Cathedral School and Trinity Episcopal high school students took the show normally reserved for the confines of their French class on the road Thursday.

Or at least down the road anyway. French I, II and III students performed three songs in French for small crowds of school children at the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians’ annual School Days.

Singing has always been a part of teacher Jean Claude Coullerez’s classrooms, he said, and when the opportunity to share it with smaller children came a few years back he jumped at the chance.

&uot;We learn them to involve the kids in French with song,&uot; he said. &uot;Now we will keep it because I know we will be singing here.&uot;

Coullerez said the repetition and rhythms of song help the French students learn key vocabulary words. &uot;It works for me and it works for them,&uot; he said.

The students said they first had to translate the words of the songs so they’d know what they were singing. After a week or so of practice they had it down, Cathedral ninth-grader Lissa McManus said.

&uot;It’s definitely fun to sing out here,&uot; she said. &uot;’Alouette’ is the best because you get to do the motions.&uot;

The fast French words brought more than a few confused faces from the crowd of fourth-graders, but the hand motions were something everyone could understand.

Jalayla Jackson, 9, of Newellton, La., said she thought she understood some of the words to the song.

&uot;A little bit,&uot; she said. &uot;It was about the Indians.&uot;

Other Student Days exhibits included lessons on early American medicines, animals, pottery, technology and more.

Several Ferriday Upper Elementary fourth-graders walked away from the Grand Village with a new idea for their Halloween costume, and a plan to make their Native American garb more authentic.

&uot;We are learning about knives that were made of animals and heard things in French,&uot; FUES student Stepheileka Green said.

The kids admitted one of the most fun experiences was rolling down the &uot;hill,&uot; or an Indian mound.

&uot;I learned how to make a fire, how to hunt and how to sing,&uot; FUES student Dajuan Robinson said.

Student Days will continue today with visits from public and private schools in Natchez.