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Cultural Collection �

Pete Watson

Date updated: 09/02/21

French Y7 Term 1

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7.1.2.1

15-24: A series of exercises to exploit the poem Sept Couleurs Magiques by Mymi Doinet
34-43: Continuation of lesson 1.

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C’est où … ?

Rouge comme un fruit du Mexique

Orange comme le sable d’Afrique…

Une texte français

Today we are going to read a short text in French. What kind of text is it?

lire

C’est Afrique

C’est Mexique

C’est Jamaïque

C’est un poème !

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

Timing: 3 minutes

Aim: To introduce the task and the text, and to engage students.

Procedure:

Ask students to look at the three globes and decide what the green areas are.
Give the French translation of the first area (Afrique), and ask students to guess what the translations of the two others may be, giving the hint that they rhyme with the first (Mexique, Jamaïque)
Then, present the first two lines of the poem and ask them to guess what sort of text it could be. Why do they think it’s a poem? (A rhyming couplet, repetition of ‘comme’ and of colours)

Word frequencies of unknown words used (1 is the most frequent word in French): �texte [631], de [2], sable [3263]

Source: Londsale, D., & Le Bras, Y. (2009). A Frequency Dictionary of French: Core vocabulary for learners London: Routledge.

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La poète: Mymi Doinet

Pays d’origine: France

Ville: Paris

Elle aime écrire pour les jeunes

Elle est blogueuse depuis 2010

Mymi Doinet (1958-)

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

Timing: 5 minutes

Aim: Information gathering exercise using a short text composed of known and unknown words.

Suggested procedures:

Students could take notes in English based on the biographical information that is presented here.
It could be read aloud by the teacher simultaneously to present sound-spelling connections. In context, students should be able to guess the meaning of ‘ville’, ‘pays d’origine’, ‘depuis’ and ‘pour’.
Students could be asked how they think she feels in the photo (elle est calme/contente/indifférente)

Word frequencies of unknown words used (1 is the most frequent word in French): �pays [114], de [2], origine [709], ville [260], aimer [242], pour [10], jeune [152], blogeuse [>5000], depuis [96]

Source: Londsale, D., & Le Bras, Y. (2009). A Frequency Dictionary of French: Core vocabulary for learners London: Routledge.

Advertisement featuring Mymi Doinet by Valences Romans Mediathiques is in the public domain.

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Les couleurs

A

B

D

C

E

F

G

You don’t know the French words for some of these colours, but they look similar to English!

orange

indigo

parler

violet

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Les couleurs

Colours can be used as adjectives. They agree with the noun they are describing.

What is being described below?

lire

1.	___________ est vert.	la chambre	le portable	could be either
2.	___________ est bleue.	le lit	la voiture	could be either
3.	___________ est jaune.	l’ordinateur	la chose	could be either
4.	___________ est rouge.	la voiture	le modèle	could be either
5.	___________ est bleu.	le ciel	la vague	could be either
6.	___________ est verte.	le livre	la règle	could be either
7.	___________ est orange.	la voiture	l’animal	could be either
8.	___________ est violet.	le vélo	la chambre	could be either

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Listen and match the word to the writing.

e

g

d

f

c

h

a

b

a

papillon

b

vague

c

arc aux sept couleurs

d

fruit

e

sorbet

f

girafe chic

g

volcan

h

sable

Text exploitation

écouter / écrire

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

Timing: 5 minutes

Aim: Practice in connecting the spoken and written forms of unknown words.

Procedure:

1. Tell students that they will hear and read a number of words that will appear in Doinet’s poem. �2. They need to listen and match the letter of the written word to the number of the word heard.

3. Note: where the words are not cognates, pictures are provided to give the meaning. Students will need a bit of help understanding the function of ‘aux’.�4. Answers appear on click.�

Transcript:

1. sorbet

2. volcan

3. fruit

4. girafe chic

5. arc aux sept couleurs

6. sable

7. papillon

8. vague

Word frequency (1 is the most frequent word in French):

sorbet [>5000]; volcan [>5000]; fruit [896]; girafe [>5000], chic [>5000]; arc [>5000]; à [4], sept [905], couleur [1211] sable [3263]; papillon [>5000]; vague [1493].

Source: Londsale, D., & Le Bras, Y. (2009). A Frequency Dictionary of French: Core vocabulary for learners London: Routledge.

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Listen and match the noun to the French word.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

Text exploitation

écouter / écrire

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

D

A

H

B

F

G

F

C

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

Timing: 5 minutes

Aim: Recall of the spoken forms of words introduced on previous slide. The written forms are removed so that students must try to recall the meaning, rather than looking at the form.

Procedure:

Tell students that they will hear a number of words that will appear in Doinet’s poem. These are depicted in Pictures A-H.
Listen and match the letter of the picture to the word heard.

Transcript:

1. sorbet

2. volcan

3. fruit

4. girafe chic

5. arc aux sept couleurs

6. sable

7. papillon

8. vague

Word frequency (1 is the most frequent word in French):

sorbet [>5000]; volcan [>5000]; fruit [896]; girafe [>5000], chic [>5000]; arc [>5000]; à [4], sept [905], couleur [1211] sable [3263]; papillon [>5000]; vague [1493].

