Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with a twist of Grammar!

This year one of our network focuses for the Christmas season is how we can use the familiar and international song Twinkle Twinkle Star as a shared performance song but with different learning focuses.Here is a French version......

In UKS2 we are going to have a go at this grammar activity:

• Take the first line :

brille brille petite étoile .......

• Can the children identify the verb, the noun  and the adjective - just ask them to talk in their groups or with a talking partner about the target language sentence- what can they tell you? Don't suggest any specific type of responses. (Some children will talk about words that look like, or what the words mean , or words they have seen before).Encourage the children to give you information about the structure of the phrase,
• Show the class the phrase as word cards in the correct order on the board.Ask for volunteers  to come and show  you the noun , the verb(s) the adjective.
• Discuss the position of the adjective. in French and share with the children the fact that beau and grand would do the same thing in a phrase- go before the noun.
• Ask the children to look at the two possible spelling s of the adjective (petit/petite) with a singular noun.Can they help you solve the problem and explain why in this instance it is written petite.... what would happen if it was a masculine singular noun?
• Look at the verb and the ending .... can they explain why it is written as it is?
• Try a new verb ..... chanter .... how does this work? 
• Can the children help you to create a new Christmassy object that is up there  like a diamoand in the sky?

We are using :

un ange /chanter/ beau

une bougie/ illuminer/belle

and also possibly

une lune/ grande /éclairer

• Now you need to decide whether with your class you want to introduce them to one or all of the phrases in the first instance so that they can use the words to create their own verse of the song :

e.g (u)n beau ange  chante/ (une) belle bougie illumine/ (n)e grande lune éclaire

• Cut up the words and randomly place them on the board next to the key phrase( brille brille .....).Can the children help you to place above the key words in the text brille ,brille .... the replacement words e.g

                         chante ,chante beau ange 

                         brille ,brille ,petite étoile 

• Now in pairs ask them to do the same thing with the other key language and to create two more first phrases for their new Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with a Twist verses.....

And with the Spanish version...... well there has to be a slight change because we sing "brilla brilla estrellita" and here there is an absence of an adjective

However we can still create new verses for our Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with a Twist verses.....

Here are our replacement phrases........

                                                      alumbra vela hermosa

canta angel hermoso

brilla luna grande