Hello Piano!

Happy Monday!

Our words this week are:

mes, tes, train, cinq, samedi, dimanche 

Last week we learned the sound "in". This is a very French sound. Unlike in English, you do not close on the 'n'. It stays open and is quite nasal. The best way to learn it is to have your student teach it to you by showing them the poster below. They'll know the word, and hence, the sound.

Other words that use this sound are: bain, coin, voisin, cousin, vingt (20), basin (bin), lapin and matin

This week we will review the sound "ch". We've met this sound before, so many children know it, or have been able to guess it based on other words they know, like chat and chien.

Other words that contain this sound are: le cochon, le cheval, une chose, j'ai chaud, les cheveux, je chante une chanson, je cherche, un chapeau, méchant

Last Friday we had a fun surprise - we finally got to open our piano! I hope to teach the children some simple songs before the end of the year. We started with some important pre-requisites, like how to be a good audience member, good sitting posture, and a relaxed hand. For our songs, we will always keep our thumb (finger #1) on middle C and we will use the first 5 notes of the C major scale. Therefore, we are starting by learning a 5-note scale. On Friday, everyone had a chance to play the 5-note scale, practising good posture, and using each finger to play the scale.
I know several students take piano lessons already, so they won't find our lessons challenging, but we'll look forward to hearing some performances soon!
Ask your students to play you our scale (1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1) on the air piano!