American CP Lesson 1 : How the Bear Lost Its Tail (and Native Americans)

Last week, I did my first of 6 American culture  lessons in Suzanne's CP class. I was really nervous about it and planned for worst case scenario...

I decided to start out by asking the class if  they knew why I wasthere. Once boy replied, "parceque vous êtes anglaise!" which is a mistake even my daughte makes. I explained to them that I speak English but come from America.  In a sign of proper deference to the teacher,  I told them I would teach them a little English and some things about the United States but that I wasn't going to teach them English like their teacher, Madame G. In order to bring the idea closer to home, I showed them a comic book they all seem to know : Yakari which is s a French comic about a little native American boy.

Since I couldn't actually get my hands on a book, I had to make my own with a compilation of pictures I grabbed off the internet and color copies form books I'd found at the library. I began by  testing the kids on the words in the way I'd learned to as a trainer at Berlitz so many years ago. Once they'd gotten works like bear, fox and tail and the name of the American animals I'd chosen (racoon, chipmunk, moose, eagle...), I told them the story.

I was inspired by this video by professional storyteller Mike Lockett when I told the story. I tried to be as animated and slow as he was lines each time, making it easy for them to understand, inspired by this telling of the story.  This was a great resource. 

When I finished, I asked the kids in French what they understood and, not surprisinly, the kids seemed to understand exactly what happened.

I then showed the kids a picture of foods we know thanks to Native Americans and tested  them on the English. Foods such as: corn, beans, pumpkin, tomato, potato, turkey...

And to finish, I asked the kids if they knew any NAtive American words. They of course said no to which I replied, "Je suis sûre que si". I'm sure you do! From this wikipedia list, I'd chosen words that exist in the English language that are also used in French. I said the words in English and asked the children to guess the French. I was surprised how quickly they got things like avocado and tomato. And amused how long it took them to figure out anorak, which they guess anything from a food to an animal.

Since the focus wasn't a real English lesson but rather a cultural lesson about the United States, I was free to explain in French which I think got the point across better.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher thanked me and I said bye to the kids. And as a sign of what I consider success, the teacher used the informal tu with me as I was leaving!

I'll also add how proud I was of Suzanne who spoke up in front of her whole class in English without a second thought. It shows me that she's not ashamed or scared to show others that she's different which is every parents' goal...

For next week's lesson, I plan on building on the Native American theme and using the food vocabulary as a segway into an explanation of Thanksgiving and other American holidays.