Early Start French 1 - 01 Getting Started

Ch.1: Salut! - Greetings

Early Start French 1: CONTENTS | HOME

LANGUAGE AWARENESS: 'Say Hello to the World'

Where in the World do they speak French?

Start your own Language Portfolio

BBC 'Talk French' and Primary French - Greetings

French Giants

Using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

What you will learn in Section 1

You will see how French children and grown-ups greet each other when they meet, and learn how to greet people yourself in French.

You will see the start of the day in a French school, and find out about French giants....

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LANGUAGE AWARENESS: 'Say Hello to the World'

Saying 'hello' to different people
You say 'hello' to people all the time. Look around you, at people you see in your community.

What do say to your friends when you meet them?

How do you greet your teachers?

..and how do they say hello to you?

What do grown-ups say when THEY meet?

Write a page for your Language Portfolio about what you notice. Be a Language Detective - you are beginning to find out the importance of language and how we use it in our lives!

Saying 'hello' in different languages
We made a table of how you say 'hello' politely in different world languages. What do they mean? Can you see any patterns?

English German Spanish French

Good Morning Guten Morgen Buenos dias Bonjour

Find out more....
There are 2,796 languages in the world! Use the Internet to find out how people say 'hello!' in other countries.

A web site called 'Say Hello to the World' plays you a sound recording so you know how to pronounce the greeting for each language. It gives some other useful phrases, and links to basic facts about each country - but start with France!
http://www.ipl.org/youth/hello/

Dutch Others

Goedmorgen ?

Make a list of all the 'hello's you can find from around the world - it might be handy one day!

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Where in the World do they speak French?

As you learn to speak French, you'll be able to talk to most of the people living in France, who speak French as their everyday language - though 1 in 6 has a parent or grand-parent who came from outside France.

French is also the first language of many people in parts of neighbouring countries:

3.5m in the southern half of Belgium
including the capital, Brussels;
Luxembourg;
1.2m in Switzerland (around Geneva).

There is more about this in Early Start French Continuation Pack 2, Ch.2.1 "Où habites-tu?".

MAP: where they speak French in Europe
MAP 1: Where they speak French in Europe

MAP 2: Where they speak French in the World

Across the Atlantic, there are 7.5m French-speaking Canadians in Québec - about 1/4 of the population of Canada; French is the main language in Caribbean islands like Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe,and the former prison colony of Guyane, now famous as a rocket base.

French remains the main language of over 5m Africans in many countries of North and West Africa; in the Indian Ocean like Madegascar, and in the Pacific like Tahiti.

The 9th most spoken language
French is one of the most widely learnt second languages in the world - it is the first or second language for over 220 million people (making it the 9th most spoken language).

One reason is that France attracts so many tourists. It is the most visited country on earth, way ahead of the USA, Spain, Italy and Britain.

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Start your own portfolio

Assessment & recording
On the NACELL website you can now find an electronic version of the pilot European Language Portfolio which can be used as a photocopiable record of achievement for Primary pupils learning languages plus a teacher's guide to using the Portfolio. This is potentially very useful as a record of achievent to pass on to the pupils' next teacher. You are free to download the documents and use them with your own pupils.

Find out more about starting a Language Portfolio on this special page..

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BBC 'Talk French' - Greetings

See how young grown-up friends greet each other, and when to say 'bonjour' or 'bonsoir' -

plus some on-line activities.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/talk/greetings/

Meeting your friends: how young adults greet each other in France.

'
Salut!' -Meet Roller and the gang. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryfrench/

BBC Primary French also has some interactive presentations and activities on Greetings...

[see what topics they cover]

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Giants

The "giants" of North France are a recurring theme in the video, appearing in every title sequence and in many of the sections. They are a living and popular tradition, with new giants being created every year. The custom has strong roots in religious festivals and in folk lore and traditional tales and legends.

From the video title sequence:
the two giants of the small hilltop town of Cassel, "Reuze Papa" and his "wife", "Reuze Maman"
The giant "Tutor" on a night-time outing
in his home town of Steenwerck, near Lille

How to make a giant

The framework that goes underneath the giant "Tutor"

Why the giant needs to be very light

The giants are not real living people! There are two ways of carrying a giant about:

- having a person - or several people - inside, to carry it, and make any movements, e.g. "dancing" to the music, or waving a hand;

- pulling it along on a trolley.

Giants used to be made of wickerwork, with a papier-maché head. Today all sorts of lightweight but strong modern materials are used, such as aluminium mesh and polystyrene.

These may also be easier for children to work with.

This is OUR giant!
Our school giant
Well done! One primary school in Thurrock built their own giant (seen here in the school hall), which they have called 'Avelynne'. Avelynne will be carried in processions in school and community events, as a "community mascot". She has even travelled to a gathering of giants in France (http://archive.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/2008/4/2/274887.html)

Why not send in news of projects YOUR SCHOOL has done with Early Start?

For more information:
www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/giants.htm

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IPA (International Phonetic Aphabet)

FOR TEACHERS
The IPA was invented as a set of standard international symbols for writing down sounds, so that it could be possible to show in writing how to pronounce any language in the world.

The Teacher's manual uses just a few of its symbols - see example, right.

You can find the whole phonetic alphabet on the website of the Association that develops and maintains how IPA is used:

http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/

http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/IPA_chart_(C)2005.pdf
- for the complete phonetic alphabet.
Introducing IPA
In the Teacher's Manual: the symbol for thge 'an' sound in 'France' can be checked against the pronunciation of other words.

IPA and dictionaries
Teachers will find IPA particularly useful in checking and comparing how French words are pronounced.

