Part B: Identifying mini-beasts

Planning your lessons

Part B is about the next stage in a mini-beast hunt: when you’ve caught a mini-beast, what questions will help you identify which creature you are looking at?

You can review all the questions children already know in French, and look at how questions can be phrased.

Activities

1. Warm up

Ask children what questions they can ask in French, e.g. “Quel âge as-tu?”, “Comment t’appelles-tu?”, “Quelle heure est-il?”, “Où habitestu?”, “Qu’est-ce que c’est?”, “C’est combien?”... There are quite a lot! If you haven’t already done so, you could look for patterns in how questions are phrased in French, and how to turn a statement into a question (see “how French works 1”).

Watch film B1

❑ Film B1 introduces four features of minibeasts: the number of legs*, and whether it has wings, antennae or a shell.

*Note that humans have “jambes” but animals have “pattes”

B1: NEW WORDS des pattes (f) des ailes (f) des antennes (f) une coquille

- legs (of animals)

- wings

- antennae

- a shell (e.g. snail)

Est-ce qu’il a... (des pattes)?

...des ailes?

...des antennes?

...une coquille?

- ...wings?

- ...antennae?

- ...a shell?

..and answers il a... (des pattes) it has... (legs) il n’a pas de... (pattes) it doesn’t have... (legs) il n’a pas d’ailes it doesn’t have wings il

Combien de ... (pattes) a-t-il?

How many... (legs) does it have?

Il a ... (six pattes)

It has ... (6 legs)

Qu’est-ce que c’est? C’est... (un scarabée) What is it? It’s... (a beetle)

The children learn how to identify which creature they are looking at by observing these features and answering key questions (see “B1: new words”).

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Select ‘B1. Minibeast body parts’ on the e-flashcards, and show with sound and text ON. Children echo what they hear.

The four body parts mentioned are wings, legs/ feet, antennae and a shell; pupils will use these characteristics to identify mini-beasts.

Key Sounds

Listen and enjoy copying these typical sounds: where have you heard them before?

as in coquille heard before in diabolo, mille-pattes as in... antenne heard before in lancez, jambe as in...coquille heard before in chenille not mille-pattes as in... pattes, ailes seen before in escargot, c’est

(Listen to the native speakers - try to copy their typically French sounds.)

❑ Echoing: When pupils are ready, show the e-flashcards ‘B1. Identifying minibeasts Q & A’. Each shows a question about the creature portrayed, followed by the answer - initially with sound and text ON.

1

How to make a question

When you turn“il a six pattes” (it has 6 legs) into a question, you don’t just turn it round (“a il..”), you also add a “t”: “a-t-il six pattes?” does it have six legs?

Adding the“-t-” helps make the phrase easier to say. Try saying “a il..” - you’ll see how awkward it is without an extra “-t-” between the two vowels.

Another useful way to make a question is to add “est-ce que...” before a statement: “est-ce qu’il a six pattes?”

(LITERALLY: is it that it has 6 legs?)

Note how the “est-ce qu’...” slides into “il a” - that’s another way to make it easier to say.

NOTE 2: explain to children that an unknown creature is always referred to as ‘he’ (‘il’)

- see “How French works 2”.

NOTE 3: When you hear a negative statement, e.g. “il n’a pas de pattes”, ask children to look for the pattern : see “How French works 3”.

Respond with understanding

Click to move from Question to Answer

Pupils echo the question, e.g. “Est-ce qu’il a une coquille?” Click the ‘forward’ arrow to hear the answer which they also echo, e.g. “Oui, un escargot a une coquille”.

There are a range of questions included on these flashcards so you may wish to refer to the following:

NOTE 1: with the question “Combien de pattes a-t-il?”, point out the extra ‘-t-’ sound. Ask children to guess why it is there.

- see “How French works 1”.

❑ Q-and-A with the e-flashcards: Show the e-flashcards again: display the question, then switch OFF text and sound. Ask children to answer the question without a prompt - pay particular attention to negative answers, e.g. “A-t-il des antennes?” about a worm.

Children could suggest other questions to ask about the current mini-beast, e.g. “Quelle couleur est-il?”; and answer them, e.g. “Il est rose”

- see “Extra words” for possibilities.

HOW FRENCH WORKS: Referring to “it” (genders) 2

In French,you refer to an unknown mini-beast as “he” - “il”:

Combien de pattes a-t-il? Il a 8 pattes. (How many legs does it have? It has 8 legs)

Once “it” is identified, you use “il” or “elle” as usual, depending on whether it’s a masculine or feminine noun:

C’est un escargot. Il a une coquille. (It’s a snail. It has a shell)

C’est une araignée. Elle a 8 pattes. (It’s a spider. It has 8 legs)

So when children ask questions about something they are trying to identify, it’s always masculine while it’s unknown.

