On Thursday 2d October, the children of the 4 French classes met Korky Paul and Rob Lewis...through their books.
The Library "Jules Vallès" was the "rallying point". Children listened to a few stories, read in French and English by two librarians, Samia and Nathalie.
Children had the opportunity to discover the authors' words, styles and fictional characters. They asked a lot of questions, like "How does Rob Lewis draw" ? "When did Korky Paul began to draw" ? "Does Rob Lewis have animals ?" "Is Korky Paul as funny as Pelagie (Winnie) ?" But they have to be patient and wait for the D Day to know the answers...
When languages meet...
Children seemed to enjoy hearing English words : "It's so funny" "It's like a part of music" "I do not understand English words but thanks to the drawings, I can read in my way". When a librarian asked them "what would remain if we took the words out of the illustrated books ?" A child answered : "the story !"
They pointed out the slightest details! They seemed to be obsessed by the differences between the French versions and the English ones. "The picture is bigger in this book!" "The text is shorter in that one !" "This detail is missing in this page if we compare it to the French Version" "Why are the covers different if the story is the same ?" "Why have they changed the title ?" "Does the author agree with all these changes ?"
They still do not understand why Winnie the Witch is called "Pégagie" in the French version ! This is one of the questions they intend to ask Korky Paul on DD !
Pointing out the differencies between French and English, the children began to enumerate the English words and expressions they already knew and that might be useful :
- good morning ! Bonjour
- hello ! salut
- How are you ? Comment allez-vous ?
- Please to meet you. Ravi de faire votre connaissance
- Do you speak French ? Parlez-vous français ?
- Where do you leave ? Où habitez-vous ?
- Book : livre
- Drawing : dessin
- Pen : crayon
- Color : couleur
- Paper : papier
- Author : auteur
- Illustrator : illustrateur
- Story : histoire
- Library : bibliothèque
- Characters : personages
- Witch : sorcière
Some of children told us that they used to speak other languages at home, like Italian, Arabic, Portuguese.
REPORTERS
Children have been filmed in order to record and collect their feelings and impressions. Gilles Césaire was the chief operator. Children thought he was Korky Paul, others, Rob Lewis. It made us laugh a lot !
Four girls from one class (Hélène Pougis's one) have been chosen by their classmates to play the reporters !
To be continued !