J To pratice reading aloud in chorus,  you may wish to use the vocabulary film without sound. The children can then read words out together, as a whole class or in groups/teams/pairs.  Who can do it with the ‘best’ (most convincing!) French accent?  Who will be the judge of this?! How is each vocabulary item pronounced?  Does any ‘word detective/spy’ spot any patterns?  Do they know any other French words that make that sound or have the same spelling?

J Once you've done the previous activity you may wish to use the vocabulary test film.  Pause the film on the question “Qu’est ce que c’est?”  and ask the children to write down the words.  Consider using short sentences, beginning with ‘c’est…’.  When the solution appears, children can engage in some relatively risk-free self-assessment, allowing the teacher to circulate and moderate or see how the children have done by thumbs up/down, ‘traffic lights’ or by number of correct responses using a show of hands.  Mini-whiteboards may work as well as the spy sheets for some groups -This could prepare them for the version of the film where the vocabulary box appears without text.

J When the children have performed all these activities, think about watching the third version of the film, which does not include the vocabulary on screen. Volunteers could represent their ‘team’ and earn points for correctly naming as many bits of vocab as possible or as many as they can in a row.

J Explore cultural understanding issues by discussing what the children have for breakfast. Does everybody in the class/group have exactly the same things for breakfast? Probably not!   Consider using this time for children to share their different breakfast experiences, resulting perhaps from the diversity of their cultural/ethnic background or what they have seen or eaten on their travels or on the television.  Using a dictionary can the children find out if there is a French word for what you like to eat in the mornings?

J Did you know that the french breakfast now sometimes include orange juice?  In the past, this was not so.  This influence came from the USA.  Discuss how one culture can influence another. How has the British breakfast changed over the years?   What would you like to see more (or less!) of on your breakfast table?

J Cross-curricular activity: Healthy eating.  In pairs the children put breakfast pictures or word cards into two categories – healthy or not – and justify their opinion!  Is there one right answer to this?

J Have a French Breakfast!

J This could be a great time to have a grammar discussion (if appropriate to your class, here are some questions to get you started and wet your budding word detectives’ appetites). 

How do we say ‘some’ in French?  Why does it change?  How would I say ‘apple/pineapple/grapefruit juice?  Lucas mange: what ‘person’ is being used here? Why? What are the translations of this in English? Do we know how to talk about what we or others eat or drink?