F2.15 clothes v21

2.15. Qu’est-ce que tu portes?

2.15 Qu’est-ce que tu portes?

What are you wearing?

In this section, pupils learn the names for some clothing items commonly worn by French children.

They go on to describe what people are wearing, what they like to wear, and talk about fashion. They may describe clothes by colour and/or size, extending how they can already use adjectives in French.

The language introduced here will also be useful for shopping activities.

Planning your lessons

Before showing film A1 to introduce new vocabulary, warm-up by naming some

Films to see A1 - What are you wearing?

B1 - Describing clothes

coloured objects and sorting them into “le” and “la” words.

When children are confident with the new words for clothes, they can talk about what they are wearing (je porte ...).

Then go on to look at using adjectives to describe clothes, in part B.

Part A: What are you wearing?

Activities

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES un pyjama un tee-shirt * un sweatshirt un jean un pantalon un short un pull un chapeau1 une veste une robe une jupe des chaussettes (f) des chaussures (f) des baskets (f) des vêtements (m)

1

Warm up

- pyjamas - T-shirt - sweatshirt - jeans - trousers - shorts - jumper - hat - jacket - dress - skirt - socks - shoes - trainers - clothes

You could play one or two of the games from Ch.2.5: “Les objets de la classe” to practise naming coloured objects. As well as talking about “le” and “la” words, you could also have a “sort the nouns race” as described in ch.2.5.

Watch film A1: What are you wearing?

Qu’est-ce que tu portes?

What are you wearing?

Je porte ...

I am wearing ...

NOTE: plural of chapeau - chapeaux, like oiseau(x).

Talking Dictionary

* NOTE: say “un tee-shirt” with an English “T”, not a French “T”. You can also write “un T-shirt”.

15.1

❑ Watch film 15 A1: “Qu’est-ce que tu portes?” to introduce the new words.

Introducing the words for clothes: (At Arnaud’s house) Arnaud is in the bathroom having a wash.

Pyjamas: He is in his pyjamas: un pyjama.

Back in his bedroom, he starts to get dressed.

He puts on a T-shirt (un tee-shirt)*, jeans (un jean), and pulls a sweatshirt over his head (un sweatshirt). He puts on socks (des chaussettes) and shoes (des chaussures), and leaves his bedroom, ready for school.

Shopping for clothes: People arrive at Roubaix town centre by tram; crowds flock to the factory outlet shopping centre. We go into a children’s clothes shop that sells end-of-range brand-name clothes at much reduced prices.

Early Start French 2 KEY SOUNDS

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

as in

chapeau short chaussures Heard before in: chat

pyjama, jupe Heard before in: jambon, fromage as in

Film A1: “Je porte un tee-shirt”.

Items are picked out from the shop displays: a T-shirt (un tee-shirt), jeans (un jean), a matching jacket and trousers (une veste, un pantalon); some shorts (un short); a jumper (un pull); a dress (une robe); a skirt (une jupe), and finally a hat (un chapeau).

Clothes: we look over all the different clothes in the shop: “les vêtements”.

Footwear: We see different styles of shoes: “des chaussures”, including trainers: “des baskets”.

Questions and answers: Two children are asked: “Qu’est-ce que tu portes?”

- What are you wearing?

Boy: “Je porte un tee-shirt, un short, et des baskets”.

- I’m wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and trainers.

Girl: “Je porte un pull, un jean, et des baskets”. I’m wearing a jumper, jeans, and trainers.

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show each of the e-flashcards(or make paper copies from the activity sheet).

NOTE: ...but jean is pronounced as in American-English, reflecting the word’s origin.

pantalon Heard before in: natation crayon as in

pull, jupe, chaussures Heard before: salut,supermarché

as in

chapeau, chaussures Heard before in: eau, haricot, euro as in

Talking Dictionary

AND text - can pupils read it aloud? Show each picture and say the corresponding item of clothing in French.

Respond with understanding

❑ Give each pupil one of the clothes pictures.