Source: Londsale, D., & Le Bras, Y. (2009). A Frequency Dictionary of French: Core vocabulary for learners London: Routledge.

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Text exploitation

fr_ _t

g_r_f_ ch_c

p_p_ll_n

v_g_ _

s_bl_

s_rb_t

_rc _ _x s_pt

c_ _l_ _rs

v_lc_n

Text exploitation

écouter / écrire

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Text exploitation

fruit

girafe chic

papillon

vague

sable

sorbet

arc aux sept

couleurs

volcan

Text exploitation

écouter / écrire

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Où … ?

Mexique

H

Afrique

D

Jamaïque

F

Pacifique

G

Tropique

C

Martinique

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

2

1

écouter

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

Timing: 5 minutes

Aim: To practise listening to the target words now at sentence level within the full poem.

Note:

Play button 1 - top left: audio with full text

Play button 2 - bottom left: audio with text in which colours are obscured with wave sounds. This may be preferable to hearing the full text because students don’t listen out for the colour (they should be listening for the place name and noun).

Procedure:

Decide which version of the text to play (see above).
Click on the appropriate play button.
Students listen and decide which picture represents the noun associated with each place in the poem by writing the correct letter by the place.

Transcript:

Rouge comme un fruit du Mexique

Orange comme le sable d’Afrique

Jaune comme les girafes chics

Vert comme un sorbet Jamaïque

Bleu comme les vagues de Pacifique

Indigo comme un papillon de tropiques

Violet comme les volcans de Martinique

Qui donc est aussi fantastique?

Est-ce un rêve ou est-ce véridique?

C’est dans le ciel mangnifique

L’arc aux sept couleurs magique

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Texte complet

Rouge comme un fruit du Mexique C’est dans le ciel magnifique

Orange comme le sable d’Afrique L’arc aux sept couleurs magique

Jaune comme les girafes chics

Vert comme un sorbet Jamaïque

Bleu comme les vagues de Pacifique

Indigo comme un papillon de tropiques

Violet comme les volcans de Martinique

Qui donc est aussi fantastique?

Est-ce un rêve ou est-ce véridique?

lire

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Prononce et organise les mots �

é

SFC

an/en

fruit

orange

dans

véridique

violet

fantastique

les

volcans

sorbet

chics

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Sounds and spelling�

	I (and ‘QU’)
	Mexique, Afrique, Pacifique, Tropique

	OU
	rouge, ou , couleurs

	J (and GI)
	rouge, orange, girafe , magique

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Vrai ou faux ?

1. Une rose est indigo.	C’est vrai / faux ! Une rose est rouge.
2. Une vague est violette.	C’est vrai / faux ! Une vague est bleue.
3. Une banane est jaune.	C’est vrai / faux ! Une banane est jaune.
4. Un concombre est violet.	C’est vrai / faux ! Un concombre est vert.
5. Une plante est indigo.	C’est vrai / faux ! Une plante est verte.
6. Une carotte est orange.	C’est vrai / faux ! Une carotte est orange.

lire / écrire

Careful! What adjective ending do you need?

_________

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Les couleurs

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

orange

indigo

bleu

violet

vert

jaune

rouge

parler

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Vocabulaire

_______ comme un ________ du Mexique

_______ comme le __________ d’Afrique

_______ comme les __________ ______

_______ comme un __________ jamaïque

_______ comme les __________ de Pacifique

_______ comme un __________ de tropiques

_______ comme les _____________ de Martinique

parler / lire

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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‘Un’ ou ‘le’ ?

Rouge comme un / le fruit du Mexique

Orange comme un / le sable d’Afrique

Vert comme un / le sorbet Jamaïque

Indigo comme un / le papillon de tropique

grammaire

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Abstract or concrete?

Concrete noun	Abstract noun

justice

chambre

amour

honneur

ordinateur

liberté

vélo

voiture

montre

courage

grammaire

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

Optional task - abstract/concrete nouns

Timing: 3 mins

Aim: to highlight the different use in French and English of the definite article with abstract nouns. (Abstract nouns usually use definite articles in French, but no article in English.)

Procedure:

1. Introduce / recap (from literacy knowledge) the concepts of concrete and abstract noun.

2. Ask student to do a quick noun sort.

3. Give students the rule that abstract nouns usually use definite articles in French, but no article in English.

4. Reveal the answers (see next slide).

Word frequency (1 is the most frequent word in French):

amour [967]; justice [637]; liberté [320]; courage [1431]; honneur [1141]

Source: Londsale, D., & Le Bras, Y. (2009). A Frequency Dictionary of French: Core vocabulary for learners London: Routledge.

Note: The 5 concrete nouns are introduced in the French SoW in term 1.1. The 5 abstract nouns are (near-)cognates, except ‘amour’, and all high-frequency words.

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Réponses correctes

Concrete noun

montre

chambre

voiture

vélo

ordinateur

Abstract noun

liberté

justice

courage

honneur

amour

grammaire

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Quelles sont vos émotions?

heureux (-euse)
calme
content(e)
indifférent(e)
triste
fâché(e)
intéressé(e)

Je suis…

Les émotions

parler

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

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Écris un poème!

écrire

Now create your own poem!

Try to re-use the colours in the poem with ‘comme’

Remember to use un/une/le/la correctly