The sugar shack theme, “L’Érablière”, is an exciting way to engage your students with French culture.
Some try to teach it by digging up books that are too old or showing videos that are too difficult for the level of their students.
There’s a better way. Our team has put together a new 2nd edition of the “Bienvenue à l’érablière” French kit.
It’s a sleek, integrated resource that has videos, books, and lots of action-oriented activities.
To watch a 90 second video preview, click the video on the left. It’s low resolution for quick view but the real thing is high def.
To get our newsletter and to see previews from our other French kits, please fill the form on the right. You’ll be instantly redirected to our secure member preview page. Bonne Érablière !
There’s a sweet story behind the fourth book in the Booksmarts French culture package. I went out to interview the owner of a cabane à sucres,
une “érablière”.
une “érablière”.I arrived expecting to meet a French version of Grizzly Adams waiting for me on the creaking porch of his tiny slanted log cabin.
Was I in for a surprise when I met Maxime, a young smiling man. And his 90 year old grandmother, a young smiling gal. And the rest of the family !
Was I in for a surprise when I met Maxime, a young smiling man. And his 90 year old grandmother, a young smiling gal. And the rest of the family !
This family take their maple syrup seriously. How many cabane à sucre meals do you think they serve each day? 30, 100, 200?
They serve over 3000 meals per day ! Per day ! They should have a sign on the door saying “Over 200 Million omelets sold !”.
Now here’s the question: Why? And the corollary: How?
They have been running this sugar shack for 4 generations. Maxime’s great grandfather started it back around the time of the big bang.
And Jeannette, the grandmother still works there at 90 years old. She’s not just there for show. She actually works in the kitchen–I know, I saw her, I interviewed her. It’s in the book and it’s in the video.
Now here’s the question: Why? And the corollary: How? They have been running this sugar shack for 4 generations. Maxime’s great grandfather started it back around the time of the big bang.
And Jeannette, the grandmother still works there at 90 years old. She’s not just there for show. She actually works in the kitchen–I know, I saw her, I interviewed her. It’s in the book and it’s in the video.She tells of how it all started. And Maxime takes us on a tour and explains how they get from tree sap to delicious “tire d’érable”, and much, much more.
The Érablière kit features several copies of the book and the video DVD. There are a number of individual videos on the DVD.The books and the video also feature a tour of a maple syrup co-op where they make everything out of maple syrup.
I mean EVERYTHING. Maple syrup popcorn? Yup. They have that too.
Take a sneak peek when you have a minute. I’ve put up a one minute demo video on this page.
Take a sneak peek when you have a minute. I’ve put up a one minute demo video on this page.
Both the books and video feature all the key vocabulary, fun activities and amazing facts about this very French Canadian tradition, and I do mean Canadian because, after all, what’s on our flag?This beautiful reader is designed for grades 4 to 10 andincludes different texts with 3 identified levels of difficulty and a mix of styles: dialogues, factual narratives, short and long form, newspaper article, 
and picture stories.
and picture stories.It’s the all-in-one go-to solution for reading and the dialogues are like mini plays your students can act out. You can preview a video about the book itself by clicking on the video on this page.
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The Érablière book, DVD and activities come as part of your Culture Pack J5 or J10. This offer is limited to individual schools. It’s limited to the next 50 orders.
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The Érablière video DVD
The videos on the DVD feature:
* A visit to all the attractions of a large sugar shack. * Maple syrup harvesting and transformation. * A sleigh ride in the woods, visit a maple museum. * Interview with family members operating an “erablière” over 4 generations. Quebec culture doesn’t get any more authentic than this ! * The special food, dancing, taffy on snow (“tire”), mini farm, … * Interview in a maple products Co-op, nutrition and history. |
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What’s in the J5 Culture Pack ?
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Stephanie Potier, French teacher says…
Cher Guy,
Mes élèves ont tellement adoré votre livre et vidéo (…) Les élèves s’amusaient beaucoup en faisant ces activités, (…) ! C’était vraiment un plaisir (…) !!! Merci beaucoup! Bien à vous, Stephanie Potier French Teacher West Hills Middle School |
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J. Lattanzio, French teacher says…
“I really liked the layout of this new book with the three different levels of reading difficulty colour-coded , the interesting historical facts found within, the various dialogues that could be easily acted out by students to practice their oral skills, and all of the colourful pictures. My students enjoyed the video very much and are engaged with all the activities that Guy supplied. They are motivated to practice all four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking ) and engage with each other in a much more dynamic way.”
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You can order pack items such as videos or books separately.
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To order your culture pack and save now, click on the link below.
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