❑ Play “Guess who?”

Lay out all the mini-beast flashcards face up, so all the children can see. You secretly think of a creature, e.g. “un escargot”; the class find out what it is, by asking questions.

HOW FRENCH WORKS: “It does NOT have ANY....”

Children are used to making a statement NEGATIVE by adding“ne...pas” around the verb:

A-t-il des pattes? Il n’a pas de pattes. (Does it have legs? It does not have any legs)

NOTE: ‘not...any’ is always “de” (or d’ if before vowel), not “des”, “du” or “de la”:

A-t-il une coquille? Il n’a pas de coquille. (Does it have a shell? It doesn’t have a shell)

A-t-il des ailes? Il n’a pas d’ ailes. (Does it have wings? It doesn’t have any wings)

As-tu un animal? Je n’ai pas d’animal. (Do you have a pet? I do not have a pet).

❑ Play “Beetle Drive” (‘Brico-scarabée’ - DIY Beetle) :

Seat the class in groups of four, each with a dice. Cut up copies of the “Beetle Drive” Activity Sheet (1 per group) but don’t give them out

When you start the game, the children in each group throw the dice in turn. When a child throws a “6”, they raise a hand and ask you for a body: “six; un ventre/un corps, s’il vous plaît”. They can then add to their group’s body by throwing:

5=head (“une tête”), 3=one leg (“une patte”) (they need 6 legs, so to save time you could give them all the legs for throwing one three!) Each time they ask you, in French, for the body part they need.

If they ask, “Est-ce qu’il a des ailes?”, you say “non” and remove all those cards where the animal does not have wings. Carry on asking questions until only one card is left.

Encourage diverse and imaginative questions; they should range over the number of legs, whether it has wings, antennae or a shell; its colour and size, etc.

❑ When they are ready, children can also play this game in pairs. One child thinks of a creature; the other asks questions until they have guessed what it is.

Change roles depending on children’s confidence. Winners are the chooser who holds out for most questions, and the guesser who guesses in the fewest.

Once they have a head, they can throw: 2=an eye (x2), 1=a mouth, and 4=an antenna (x2).

First group to complete a whole “beetle” wins. *NOTE: this version is made up: the British ‘Beetle Drive’ game is not well-known in France.

B1: EXTRA WORDS

On va jouer au Brico-scarabée

Let’s play DIY Beetle

Qui a fini son scarabée?

Games like ‘Beetle Drive’ lance le dé/les dés

Who has finished their beetle?

- throw the die/dice j’ai gagné tu as gagné à toi/vous de jouer

- I’ve won

- you’ve won

- it’s your turn (SING/PL)

B1: EXTRA WORDS

More identification questions

est-ce qu’il a plus de 6 pattes? does it have more than 6 legs? qui a quatorze pattes? who has 14 legs? qui habite ici? who lives here?

quelle couleur est-il? what colour is it?

il est noir it’s black (masculine or unknown noun) elle est noire it’s black (feminine noun) est-ce que c’est un scarabée ou un cloporte? is it a beetle or a woodlouse?

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ Science: Make an identication key

This can be a teacher-led whole class activity, or children can work on it in groups.

Start with a selection of creatures, each represented by a flashcard. The aim of the activity is to make a framework of questions (known as a “knowledge key”) to enable someone to identify any of those creatures. You also need a collection of questions which require a “yes/no” answer, e.g. “Est-ce qu’il a des ailes?” On the board sort the animals into those two groups. If there’s ony one animal in a group, you have succeeded! You have a “key” to identify that animal. Otherwise, apply another question to each group, e.g. “est-ce qu’il a une coquille?”, and sort those animals according to the answer, and so on...

When a group has completed a key, they can try it out to see whether another child can use it to play “Guess who” (see earlier).

Watch film B2: Song 2

❑ In film B2 a class of French children sing the traditional song, “L’araignée Gypsy” - a version of “Incy Wincy spider” which is washed down the pipe (‘spout’) every time it rains (see box, ‘Song 2’); children can sing along with hand actions.

SONG 2: ‘L’araignée Gypsy’

L’araignée Gypsy monte à la gouttière (Gypsy, the spider, climbs up the pipe)

Tiens voilà la pluie, (Hey, here’s the rain), Gypsy tombe par terre, (Gypsy falls to the ground)

Mais le soleil a chassé la pluie... (But the sun has chased away the rain)

L’araignée Gypsy monte à la gouttière Tiens voilà la pluie, Gypsy tombe par terre, Mais le soleil a chassé la pluie...

L’araignée Gypsy monte à la gouttière.

NOTE: some versions end with this last line: L’araignée Gypsy s’est endormie.