4. Les petites bêtes

Mini-beasts

This section has strong cross-curricular links with children’s work in their science lessons on mini-beasts. We see French children on a mini-beast hunt in a forest with a nature warden. He shows how to identify what creature you are looking at. Children will focus on asking QUESTIONS about various characteristics (and parts of the body), e.g. ‘does it have wings?’ - and on ANSWERS such as ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘more than six’.

The hunt introduces extra French terms that are used with mini-beasts and other animals. They look at the whole eco-system of the forest, including food chains and how the forest’s life cycle is sustained. The language introduced here with woodland creatures is transferable to your work on other habitats, e.g. pond-life or the seashore.

Films to see

Part A: Mini-beasts in the forest

A1. The forest floor habitat

A2. Naming mini-beasts

A3. Song 1: ‘Petit escargot’

Part B: Identifying mini-beasts

B1. What is it? (Keys)

B2. Song: ‘L’araignée gypsy’

B3. Jokes 1 and 2

Part C: Who eats what?

C1. Food chains and the forest life-cycle

C2. Joke 3

Find transcripts online