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Download Rapport de Maël - ANGLAIS IN FRANCE
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Wednesday When Mael arrived, he was very tired, and rather shy, so we really just tried to help him settle in happily on the first day. We talked about what he liked doing, eating, what sort of music he liked, which films etc and what he didn’t like (Circus, Justin Bieber, olives and fizzy drinks!). We also talked a little about his life in Mayotte and his family. Mael explained that he felt he needed help to improve his pronunciation and vocabulary, that he found writing relatively easy but it was harder for him to read English. We walked around our village to show Mael where we lived, but it rained and we all had to run home, utterly soaked! We played Cluedo, each of us describing our various journeys around the board / house, using directions and different words to describe our movements - walking along / down / up / through, strolling, running, skipping, hopping, crossing the corridors, sliding into rooms, escaping through the secret passageways etc. We talked a little about the difference between the present simple and present ING – and that the latter is used when one is in the process of doing something (en train de faire qqch) because I noticed that Mael had a tendency to use the present simple when the present ING would be more appropriate. We talked briefly about how to form basic questions – reversing the order of words, Eg, It is -> Is it? I can -> Can I? We also talked about comparatives briefly -> eg, easy -> easier -> easiest. In the evening we went to hear a band playing English and American songs and we played backgammon on our return home. Mael was delightful, and is clearly a very bright young man, but he is very shy and this, understandably, presents an obstacle for him with English. He was also very tired, so we spoke quite a lot of French with him in general conversation to try and help him settle in. Thursday We looked at the 2 present tenses in more detail – talking about when to use them: Present Simple Present ING Things which are generally true Things which happen regularly With Always, Never, Often, Sometimes, Usually Things which are happening NOW! Particular not general situations For things in the near future. We talked about difficult spellings for -ING words : eg die -> dying, hope -> hoping, but hop -> hopping and Mael did some questions to practice choosing which present tense to use. We revised the different ‘WH’ and ‘How . . ‘ question words / phrases with Mael choosing which words to use in a set of questions, eg, what / for and what / like, how long, much, many etc. We went to the Tourist Office to find out if there were any activities which Mael might like to do . . without great success but we did find some activities, eg a garden outing and an art exhibition to visit later in the week. Mael read a short newspaper article to me so that I could see what particular problems he had with pronunciation : - Forming the ‘th’ sound (place your tongue between your front teeth, Mael!), When to use a ‘h’ sound and when not to (normally when there is a written ‘h’, and not when the word starts with a vowel!) Various vowel sounds, like look / loop, up / use / through etc. ‘Ough’ with all its different and very difficult pronunciations We went through about 10 different confusing sounds, eg ‘i’\ ‘ee’\’e’, ‘ai’ / ‘ee’ ‘at’ / ‘ad’ ‘u’ / ‘a’, ‘a’ / ’ar’ ‘ar’ / ‘u’, look / loop and ‘or’ / ‘o’ and Mael read a tongue twister aloud for each, several times to make sure he really grasped the different sounds. We then made up some more tongue twisters of our own. We found Mael a Michael Morpurgo book of short stories to read whilst he was with us and he read some pages on his own, underlining the words he didn’t understand - which we then talked through and explained how they might be used in different ways: Glistening, Vow, Relentlessly, Poring over, to Furrow one’s brow, Friday We talked about word stress – how different types of words, nouns, adjectives and verbs have different stresses, also depending on how many syllables the word has, and any particular word endings. We talked about how important this stress is in order to sound truly English . . we talked about the difference stresses in the words ‘photograph’ / photocopy, but photographer, photographic, and photography. We talked about how the same word, used differently (as a noun or as a verb), often has a different word stress : Import / Export / Present / Object / Contract . . and how the stress in compound words depends on what type of word it is. Please see the sheet Mael has on this in more detail. Mael prepared a written presentation on Mayotte, which was very interesting. I corrected it with him and then he read it aloud to practice his pronunciation. There was considerable improvement with ‘th’ and ‘h’ but still some confusion with vowel sounds, particularly ‘ow’. We had English friends for lunch and we all ate the quiche Mael had cooked the day before – which was delicious!! Mael seemed to be increasingly at ease, and chatted away very impressively with us and our friends over lunch. He then very kindly helped us to mend the swimming pool and seemed to enjoy being part of a team, and achieving something practical. Mael and I read through a text given to Terminale students last year (‘Another Day in Paradise’ by Phil Collins) and we talked about how one might prepare a commentary on it. I then showed him the commentary and explained how one could try to find deeper meanings behind apparently simple lyrics in order to achieve a good mark. We talked about the vocabulary , eg the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’, ‘to take place’, ‘no fixed abode’, ‘wretched conditions’, ‘dire straits’ and ‘whistle’. Mael then read it aloud and I noticed that he sometimes mispronounces the ‘ed’ at the end of past participles. In the evening, we