“Bonjour tous les amis, bonjour tous les amis…” Each day Primary School students enter
Madame Odile McNally’s French classroom singing this charming song of friendship. Her energetic and playful class is taught entirely in French using music, costumes, and a variety of props. Her unique teaching style successfully immerses her students into all aspects of the French language; so much so that speaking this foreign language becomes second nature them. Even the Kindergarteners are able to understand her instruction and happily respond to her questions in French.
Madame McNally, a native of Brittany, France, trained as a classical guitarist and incorporates music into all of her lessons. Using traditional French songs or her own original music, she has been teaching French at Viewpoint for more than 20 years. “Our program is designed to give the children the opportunity to in learn the French language in a fun and successful way,” explained Madame McNally. “It is so important that the children are aware of other languages and cultures and we want to make sure that they truly enjoy their first experience with a foreign language.”
To achieve these goals the children are fully engaged in playing games, singing songs, and role playing stories, fairy tales, and dialogues. “One method we use is called Total Physical Response, where I say a command and the children show their comprehension by acting out the command,” continued Madame McNally. “This often involves singing a song with corresponding movements or dance. The students seem to love it and through action and repetition they come to understand the French language.”
The vocabulary and expressions taught in class often complement what they are studying in their other courses. They learn numbers, animals, colors, parts of the body, clothing, food, the traditions behind the holidays. For example, in each class at Christmastime Madame McNally goes through every step involved in dressing either herself or one of her students as Papa Noël. The children learn about each part of his clothing from his
bottes noires to his
chapeau rouge. Afterwards, the children put their shoes under the Christmas tree in the center of the room and while they pretend to be sleeping Papa Noël puts a tiny gift in their shoes. Each year the children are delighted by this French custom and laughter and singing fills the classroom.
Joyeux Noël et Joyeux Hanouccah! To see photos of Primary School French classes, please
click here.
