Secondary French teacher, rated Ofsted 'Outstanding' at KS3, KS4 and KS5.
PGCE and NQT mentor. Regular CPD/Professional Learning leader. State and private sector experience.
Secondary French teacher, rated Ofsted 'Outstanding' at KS3, KS4 and KS5.
PGCE and NQT mentor. Regular CPD/Professional Learning leader. State and private sector experience.
Excellent resource, asking students to find weather conditions in the grid and engage dictionary skills by looking up the correct gender for each word, noting down the article and translating the type of weather into English. Great as a starter or an activity.
Suitable for HA KS2, KS3 and KS4. Links to GCSE module on Travel and Tourism. Also would be a great challenge for younger learners, extending their weather vocabulary. Would link very well across curriculum to geography (discussing weather for example in Haiti or Mauritius).
Excellent resource, introducing the near future tense through the 'aller' song, with a clear table to demonstrate formation.
Text message conversation between Simon and Carly of The Inbetweeners engages students and asks them to answer a series of questions designed to test their understanding of the tense. HA stretched through identification and translations of colloquialisms such as 'ma biche'.
Mini-whiteboard translation activity follows to gauge understanding, and a plenary with 12 sentences to translate is the last slide. This can be printed, cut up, and used in a box as a 'Pass-the-Parcel' style game, learners could throw die to determine the phrase that they translate to their partner, or in any number of different ways. LA supported through use of lesson worksheet (print table on first slide for learners to complete), HA through extension with colloquialisms and perfect tense.
Excellent for introduction at KS3 and for revision / review at KS4.
Great lesson, introducing France and the French language to learners. Created for Primary, but easily adapted to Secondary with a host of suggestions for further discussion, analysis and reflection provided. 40 slides in total. A huge time saver!
Ideas for Secondary extension include cross-curricular links to: History (how were French regions affected for example during WW2, the Vichy government etc.); Politics (where in France is currently experiencing a surge in right-wing popularity? Why?); Geography (environmental impacts of tourism, how is it currently managed, could it be more effective?); Arts, Theatre, Music (funding, is it comparable to the UK? The policies of André Malroux and their impact); and the French Language (how is it protected, do other languages have similar institutions? Search Académie française).
Slides 1 - 11 ask students to work out the country, linking to European Day of Languages 2016. Beautiful photographic images are provided to support student reflection (monuments, architecture, food, spring, summer, autumn and winter in France, artists - Monet and Matisse, the Tour de France and typical French shops).
Slides 12 - 15 introduce the geography of France through maps and facts and figures (position within Europe, number of regions, number of people who speak the language).
Slides 16 - 38 introduce French vocabulary linking to the images that students have just seen. Seasons, colours, numbers 1-12 and basic greetings.
Slides 39 - 40 set students challenge of completing their worksheet within time limit (given by teacher) and to see how many new words they can incorporate into their day. Two song suggestions (You Tube) provided on last slide for younger learners.
* Links to Assembly on European Day of Languages and Word document bundle for worksheets that link to activities if helpful.
Excellent resource for charting and assessing student progress within lesson. Slide can be printed and students given a copy, or slide can be displayed for students to draw their own learning journey arrow on a whiteboard at the start of the lesson.
They circle where they feel they are in terms of their confidence with the LO at the start of the lesson, and then come back to it at various points. At the end of the lesson, they review their learning and should be at the higher end of the scale. A useful reference tool for the teacher to determine those who need more support, and those that can be pushed further.
Useful for daily teaching, or to use over the course of a module. Great when being observed too as very visual signpost that learning is being monitored by teacher, and those students that need support / further challenge are being picked up and helped appropriately.
Fabulous and very comprehensive resource that can be used for one or a series of lessons. 45 slides in total. Introduces all main types of weather with images, and a series of activities designed to build learner confidence and use of new language.
Activities include:
* Large images with text for students to repeat after teacher.
* Differentiated tables with weather phrases (Option 1 to draw lines between French and English translations, Option 2 to match French weather phrases to images and add in English).
* Dice game to practice pronunciation.
* Pass-the-parcel team game to improve memory recall.
* Listening activity (again differentiated with two options).
* Speaking activity - Think, pair, share to describe weather in different parts of France. Excellent cultural link through geography of France and where different cities are situated. Could easily be developed into a research project with different types of weather in these places across the year and how they compare to home.
