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3. Toutes directionsDirections

This section enables pupils to begin to askfor directions to particular places in town,and helps them towards understandingsimple replies. Politeness (saying “please”)can be introduced. Children will also be ableto give French people directions to places intheir own school or neighbourhood.

VIDEORoad signs:The opening sequence shows graphics of roadsigns pointing “left”, “right” and “straightahead”: à gauche, à droite, tout droit.We then see real French road signs: à gauche,à droite, tout droit; finishing with a view drivingdown a typical long, straight French countryroad lined with trees on either side: tout droit.At the theme park: The car arrives at DennlysParc, a lively scene of different rides on a hotsummer’s day: the water bumper cars, the roller-coaster, the “vintage car” ride.We travel with one of the children as he driveshis car: tout droit, à droite, à gauche, à gauche,à droite, à gauche.

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES

à gaucheà droite

tout droitla rue

Où est ...?

- on the left- on the right- straight ahead- the street- Where is ...?

Scene from video section 3: “...à gauche”.

Some French street names: rue de la Plage*

Beach Streetrue de la Gare*Station Streetrue Napoléon

Napoleon Streetrue Jeanne d’Arc

Joan of Arc Streetrue Orange

Orange Streetrue du 11 Novembre*11 November Street

Scene from video section 3: “...à gauche” at Dennlys Parc.

Sand-yacht lessons on Boulogne beach:The instructor calls out to the children:“Très bien ... allez ... tout droit”.(Very good ... off you go ... straight ahead).“Allez, c’est bien, tout droit toujours...”(Come on, that’s good, straight ahead all the time)

NOTE: The sand-yachting sequence isintended for “gisting” - pupils may notunderstand all that the instructor says.

Do not translate,but help pupils pick out the key phrases:

à gauche, à droite and tout droit.Talk about how you can understandwhat is happening from the pictures.

*NOTE for teachers: with French street names, thename usually has capitals (even dates, where you wouldnormally write “11 novembre”), but not “rue” or “avenue”.

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KEY SOUNDS“Tout droit, tout droit... voilà!”(Straight ahead, straight ahead... there you are!)“Toujours tout droit! Pas zig-zag!”(Straight ahead all the time! Don’t zig-zag!)“Voilà! Très bien”.(There you are! Very good).“Prends à droite ...à droite, à droite”(Take the right (turn), ...to the right, to the right).“Très bien ...à gauche après ...allez, c’est bien”.(Very good ...turn left afterwards ...there you are!That’s good).“Tout droit ... voilà! C’est bon”.(Straight ahead ... there you are! That’s good).“A droit, à droit ... voilà! Très bien”.(Right, right ... there you are! Very good).

Listen and enjoy copying thesetypical sounds: where have youheard them before?

Asking directions:A street map appears on screen (reproduced inthe activity sheet), showing these streets andkey places in the town.Voice 1: “Où est la plage?”Voice 2: “Tout droit ... rue de la Plage”.Voice 1: “Où est la gare?”Voice 2: “A droite ... rue de la Gare”.Voice 1: “Où est le café?”.Voice 2: “A gauche ... rue Jeanne d’Arc”.Voice 1: “Où est la rue Orange?”.voice 2: “Tout droit et à droite”.

Scene from video section 3: “rue de la Plage”

Planning your lessonsYoung learners will most easily understanddirections in French to “left”, “right” or“straight ahead” if you reinforce them withphysical gestures. If you face in the samedirection as the pupils, it will be easier forthem to mirror your actions.Understanding and giving directions willuse the words for places learnt in the lasttwo chapters. Start with a little revision as areminder.Many of the games involve moving aroundthe room and so it is worth making sure thatyou have plenty of space from the start.Choose when to introduce saying “please.”

Activities 1. Warm up

When asking simple directions, pupils willneed to remember the names for places in thetown. Your warm up could include one or twogames from Chapter 2.2, and maybe also 2.1, topractise naming key places.

2. Watch the video

❑ Watch video section 3: “Toutes directions” tointroduce the new words.

3. Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing:You say “à gauche”, pupils put out their lefthand and echo the words.If you say “à droite”, pupils put out their righthand and echo the words.If you say “tout droit”, pupils take one stepforward and echo the words.

Heard before in: chat marchédimanche

“ ” as in gauche

(Listen to the native speakers -try to copy their typically French sounds.)

NOTE: phonetic symbols are for teachers ONLY!See “Introduction” for how to use symbols)

End of “gisting” sequence.

Introducing typical French street-names:We see cars driving through a street in theseaside town Berck-sur-Mer: la rue.On a road leading to the beach, the blue andwhite sign says: rue de la Plage.We see other streets in Berck-sur-Mer: rue de laGare, rue Orange, rue Napoléon, rue Jeanne-d’Arcand rue du 11 Novembre*. (See “talking points”).

*see note on previous page.

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4. Respond with understanding

❑ When pupils are confident with “à gauche”,“à droite” and “tout droit”, turn the previousactivity into a game.Call out the phrases at random, graduallyincreasing speed. This time, pupils do not echothe words, but either put out their left or righthand or take a step forward as appropriate.

❑ Play “Robot”Direct pupils around the room by calling out“tout droit”, “à gauche” and “à droite”.

❑ Give each pupil one of the road-signs fromthe activity sheet. You move around the room,asking pupils where different places are, e.g.“Où est la pâtisserie?” Add “s’il te plaît” if youwish (see “How French works” below).Pupils reply according to the road-sign theyhold and point in a matching direction.

❑ Play “I’m lost!”Make 2 sets of picture-cards of the places intown from chapter 2.2. Mark out a simple floormap, with a straight road, three streets branch-ing off to the left and three streets to the right.

Ask seven children to place themselves on theside-streets, each holding one of the pictures.Select a “lost” child, who blindly picks a card

HOW FRENCH WORKS: Asking the way politely

When asking directions, apolite French child would say“please” like this:

◆ to an adult: “s’il vous plaît”

◆ to a child, or a member oftheir family:“s’il te plaît”

They might attract attentionwith: ”Excusez-moi! ...”,but saying “please” first worksjust as well.

Pupils already know how tosay “thankyou” in French fromPack 1. You’ll use “please”and “thank-you” later forother things, too -see Ch.2.5and Ch.2.11.

S’il vous plaît!- où est le marché?

Where is the market, please?(asking an adult not in your family)

Please!

Merci! (Madame / Monsieur)

Thankyou!

REMINDER

Being politein French

S’il te plaît! ... ?(asking a child, close friend,or a member of your family)

QUICK HINT:Just say the name of the

place and “please”in a questioning tone:

“Le marché, s’il vous plaît?”

To practice numbers as well as directions, tellpupils how many steps to take in each direction:“Tout droit ... 3” - take three steps straight ahead;“à gauche ... 5” - pupils take 5 steps to the left;“à droite ... 7”- pupils take 7 steps to the right.

Excusez-moi!- Excuse me!

This may be a good point to introduce saying“please” - see “How French works” below.

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from the second set to be their destination e.g.the station. Standing at the edge of the map,s/he asks “Où est la gare, s”il te plaît?”The rest of the class point to the correct picture,and offer directions, e.g. “tout droit”. The lostchild moves slowly, and changes direction onfurther commands, e.g. “à gauche” or “à droite”.Every so often, ask pupils to swap pictures.

The other pupil selects a card from his/her pileand says “à gauche”, “à droite” or “tout droit” asappropriate. At a given signal, pupils swapcards so each has practice at asking the questionand giving the reply.

6. Watch the video again

❑ Show video section 3: “Toutes directions”again for reinforcement.If pupils are familiar with hearing and sayingthe new vocabulary, you may like to show thefinal sequence of video section 3:“Toutesdirections”, in which each of the key words andphrases are repeated with text superimposedon the pictures.

7. Look again at sounds

❑ Play “Find the sound”For this game (described in Ch.2.2) choose typicalFrench sounds that you feel able to pronounceaccurately. This is a variation.Place a selection of picture-cards on the floor.(e.g. pets, places, colours and one or two streetnames introduced in this chapter). The childrenstand in a circle around the cards.