You call out an item of clothing; all the pupils with that card hold it up for everyone to see. ❑ Play “ the dressing mime” Ask the children to stand up. When you call out an item of clothing, they have to mime the action of putting it on.

Ask children to echo each word, paying close attention to the ‘Key sounds’. See if they notice where English nouns are plural (e.g. “pyjamas”,”shorts”, “trousers”) but the French equivalent is singular.

Shuffle the pictures, and see whether they can remember the words. Then show the pictures

15.2

❑ Play “true or false?” 1 Show the clothes pictures again.

When you show the jacket, say “C’est une veste?”

Children respond, “Oui, c’est une veste” or just, “Oui”. If you show jeans but ask, “C’est un tee-shirt?”, pupils respond by simply saying “Non”.

As before, follow such a deliberate mistake with a reminder of the correct word. ❑ Play “true or false?” 2 (game) Show the pictures again, but this time pupils

2.15. Qu’est-ce que tu portes? only echo your phrase when it matches the picture - otherwise they remain silent.

e.g.“Je porte un chapeau, une veste, un tee-shirt et des chaussures”.

❑ Play “swap chairs” * Pupils arrange their chairs in a circle. Each is given one clothes flashcard*, making sure that there are several children holding cards with the same item of clothing.

When you call out “une robe”, the children with cards showing a dress swap places. As they do so, you run for an empty chair.

The pupil left without a chair becomes the caller. * NOTE: if children do not wear school uniform, you could play this game with their own clothes. ❑ Play “pack-a-suitcase”: Draw a straight line to divide the board in half.

On one side, stick the clothes pictures. Place a second set of the pictures on the other half of the board, but arranged differently. Divide the class into teams. One child from each team stands by the board with a backpack or case.

As you call out an item of clothing, the pupils try to be first to put the corresponding picture from their side of the board in their backpack or case. ❑ Play “What are you wearing?” 1 (real): You describe the clothes you are wearing, e.g.

“Je porte un pull, un pantalon, des chaussettes et des chaussures”. Ask the puppet, “Et toi? Qu’est-ce que tu portes?” Puppet replies, e.g. “Je porte un sweatshirt et des chaussettes”.

Now ask different children; you could give points for correctly mentioning more items.

It does not matter if everyone is wearing more or less the same clothes; the children are getting used to using the structure, “je porte ...” and gaining confidence in talking about what they are wearing. ❑ Play “What are you wearing?” 2 (dress up) Prepare a dressing-up box full of clean clothes that children could wear over their own, e.g. big woolly jumpers, adult-size T-shirts and jackets; different hats; some extra large adults’ shoes; some easily-put-on dresses or skirts.

Each pupil has just 10 seconds to try and dressup in as many items of clothing from the box as they can. (The class can count aloud).

They then describe what they are wearing,

15.3

❑ Play “Dressing up for the weather” Prepare two boxes, each containing the same set of clothes. Next to each box, arrange a set of weather pictures from Ch.2.7 and Early Start French 1 Ch.2.16 activity sheets, face-up on a table.

Divide the class into two teams. You call out the weather, e.g.“il pleut”. A pupil from each team runs to the box, selects an appropriate item, e.g. a hat, picks up the rain picture, and runs to you.

They must explain what they are wearing in French and mime, e.g. say, “il pleut et je porte un chapeau” while holding the hat as shelter. Award a team point for any convincing explanation e.g. a T-shirt held over the head could also keep you dry in the rain! ❑ Play “Identikit” 1 When pupils are confident with the names of the items of clothing and can describe what they are wearing, you could introduce them to “il/ elle porte ...” (see “extra words and phrases”).

Demonstrate in a dialogue with your puppet, using pictures of a famous people from magazines: e.g.

You: “Prince Harry, qu’est-ce qu’il porte?”

Puppet: “Il porte un tee-shirt, une veste, un pantalon et des chaussures”.

You: “Et Megan, qu’est-ce qu’elle porte?”

