This morning the children visited Boulangerie Escoeuilles, an older traditional bakery in a small picturesque village on the Opal Coast. This is a popular bakery with all goods produced by three local bakers.
All in the shop only spoke French so the children’s and indeed the teachers knowledge of French was truly tested!
The children were taken where no members of the public are allowed, the working bakery, where the head baker conducted an half an hour demonstration on how to make bread. The children were fascinated by the dough and how is could be worked. Wowed by the old traditional oven and amazed by some of the traditional equipment used in the process of bread making, there were gasps and wide eyes as certain things were demonstrated or items shown, like the large spoon to place the bread in the traditional oven.
The children’s understanding of numbers was truly tested with temperatures, minutes and hours all described in French, but they all persevered and worked out key phrases that had been explained in French. Of course such an experience could not be complete without the children sampling the bread. The children were so impressed the head baker brought out additional bread to satisfy the want for the children to try more.
The icing on the cake was when the children were handed fresh baked pain au chocolat. They and the teachers were so eager to try this that we put the coach on hold and all sat down to enjoy our treat together.
