We are going to follow the natural sequence of language learning: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Grammar is not ignored but is learned indirectly. At the end, we want them to be able to use grammar structures correctly in the French language.

 

Le coin de l’Institutrice/Teacher’s Corner

 

My name is Salwa Gebara. I was born and raised in Lebanon where I had a chance to be part of an immersion French program during my elementary and secondary classes. I have a degree in Child development and Psychology and taught for 9 years Kindergarten/1st Grade French as a second language in Beirut, Lebanon. I spent 6 years working in Paris as I moved to live there with my family. In the USA, I worked for 11 years in the daycare center where I placed my children. Having been given the opportunity to teach again the French Language at the Archway level, I am so excited to share with the students the gift of another language that lays a solid foundation for effective communication skills that will last a lifetime.