​To support oral comprehension, we incorporate engaging vocabulary games related to nature, encourage attentive listening through storytelling sessions in outdoor settings, and challenge children with nature-themed riddles that sharpen their reasoning skills. These playful and immersive activities help children connect language to real-world experiences, making comprehension both intuitive and enjoyable.

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In a natural setting, children encounter real-life situations that invite spontaneous conversation, developing oral expression: asking questions, describing what they see, and sharing discoveries in French. This immediate relevance encourages them to use language naturally and confidently. During the class, children sing songs, retell familiar stories, and collaboratively invent new ones inspired by what they observe in the natural environment. Short play scene and role-play are frequently used to bring scientific concepts or stories to life, allowing children to embody characters and ideas in an expressive way. Throughout our inquiry-based projects, students are regularly invited to ask questions, share their hypotheses, describe their observations, and discuss the results of their research with their peers. Group discussions during investigations support peer-to-peer learning, where children build vocabulary together, negotiate meaning, and reinforce each other’s understanding. This collaborative environment naturally enhances both fluency and confidence.

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Reading and pre-reading skills are also naturally nurtured through our nature-based activities. Children engage in playful exploration of letters, tracing letters in the soil, forming them with natural objects, learning to recognize them in different labels... Phonological awareness is developed through sound-based games, such as finding words that contain a specific sound or that rhyme. As their decoding skills grow, children are invited to read simple words or clues and connect them to real-world objects. For example, by identifying labeled plants, reading instructions during an investigation, or following a recipe or technical guide. Outdoor reading moments, whether shared aloud or independently, offer a calm and meaningful way to connect language with lived experiences, laying a strong and joyful foundation for lifelong literacy.

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Collaborative research and learning are wonderful opportunities for children to express themselves and practice their oral, reading and writing skills. Each learner is given the space and support to speak, listen, reflect, and grow. Oral participation is valued as a powerful way for children to clarify their ideas, build confidence, and deepen their understanding of the natural world and their place within it. The diversity of expression activities helps children internalize new vocabulary and structures through repetition and embodied learning.

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