CM1/CM2 students at Ecole Jacques-Prévert in Rœux recently returned from a trip to New York City—having been transported to this iconic American city during a recent lesson.

We started our voyage by reading together the first few pages of the English storybook Hello, My Name Is Lily from New York City. This book builds upon what students have been practicing lately: how to introduce themselves in English. In the book, Lily, a young New Yorker, shares with the reader a little about herself and her city.

Lily points out some of the most notable sights of the Big Apple (a nickname, students learned, refers to New York City). If you visit New York City, you will certainly see several yellow taxis cross your path. And as you walk down Fifth Avenue, skyscrapers will shade your path from the sun shining above. Maybe you’ll visit one of the tallest skyscrapers, the Empire State Building, or take a stroll through Central Park.

After reviewing some of the vocabulary presented in the book, I shared with the students some of my own pictures of New York City, which I took during a summer when I was there. With each picture I presented, I asked students, “What do you see?” And they responded with some of the new vocabulary: “a taxi,” “a skyscraper,” etc. Certainly, the next time these students visit New York, they’ll be ready to describe to you all they saw on their trip!