A sentence builder worksheet for Transition Year students for their return after work placement. End goal: to write a detailed description of their work placement. Students should be encouraged to use dictionaries / online translating tools to look up vocab specific to their placement. Once everyone has written a description, I like to invite 2-3 students to read their description aloud in order to facilitate a listening exercise for the others in the class. For more resources like this, see ‘my shop’.

This lesson gives an overview of Trump’s victory in the 2024 Presidential Election, takes a brief look at his foreign policy, and includes a global impacts simulation group activity. PDF version of a presentation I made on Canva, a comprehension made on Diffit included, and teacher notes included. I encourage students to share their knowledge on Trump, the US elections, and his stance on foreign policy throughout the lesson. I use the presentation to introduce Trump’s victory. I then use the map to explain how he stormed to victory as well as how the electoral college vote works. After, I introduce the term ‘foreign policy’ - explaining what it is and introducing three main aspects of Trump’s foreign policy. Following on from that, to introduce the group activity, I ask the students to share their thoughts and opinions on how Trump’s foreign policy might impact global relations and events. I give a brief overview of the potential impacts of his policy on the EU, Ukraine, and Palestine (teacher notes attached if required). To facilitate the global impact simulation, divide the class into 5 groups and assign one country or region (the EU) to each group. Every group will need a show-me board, whiteboard marker, and sponge to wipe. Allow them 10-15 minutes to analyse the potential impacts of Trump’s foreign policy on their assigned region. Each group must then present their work to the class. The lesson can be concluded with a walking debate or general discussion, using the debate prompts at the end of the comprehension or points that have come up during the lesson.

A unit of work designed to help Leaving Cert French students prepare for the theme of ‘l’avenir’ (the future/life after the Leaving Cert) for the oral examination. There are six main questions under which are there are multiple answers. This will help students to enrich their vocab on this theme. Once all vocab is translated, students can choose sentences from each section and use these to build a detailed description of what they would like to do after the Leaving Cert. There is also an extension activity which incorporates listening skills. The teacher can select a few students to read their future plans aloud and students then complete the listening/answer the questions based on their classmates description.

A quiz designed to help students understand their own political views. This quiz has four sections - social, cultural, political and economic. There is a guide to scoring answers at the back of the quiz, and a separate guide to interpreting the scores. An example of scoring once points for each section are tallied - Economic Issues: 18 points → Far Left Social Issues: 14 points → Moderate Libertarian Political Issues: 10 points → Centrist Cultural Issues: 7 points → Traditional All scoring is explained in the second attached document. *These questions are designed to cover a broad range of topics, providing an initial understanding of different political beliefs and values. The answers can help students to reflect on where they stand on the political spectrum/compass. To determine an overall political position, you can have students plot their results on a political compass grid (numeracy): X-Axis (Economic): Left (-) to Right (+) Y-Axis (Social): Libertarian (-) to Authoritarian (+) For more nuanced results, you could consider averaging the scores across sections or using a weighted approach if certain issues are more important. It is important to remind students that political beliefs can be complex.

A guide to Leaving Cert French comprehensions.

A unit of learning based on the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Suitable for a range of ages/year groups. Lots of differentiation. Graphic organiser/vocab worksheet - students need to use the Quizlet study set (linked here) to complete the worksheet. Small extension exercises included here e.g. can you not only list but also conjugate the verb? https://quizlet.com/ie/914411227/les-jeux-olympiques-flash-cards/?i=2r8x8o&x=1jqt Listening exercise using ‘Un jour, une question’ YouTube video (authentic material)- also linked here. Two worksheets - one with English questions and one with French questions. I allowed the students to choose which one they wanted here. Includes a word bank. *I slowed the video down to 0.75 speed as it is quite fast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpMFhfomipc&t=1s Gap-fill exercise based on the transcript of the YouTube video (slightly adapted), using the key vocab from previous exercise as the missing words. Facilitates written production in a scaffolded way. For more materials like this, see My Shop!

A graphic organiser to facilitate a student-led research task on the Peter McVerry Trust, an Irish charity working for the homeless.

A simple graphic organiser for students to create their own notes on Acid Rain.

A simple research activity for World Book Day. Students will need internet access.