Puppet: “Elle porte une robe, un chapeau, et des chaussures”.

Place several pictures face down on a table.

(Famous people/characters are fun, but pictures from a clothing catalogue or online shop will also work well).

Early Start French 2 Ask child 1 to choose a picture. Show it to the class and ask, e.g. “Mickey Mouse, qu’est-ce qu’il porte?” Invite different children to reply, “Il porte un short” etc.

Child 2 selects a picture, you ask, “...et Minnie Mouse, qu’est-ce qu’elle porte?” Invite children to reply, “Elle porte une robe”. Continue with other pictures of famous people or characters.

You can offer a suggestion if a pupil needs a little help, e.g. “Une veste? Une jupe?” etc. If a pupil makes a mistake with the noun gender, gently praise them for getting the word right, and repeat the correct form. ❑ Play “picture consequences” Each pupil draws a face of a person wearing a hat on the top part of a sheet of paper; folds it over (so the face is hidden), and passes it to their neighbour.

Everyone now draws a body wearing appropriate clothes, folds the paper again, and passes it on. The next go adds a pair of legs wearing a skirt, trousers or shorts. Finally, feet are drawn, with socks, shoes, etc.

The sheets are then passed on to the next pupil, who opens it up to see the character that has been drawn by four different people.

15.4

EXTRA WORDS AND PHRASES Things to wear

une chemise un anorak des lunettes (f) un uniforme

- shirt - anorak - glasses - uniform

Phrases

il/ elle porte ... he/she is wearing ...

Hear these extra phrases pronounced on the Talking Dictionary.

Talking Dictionary

Pupils take it in turns to show the class their picture and describe their person and the clothes s/he is wearing, e.g. “Il porte un chapeau, un pull, une veste, un pantalon, des chaussettes et des chaussures”. Some pictures may of course be quite silly, but that all adds to the fun! ❑ Play “Identikit” 2 Collect a selection of pictures of famous people that the children will know. You could include pop stars, sports stars, historical figures and cartoon characters. Cut the pictures into sections based on what people are wearing.

Before the lesson begins, attach the picture sections in different places on the wall. Some could be upside down. Number each section of picture. Ask the children to move round the room and write down the numbers that make up each complete person.

When everyone has finished, ask them to call out the matching numbers (in French).

Reconstruct the pictures so that everyone can see them and ask pupils to describe what the people are wearing.

2.15. Qu’est-ce que tu portes?

Part B: Describing clothes

Planning your lessons B

When children can name what they are wearing (je porte ...), the next step is using adjectives to give more information about their clothes, starting with colours (which some children may have already used with classroom objects in Ch.2.5: “Les objets de la classe”).

Make sure children are confident with colour adjectives (and any others) that come AFTER the noun, then introduce those that come BEFORE, like “petit(e)/grand(e)”.

Some children will be able to talk about clothes with all the other structures they have learnt.

Activities

Warm up

❑ First briefly use the e-flashcards from Early Start French 1 Ch 1.10 to remind children of the French colours they know; and/or hold up a series of coloured pencils and ask, “C’est de quelle couleur?”

You could play one or two of the games from Ch.2.5: “Les objets de la classe” to practise naming coloured objects. As well as talking about “le” and “la” words, you could also have a “sort the nouns race” as described in ch.2.5.

Watch film 15 B1

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES grand(e) - big petit(e) - small

une petite veste violette a small purple jacket

un grand tee-shirt jaune a big yellow T-shirt Talking Dictionary

Girl 3: “Je porte une robe orange et bleue”.

I’m wearing an orange and blue dress.

Animated cartoons - a T-shirt changes size!

“Un grand tee-shirt”.

“Un grand tee-shirt jaune”.

“Un petit tee-shirt”.

“Un petit tee-shirt jaune”.

Repeated with purple, white, and grey T-shirts: “... violet ... blanc ... gris”.

Film B1: shrinking jackets “une grande veste blanche ... une petite veste blanche!”

