by Catherine Denney, French Lead Teacher -

Madame Denney’s Grade 5 French students had the privilege of trying and experimenting with French baking as a part of their French language acquisition experience at CIS’ recently opened kitchen space.

“Galette des Rois” was the recipe of the day. It is a very popular cake eaten in France for the New Year, during January and often well into February. As a winter celebration, sharing a galette has become a tradition everywhere in France: at home, but also schools, retirement homes, public offices and private companies. Though originally linked to the “Epiphany” (the Christian celebration of the 3 kings arriving with presents after the birth of Jesus), the galette is now a social event, a celebration of friendship, and the chance to warm up with a rather filling and comforting cake.

A fun ritual also follows the galette tradition: before the pastry is baked, a “fève” (a small charm or figurine made of china) is hidden inside. When baked, the galette is cut and the youngest person of the group goes under the table to designate (without looking or cheating!) which piece goes to which person. Then, the lucky person who finds the “fève” in their piece of galette receives a golden paper crown and becomes the king or the queen for the day.

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The grade 5 students had recently completed a unit on food and health, and this baking session was a chance to revisit some of the “hands-on” food vocabulary. They had to make sense of terms such as “mélange le sucre et les oeufs” (mix the sugar and the eggs), “ajoute les amandes” (add the almonds) or “étale la pate feuilletée” (spread the puff pastry).

In groups of six, students took turns with the letters (A to F) assigned to each student. In turn, all the students with the same letter, when called, had to perform the action requested by the teacher, for example: “A: remuez avec une cuillère en bois” (mix with a wooden spoon) or “B: étalez la pate (spread the puff pastry) or “C: lavez le bol” (wash the bowl). The other students were eager to translate in case of misunderstandings.

Every student was very excited to take part in the food preparation and rushed to finish baking the galettes by the end of the afternoon. Guess who became kings and queens of the day - four grade 5 girls were the happy queens!

Revisiting their Unit of Inquiry in such a fun and meaningful way, helped students to review their vocabulary, and learn some new French words in a practical way.