A 9-slide PPT on the Six Nations with focus on Ireland and France. Includes an translation exercise based on rugby vocab as well as a small comprehension exercise using a short factfile on 4 players. Also includes an infographic from World Rugby to bring in some numeracy - this is accompanied by a ‘Do you understand’ slide in which the students are given some figures from the infographic and they must state to what each one refers. A small unit of work - could be completed in an hour-long class maybe with some oral discussion added in on pastimes/sport. For more resources like this, see ‘My Shop’.

A ‘find someone who’ activity which can be used to get to know a new class or to facilitate active learning, group work, to get the students moving around the class. Great activity for getting students speaking en français.

French in the world! A 28 slide ppt including several activities and embedded YouTube clips. Also includes details of project work which I assign after this unit of work - this slide can be deleted or amended to suit your lesson. Also included is a sentence builder/notes sheet which can be given to students to assist them with the project work or with an additional translation exercise if you wished. I use this resource with a mixed ability TY class. For more resources like this, see ‘My shop’.

An 11 slide ppt on the Rugby World Cup (in French). Suitable for a strong 3rd year/Junior cycle class, TY or 5th year group. Includes a flag activity, vocab activity and short comprehension/fact-file activity. Takes approximately a one hour class to complete. For more resources like this, see my shop!

A full unit of work customised for the new Junior Cycle Geography curriculum (GCSE equivilant). Lots of Irish references, but these can be changed to suit your location. Nine PowerPoints in total - all incorporating diagrams, highlighted key terms, exam practice/to-do/homework slides, and embedded YouTube clips to consolidate learning. Also included is an end off chapter exam which uses a variety of old and new style JC exam questions. An introduction to the atmosphere Air masses & Weather Fronts Ocean Currents Winds Clouds Rain The Water Cycle Weather instruments & Weather forecasts A significant weather event - Hurricane Irma End of chapter exam also included. Graphic organiser for the study of weather instruments included. For many more geography resources, see my shop!

A full unit on ‘Urbanisation’ customised for the Irish Junior Cycle curriculum (GCSE equivilant). Uses lots of Irish cases studies throughout. Incorporates exam practice/to-do slides/homework slides. 16 slide PPT - The causes of Urbanisation and Dublin’s development. 28 slide ppt - Urban problems - Urban decline & Urban Sprawl 27 slide ppt - Solutions to urbanisation - Urban renewal, urban redevelopment, New Towns, and Traffic Management Strategies 29 slide ppt - Urban functional zones 15 slide ppt - Land use values 8 slide ppt - Residential accomodation in Ireland 8 slide ppt - Dublin, a primate city For many more geography resources, see My Shop!

A lesson on smoking and vaping amongst young people, aimed at higher level, Leaving Cert students. The first document is a sentence builder worksheet. I ask students to work together to translate the key vocab (dictionaries are available to them for this if required). I then mix up the student pairings so that everyone is working with someone new, and ask the students to categorise the vocab into nouns, verbs and adjectives (this helps to prepare them for the ‘trouvez dans le texte’ questions often seen in the comprehensions in LC exams). Once the words have been translated, categorised and corrected, students work alone to translate the sentences on the worksheet from French to English. These sentences can then be used in an opinion piece on this topic. The second document is a text which can be used to further build and enrich vocab, can be used as a reading activity, or as a comprehension. Useful vocab and expressions can be identified and copied into a notes copy or added to the first worksheet for future use in opinion pieces. I find these activities really useful for preparing students for opinion questions or oral questions on these themes. Differentiation can be facilitated through the student pairings. For more Higher Level Leaving Cert French resources, see ‘My Shop’.

A notes document introducing ordinary leaving cert students to French comprehensions with French answers. Includes tips and hints, key question words, and a guide to finding different types of words in the comprehension. A two page Word document. For the higher level version, see ‘My Shop’.

A gapfill exercises on the banning of diabetes drug, Mediator. I use this in my teaching of ‘la santé’. It includes some useful theme-based vocab and some complex grammar ideas. Also includes a ‘trouvez dans le texte’ exercise as an extension activity. Suitable for a higher level leaving cert class.

A PPT with French idioms which can be used as a teaching tool or printed and used as posters.

A gapfill exercises on the importance of sport, looking at physical, mental and other benefits. Once corrected, this piece will serve as a sample answer for an opinion piece on the topic. Also attached is the full sample answer. Can be used as a pair or group reading activity or comprehension.