... now a jacket changes size!:

❑ Watch film 15 B1 which describes what “Une grande veste bleue ... une petite veste bleue”. someone is wearing: This is repeated with green, red, white, purple Animated cartoons - a T-shirt changes colour! and grey jackets:”... rouge ... blanche ... verte ... “un tee-shirt bleu ... un tee-shirt rouge ...” (then) violette ... grise”. ”... blanc ... vert ... violet ... gris”.

Animated cartoons - a jacket changes colour!

“Une veste bleue ... une veste rouge ...” (then) ”... blanche ... verte ... violette ... grise”.

What are you wearing?

Boy: “Je porte un tee-shirt rouge”. - I’m wearing a red T-shirt.

Girl 1: “Je porte une vest bleue, et un tee-shirt rouge”. - I’m wearing a blue jacket and a red T-shirt.

Girl 2: “Je porte un pull violet, un jean bleu, et des baskets”. - I’m wearing a purple jumper, Film B1 introduces colour adjectives: blue jeans and trainers.

“Je porte une robe orange et bleue”

15.5

Early Start French 2 Start by adding one adjective to describe a noun - a colour - to study its position and how it “agrees” with the noun.

KEY SOUNDS

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

as in petit,

jean Heard before in: piscine, pâtisserie

More get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Display e-flashcards 2 or use coloured-in pictures of the clothes from the activity sheet.

as in grand,pantalon,vêtements Heard before in:

blanc

Talking Dictionary

Respond with understanding 2

❑ Give each pupil one of the clothes pictures.

Ask them to colour it in.

You call out an item of clothing; e.g. “un pull”.

All the pupils with a card showing a jumper hold it up. Ask each in turn to say what colour theirs is, e.g. “un pull jaune.”

As you show each picture, click sound On or say what it is in French, emphasizing the colour.

Pupils echo the words, e.g. “une veste verte”. ❑ Echoing: When you are sure that the children are ready, you could follow the examples in the film and e-flashcards to raise pupils’ awareness of the difference in sound when some colours describe masculine and feminine nouns, e.g. “un pull vert ... une jupe verte”; “un pantalon blanc ... une veste blanche” etc.

HOW FRENCH WORKS: Adjectives and word order in French

You can also repeat the games described in “Part A: Respond with understanding 1” - this time including colours as adjectives”.

Working in pairs ❑ Play “Identikit - Chinese whispers” One child in each pair has a suitable picture of a person. S/he describes what the person is wearing; their partner tries to draw it as accurately as possible. They then compare pictures.

Je porte un pull vert.

I am wearing a green jumper.

WORD ORDER In French, colours and most other (but not all) adjectives come AFTER the noun they give information about.

SOUND CHANGE Most adjectives are written differently if the noun is feminine (generally add an “e”), or plural (generally add an “s”, which is usually silent); sometimes, you can also hear the difference.

See “How French works” in Ch.2.5: “Les objets de la classe”.

Elle porte* une veste rouge.

She is wearing a red jacket.

Il porte* une veste violette.

He is wearing a purple jacket.

15.6

*see “extra words and phrases”

2.15. Qu’est-ce que tu portes?

If pupils are confident with using colour adjectives, try introducing others for size. Some pupils may be able to use multiple adjectives in a sentence: see “Extra words & phrases”.

More get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: If you can, use some real large and small items of clothing as well as the pictures on the e-flashcards or the activity sheet.

Following the examples in the film, show large and small garments and describe each one, e.g.

“Un grand tee-shirt ... un grand tee-shirt rouge”.

Pupils echo the words.

You can also repeat the games described in “Part A: Respond with understanding 1” - this time describing clothes by colour and size.

pull.” Ask a child to re-arrange the text cards to make this sentence. When children have got the idea, add colours then other adjectives.

Leave them to find a sentence they can make with the words.

You could also give children individual cards, and ask them to sort themselves into a row that makes a correctly-ordered sentence.

