Learn Spooky French for Halloween

My three year-old and I took a walk through the neighborhood this evening, playing a game of “I Spy Something Spooky.”  The pumpkins, witches, and “scary stuff” are starting to pop up everywhere.   Although I love Halloween, my preschooler gets frightened pretty easily.  We’re slowly getting used to the decor so that the big night of trick-or-treating doesn’t completely freak out my little pirate.  Big Brother Darth Vader, on the other hand, is fearless.  Especially with his trusty lightsaber.

I grew up with this very American holiday, but it’s still new and exciting to the kids.  And it’s also new and exciting in France.  Every year I’m amazed by how l’Halloween it’s catching on as a new French celebration.

Learn some spooky vocabulary in French, and go on your own game of bilingual neighborhood I-Spy.  Or challenge a friend to a game of Halloween Tic Tac Toe. It’s the latest language download by Foreign Language House.

haunted house - maison hantée

bat- chauve-souris

ghost- fantôme

owl- hibou

pumpkin- citrouille

black cat- chat noir

skeleton- squelette

mummy- momie

scarecrow- épouvantail

witch- sorcière

spider - araignée

Visit the Foreign Language House storefront at Lulu.com for an ever growing collection of fun, convenient, and affordable language learning downloads. Halloween Tic Tac Toe is less than one dollar :-) 

Image Credit:  My Kindergartener :-)

 


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Comments

Actually, Diane, celebrating Halloween started to get big in France about 10 years ago, and was kind of popular for 2 or 3 years. Nothing like in the U.S. of course, but you would see some groups of kids in the streets ringing at door bells for some candies. Many people didn’t have candies to give, but oh well…
Kids would only dress in scary costumes, like witches, devil etc. No other kind of costume would be seen (no fairies, no princess, no pirats…). So we had only taken the “dark” side of Halloween.
I’m writing in the past tense, because celebrating Halloween isn’t popular anymore, partly due to the counter-attack of the Catholic church saying that the real celebration was on the 1st of November (la fête des morts, or Toussaint), and that Halloween was a total marketing coup in France. And it’s true, it’s not at all in our habit to celebrate Halloween and it really sounded like some people wanted to make a lot of money with it (like costumes manufacturers!).

So it’s pretty much all forgotten about now!

By the way, in French we say Halloween and not l’Halloween.

Came and went, huh? About 20 years ago, I participated in a French-American exchange program for 10-12 year olds as a counselor/French teacher/interpreter. When the French kids came to the US, we wanted to let them experience Halloween. (Never mind that it was June!) At that time, the kids hadn’t even really heard of it! Their teacher taught them how to say Trick-or-treat, and we made arrangements with an entire neighborhood to give out candy when the French kids came by in their costumes. Soooooo much fun. Still, bizarre in June!

I don’t like the “dark side” and it’s really a shame you never got to experience an American -style Halloween. (L’Halloween in Quebec . . . my experiences in Canada always slip in there!) I can’t stand the gory haunted hayrides & some of the decorations my little guy and I saw last night are just too gruesome. And the costumes that are available for small children . . . totally inappropriate. I found myself saying, “No way!” quite at bit at the costume shop.

And it’s regional in the US, too. And personal. When I lived in the south, the Bible Belt, I found that many people did not celebrate it. Though I’m a Christian, it’s such a part of my childhood I still hold on to it. When I returned to my home state of Michigan, I was surprised by just how huge it is up here compared to the South. There are almost as many lawn and house decorations as at Christmas. Again, many people choose not to celebrate Halloween b/c of personal & religious reasons, but overall it’s much more popular in my neck of the woods.

Gosh, I’m feeling chatty this morning! I just so appreciate hearing of your experiences in France. Thanks for stopping by FLF!

Hello!

Speaking of Halloween… it was always big in Canada and Québec… although I never myself found the courage to get on the streets because of the cold! Where I grew up (near James Bay), on October 31, it was winter (snow, wind, etc.)… so no thanks!

There’s a small place one hour north of Montréal called Saint-Anne-des-Plaines where they attract lots of visitors and tourists during the whole month of October… The entire village is decorated Halloween style and I have to say it is great! I went and I really enjoyed the experience (ne serait-ce que pour le travail que tout cela implique!)…

Although Québec was dominated by Catholic Church for many years (under the dark reign of Duplessis), celebrating Halloween was never an issue! It was indeed a pagan celebration that was very popular across the province… and apparently bless by the clergy! ;-)

I’m surprised that, in France (a Republic), religion has so much power… maybe I lost something along the way here…

Voilà ma réflexion du jour!

Lyne, Saint-Anne-des-Plaines sounds tres cool! When my boys are older it sounds like something they would enjoy. I keep holding out “carrots” to encourage them to learn French: when you’re older we’ll go up the Eiffel Tower . . . and now I can add that one day we’ll visit Halloween Town.

[...] 4.  The best classroom bulletin boards are seasonal.  Think fall.  Think Halloween.  If you need some ideas, check out these recent posts with Halloween vocab in Spanish and French. [...]

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