“I like to eat, eat, eat...”

Having spent the last couple of weeks on a ‘Buying Fruits’ series of lessons with many of my classes, the past few days have seen the culmination of the module i.e. Role Play ‘Going to the Shops’ including fruits, dialogue, and ohmigosh real live British money.

Despite the role play being carried out by many varying ages and capabilities they have all contained an unbelievably high degree of hilarity. I have had so much fun with the classes in the past few weeks, that I thought I would share some of the best bits.

Some classes treated the ‘shop dialogue’ with amazing enthusiasm, setting up and laying out all the fruits in their ‘shop’, making money to pay with, putting on airs and accents, and giving out bags to customers. It was great to see them so enthusiastic about something, and they really loved the idea of having to actually buy something with money. By the end of the lesson, paper coins and notes of all shapes, sizes and colours were flying around the classroom, along with cheques for extortionate amounts and great wadges of ‘bank’ cards (slash shiny Pokémon cards being used as Visa Carte Bleu). Unfortunately, it was in this class that some groups got a little too excited, and in one case there was a fight over who was going to be the vendeur/vendeuse, culminating in a three-boys-against-one-girl shouting match. In another there was a mini-punch up in the queue to the grocery – obviously although we were speaking in English, British queuing rules did not apply. One group was absolutely exemplary, setting out their fruits, speaking impeccable English, paying with coloured in gold coins and, I discovered at the end, each possessing their own ‘cheque book’ to buy the fruits with.

A little love note from two of my CM1's - now sitting proudly on my fridge

On another occasion, whilst passing round some of my British pecuniary shrapnel (“Yes I do want it back. Yes it is real money.”), an Occitan pupil (and budding violinist!) asked in all seriousness, “When you’re here, do you use pounds instead of Euros? Do they take them at Leclerc?” Not going to lie, to this day he still believes I’m the only person cruising round Sarlat with a bunch of tenners and fifty p’s in my purse.

At Temniac school, I was reprimanded by the CE2/CM1teacher, Annie, as she has been unable to get the irritatingly memorable song ‘I like to eat Apples and Bananas’ out of her head for the past two weekends. Even after a long discussion with all the other teachers in the freezing playground at mid-afternoon break; she still went back to her classroom with that damned tune stuck in her head. In fact, that song has slightly got me into trouble, as one pupil came up and to check whether he could ask for ‘banoonoos’ in the shop. No, that is just in the song – they do not actually exist.

Although each class has actually worked really hard, and there are some very good English speakers amongst them, it is pretty funny sitting back and watching them ‘order their groceries’ in English:

“Can aye aave fife appol, choo oran-je, aay wan grapes.  Plis. How mash ees eet?”

 “Waan Pooo-nds, et five-ty pens.”

....

“Thankoogoodbye” “Thankoogoodbye”.

Not going to correct them mid-flow. I know they’re in character! 

Seriously. So funny.