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Watch the films again

❑ It is always a good idea to watch the films again for reinforcement.

Look again at sounds

❑ Play “It’s that sound again!”

Choose a sound from the Key Sounds box e.g. “i” as in petit(e). Ask the children to think of as many words as they can which include the “i” sound e.g. pyjama, piscine. Repeat with one or two other sounds.

Introducing the written word

❑ Play “find the sound” Place some word-cards on the floor. Seat pupils around the cards, and play music. Pupils pass a soft ball. When the music stops, you say a sound, The pupil holding the ball has to pick out a word-card containing that sound. ❑ Play “word-picture match” Give some pupils word flashcards and others the pictures of places. When you call out a pastime, pupils run to find their partner. ❑ Play “Jumbled Words” Display jumbled text cards on the board. To start, you say the sentence, e.g. “Je porte un

15.7

❑ Survey - ICT: Pupils can find out from each other what are their favourite clothes: “Quels sont tes vêtements préférés?” You could help children find extra words they might want in a bilingual dictionary.

See Ch.2.10 for more about conducting a survey in French. Children can record the results of their survey on a spreadsheet and display it as a graph.

They could also make an illustrated display, and talk about fashion influences - see “talking point 2” about Paris and the French fashion industry.

You could ask a French school to do a similar survey, swap results, and talk about and compare the two sets of results. ❑ Drama: “Shopping for clothes” role-play Pupils can improvise conversations involving shopping for clothes as well as other items. All spoken dialogue must be in French, but they can mime other parts of the story.

Possible contexts might be: ■ Shopping with friends to choose clothes and food for a special occasion like a birthday party.

■ Shopping for clothes for a holiday and buying food for a picnic for the journey.

■ Taking French friends round your home town, showing them places of interest and

Early Start French 2 helping them to buy clothes in a shop.

You could give each child a slip of paper which only they see, with a suggestion of how they behave e.g. “Your favourite colour is red”; “You do not want to go shopping”; “You are in a hurry”, etc. These instructions are in English. ❑ Drama: “Fashion Show” role-play Pupils work in groups: they take turns at being the “model” who decides what to wear.

The others work out a “commentary”, e.g. (a )“Bonjour. Aujourd’hui c’est mardi 9 juin, et il fait beau. Voici James: il habite à Douvres. Il porte un tee-shirt rouge, un short noir et des baskets. Il aime le sport. Il aime le football. Merci, James - au revoir!” (b) “Bonjour. Aujourd’hui c’est mardi 9 juin, et il fait beau. Voici Lucy, elle habite à Douvres. Bonjour Lucy. Qu’est-ce que tu portes aujourd’hui?”

Lucy: “Je porte....” etc.

See “extra words and phrases”. This could be worked up into a full “fashion show” for an audience of parents, other classes or teachers from your secondary schools (see Ch.2.16: “Bridging unit”). ❑ Art and design/ ICT: posters/catalogue Pupils can design posters for the fashion show. ❑ Art and design/ ICT: Design a T-shirt You could talk to the class about Paris and “haute couture” fashion - see “talking point 2”. Children will almost certainly know some designer labels (e.g. Nike® trainers) and may have views about wearing what is fashionable.

They can work in groups on a practical project involving textiles technology. Each group’s task is to establish a “French designer label”.

The collection could be printed T-shirts, with designs made on computer and printed on special paper that transfers the design to cloth when ironed.

Each group’s designs could be revealed amid great security at the class fashion show. The audience could vote the most likely best-sellers.

15.8

EXTRA WORDS AND PHRASES Things to wear

une chemise un anorak des lunettes (f) un uniforme

- shirt - anorak - glasses - uniform

Words to describe

à fleurs à frous-frous à paillettes à pois à rayures

- flowery - frilly - sequined/glittery - spotty - stripy

Phrases

un tee-shirt à rayures a stripy T-shirt une petite robe à frous-frous a small frilly dress Quels sont tes vêtements préférés?

What are your favourite clothes? il/ elle porte ... he/she is wearing ...

