“Penpol pupils are curious, creative and courageous learners. Our school community believes in authenticity as the foundations of deep-rooted learning. Through our rich and relevant curriculum, we nurture community-minded, forward-facing international citizens of the future.”
Pupils at Penpol have performed amazingly well in French this past term by showing that they can order food an drink in French.
All classes performed really well, using the key phrases “je voudrais” (I would like) and “s’il vous plaît” in order to order food and drink.
Check out the video below which gives you an overview of what they have all been learning recently, as well as showing how much they enjoyed this topic. Bravo Penpol!
This term, Reception have been learning about food and drink in preparation for their French café lesson this week.
The children were brilliant at recalling different foods in French, saying which colour they were in French and also singing a song about food. They also acted out the classic ‘le Bonhomme de Pain d’Épice'(The Gingerbread Man), with both classes joining in with the rhyme:
Cours,coursaussiviteque tule peux. (Run, run, as fast fast as you can.)
Tu ne m’attrapaspas! (You can’t catch me!)
Je suisle bonhomme de pain d’épice. (I’m the Gingerbread Man.)
Classes 1 and 2 watched also got a taste of this week’s French café lesson. They watched a short video of Classes 9 + 10 ordering food and drink in French and enjoyed the song so much they wanted to sing along.
Check out their efforts in singing the French song below…
Having the confidence to order food and drink in French is fundamental to anyone wishing to visit France. This week, Year 4 completed their final lesson on the topic of food and needed to use everything they had learnt to order and serve food at a french café.
For one morning only, Classes 9 + 10 were treated to a French breakfast. They were able to sing a song in French (to the tune of a popular Taylor Swift song!), order food and drink in French and, of course, taste the foods typically associated with a French breakfast.
I was nervous ordering in French at the beginning but now I feel much more confident. Summer, Class 9, Year 4
Every student had a go at both ordering French food, as well as serving. Both classrooms were buzzing with French language, such as “je voudrais” ( I would like), s’il vous plaît (please) and the signature phrase “bon appetit” (used as a salutation to someone about to eat).
I definitely know how to order more in French next time I go to France! Oscar, Class 9, Year 4.
All of the students enjoyed the café atmosphere and certainly took pleasure from tasting the French pastries on offer with a glass of jus d’orange or jus de pomme.
I preferred eating the croissant today, it was tasty! Freddie, Class 10, Year 4
Check out some of the children singing and ordering food in French below.
With the final term at Penpol School almost upon us, it’s the perfect time to reflect and evaluate on the year so far.
All students here at Penpol have one hour a week of French, as well as the opportunity of attending after school language club on Thursdays. Year 6 are currently involved in an email exchange with Octave Cazauvieilh, a primary school situated on the outskirts of Bordeaux in the South-West of France. We also celebrate students achievement in languages by awarding a Star of the Week badge in both Infants and Juniors.
As a way of evaluating languages at Penpol, please would you be so helpful and spare a moment to complete this short questionnaire below.
Class 8 have been enjoying sing-a-longs in French this term to help them learn key vocabulary on the topic of family.
So far, Class 8 can already say who is in their family, including pets, size of the family member and colour of their pet. Mr Emery has been really impressed with their enthusiasm during lessons, which is shown in their singing, classwork and homework.
The song for this week is a song which shows appreciation for the family (merci pour ma famille), as well as friends (mes amis). Each student drew and labelled each of their members of the family, which they then each held up for the song.
If you’d like to hear a little snippet of one of class 8’s song, take a look at the video below.
I am really enjoying our French lessons, especially the songs and games we do in class. Alex, Class 8
I love practising a new language! I also go to language club every Thursday after school to learn an extra language. Corran, Class 8
Next up for Year 3 will be the celebration of “Pâques”, which is the name for Easter in France.
Year 6 Students at Penpol have begun to take part in an email exchange with a French primary school during Mr Emery’s French lessons. The students have already sent and received two letters each to a French primary school located 60 km outside of Bordeaux in South-West France.
Year 6 students wrote a quick introduction about themselves in French before Christmas to the French school, Octave Cazauvieilh. They were able to talk about their hobbies, saying what they like and dislike doing on the weekend. Every Tuesday, Year 6 students would hopefully await word from Mr Emery to see if there had been a response from their French pen-pals. After a few weeks, Classes 13 and 14 received their first responses from their pen-pals, which of course was written in French!
In the Spring term, Year 6 then wrote a description about what they look like, with a picture they drew of themselves. They also included extra details about their interests they wanted their French pen-pal to know about. Finally, they created a postcard to show off to their pen-pal the local area, with Godrevy and its lighthouse featuring prominently on most of the postcards.
Their letters were posted by mail this time and the French school were delighted with the response that had been sent from their Penpol pen-pals.
Most recently, Penpol have just received a Guess Who game. The game included a class photo of all the students in the French year 5 class, as well as a description of each one. Using the French descriptions of each student, Penpol’s Year 6 classes rose to the challenge.
It was great to try and work out who your pen-pal was from their descriptions and photo. Juliette- Class 14
Fun was had by all and great progress was made on the current topic, All About Me.
I learnt lots of extra new words to try and find out which pen-pal was mine from the picture. It was lots of fun! Ines- Class 13
Watch this space for the next flurry of emails between the French and Cornish school over the next couple of months.
Think you can spot Anaelle? Read her description below and find her in the picture …
J’ai les cheveux blonds. J’ai un pantalon gris, un T-shirt blanc et des chaussures noires. Anaelle, CM1- Octave Cazauvieilh School
This half-term, Class 4 have been learning about how Christmas is celebrated around the world. For their concert in St Elwyn’s church, Class 4 learnt a French song with Mr Emery about the animals in the stable. The students were able to name each of the animals from the song in French, as well as ask the question, “do you have any pets” in French.
