Lydia's Grade Eight: The last French lesson

Yesterday's lesson on "The Necklace" was straightforward: we read the two pages about how Mme Loisel borrowed a diamond necklace, had fun at the party, and then, back at home, found that the necklace was missing.

I did a doodled presentation of jewels, happiness/sadness, and a little horse-drawn taxicab on the white board (see photo), to use as a reference while I read through the story.  Lydia read a couple of paragraphs afterward, for practice, and I asked her to narrate.  ("Ooh la la, des diamants!")

Today is the fourth and last lesson.  For the sake of length, we are going to skip the details about them trying to find the necklace and borrow the money to pay for a replacement.  But we will go through some housework vocabulary with the help of Cinderella (French You-tube video, Les Harpies); write out some adjective phrases (see below), and read the portion of the Prayer of St. Francis I included in the first lesson.  And then we will read and narrate the rest of the story, from the point where their lifestyle changes drastically.

A list of household vocabulary:
la bonne: the maid
une mansarde:  a garret apartment
les travaux, les besognes: the duties
le ménage: the housework
la cuisine: the cooking
laver / faire la vaisselle: wash / do the dishes
une casserole: a pot
les mains rouges: red hands, dishpan hands
le linge sale: dirty laundry
les ordures: the garbage
laver les planchers: scrub the floors

More adjectives:  Say that he or she seems... (il / elle semble...)  Say that he or she has become... (il / elle est devenu(e)...)
odieux (odieuse)
vieux (vieille)
forte
dure
rude
mal peignée (uncombed, bad hair day)
jeune
naïve.

And a bonus for tomorrow:  the film, with captions too, in French! (On You-tube, La Parure: un film de Claude Chabrol)

More French lessons: The Necklace, continued

I. Subject: French Narration. Group: Languages. Class III. Time: 30 minutes

Objects.
I. To give the children more facility in understanding French, when they hear it spoken and also in expressing themselves in it.
II. To teach them some new words and expressions.
III. To improve their pronunciation.
IV. To strengthen the habit of attention.
V. To have the following passage narrated by the children.

Lesson

Passage Chosen: from Guy de Maupassant, "La Parure" ("The Necklace"), the scene at dinner where M. Loisel brings a party invitation and Mme Loisel insists she has nothing to wear.

Review work from yesterday:

1.  You are given a small pile of adjective cards, words that mean things like charming, distinguished, lazy, unhappy.  Sort them into two piles: positive and negative.

2.  Tell the story so far in English.

(Repeated from yesterday) CM steps in a French reading/narration lesson

Step I.—Read the passage slowly and distinctly, stopping frequently to make sure that the pupils understand. Write the new words and expressions on the board and give their meanings.  Yesterday I had things written out aheaad of time; today we will use the white board and write as we go.
Step II.—Let the pupils repeat the story in English.
Step III.—Read the passage straight through.
Step IV.—Let the pupils read the passage, paying special attention to the pronunciation. Since part of this passage is conversation between the Loisels, one person can be M. Loisel and the other can be his wife.
Step V.—Have the passage narrated in French, helping the children when necessary with questions. Speak as much French as possible throughout, but always make sure that the pupils understand.

 la soupière

Drawn from the P.U.S.: a French lesson on The Necklace

Adapted from this Parents' Review French lesson. 

Based on the opening passage of "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant.

I. Subject: French Narration. Group: Languages. Class III. Time: 30 minutes

Objects.
I. To give the children more facility in understanding French, when they hear it spoken and also in expressing themselves in it.
II. To teach them some new words and expressions.
III. To improve their pronunciation.
IV. To strengthen the habit of attention.
V. To have the following passage narrated by the children.

Lesson

Passage Chosen: Guy de Maupassant, "La Parure" ("The Necklace").
 
C'était une de ces jolies et charmantes filles, nées, comme par une erreur du destin, dans une famille d'employés. Elle n'avait pas de dot, pas d'espérances, aucun moyen d'être connue, comprise, aimée, épousée par un homme riche et distingué; et elle se laissa marier avec un petit commis du ministère de l'Instruction publique.

Elle fut simple, ne pouvant être parée, mais malheureuse comme une déclassée; car les femmes n'ont point de caste ni de race, leur beauté, leur grâce et leur charme leur servant de naissance et de famille. Leur finesse native, leur instinct d'élégance, leur souplesse d'esprit sont leur seule hiérarchie, et font des filles du peuple les égales des plus grandes dames.* 

Step I.—Read the passage slowly and distinctly, stopping frequently to make sure that the children understand. Write the new words and expressions on the board [I wrote them out] and give their meanings.
Step II.—Let the children repeat the story in English.
Step III.—Read the passage straight through.
Step IV.—Let the children read the passage, paying special attention to the pronunciation.
Step V.—Have the passage narrated in French, helping the children when necessary with questions. Speak as much French as possible throughout, but always make sure that the pupils understand.

Step VI.--In closing, read part of The Prayer of St. Francis in French, watching for the vocabulary from this lesson.

Ô Maître, que je ne cherche pas tant à être consolé qu'à consoler, à être compris qu'à comprendre,  à être aimé qu'à aimer, car c'est en donnant qu'on reçoit,
c'est en s'oubliant qu'on trouve, c'est en pardonnant qu'on est pardonné,

c'est en mourant qu'on ressuscite à l'éternelle vie. 

  * Translation (not mine):  She was one of those pretty and charming girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of artisans. She had no marriage portion, no expectations, no means of getting known, understood, loved, and wedded by a man of wealth and distinction; and she let herself be married off to a little clerk in the Ministry of Education. Her tastes were simple because she had never been able to afford any other, but she was as unhappy as though she had married beneath her; for women have no caste or class, their beauty, grace, and charm serving them for birth or family, their natural delicacy, their instinctive elegance, their nimbleness of wit, are their only mark of rank, and put the slum girl on a level with the highest lady in the land.