Hear these extra phrases pronounced on the Talking Dictionary.

Talking Dictionary

Scene from film B1: “Je porte une veste bleue”.

2.15. Qu’est-ce que tu portes?

Talking point 2

Talking point 1

Paris - capital of fashion

EVERYDAY LIFE IN FRANCE School clothes and fashion

Pupils watching films from Early Start French 1 and 2 will, by now, be aware that French children do not wear uniform to school. But have they noticed the kind of clothes that the French teachers wear?

Most teachers in French primary schools wear much less formal clothing than many of their British counterparts: they are rarely seen dressed as if for a business office.

M. Boulenger dresses informally in his classroom.

Both the male teachers shown in the “Où habites-tu?” films, Monsieur Charles in Roubaix and Monsieur Boulenger in Sars-Poteries (pictured above), are headteachers with a full-time teaching commitment.

In the winter they usually wear a jumper. In the summer, an open-neck shirt. No-one would expect them to wear a suit and tie for a normal day at school.

Such informality is generally the case in other European countries like Spain and Germany.

Cultural awareness ■ You can talk with pupils about the pros and cons of wearing a school uniform.

■ Suggest pupils make a scrapbook of “our teachers”, with photos/drawings and descriptions of what they wear. Swap with your French partner school. Talk about the two sets of pictures with the class.

15.9

How fashion has changed since Louis XIV Paris has led western European style since the 17th century. 300 years ago, King Louis XIV was the most powerful man in Europe. The extravagant fashions worn at his court were widely copied abroad.

By dressing in similarly expensive luxury clothes, you proved you were rich, powerful and tasteful like Louis and his Queen .

Fashionable men (see right) wore wigs, furlined cloaks, jewellery, King Louis the fourteenth lace trimmings at the (1638-1715). neck and wrists -and showed off their legs in tights and high heels!

Present-day fashion leaders Today there is a mass market for fashion.

Most people can afford to follow to some extent the latest styles, which are set by celebrities rather than royalty, political leaders, or rich businessmen. How did it all change?

Nineteenth century Despite the Revolution, France remained a very unequal society after Napoléon’s defeat.

With or without a royal court, Paris as capital city remained the centre of power, wealth and influence in France. It attracted ambitious people in every field, along with self-appointed leaders of fashion. It had the best restaurants, art galleries, theatres and music halls.

In 1858 an Englishman, Charles Worth, opened shop as the first couturier (fashion designer) in Paris. He was the first to show a collection of designs he would make-to-measure for rich clients, and first to display them using young girls as models. In the extravagant times of the Second Empire (1852-70), when Napoléon III and his wife Eugénie ruled France, Worth’s success led to other elegant salons opening in Paris. Soon French styles were being followed both in Europe and the United States.

Early Start French 2 Luxury and inequality Thousands of skilled but impoverished workers were desperate for work. Their plight was later made famous in the book “Les Misérables”.

In the second half of the 19th century, France had its industrial revolution. Many smoky steam-powered mills now supplied machinemade textiles to the fashion industry.

With people paying incredibly high prices for designer dresses, this was big business: Calais became a world centre for machine-made lace.

In the 1890s one Paris fashion house employed 2500 embroidery workers.

Paris fashions in the 20th century Paris continued to lead the way in style before the First World War. The richest women in Europe and America still travelled to Paris for their clothes whilst others purchased garments modelled on the Paris designs produced in the fashion houses of their own countries.

French designers set a trend for less constricted, looser dresses and lighter undergarments, putting an end to the fussy Victorian styles.

During the 1920s, women’s clothes became even more casual as the “garçonne” look became popular - short dresses, cropped hair and cloche hats. Paris was the most important fashion centre throughout the interwar period.

One of the leading designers was Coco Chanel who created simple, elegant, comfortable clothes using fabrics like fine wool jersey especially manufactured for her. Coco Chanel is also said to have invented the “little black dress”, cut very simply and with no unnecessary additions.