* Writing activity - Preparing own weather forecast (again differentiated with scaffold for learners who require).
* Speaking / presenting activity - Students present their weather forecasts to class.
* Review / Plenary triangle - Students reflect on their own learning by noting down three things that they knew already but now better understand, 2 new things they learned during lesson and one thing they need to find out more about.
Fully animated with all answers and explanations for each activity under relevant slides.
Huge time saver and great fun to teach!
Full lesson, describing hair and eyes in third person and introducing second and third person singular of avoir.
Fully animated with all answers. Step-by-step support for each activity is detailed in the notes section of the slides.
Very engaging, incorporating whiteboard work, AfL, 'C'est qui?' (Guess Who) in pairs, individual written task and Blockbusters game at end to review learning.
Clear, concise explanation of use of faire with different tenses. Examples given with perfect, imperfect, pluperfect and simple future. Second slide has a series of questions for students to translate, using four tenses. Easily adaptable for younger learners, using extra tenses as differentiation for HA.
Excellent crossword and word-search, both perfect as lesson starters or as individual activities after a starter to lead into more detailed comprehension tasks. Word-search links to school subjects and crossword to wider school vocabulary including opinions. Can be differentiated with dictionary support / as Think-Pair-Share activity. Successfully used at KS3 and KS4. Word-search would also work brilliantly with KS2.
Great lesson, linking to activities that are done in the house. 31 slides in total, very engaging with lots of different activities to consolidate learning and vocabulary.
Fully animated with all answers. Instructions for teacher for each activity in Notes section of slides. A huge time saver and great fun to teach!
Uses 'My learning journey' AfL tracker throughout lesson to encourage students to reflect on own learning and progress. Great for teacher to identify those who need more support / challenge.
Lesson begins with starter asking students to pick one of four boxes (increasing in difficulty) and translate sentences linked to house and town. Students then repeat household activity vocabulary after teacher (with actions!) and then fill in table to refer back to vocabulary. Differentiated options for filling in table (drawing a line between French and English or writing English answers in).
Game of Splat! follows to consolidate learning, along with listening activity. Whiteboard activity is next (points scoring depending on level of challenge selected by student and completed within time limit). Twitter feed reading comprehension follows (created on classtools.net), followed by writing activity. Heads down, thumbs up game as plenary.
Great lesson, covering use of 'il y a' and 'il n'y a pas de' + names of different shops and amenities in town. Very comprehensive resource. 30 slides in total. Fully animated with all answers and explanations for each activity in the notes section of each slide.
Lesson begins with 'Connect 4' Starter. Students, playing against a partner or as a whole class, have to connect four squares by translating the words from French into English or vice-versa (linked to adjectives to describe town, simple opinions and reasons).
Images then follow with text for students to repeat after teacher of places in town (une gare etc.). Students then match the French with the English translation in a table with the words (differentiated tables provided).
Listening activity is next, using 'Voki', online characters (simply click hyperlink to listen). Scripts provided if teacher prefers to read.
Twitter feeds follow with questions linked to where different celebrities live. Students asked to work out 'il y a' and 'il n'y a pas de' rule. Whiteboard activity is next - students must write sentence to describe town plan displayed on board using vocabulary. Students then asked to design and describe own town (scaffold provided for LA students).
Final slide is a plenary game of 'Spin the Wheel'.
Huge time saver and great fun to teach!
Set of cards that can be used in a multitude of different ways. Template is set up to link to perfect tense, but can easily be adapted for other tenses or different grammatical points if required.
Slides are designed to be printed and each card cut out. There are eight cards on each slide (four slides in total - 32 cards to play with). Each card has an English phrase and a French phrase underneath. The cards can either be used as dominoes (students will require a full set per group), or as a speaking game, timed in class.
To play as a speaking game, each student is handed a card (or more than one card if less than 32 students in group). Cards can be assigned randomly, or teacher can differentiate by giving LA less challenging translations and HA more difficult sentences or more than one card. Students are given 30 seconds to work out the French translation of the English section of their card (this is what will signal that it is their turn to read theirs out), and to familiarise themselves with the pronunciation of the French sentence on the bottom of their card.
To play:
1. Teacher starts the clock.
2. The student with the 'Début' card says their English sentence and reads out the French underneath.
3. The student with the English translation that links to the French sentence that has just been said reads their card out loud, and the game continues.