Students from class 4 have been really excited about performing French and German songs with their family watching.
I have been practising ‘Tu as un animal’ lots, I really like that song! Oliver, Class 4
Miss Ryan and Mrs Anthoney have also enjoyed teaching the children about animals in French, having produced a 3D animal display board in French in the classroom and testing their knowledge in the lead-up to Class 4’s Christmas concert.
In addition, Mr Jones has been teaching class 4 the heartwarming German song, O Tannebaum (Oh Christmas Tree). Class 4 lit up St Elwyn’s church with their own performance of the song in front of parents and families.
To finish off an exciting term for languages, Class 4 also sang both songs in front of the Christmas tree in the school hall, with class 5 watching as special guests.
Class 4 sang really well! Chloe, Class 5
High praise indeed from the older students! Next up, Mr Emery looks forward to teaching many more French classics to the children in the New Year.
This week, Year 6 students had the opportunity of learning Spanish and enjoyed their first Spanish taster session with Mr Emery. With Spain being the third most popular country to visit in the World, lots of students were very enthusiastic to learn more about Spain and also learn some basic Spanish.
Classes 13 & 14 were given a short presentation by Inès from Class 13 on her experience being in a Spanish primary school in Gran Canaria. Students were amazed to hear that in Spain and the Canary islands, the school day finishes at lunch time, where school kids go back home for la comida (lunch) and, of course, la siesta!
After a cultural quiz on Spain, students then got to grips with the Spanish language by learning different types of food on the website Linguascope. Within 20 minutes, some students had already mastered the 40 different items of food, ranging from breakfast foods to vegetables and fruits!
Q and A with Inès
Inès tackles some GCSE Spanish
The overall winners from class 13
The students were then tested on how many different types of food they could remember by playing a whole class quiz on Kahoot.com. Students are given a time-limit to answer each question and are competing against each other for the top score.
After 30 questions, the winners from each class had been established. From class 13, Ben was the overall winner, with Inès second and Peter third.
It’s really cool to try a different language and learn about Spain. Spanish is now my new favourite language! Ben, Class 13, Year 6
From Class 14, Alfie won a very close battle between himself, Juliette and Finn. All three were the only students in class 14 to score 30/30, but Alfie’s faster reaction times saw him eventually come out on top.
Learning Spanish is much easier when you already know some French! That helped me win today! Alfie, Class 14, Year 6
Currently, only one third of Britons are now able to hold a conversation in another language. Yet with the budding enthusiasm shown by Penpols’ language stars, there’s a feeling that the tide is turning!
This week, students have been enjoying the dry weather by learning French outside. Classes 3, 4, 7 and 8 were involved in a series of activities and competitions which tested their understanding of instructions and knowledge of body parts in French, which is the current topic they are learning about with Mr Emery.
At the start of each lesson, students followed Mr Emery around the school via instructions in French, until reaching the playground area. Out in the fresh air, students began by doing a number of fun warm-up activities in French, from star jumps to the Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (tête, épaule, genou, pied) song. Following the warm-up activities, students then moved on to the more challenging competitions, such as “la souris contre le chat” (very similar to duck duck goose) and “Jacques a dit” (Simon says).
From class 3, Hazel held her nerve and won the Simon says competition, showing an excellent understanding of body parts in French.
It was really fun learning French outside. I really like winning too! – Hazel – Class 3 – Year 1
Upon returning to the classroom, students were able to recap what they had learnt about body parts in French by drawing and labelling their own monsters. With all classes having sung a French colour song with Michèle in the Harvest assembly, they were also keen to add plenty of colours to their monsters.
Alex, from Class 3, also enjoyed counting the number of heads in French on his monster, going all the way up to “quinze”, (15, pronounced ‘cans’).
When asked at the end of the session what was their favourite part of the lesson, the overriding response was “learning French outside!”
I loved having lots of space outside to play games in French! – Sienna – Class 4 – Year 1
Classes 13 and 14 in Year 6 have been learning about how to describe their home town in French. From learning about their favourite place to visit, as well as places they dislike in their town, both classes have worked hard to master both pronunciation and memorisation of vocabulary. Their final lesson was an opportunity to test their overall confidence with this topic by completing a language challenge on the website Kahoot.com, in the Junior Mac Suite.
Kahoot.com is a website which allows teachers to create an interactive quiz and share it with a whole class, with each student having their own computer to complete the quiz. The twenty questions on places in town is then shared live with the students at the same time and they are given a time limit of 10 seconds to answer a multiple choice question correctly. It enables every student in the class to compete against each other on this topic to get the highest score.
The winner from class 14 was Juliette, who was the only student who managed to answer all questions correctly, scoring 100%, as well as having the quickest reaction time.
Kahoot is so much fun because it tests you against everyone else in the class. I loved it! Juliette- class 14- Year 6
Juliette received a French certificate for her effort and commitment in French.
In class 13, Trystan was also the overall winner, narrowly beating Lola and Will to first place on the podium.
Kahoot is so much fun! It’s quick and tests you on what you know. I loved beating my friends! Trystan- class 13- Year 6
Next up for Year 6 will be the Penpol- Lavignolle email exchange. This half term, students will be receiving their first email from students in France from Lavignolle primary school, which is situated in the suburbs of Paris. This will be the perfect opportunity for the students to develop more of a cultural understanding by learning about the differences between French schools and English schools.
“I asked my French penpal which rugby team they supported, so I can’t wait to hear back from them!” Jack- class 13- Year 6.
Watch this space for more on the Penpol- Lavignolle email exchange.