Call out a particular sound, e.g. “ (ch) as in -gauche”. Pupils take it in turns to run to thecards and find a picture of a word containing

the same sound - possibilities for “ ” might bechat, chien, marché.This activity encourages children to listencarefully and discriminate between sounds; theyprocess lots of information as they think throughall the possibilities for a correct response.

Introducing the written word French street names❑ Talk with pupils about French street names(see this chapter’s “talking points”).

❑ Make flashcards for the street names shownin the video. If possible, colour them blue andwhite for an authentic look. As you show eachstreet sign, say the name e.g. “rue Napoléon”.Pupils echo the words.

Scene from video section 3: “Tout droit”.

❑ Play “draw the route”Each child has a sheet of paper, on which theyfollow your instructions to draw a route, e.g.from the school to the swimming pool.Beginning at the bottom of the page, they drawa school symbol at the bottom of the page.If you call out “tout droit”, pupils draw a straightline slowly up the page.If you then say “à gauche et tout droit”, they turntheir line off to the left and then carry it on in thesame direction. For “à droite”, they draw a lineturning right, and so on.An alternative is to ask the children to dictate aroute for you to draw on the blackboard. Youcould add places that you pass as the journeyprogresses, e.g. le marché, l’école.

5. Working in pairs❑ Make multiple copies of the picture cardsfrom ch.2. 2. It is worth sticking these to card ifthey are going to be used regularly.One pupil has a set of the places, (ideally two ofeach ); the other has a set of the “left”, “right”and “straight ahead” road-signs cut from theactivity sheet.Each pupil shuffles his/her set of cards andplaces them face-down in front of them.The first pupil selects a card from the top of thepile. If s/he selects “le supermarché”, s/he asks,“Où est le supermarché, s’il te plaît?”.

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❑ Play “where’s the street?”Mark out the same floor map as for the previousgame “I’m lost!” Again place children on theside streets, each holding a street sign.Pupils take it in turns to reply to the question“Où est la rue Napoléon?”, etc. They point to thecorrect street sign and say whether the street is“à gauche”, “tout droit” or “à droite”.

❑ Play “I’m lost! 2”Give the children standing on the side streets apicture card of a place (e.g. la gare) as well as astreet sign (e.g. rue Napoléon).This time the question relates to a place, e.g.“Où est la gare?” The reply includes both adirection and a street name following theexamples given on the video, e.g. “Tout droit età gauche ... rue Napoléon”.

❑ Copy activity sheets “Plan de ville” 1 and 2for the OHP/ interactive whiteboard; or draw iton the blackboard. Arrange the pictures of places,and choose your starting point on the map.Then ask pupils to direct you to different streetse.g. “Où est la rue du 11 Novembre?”Pupils answer initially as a group, e.g. “tout droitet à gauche”. You can then move on to askindividuals; pupils could also play in pairs.

❑ You can also ask where key places are,following the examples shown on the video, e.g.“Où est le café?” “A gauche ... rue Jeanne d’Arc”.

CROSS CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES❑ PE: the “Robot” game:You can adapt the game in a variety of ways:(i) If you are in the playground or on the fieldwith plenty of space, ask pupils to run in thedirection you call out, e.g.“Tout droit” - straight ahead as fast as they can.“...à droite” - turn and run to the right.“...à gauche” - turn and run to the left.(ii) Agree a particular physical activity for eachword (e.g. running, jumping, hopping). Pupilsfollow the directions you call out, using theappropriate physical movement, e.g.“Tout droit, 20” - run 20 steps straight ahead.“...à droite, 5” - take 5 hops to the right.“...à gauche, 7” - take 7 jumps to the left.

❑ Drama: Pupils can use their puppets topractise asking directions and giving replies.Encourage them to use greetings and to saythank you and goodbye at the end of theconversation.

Town Guide project❑ Geography: Pupils could prepare a map/plan of your locality (or the French town whereyour partner school is), and use this for askingand giving directions. (See “extra words andphrases” at the end of this chapter).