4. The game ends when the student who has the last card says their English and French out loud. The French will link to the English on the first card read aloud.
5. Teacher stops the clock.
6. Round two - can the students beat their original time?
7. Pick up on grammatical points as a class / any errors that were made. Why did these happen (pronunciation, recognition of pronouns etc.)?
Differentiation suggestions:
* Teacher can mix up the cards in between rounds and play several times.
* Teacher can show PowerPoint as students are saying cards aloud, to support with colour recognition of the cards they are holding (if game is printed in colour) and with visual recognition of speech. Inversely, to increase challenge, teacher does not show PowerPoint.
* Teacher can limit time students have to familiarise themselves with their card(s) after they are handed out.
Always a huge hit! Can be played at beginning or end of lesson. Useful from HA KS2 - KS4 to revise perfect tense. Sentences use vocabulary linked to activities such as going to the cinema or bowling.
Three Mario Kart Grand Prix grids, printable and adaptable depending on requirements. Slides give examples and blank templates for each of the options below. Also included are Display Posters for each option, should you wish to use Grand Prix as a classroom display and Mario Kart characters to print and cut out for each student.
Option 1 - Learning Objective Grand Prix.
Students write a short summary of lesson LO into first Grand Prix box and date. They then circle the red, amber or green light depending on how confident they feel with their understanding that day. Students move their character onto the following space next lesson and again chart their understanding by circling the appropriate light. Very useful visual aid to show student progress, and to help pick up learners who are struggling but may not wish to acknowledge as such in front of their peers. After several lessons, grids can be used to split class into groups - those who would like to further work on first LO in one group, second in another and third in another. Teacher can then differentiate classwork and circulate to help improve understanding. Also helpful to set homework, for example assigning students a worksheet on the topic that they found difficult and as such would benefit from extra practice. Challenge / extension work can be set for those students who have all green lights.
Option 2 - Grammar Grand Prix.
Exactly as above, but used specifically for grammar (present tense 'er' verbs, 'ir verbs' and 're verbs' for example). Students chart confidence and understanding each lesson and move character around. Teacher can assess progress and adapt planning accordingly as above.
Option 3 - Behaviour for Learning Grand Prix.
Used successfully with several year 8 classes with a large number of behavioural challenges. As a group, students decide behavioural target for lesson at the start of each class. You may find it best to stick to one target per lesson to begin with, for example 'I will listen when other people are contributing'. Important that students think of the target themselves in order to engage motivation. Give 10 seconds to think, pair, share at start of lesson, take ideas and then go with most popular suggestion. At the end of the lesson, students rate how well they have met the target by circling red, amber or green. Grids handed into teacher at end of lesson who has final say on correct light. Those who have met the target move onto the next square and receive a raffle ticket. At the end of a series of lessons (for example half-term), raffle is drawn for a small prize. Those who have circled green and have moved around the grid have the most raffle tickets and therefore the greatest chance of winning prize. However, even if a student has only met the class behaviour target once, they are still rewarded for this with the raffle ticket and therefore have a small chance of also winning.
Personalised feedback template, designed to be easily adapted for large groups. Features a 'What Went Well', 'Even Better If' and 'Try This' section, designed to consolidate or advance understanding.
Feedback can be typed into sections and some sentences copied and pasted if appropriate to save time when marking. Sheets can then be printed and glued underneath work (either by teacher or by student in the following lesson).
Students answer their 'Try This' in the 'My Response' section, and then write a brief comment (or draw a happy, medium or sad face if they prefer) to let teacher know how confident they are feeling with their understanding. This has proved incredibly useful on a number of occasions and students have often said how much they appreciate actually being able to quietly ask for a bit more help if they need it. Some students have also used it to disclose Safeguarding issues - all in all a beneficial little space to note anything down if required. It is obviously very important to read and respond to their 'Try this' question, especially if they have trusted you and opened up about needing a little more support.
'Try this' question can simply have a 1, 2 or 3 written next to it to save time, and then these questions displayed on board when students are reflecting on feedback if easier.
Slides are a blank template, easily adaptable, and an feedback form filled in as an example.
Two worksheets, suitable for younger learners of French, asking them to colour in shapes on a Christmas tree and/or Snowman template, according to the directions given.
