(ferocious!)

As previously decided (see the post below), Thursday was a good day.

I love it when my lesson takes on a life of its own and connects that much more effectively with my little learners. I hadn't seen my CP class in about a month, what with their trips to the pool in late March and my 20-day Spring break (hey, now--I can see that eye-roll. Oh, fine, you're right--it is ridiculous.). The long hiatus plus the fact that six-year-olds don't tend to retain a whole lot when you only see them once per week freed me of any hesitation to hit the animal kingdom again with them.

Out came my animal picture cards. We'd just learned about "good," "bad," and "okay" talking about their vacations, and when I queried, "Are you ready to learn about animals?" I was met with a grinning and thumbs-upped "GOOD!" Well, I had to smile that at least they got the general idea of that one. So we moved on, but not before Maël urgently raised her hand (I expected her to ask if she could go to the bathroom) and announced, "Moi, j'aime tous les animaux sauf les plus féroces, parce qu'ils me font trop peur. Comment dit-on féroce en anglais?"

"I like all the animals except the most ferocious ones, because they're too scary. How do you say ferocious in English?"

I had planned to review the animal names and get the kids listening for words they recognized within more complex sentences by asking "Do you like lions/cows/etc?" But the kids were so electrified by this new word, ferocious! (pronounced with the exclamation point), that I went with that instead.

Is the BIRD ferocious?

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Is the LION ferocious?

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!"

Is the CAT ferocious?

"OOKAAAY!" (Their best approximation of "sometimes")

Who knows how many of the animals they'll remember. I've long resigned myself to the fact that my job with them has to be getting them excited about English and getting their brains hearing and imitating its sounds in preparation for next year. Thus, vocabulary retention is more of a happy byproduct than a primary goal.

I have a feeling one of the few words that might stick, though, is "ferocious!" During recess most of that class could be heard yelling "ferocious!" at each other and miming the scary animals. Of all the words for six-year-olds to know in a foreign language... Sure, someone will painstakingly re-teach them how to introduce themselves and remind them of the colors next Fall. But I like to think that I gave them "ferocious!" and imagine next year's English teacher chuckling curiously to him/herself upon hearing it proffered as proof of Maël's passion for the English language.

:)