“Imaginary Town” projectIf you have been making a model of an imaginaryFrench town, you can use it for asking andgiving directions in French.

Talking point

EVERYDAY LIFE IN FRANCE Street names and addressesMany streets in French towns are named afterfamous people. For example, in Berck-sur-Merthere is a rue Napoléon and also a rue Jeanne d’Arc.(Both characters from French history aredescribed in Early Start French 1: “Salut! Ça va?”chapter 1.4).Some French street names commemorate wellknown historical dates: the rue du 11 Novembrein Berck-sur-Mer is named after the date of theArmistice at the end of World War 1 in 1918.They celebrated it because millions of Frenchpeople died in the fighting; a large part ofnorthern France was occupied.

EXTENSION ACTIVITY

“Second street on the left...”

Cultural awarenessCultural awarenessCultural awarenessCultural awarenessCultural awareness■ You could talk with children about street-names in your town or district. and wherethese names come from.Some are named after people who werefamous or important locally when the streetwas built. Others are named after a placealong the road, or where it leads to:“Station Road”, “Church Street”, “LondonRoad”) You could swap information aboutstreet names with your partner school.

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RECORDING & ASSESSMENTChildren can record their achievements to dateon “can-do statements” sheet 1:

1.TALKING ABOUT WHERE I LIVEto 3.GIVING DIRECTIONS.

(Find them after chapter 2.16.)Each child could add his or her completedsheets to their European Languages Portfolio.

When French people write addresses, they oftenuse abbreviations.

M. Bernard Duval

45 rue du 11 Novembre *62601 Berck-sur-Mer

M. is an abbreviation of Monsieur which is usedto address a man in a formal letter.A woman is Madame, abbreviated to Mme;a young girl is Mademoiselle, shortened to Mlle.■ Children could word-process a real Frenchaddress e.g. your partner school. Select one toattach to a postcard of your town, and post.

*NOTE for teachers: some children may find it easier towrite their French addresses in capitals, following the styleof the street-name signs seen in the video.

Pupils already know “first”Pupils already know “first”Pupils already know “first”Pupils already know “first”Pupils already know “first”In Pack 1, pupils met the ordinal number“first”,as in “le premier avril” - 1st of April.

If pupils are confident with this section’snew words, you might like to teach themhow to say the French for “first, second orthird ” in giving directions.

EXTRA WORDS AND PHRASES

1er - la première (rue) à droitefirst (street) on the right

2e - la deuxième (rue) à gauchesecond on the left

Directions:(all feminine, to go with “rue”)

3e - la troisième (rue) à gauchethird on the left

“First”,“second”,“third” with streets“First”,“second”,“third” with streets“First”,“second”,“third” with streets“First”,“second”,“third” with streets“First”,“second”,“third” with streetsYou can hear the difference between“La première rue” and “le premier avril”(see the audio CD for teachers).

Children can use the phrases without knowingthe reason, which is that French adjectivesoften change to agree with the noun theydescribe. La rue is a feminine noun, whereasle jour (first [day] of April) is masculine.

NOTE: remember that you say “le deuxavril”, etc; not “le deuxième avril”.

The pronunciation of theseadditional phrases can be heard on

the audio CD for teachers.

EXTRA WORDS AND PHRASES

Maps

(le) Plan de Berck- Berck street map

NOTE: “un plan” - a town map with streetnames. A map of an area or country is “une

carte”.

CD Track 15

This page may be photocopied for classroom use © 2004 Early Start Languages

Toutes directions Toutes directions Toutes directions Toutes directions Toutes directions Je m’appelle ...........................à gauche tout droit à droiteà gauche tout droit à droiteà gauche tout droit à droiteà gauche tout droit à droiteà gauche tout droit à droite

This page may be photocopied for classroom use © 2004 Early Start Languages

Plan de Ville 1Plan de Ville 1Plan de Ville 1Plan de Ville 1Plan de Ville 1 Je m’appelle ...........................

This page may be photocopied for classroom use © 2004 Early Start Languages

Plan de Ville 2Plan de Ville 2Plan de Ville 2Plan de Ville 2Plan de Ville 2 Je m’appelle ...........................