Full-size grown-up dictionaries, like the 'Oxford Hachette French Dioctionary', use IPA to indicate how words are pronounced. This is ideal if you are looking for examples of a particular phoneme, or checking if two words contain the same sound.

As with English, recordings of real everyday speech (such as those in the videos) are affected by regional accents. Also everyday speech is not enunciated quite as carefully as the dictionary's "correct" version.

NOTE: IPA pronunciation guides in dictionaries are not suitable for young children. Appropriate children's dictionaries will not use IPA.

In this dictionary, the entry for the French word 'france' is followed by the IPA phonetic spelling..

In IPA, there are 4 sounds:
-[f], a rolling [R], a nasal [an], and [s].

The Teacher's Manual example above focuses on the "nasal" sound, [an]. We suggest children learn best by comparing the written word with what they hear in the recordings.

Useful French guides to how French sounds correspond to spelling :

http://phonetique.free.fr/

.. and see this new Spelling guide to a few recent spelling changes in French :

http://www.orthographe-recommandee.info/miniguide.pdf

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Where in the World do they speak French?
As you learn to speak French, you'll be able to talk to most of the people living in France, who speak French as their everyday language - though 1 in 6 has a parent or grand-parent who came from outside France. French is also the first language of many people in parts of neighbouring countries: 3.5m in the southern half of Belgium including the capital, Brussels; Luxembourg; 1.2m in Switzerland (around Geneva). There is more about this in Early Start French Continuation Pack 2, Ch.2.1 "Où habites-tu?".	MAP 1: Where they speak French in Europe
MAP 2: Where they speak French in the World
Across the Atlantic, there are 7.5m French-speaking Canadians in Québec - about 1/4 of the population of Canada; French is the main language in Caribbean islands like Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe,and the former prison colony of Guyane, now famous as a rocket base. French remains the main language of over 5m Africans in many countries of North and West Africa; in the Indian Ocean like Madegascar, and in the Pacific like Tahiti.
The 9th most spoken language French is one of the most widely learnt second languages in the world - it is the first or second language for over 220 million people (making it the 9th most spoken language). One reason is that France attracts so many tourists. It is the most visited country on earth, way ahead of the USA, Spain, Italy and Britain.
Back to top

BBC 'Talk French' - Greetings
See how young grown-up friends greet each other, and when to say 'bonjour' or 'bonsoir' - plus some on-line activities. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/talk/greetings/		Meeting your friends: how young adults greet each other in France.
' Salut!' -Meet Roller and the gang. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryfrench/	BBC Primary French also has some interactive presentations and activities on Greetings... [see what topics they cover]
Back to top

Giants
The "giants" of North France are a recurring theme in the video, appearing in every title sequence and in many of the sections. They are a living and popular tradition, with new giants being created every year. The custom has strong roots in religious festivals and in folk lore and traditional tales and legends.
From the video title sequence: the two giants of the small hilltop town of Cassel, "Reuze Papa" and his "wife", "Reuze Maman"	The giant "Tutor" on a night-time outing in his home town of Steenwerck, near Lille
How to make a giant
The framework that goes underneath the giant "Tutor"	Why the giant needs to be very light The giants are not real living people! There are two ways of carrying a giant about: - having a person - or several people - inside, to carry it, and make any movements, e.g. "dancing" to the music, or waving a hand; - pulling it along on a trolley. Giants used to be made of wickerwork, with a papier-maché head. Today all sorts of lightweight but strong modern materials are used, such as aluminium mesh and polystyrene. These may also be easier for children to work with.
This is OUR giant! Well done! One primary school in Thurrock built their own giant (seen here in the school hall), which they have called 'Avelynne'. Avelynne will be carried in processions in school and community events, as a "community mascot". She has even travelled to a gathering of giants in France (http://archive.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/2008/4/2/274887.html) Why not send in news of projects YOUR SCHOOL has done with Early Start?
For more information: www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/giants.htm

IPA (International Phonetic Aphabet)
FOR TEACHERS The IPA was invented as a set of standard international symbols for writing down sounds, so that it could be possible to show in writing how to pronounce any language in the world.
The Teacher's manual uses just a few of its symbols - see example, right. You can find the whole phonetic alphabet on the website of the Association that develops and maintains how IPA is used: http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/ http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/IPA_chart_(C)2005.pdf - for the complete phonetic alphabet.	In the Teacher's Manual: the symbol for thge 'an' sound in 'France' can be checked against the pronunciation of other words.
IPA and dictionaries Teachers will find IPA particularly useful in checking and comparing how French words are pronounced. Full-size grown-up dictionaries, like the 'Oxford Hachette French Dioctionary', use IPA to indicate how words are pronounced. This is ideal if you are looking for examples of a particular phoneme, or checking if two words contain the same sound. As with English, recordings of real everyday speech (such as those in the videos) are affected by regional accents. Also everyday speech is not enunciated quite as carefully as the dictionary's "correct" version. NOTE: IPA pronunciation guides in dictionaries are not suitable for young children. Appropriate children's dictionaries will not use IPA.	In this dictionary, the entry for the French word 'france' is followed by the IPA phonetic spelling.. In IPA, there are 4 sounds: -[f], a rolling [R], a nasal [an], and [s]. The Teacher's Manual example above focuses on the "nasal" sound, [an]. We suggest children learn best by comparing the written word with what they hear in the recordings.
Useful French guides to how French sounds correspond to spelling : http://phonetique.free.fr/ .. and see this new Spelling guide to a few recent spelling changes in French : http://www.orthographe-recommandee.info/miniguide.pdf