Anglais avec les chats in French classrooms

THE charity, Les Amis Des Chats, has brought its knowledge of the feline world to the English class of a village school in Tarn et Garonne.

Children at the Touffailles primary school have been joined by Charlie, a cuddly soft toy, to help with English lessons but also involve the class in learning more about responsible pet ownership.

Lynne Stone, of the charity, said: "With the help of Charlie, and other cat related resources, the children have complimented their normal English lessons by using pictures of cats to identify different colours and recognise facial expressions.

"But we also looked to help the children understand the use of those expressions combined with body language to portray the feelings and the demeanour of cats.

"In another part of the lesson we raised issues concerning cat welfare, and the importance of compassion to help promote the school's objective of learning, using and improving practical English."

Les Amis Des Chats was started in 2000 by a local vet in the village of Roquecor, and is now heavily involved around the region in the trapping, neutering and releasing of cats.

This is the first time the charity has worked with a local school, who have gone on to sponsor a cat, and it is hoped the scheme will be expanded further.

"At our AGM many members supported the idea of working with a school and we also received resource materials from pet food distributor Royal Canin," Lynne Stone said.

"We would love to extend our Anglais avec les chats scheme to other schools and if people are able to help they can contact us through the website."

Website: Les Amis Des Chats

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