Our 8s and 9s pupils were issued with a 'ticket pour l'espace' and whisked off in a spaceship to a new planet 65,000 miles away, as part of a French play performed by Onatti production company.
With both a French and English character in the play, there were many opportunities for our pupils to help translate words between the two languages. Two pupils were invited on stage to take part in a game where they had to rebuild a cube and one lucky Lower Prep boy, Maxi, was allowed to board the spaceship for the rest of the journey. In return he had to translate words and expressions but also input codes and numbers to help the spaceship get back to Earth.
The play was a fun way to reinforce their learning in class and in particular the following curriculum topics: personal details, directions, family relations, food and drink, greetings, nationalities and countries, numbers, clothes and languages.
Meanwhile our 10s pupils enjoyed taking part in a workshop where they re-enacted Alexandre Dumas's famous story Les Trois Mousquetaires / The Three Musketeers. An actress from the Freshwater Theatre Company played the parts of both storyteller and D'Artagnan. She used boys and girls from the audience to play various parts like King Louis XIII, Le Cardinal de Richelieu, Monsieur de Treville, 'l'homme barbu' etc. Following all the action, our 10s were fully engaged throughout.
These plays and workshops bring foreign languages alive by mixing language learning with entertainment.
Sandrine Montet, Head of Modern Foreign Languages and French
When asked why these interactive events are so beneficial, Head of Modern Foreign Languages Madame Montet says, 'Plays and workshops acted in a foreign language are a less obvious but highly effective form of role that immerse our pupils in an imaginary world and help them to lose their inhibitions. They also bring foreign languages alive by mixing language learning with entertainment.'