French Celebration Week

At Blossom Nursery

11 – 15 December 2011

Just before the winter holidays I had the great pleasure to talk about my country: France. Our

aim for French week was to give the children a simple yet fun overview of what French culture

is about. For more information you can visit www.euroclubschools.co.uk

After a more in-depth presentation of France by looking at a map and asking questions (where is

France? How do we get to France? How long does it take to get there?), and by talking about

different subject (the currency, the national costume, famous buildings and monuments, the

flag, French National Anthem…) we finally finished with what characterizes France: “la

gastronomie Francaise”: food, aromas and flavours…which was the main subject all over the

week.

In accordance with our main subject, various activities were planned throughout the week like

herbal craft.

During the craft day, all classes produced a French craft which was a “Tree” made out of

natural produce grown in France, i.e. “liege” (cork) and “herbes de provence” (French herbs

originated from the south of France, used in cooking such as thyme, rosemary, bay leaves).

Babies and toddler classes, as a group, decorated the “Welcome Tree” and Preschool classes

made individual fridge-magnets to take home, either in the form of a heart or a miniature tree;

they both used “liege”(cork) for the trunk and sprinkled “les herbes de provence” for the top

part. They added “Pot Pourri” to add some colour and bay leaves for character and lavender

essence for the smell.

It gave all children the opportunity to see beauty in natural products, smell the herbs and

flowers, feel the textures and make the “Tree” look real with natural products.

Children experimented with a variety of French products: camembert, vache qui rit…(cheese),

tapenade (olives cream), cornichon (pickles), petit beurre, galette au beurre (biscuit) and took

part of a French breakfast; each class got the chance to taste a typical French breakfast

with fresh “baguette”, topped with “beurre” (butter) and “confiture” (jam) and also they

practiced these words and their good manners with “s’il te plait” (please), “merci” (thank you),

“non merci” (no thank you), commenting on the food with “c’est bon!” (It tastes good!), “j’aime!

(I like it!). This was nicely finished off with a drink of “chocolat chaud” (hot chocolate).

At the end of the week, the preschool children shared their experiences about French by

singing few favorite songs: “Bonjour Madame, Bonjour Monsieur…”, “Alouette”, “Promenons-

nous dans les bois”, “Meunier tu dors”

I hope the children will keep very fond memories of this experience and share what they

enjoyed with their families at home.

To a prosperous year ahead…

“Bonne Annee 2012…”

Madame Nadege French Teacher-Blossom Nursery