The World’s Gone French!
Pupils in Years 6, 7 and 8 took a trip to the theatre last week to see The World’s Gone French produced by the Onatti Theatre Company.
The plot involves a character called Nathan, an English boy, who wakes up one morning to discover all his family and the world around him speaking French.
There was lots of audience participation, dressing up, humour and rapid entrances and exits. The children were on the edge of their seats, transfixed by the actors as they dashed about in and out of the scenery and mingled with the audience. The hero struggles to find the right French words and phrases but was helped along by plenty of volunteers in the audience, with added correction and repetition by his now French-speaking mother.
The play was a huge opportunity for the children to extend and reinforce their knowledge of French. Harry Cole (Year 6) said, “I liked the scene where Nathan realised that everyone was speaking French. I felt that I was Nathan in the play and was learning along with him.”
Olivia Wallis (Year 7) commented, “I enjoyed the parts where pupils could be involved; especially the shopping bags scene.”
Every child in the audience could identify with Nathan who had just started learning French at school. But the important message gained from this fun experience was that anyone can speak French if they are prepared to have a go and not worry about making mistakes.
Now the pupils will study the play back at school and re-enact the scenes thanks to the scripts that were provided by the company.
This was a hugely successful and memorable trip.
Mrs Angela Moore
Head of Prep Languages