In French Phase 1 our unit of inquiry is focusing on how accent can impact the communication of messages". As I have referenced in a previous post, I am using the S.O.S pronunciation packet that I bought here. Each activity focuses on a different sound. The sounds that are practised are as follows:

• A = AH
• Silent H
• Silent S
• Silent T
• Silent E
• Silent ENT
• ER = AY
• EZ = AY
• É = AY
• Liaison

For each sound there is an introduction of vocabulary for the students to prctise out loud, followed by a story that practises that sound. Many of the stories can also be tied in to different topic areas and cultural information. Tomorrow my students will be practising the ER = AY sound with the story about <<Le Carnaval de Québec>>, and so we will start with the class with the visible thinking routine <<I think, I see, I wonder>> based on the video below.

 My French students in Phases 1-2 are currently studying a unit focused on conversational dialogues that we use out and about in the community. The statement of inquiry is one that I really love, both because of simplicity and because of it's importance; Accent impacts the communication of messages. To launch the unit we looked at the clip from the Pink Panther video in which Steve Martin is a Frenchman and trying to learn how to say the word <<hamburger>>. He can't say the <<h>> which is mute in French and he eventually ends up in trouble at the airport because the security guards couldn't understand him trying to explain that he had hamburgers in his pockets.

Once the students had watched the clip, they were invited to discuss its purpose and how it could relate to our new unit of inquiry. Further to this, we discuss our statement of inquiry for the unit and our inquiry questions. See below.

The next activity was to practice the mute <<h>> sounds ourselves. I love this S.O.S Prononciation packet that I bought from Teacher's Discovery. In there you will find three silly stories that practise the mute <<h>> sound:

1. Huguette le heureux hamster.
   
2. Une histoire bizarre!
   
3. L'Halloween