Jan Lewandowski

You just can’t help but notice that French handwriting looks different to the style of handwriting we have in this country. You may well have put this down to the type of lined paper that they have in their exercise books but there is a lot more to it than that.

Graphisme is what it is all about, a concept that is particularly difficult to explain in just a few words. Fortunately Teachers’ TV has just produced a video all about it and what’s more it is in mainly in French (with sub-titles):

www.teachers.tv/video/24021

Excellent viewing which explains a lot about the French Education system by taking you into the classroom.

Incidentally cheap French exercise books, bought in the hypermarket, make great prizes in our classrooms and children sometimes enjoy practising `French’ handwriting. You can even purchase pre-printed books of exercises which parents in France buy to help their children with graphisme.

All good for inter-cultural understanding !

I’ve been out and about this term doing a series of workshops at Regional Support Groups around the country. The focus of these presentations was Spring and Summer Festivals explored through the medium of French and Spanish; taking in some of the main festivals and celebrations from February to July.

The feedback has been very positive:

Worcestershire RSG - “People found Jan’s session overwhelmingly ‘excellent’ …. ‘She demonstrated how festivals can meet the intercultural understanding objectives through song, dance, design technology, games and tongue-twisters’ …. ‘ Jan’s handouts should be kept in a safe place as they are a valuable repository for her careful research into the best websites, the best YouTube downloads etc’..”

This is the Year of the Rat in Chinese culture and as usual La Poste in France has issued a set of commemorative stamps which are rather fine. Incidentally in any post office in France it is always worthwhile asking for posters and brochures about commemorative stamps throughout the year. Sometimes the material has already been thrown away but often you can get really great posters for the classroom wall.

You might be interested to know that a production of Jungle Book in French is being staged at the Shaw Theatre, London on Saturday19^th January:

`Date : samedi 19 janvier
Heure : 14h15 et 16h30
Lieu : Shaw Theatre, 100-110 Euston Road, Londres NW1 2AJ
Métro : Kings Cross - Euston
Prix : de £27.50 à £38.50
Renseignements : 0870 033 2600 ou www.theshawtheatre.com ‘

I rang earlier to check on availability and suitability and was told that there are tickets available and that the 2 matinee shows are suitable for primary children with very little French as it is `a particularly visual production’. I was also told that tickets are £25 and £30 with £5 reduction for children; as this doesn’t tally with prices above, I suggest anyone interested checks all details for themselves.

I ran a whole-school event this month with my colleague Lisa Nickell-Lean at Sutton on the Forest primary school in North Yorkshire for all Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children.

On the day we had stories, sang songs, ate French food, played games and bought ice creams.

Some children who had never done languages before got a real sense of achievement when they learnt how to buy ice creams, ready for their summer holidays - some of them even paid in Euros for the first time.

Karen Pearce (from Newham LA) and myself are busy planning the workshop we’re going to be doing at the Primary Languages Show, organised by CILT, in Manchester (16th & 17th March 07).

We’re planning a very active, hands-on and multi-sensory approach based on a couple of well-known stories including Handa’s Surprise (La Surprise de Handa / La Sorpresa de Handa) published by Mantra Lingua with whom I have worked in some language posters for the Talking Pen. As the Mantra Lingua books are bi-lingual (French & English) I’ve actually produced some monolingual caption overlays in French and simplified it slightly so that it can be read entirely in French. Contact me if you would like me to send you a copy of my captions.

I was invited along to the very first Regional Support Group (RSG) in Milton Keynes to talk about ideas and resources for primary teachers who are just getting started in teaching modern languages in their schools. I took along a variety of resources, some commercial and some I had made myself to use in my own teaching. I included many of the items that I had put into the first Modern Languages catalogue which I had worked on for TTS.

I’m going to be doing a session at the Newham Primary Languages Day on 7th. July, organised by my friend and colleague Karen Pearce who is the Primary Languages Consultant there.

My presentation will be primarily for teachers who are just getting started in PMFL ; I’ve got plenty of resources which should interest them and some original ideas that I have used in my own classroom.

Rosemary Bevis will also be doing a session. I know Rosemary well from Besançon when she accompanied our group on the `French for Young Learners’ Comenius course organised by CILT . Amongst other work that she has done Rosemary also designed the BBC Primary French website which I find really useful and it is free!

Jenny Carpenter the PMFL consultant from Barking and Dagenham will be doing a session on books and stories.

I’m really looking forward to the day.