Lesson 5.2 Alouette

Steps

1. Warm-up

   Do this together: Have you ever heard the song Alouette? It is one of the most famous French songs in the world. Today you learn it and all the bird parts in it.

2. Teach the new idea

   Read aloud: The story. Long ago, French-Canadian canoe men called voyageurs paddled huge birch-bark canoes thousands of miles across Canada, carrying furs and supplies. To keep their paddles in time, they sang, hour after hour. One of their songs was Alouette, about a little lark. Each verse adds another part of the bird: la tête (the head), le bec (the beak), les yeux (the eyes), le cou (the neck), les ailes (the wings), le dos (the back), les pattes (the legs), la queue (the tail). The song grows longer and longer, and children love to shout out each part.

   Read aloud: The birds and their Father. Jesus said, Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? If God cares for every little lark, He surely cares for you.

   Read aloud: Bird parts. la tête (head), le bec (beak), les yeux (eyes), le cou (neck), les ailes (wings), le dos (back), les pattes (legs; feet of an animal), la queue (tail), les plumes (feathers). People have a nose, le nez, instead of a beak!

3. New words

   Do this: Say each word clearly; your child says it back twice. Point to a picture or the real thing when you can.

   • l’alouette [lah-loo-ET]: lark
   • la tête [lah TET]: head
   • le bec [luh BEK]: beak
   • les yeux [lay ZYUH]: eyes
   • le cou [luh KOO]: neck
   • les ailes [lay ZEL]: wings
   • le dos [luh DOH]: back
   • les pattes [lay PAHT]: legs; paws (animals)
   • la queue [lah KUH]: tail
   • les plumes [lay PLÜM]: feathers
   • le nez [luh NAY]: nose
4. Show how

   Show: What part of a bird does it use to fly? Say it in French.

   Say this: “Birds fly with wings.”

   Say this: “Wings: les ailes.”

   Answer: Les ailes.

   Show: Point to your eyes and say them in French.

   Say this: “Eyes: les yeux (plural of l’œil).”

   Answer: Les yeux.

5. Practice together

   Do this: Ask out loud. Let your child try first; help only after a real try.

   Ask: Say beak in French.

   Listen for: Le bec.

   Ask: Say tail in French.

   Listen for: La queue.

   Ask: Say head in French.

   Listen for: La tête.

   3 more on the lesson page.

6. Project: Label a bird

   Read aloud: Draw a big bird and label all its parts in French.

   Steps:

   1. Draw a large bird: a lark, a robin or a blue jay.
   2. Label la tête, le bec, les yeux, le cou, les ailes, le dos, les pattes and la queue with arrows.
   3. Glue on feathers if you have them: les plumes.
   4. Sing Alouette and point to each part on your drawing.

   Tips for you:

   • Watch birds outside and name their parts in French.
   • Make a bird feeder and keep a bird diary.

   Done when your child can say:

   • My bird has eight parts labeled in French.
   • I can sing a verse of Alouette.
7. Sketchbook

   Do this: Your child picks one or more; you write the date.

   1. Copy the chorus of Alouette in your French notebook: Alouette, gentille alouette, Alouette, je te plumerai. Draw a lark and label five parts.
8. From history

   Read aloud: The voyageurs paddled up to sixteen hours a day, and some could paddle fifty strokes a minute while singing.

9. Watch for
   • Saying les ailes without the link. The s links: lay ZEL.
   • Saying queue as kway. It is KUH.
10. Game: Alouette freeze

    Sing Alouette. When the parent stops singing and calls a part, les ailes!, freeze and touch or flap that part. Anyone who touches the wrong part becomes the caller.

11. Narration

    Say this: “Tell me what you learned today.”

    Listen for: Sing part of the French-Canadian song Alouette.; Name six parts of a bird in French.; Hear what Jesus taught about the birds of the air.

12. Scripture

    Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

    In the Louis Segond Bible (1910): <i lang="fr">Regardez les oiseaux du ciel</i> Jesus said our heavenly Father feeds the birds of the air, and we are worth much more than they are.

Spread over the week

3 sessions of 20–30 minutes. Stop while it is still going well.

1. Session 1. Warm-up, then read and teach the new idea and the new words. Show how.
2. Session 2. Practice together, then start the project. Finish the project, then the sketchbook.
3. Session 3. Narration, the game and the Scripture.