The Nazi occupation and after...

Couture styles even continued to evolve during the Second World War under the Nazi occupation. However, nobody outside France was aware of what was happening stylewise in Paris. For the first time, Britain and the United States had to go it alone during a period of great austerity - without the influence of the French designers.

After the “make do and mend” days of the war, most women were keen to exchange their “utility” clothing, which used the minimum amount of cloth possible, for Christian Dior’s “New Look”. The “New Look” arrived in 1947 and made extravagant use of fabric to produce dresses with very full skirts and tiny waists.

15.10

Selling to the mass market Although the Fashion Houses still catered for rich private clients, the designers had to get used to the idea that their fortunes now came mainly from the sale of their designs to the mass market. From the mid fifties “prêt-à- porter” (ready-to-wear) was developing rapidly.

The late 1950s and early 60s saw another fashion influence from France. The French film star, Leslie Caron, made the Left Bank “gamine” look popular - flat ballerina pumps, black polonecks and a slim boyish figure. “Left bank” men also wore black polo-necks and baggy fishermen’s sweaters - and duffle coats.... New designers, such as Yves Saint Laurent, introduced a “beatnik” element into their collections.

This met with horror to start with, but was later accepted.

Other world fashion centres In the 1970s and 80s new Italian and American, designers began to challenge the dominance of Paris in the fashion world. Names such as Armani, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren are still well known today. British designers also became prominent as Princess Diana emerged as a fashion star. She wanted to promote the British fashion industry and chose British designers to make her clothes.

Today there are 18 houses of haute couture in France. These include Chanel, Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. In January and July journalists travel all over the world to see the new collections.

Of course, there are very few women worldwide who can afford genuine haute couture where top designers produce original garments for individual clients. The fashion houses also present prêt-à-porter clothes at the shows and make their fortunes from sales around the world of these highly respected “labels”.

Perfume

France is also famous for its tradition of perfume manufacture. Many of today’s top fashion names also market perfumes - Chanel No 5 is perhaps the best known brand which has been popular world-wide since it was first launched in 1922!

The town of Grasse in the French Riviera is known as France’s perfume capital. They have been producing perfume in Grasse since the 16th century when immigrant Italian glove-

2.15. Qu’est-ce que tu portes? makers began to use the delicate scents of the region’s flowers to make their leather gloves smell nice. The gentle climate and fertile soil is particularly good for growing flowers which are the raw materials for perfume. Massive quantities are needed to make tiny amounts of concentrated perfume - 4000 kilos of roses are used for just one kilo of essential oil.

In France, 9 out of ten women, and half of all men, use perfume. Recently, perfumes produced especially for children are becoming increasingly popular.

Cultural awareness ■ Pupils could research a time-line of women’s and/or men’s fashions from Louis XIV to date, and make an illustrated display.

Cultural awareness l awareness ■ You could talk with pupils about what fashion means to them. Do they feel it is important to be seen wearing “designer labels” and certain brand names? * ■ Ask children to prepare a guide for your French partner school on “how to look cool” in your community: what clothes, footwear, and accessories should they wear? ... and also what they avoid! * They should use mainly pictures (from online shops, magazines, or their own sketches or photos), with labels and comments in French (or simple English if your partners prefer).

■ Talk with the class about which people are their fashion role models.*

■ Pupils could find some pictures of a current designer’s collection, and talk about whether anyone in your community would wear such clothes. Are there any elements they think might catch on?

*NOTE: if exploring these issues might embarrass some children in your class, you could set the discussion in an historical context.

■ Talk with the class about how they could start a new fashion, e.g. create a designer label and make it popular.

15.11

Les vêtements

Je m’appelle .............................

This page may be photocopied for classroom use

© 2018 Early Start Languages

Les vêtements

Je m’appelle .............................

This page may be photocopied for classroom use

© 2018 Early Start Languages

Les vêtements

Je m’appelle .............................

This page may be photocopied for classroom use

© 2018 Early Start Languages