"Les Petits Loustics" is an easy to use 2 level course for 3 - 6 year olds with a focus on spoken French which conforms to various beginners French programmes. The material is relevant to the daily lives and imaginary world of young learners with endearing characters and eye-catching illustrations throughout. The structured approach helps children remember new language by using nursery rhymes, songs, poems, and following the action in the stories. Teaching is easily adjusted to fit the amount of lesson time available using the "Du temps pour d'autres activités?" sections and additional worksheets in the resource file. Each level contains 6 units consisting of 3 lessons on double-page spreads and a story. The livre de l'élève and cahier d'activités use the same layout; the left-hand pages are for the teacher and contain lyrics for the songs and activities to complete in the lesson. The right-hand page is for the pupils with colourful illustrations for them to follow. The cahier d'activités contains tasks for each pupil to re-use the knowledge acquired in class, stickers and an audio CD of nursery rhymes, songs and stories. The stories are read slowly so that children can imagine what is happening or what will happen. A strong point of the course is that unlike many courses for this age group it does not use puppets; instead the pupils themselves become the puppets and actively take part in the activities. The class CD contains all the audio material for the course. A teachers' guide and resource file containing photocopiable sheets can be downloaded from hachettefle.fr. Black and white versions of the flashcards can also be downloaded from the website.