The Christmas tree template has six simple instructions and the image is simpler to colour.
The Snowman template has ten instructions, referring to items of clothing (ses gants, son chapeau) as well as numbers and shapes, and the image is more detailed.
Perfect to re-cap some shapes, numbers and colours towards the end of term, and to introduce some Christmas vocabulary (bauble, holly etc.). Extension could be for pupils to draw their own Christmas tree / Snowman and label.
Great resource, building on 'Sport 1' (different sports and opinions). Fully animated with information in Notes section for teachers for each activity. Very straightforward build to help students make link and understand traditionally challenging grammar point for younger learners.
Starter activity is followed by repetition of different sports to consolidate knowledge from previous lesson. Students encouraged to pick out the definite article in preparation for following activities.
Students then reflect on the different definite articles, before working out what happens when they combine with 'jouer' in a reading activity (presented as Twitter feeds from David Beckham and Jonny Wilkinson). Students then note down the rule, before translating on their mini whiteboards sentences linked to different sports with jouer + à.
Final activity is to design a comic strip (either using the computer or drawing), with clear success criteria provided.
Treasure Hunt review at end of lesson.
Mon lapin de Pâques: KS2 + KS3 Easter Worksheet. Great resource, asking students to look up body parts of a rabbit and some Easter vocabulary before translating phrases that link these two together with colours.
Students are then asked to colour in a large picture of a rabbit according to the instructions they have translated ( for example 'le nez c'est rose', 'les fleurs sont jaunes et rouges').
A great lesson for KS2 and beginners at KS3 (year 7 / year 8).
Differentiated with 'Challenge' option linked to gender of nouns and unusual body part vocabulary ('la queue'). Great fun to teach - cut-outs of rabbits can be used for a display or to make into French Easter cards.
Excellent resource, can be used as 1-2 lessons depending on ability of group and how much time you wish to spend on cultural exploration of festive traditions.
Text is taken from radins.com and is titled 'Noël en France : Noël typique et traditions régionales'. Link to article is included on worksheet. The article compares festive traditions in Alsace/Lorraine and Provence. It has been very slightly adapted and is split into paragraphs for ease of reading and discussion.
Questions ask students to consider what type of text they are reading, then to match ten words highlighted in text to the correct description to develop language (for example 'Le Réveillon - le 24 décembre).
Third and final exercise is six questions contrasting and comparing traditions in both regions, linking to culinary traditions, Père Fouettard / Père Noël and nativity scenes amongst others.
Fully differentiated - two comprehensive vocabulary tables are provided to support learners who would benefit.
A great lesson, genuinely interesting, and a fun way to include KS5 students in Christmas fun whilst still challenging their linguistic and cultural knowledge! I learned a few things making it! Next step could be for students to research and present to the class how Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the Francophone world.
A great time saver, took three hours to make! Article and questions are one file, answers to all of the questions is the second. Could also be used for high-achieving KS4 class.
Display Bundle!
Five different display ideas for Secondary, with cover posters ready to go.
First display is a 'Mot de la Semaine' poster template, with two examples linked to traditionally challenging vocabulary at KS4.
Second display posters are an image of a detective (A4), with several A4 speech bubbles encouraging independent learning and enquiry (A3B4ME) and suggesting ways to improve work.
Third, fourth and fifth display posters are linked to GCSE modules. Easily printed to display next to student work. Year 8 Comic Strips links to Daily Routines module (used alongside Linguascope Comic Strip creator), Year 10 links to simple future tense and organising an event for the local area, and Y11 links to Healthy Lifestyles.
All easily adapted.
Numbers worksheet with five activities relating to numbers 11-50. Fully differentiated with 'Challenge' extension and 'Want support?' help sheet with number line from 1-50 and useful vocabulary for sums.
Full answer sheet provided for reflection and marking.
Great time saver! Used successfully with KS2 and KS3. Works as a whole lesson with repetition at the start, lotto and a song.
Excellent resource, asking students to perform a number of tasks and puzzles using number 51-100.
Used successfully as whole lesson with repetition at start, asking students to work out the patterns between higher numbers (using number line resource as support) and lotto.
Bundle includes worksheet with five different activities. Fully differentiated including support sheet and Challenge activity. Answer worksheet as a time saver for teacher marking and/or reflection and number line.