A French teacher has come up with a novel way to make learning fun - song.

Monica Hyde, who is head of French at the Manor Prep School in Shippon, near Abingdon, now teaches her pupils French through catchy songs and animations that she and her composer husband John devised.

She came up with the idea after she found how well children responded to singing in French.

The problem was traditional songs did not use practical vocabulary that the children could use in everyday con- versations.

Mrs Hyde said: "Singing is really repetitive and helps them learn the vocabulary they are using.

"However, the traditional French songs, although they are very nice, they are not very useful in terms of vocabulary.

"So, we decided to make up some songs using specific vocabulary that were useful for children to use in French lessons as they were singing the songs."

The subject matter covers basic French skills, such as names, places and people, and have been recorded as part of a set of teaching resources called Zim Zam Zoum.

Animated characters accompany the songs on an interactive whiteboard to show children how to form the words.

Mrs Hyde said that schools across the country had requested the learning packs. She said: "It's proving really popular in the schools and the children love it.

"I have been to a couple of language conferences and it has been spread all over the country by teacher trainers.

"Alongside that, we have developed software for use on interactive whiteboards to produce a character that follows the songs.

"We thought it would be extra helpful if the songs were animated with some characters all through the songs so that there is lip synchronisation showing the shapes the children's mouths should be."