The Nice Man Who Teaches Languages: If you give a mouse a cookie...

If you give a mouse a cookie is a delightful children's book by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond. Some pupils know it and always remember it fondly. When the time comes to use it in language teaching, I can either just tell the story, or take in a copy, or I think it's also available being read aloud on youtube.

Here's the gist of the story: If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. If you give a mouse a glass of milk, he will want to look in the mirror to see if he's got a milk moustache. If you give a mouse a mirror, he'll probably notice his hair needs a trim... And so on.

And it's the "and so on" that makes it relevant to language teaching. That the next idea is at once inevitable, logical, and yet imaginative, creative.

We actually spend as much time teaching pupils to use their language, as we do on the language itself. How to develop ideas, narrate events, add detail, make it more personal, more sophisticated, more spontaneous. There is a strong oracy/literacy component to helping pupils come up with answers which take an idea and develop it. As well as meeting the requirements of the markscheme. And of course, all the practice working on what you can do with your language, is simultaneously working on the language. So despite what we are being told by Ofsted, it is not a waste of precious time.

So here's some examples.

If you give a mouse a cookie... he's going to want to ask for a glass of milk...

If you give an opinion, you are probably going to justify it.

No "probably" about it. This is an absolutely compulsory routine built in to what our pupils learn to say. Pupils love j'aime and j'adore. They latch on to opinions really well. Make parce que an obligatory part of what comes next. Some schools go with parce que c'est + adjective. I prefer parce que je peux / parce que je dois. Even if pupils use an adjective, I make them add can/can't/have to.

J'aime jouer au tennis parce que c'est passionnant et je peux aller au parc y jouer avec mes amis.

If you justify an opinion, you are probably going to explore the circumstances.

The "And so on" keeps on rolling. Either instead of the parce que or as well as the parce que, next I like pupils to use surtout or surtout si. It can be especially if I can go with my friends or especially if it is sunny or especially if I have to stay at home.

If you use one if sentence, you are probably going to follow it up with another.

Pupils like the idea of two for the price of one. If you have mentioned what happens if it is sunny, you will probably say, but if it rains... If you say what you can do with your friends, you will probably say, but if I have to go with my family...

J'aime jouer au tennis parce que c'est passionant et je peux aller au parc y jouer avec mes amis. Surtout s'il fait beau. Mais s'il pleut je dois rester chez-moi.

If you mention someone else, you are probably going to use a conjugated verb.

What to say next? Well, if you have mentioned my friends or my brother, then make it a rule that this is where you bring in some of those 3rd person verbs you have been using. Or the first person plural. Don't just learn them and wonder what to do with them. Have a plan with how they are going to fit in and extend your routines.

J'aime jouer au tennis parce que c'est passionant et je peux aller au parc y jouer avec mes amis. Nous jouons tous les samedis. Surtout s'il fait beau. Mais s'il pleut je dois rester chez-moi.

If you have given an opinion, you probably ought to give someone else's opinion too.

In French saying my sister likes is easy. As long as you can stop pupils saying ma soeur j'aime!! In Spanish it is more fun, as you have to say to my sister it is pleasing - a mi hermana le gusta. It's worth it, to show off some clever Spanish. But also, it's a natural development of the idea that makes it feel personal and detailed. And by introducing a note of conflict, it sets up a further set of possibilities. If you like, it could also include the subjunctive: my mum doesn't like that I go to Norwich with my friends.

If you have given an opinion, you probably want to give an example in the past.

This might just be for example I played football at the weekend. But of course knowing what mice are like, the whole situation may become a little more complicated. Why not start with saying what I was doing or what I was going to do...? Use the imperfect just once to set up the situation. This could be what the weather was like, or j'allais faire mes devoirs or j'étais en ville...

If you say what was going to happen, you probably need a but... or a so...

As logically as milk goes with a cookie. If you say, il faisait beau... you are going to say, alors j'ai décidé de... If you say j'allais faire mes devoirs... you are going to say, mais j'ai décidé de...

If you are debating whether to do what you were going to do or decide to do something else, you would do well to bring in direct speech.

If you were going to do your homework but it was a lovely day, it makes sense that you would say to your mum, Je ne veux pas faire mes devoirs. Or that your friend would say, Je vais aller au parc. Because that's how decisions happen and plans get changed.

If you use direct speech, always include a reply.

As logically as trimming your moustache goes with looking in a mirror. If one person says something, another person replies. It brings your answer to life, makes it personal and detailed and makes it feel real.

If you went along with what someone else wanted you probably might have some regrets.

In town, I wanted to see my friends, but my sister wanted to buy some shoes. At the beach, I wanted to play on the arcades, but my friends wanted to swim in the sea. This is the logical consequence of the difference of opinion that happened earlier in the book. Or the conversation that took place on the previous page. Worth learning words for unfortunately at this stage. And here is where you can deploy your past tense verbs to say what actually happened.

If you had some regrets, you will probably want to say what you would have preferred to do.

J'aurais préféré isn't any harder to learn than je voudrais, for example. And I'm not saying to throw it in randomly as an "impressive piece of language". It's here because it's doing an necessary job in the story of opinions, conflict, decision, disappointment that we have built up. Alternatively you could say what your plans are for next weekend, sticking to what you want to do this time!

J'aime jouer au tennis parce que c'est passionant et je peux aller au parc y jouer avec mes amis. Nous jouons tous les samedis. Surtout s'il fait beau. Mais s'il pleut je dois rester chez-moi. Par contre, ma soeur préfère aller en ville. Le week-end j'allais faire mes devoirs mais il faisait beau, alors ma soeur a dit, "Je vais aller en ville." J'ai dit, "Je dois faire mes devoirs." Elle m'a dit, "Tu peux faire tes devoirs demain." Alors j'ai décidé d'aller en ville avec ma soeur. Je voulais acheter des chaussures mais malheureusement ma soeur voulait voir ses amis. Alors nous ne sommes pas allées au centre commercial. J'aurais voulu aller aux magasins. Demain je voudrais retourner en ville mais je dois faire mes devoirs.

And there's your answer. It could have been about going to the beach. Or a school club. Or a holiday destination. Because the markscheme always asks for developed answers, giving and justifying opinions and narrating events. Just like a mouse always ends up eating another cookie.