played ‘Articulate’ which involves teams of two players, one having to explain a word until the other guesses it correctly. Mael was extremely good at expressing himself and enjoyed the competitive edge, but I noted again that he had some difficulty with vowel sounds and the present tenses which I corrected and he understood his mistakes (en train de faire -> present ING!) Saturday It wasn’t raining for the first time! We went to see the Tour de France start at St Gaudens which was quite interesting, although we had to hang around for several hours. After the caravan had been, we had a picnic whilst waiting for the cyclist themselves. We played an oral version of Pictionary – with one person describing various words, and the others guessing. It was interesting to see how increasingly articulate and confident Mael was becoming and how much he enjoys games. I showed Mael a photograph of Lyndon Johnson being sworn in as president after JFK’s assassination in 1963 and we talked through what we could see, in the background, in the foreground etc. We talked about the vocabulary one would need to write a commentary (‘vow’, ‘swear in’, to take place’, ‘widow’, ‘blood stains’, ‘to be in shock’ etc), repeating the different word stresses for ‘photography’ related words, the background events leading up to the photograph and why it was necessary to record the event. We agreed a structure for the commentary and Mael then wrote it himself. We went over it together, and noted that he regularly omits the ‘s’ at the end of present tense (he / she / it) verbs, but he could see this mistake recurring each time and was able to correct himself. Again I noted that he had problems with vowel sounds, particularly ‘ow’, and also the dreaded ‘ough’ pattern but his ‘th’ and ‘h’ sounds are improving well. We read a poem about a French student struggling to master the numerous different ‘OUGH’ sounds one finds in the English language – and went over the 8 possibilities, and those for ‘AUGH’ and EIGH’ too. Mael then tried very hard with a series of pronunciation questions using a combination of these – but they really are very tricky indeed. He has the explanatory sheet and questions in order to practice these from time to time at home! As a little light relief, Mael and Izzi wrote a huge list of words with the ‘OW’ sound, separating those using ‘ow’ and those using ‘ou’ to try to find a spelling pattern. They also wrote a list of words using the letters ‘ow’ but which aren’t pronounced as one expects. This involved much dictionary searching and they both really enjoyed it, coming up with words like ‘doubt’ with its silent ’b’, jowls, snout, towel, compound, but not grown, know, or sow (with their ’o’ sound). Mael seemed to really enjoy exploring our dictionary (Larousse Chambers English / French reference version) and we talked about how it was fun to look up one particular word and then see the many different ways it could be used, and the similarities in use / the common roots between French and English. For a student as bright and curious as Mael, something similar would be a very worthwhile investment! It makes one new word go a very long way! After all that brain work, we played badminton – at first very gently, but it soon emerged that Mael is also secretly a champion player!! It was great to see him so relaxed, messing around and laughing. Sunday Mael and I read an extract from a book called ‘Class Reunion’ by Rona Jaffe. which was used as the subject of a commentary by local Terminale students last year. We talked about how we could structure a commentary on this text, which was about an American living in France on the day that JFK was shot, and her reaction to the event and the vocabulary one would use. Mael then wrote the commentary and we went through it together. We revised the following points and noted that Mael was starting to remember: - Pour faire/ dire etc -> To / in order to do / say etc NOT For to do / say! The order of words when expressing that something belongs to someone, eg ‘Kennedy’s body’, rather than ‘the body of Kennedy’. That for he / she / it in the present tense, the verb needs an ‘s’ at the end. Also some use of the conditional tenses and the difference in use between ‘just’ and ‘only’ Izzi and Mael played cards together and chatted in English before lunch. We had another English family coming for tea, and so Mael and Izzi cooked some marshmallow cornflake cakes which were very pink and chewy, but very tasty! They even washed up and dried up without being asked afterwards, which was fabulous! We played various rather silly games with our friends, and it was clear that Mael was increasingly relaxed and happy, and therefore talking more freely than before. We talked about the different use of the words ‘Ago’, ‘Since’ and ‘For’ (as per sheet) and the difference between the correct verb tenses to use with the word ‘since’ in French and English. Mael ran through a series of questions, choosing the correct word to use, to ensure he had grasped the differences clearly. We talked about how to get adjectives in the right order: Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Colour, Origin, Material, Purpose Mael chose the correct orders from several choices for 8 short descriptions. He was very good at this – seeming to have a natural feel for it. We went over 24 homonyms, clarifying the separate meanings and Mael created sentences using each of the 2 or more meanings in the same sentence, for example : ‘I sent 30 cents by post to obtain this scent’ and ‘Of course Americans are coarse!’ We talked through the 3 different possible sounds for ‘ed’ (being ‘d’, ‘t’ and ‘did’) at the end of past participles and I explained the rules to Mael. He then put some present tense sentences in the past, and read them aloud, including some irregular verbs I had slipped in. Mael had also read some more of his book, so we went through the vocabulary he didn’t understand: Monday The sun was shining when we woke up! So we got to work as quickly as we could in order to be able to go out to the swimming pool with friends. Mael and I read through a Beatles’ song (which again had been the subject of a Terminale commentary this year) called ‘She’s leaving home’. Mael read it aloud, focusing on the ‘th’ and ‘h’ sounds, and it was good to see improvement both there, and with his vowel sounds. We talked about the relationship between the girl and her parents as depicted in the song lyrics and how parent / child relationships have changed since the 1960s. We read through a page of vocabulary directly relevant to this text. We also went through two pages of useful phrases for writing commentaries generally and I asked Mael to try to incorporate some of these in his written work. Mael then wrote an excellent commentary on the text. It was extremely well structured and raised some interesting points. He had incorporated several of the phrases we’d discussed (The scene ‘takes place’, ‘to my mind’, ‘to come of age’, ‘to have got’, ‘to have a feeling’, ‘I’m convinced’ and ‘In conclusion’). When we went through the commentary together, Mael had again forgotten the ‘s’ in he/she/it verbs, but he was able to spot it each time when I asked what had been missed out. We agreed that it would be a good idea for him to check through his written work before handing it in at Lycee as the dreaded ’s’ was letting his work down, and he was far too good to lose marks for something so simple! There was much improvement in his choice between present ING and present simple. We talked about the passive / active (to ‘encompass’ / ‘surround’ and to be ‘encompassed by’ / ‘surrounded by’), that ‘each’ and ‘every’ were followed by singular nouns, rather than plural ones, the plural of ‘self’ / ‘wife’ -> ‘selves’ / ‘wives’, the use of the suffix ‘hood’ (eg ‘childhood’, ‘motherhood’). We talked about expressions such as ‘I can’t be bothered’, ‘to go back’, ‘self-awareness’, ‘to have fun together’, ‘to let someone have fun’, and the difference between ‘to separate’ and ‘to divide’. After lunch, we went to the swimming pool with some English friends and had a great time. We spent a very happy evening at their house, having dinner together and playing badminton. It was lovely to see Mael so relaxed, chatting away, the friendly teasing going both ways. Tuesday Mael read aloud 15 short extracts from the English tabloid newspapers, which included various silly (yet possibly true?!) stories. We focused on correcting his vowel sounds, as the ‘ed’, ‘th’ and ‘h’ sounds are progressing really well. New vocabulary included: ‘renditions’, ‘bobsleigh’ / draught (including revising the pronunciation of ‘augh’ and ‘eigh’), ‘wardrobe’, ‘oblivious’, ‘hazard’, ‘deli’, ‘spoils’, ‘loiterer’, to ‘hog’, ‘spikes’, ‘ironing’, ‘watchtower’, ‘penalty’, repetition of ‘dye’, to ‘peep’, ‘common sense’, ‘naked’, to ‘woo’ and to ’drown’. We then revised the 10 basic vowel pronunciations and their possible spellings – ‘a’ / ‘A’, ‘e’ / ‘E’, ‘i’ / ‘I’, ‘o’ / ‘O’ and ‘u’ / ‘U’, finding as many examples as we could of word pairs - where the vowel sound is transformed by the final ‘e’, eg: - hat -> hate, pet -> Pete, bit -> bite, hop -> hope and tub -> tube. We found either French or very well known English words to try to remind Mael of the most similar vowel sounds in French (‘chat’, une tasse de ‘the’, ‘tete’, ‘vie’, ‘Izzi’, ‘aie’, ‘grottes’, ‘velo’, ‘euh’ and ‘you’). We considered some of the different ways in which these 10 basic sounds can be spelt in English - and found words Mael already knew as examples. We identified some of the more complex vowel sounds, such as the 2 different ‘oo’ sounds (look OR loop), ‘ow’, ‘oi’, ‘or’ and ‘ur / er / ir’ and found words to remind Mael how to pronounce these. We then went out shopping for Izzi’s birthday presents and to the top up Mael’s mobile phone credit. Mael is becoming increasingly at home here, and is a pleasure to have. After supper we watched ‘7 Lives’ together in English (with sub-titles) and it was clear both during, and from our discussion afterwards, that Male understood it all, and found it a moving film. Wednesday The sun was shining today!! It was Izzi’s birthday too, so we decided that as we’d worked very hard all week, we would have a lazier day today. Mael did an English crossword from The Telegraph newspaper – as an exercise to expand his vocabulary and also to recognize the verb tense in the clue and reflect it in his proposed answers (particularly ‘ed’ and ‘s’ endings). He used the dictionary to find possible solutions and we talked about the word roots, whether there were similar words in french and other English uses of the words we found. When it was finished, I asked Mael to read the first two solutions aloud : ‘Shellac’ (varnish) and ‘Combs’ (search thoroughly), which Mael realized made the sound of ‘Sherlock Holmes’, the detective in the Conan Doyle books. This was a good exercise for Mael – it challenged him and I think he was a little daunted by it at the beginning, but the emerging letters and interim successes encouraged him to continue, with help. Afterwards, we went to Aspet and wandered around the various art exhibitions. We had a drink at the local café and talked to friends in English, French and even German, but not Dutch! We returned home to finish mending the swimming pool, and Mael was a great help, despite it being rather chilly in the water. Izzi’s friends arrived with birthday cake and the youngsters hung out together by the pool and played badminton. We made home-made pizzas for supper and spent the evening talking, watching ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and playing backgammon. We have really enjoyed Mael’s stay and his company. He has been very polite and helpful throughout. It took me a few days to realize just how shy he is, and how very tired he was too. I will miss his gentle nature, his spark and interesting conversation.