For this 15 minute warmer/ starter activity I give the students a mini-whiteboard and give them 15-20 seconds to identify the odd-one out. I use this at the beginning of the school year and throughout the year for revision. It is possible that the students can come up with other possible answers and I enjoy challenging them to think outside the box! I just use the second slide, but you could use the first slide and ask the students to figure out the odd-one-out for all the phrases in teams. Adjectives, the odd-one-out and rules covered: beau mauvais gentil intéressant intéressant follows the noun ! jeune allemand vieux nouveau allemand follows the noun ! grande petite rouge importante rouge, because the others are made feminine by adding an “e”, rouge already has one! marron bleu olive bleu-clair bleu because the other adjectives are invariable as they are both nouns and adjectives or are hyphenated. fraîche verte fausse blanche verte is not an irregular feminine form i.e. it follows a pattern the others don’t : frais – fraîche, faux – fausse, blanc –blanche meilleur ancien cher propre meilleur because the others have one meaning if they are placed before the noun and another if they are after it. Ancien = former/ old, cher = dear (beloved)/ expensive, propre = own/ clean

I use this French Christmas Mystery with my Year 10 and 11 students who have studied the perfect tense and perfect infinitive. It could also be used with younger Gifted and Talented students. I show them the PowerPoint first, eliciting the information in English and then give them out a set of cards. There are a variety of clues, including some red herrings, so the students really have to use their thinking skills and teamwork. I allow them to use dictionaries. * The ANSWERS to the mystery are at the top of the cards sheet. Be careful not to give this information out!! All students are aiming to figure out who. Most to find out what gift and some why. The suspects are the Santa’s reindeer including; Tornade (Dasher), Danseur (Dancer) , Furie (Prancer), Fringant (Vixen) and Comète (Comet)! Examples of clues: Hier soir Tournade a porté des gants jaunes. Danseur est allé à la discothèque à 18h00. Il est rentré à 22h00. Danseur ne s’entend pas avec Tonerre. Furie a perdu son portable. Enjoy!

Use the PowerPoint in conjunction with the Matching Cards to elicit the rules for forming plurals in French. Expressions on cards: Une main Deux mains Un nez Deux nez Un cheveu Des cheveux Un animal Six animaux Un gâteau Des gâteaux Un genou Trois genoux Un œil Les yeux I use the first slide to elicit some imaginative plural translations, but you may wish to skip this. Slide 2 asks: Match the singular and plural cards. ALL: How do you make most nouns plural? MOST: How do you make nouns that end in the following letters plural? -z -eu -al -eau -ou SOME: Which noun is completely irregular and doesn’t follow ANY rules? Extension: Make up a song/ poem/performance to help people remember these rules. Slides 3 and 4 check the answers and slide 5 summarises the rules (this can be printed out and stuck into books).

I use these English - French matching cards to build vocabulary for essay-writing: both literary terms and some expressions linked to the plot of Cyrano De Bergerac. Examples of expressions: La scène. Le thème sous-jacent. Le cadre. La peinture des personnages. L’action centrale. Dépeindre. Accroître la tension. Soutenir l’intérêt. Le contraste. Etablir une comparaison entre. Une tranche de vie. S’inspirer de la réalité. Forcé. Tramer une intrigue. Faire allusion à. Incapable de s’exprimer. Donner/lâcher son paquet à quelqu’un. Débiter. You may choose to have different levels of challenge. For example, Level 1 = match the cards and discuss the pronunciation. Level 2 = match the cards , discuss the pronunciation and then have quick fire questions from French to English, whereby 1 student closes their eyes and their partner reads out the French cards which the student must translate into English from memory. Level 3 = As Level 2 but the quick fire questions are from English to French. Following checking there are 2 fun games to play, either pelmenism or a game I learnt in Japan called Karuta. In Karuta the students put the English language cards to one side and spread out the French cards in front of them. I then say the English and the students compete to touch the correct French card first. Whoever touches it first wins the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. The students love this game!

These cards can be used to revise/ elicit different jobs/ professions. I have included a range of tenses to challenge stronger students. Expressions: Je veux devenir acteur/actrice Je voudrais être avocat/avocate. Je vais devenir chanteur/chanteuse. Je voulais être coiffeur/coiffeuse. Je suis commercial/commerciale. J’ai l’intention de devenir éducateur/ éducatrice. Je rêve d’être footballeur. J’aimerais bien devenir informaticien/informaticienne. Mon frère deviendra mécanicien. Mon grand-père était pilote d’avion. You may choose to have different levels of challenge. For example, Level 1 = match the cards and discuss the pronunciation. Level 2 = match the cards , discuss the pronunciation and then have quick fire questions from French to English, whereby 1 student closes their eyes and their partner reads out the French cards which the student must translate into English from memory. Level 3 = As Level 2 but the quick fire questions are from English to French. Following checking there are 2 fun games to play, either pelmenism or a game I learnt in Japan called Karuta. In Karuta the students put the English language cards to one side and spread out the French cards in front of them. I then say the English and the students compete to touch the correct French card first. Whoever touches it first wins the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. The students love this game!

Group Talk foster the spontaneous use of the target Language in the classroom. This sheet can be used in conjunction with my Group Talk Discussion Mat. There are 4 questions on the sheet: 1. Manges-tu sain? 2. Qu’est-ce que tu as mange et bu hier soir? 3. Quelle est ta faiblesse? 4. Qu’est-ce que tu as fait comme exercice la semaine dernière? The students pair up and one student asks a question. There are then 3 levels of challenge: 1. The student can answer using the expressions in the box (which you have translated and elicited the pronunciation of beforehand). 2. In addition the students use some of the words listed below the box to extend their answers. 3. In addition the students should try to come up with other spontaneous phrases. Using the discussion mat with this allows them to build in additional responses e.g. Attend! = Wait! C’est ridicule! = That’s ridiculous! Tu es fou/folle?! = Are you crazy?! Ce n’est pas juste = It’s not fair! Tu plaisantes? = You must be joking/ are you joking?

As there are many cognates in transport vocabulary and this is aimed at slightly older students I have included a range of tenses. Expressions taught: Je vais à la piscine à vélo. Il va au syndicat d’initiative en voiture. Nous allons au club des jeunes en taxi. Vous allez chez des copains à pied. Ils vont à l’hôtel de ville à moto. Je suis allé(e) à la librairie en avion. J’irai aux Etats Unis en aéroglisseur. Quand j’étais jeune je voyageais en bateau. J’aimerais voyager en car. Nous sommes allés à la bibliothèque à mobylette. Il faut que j’aille à l’école en TGV. The first slide encourages the students to actively engage with the new vocabulary: working in teams, using their prior knowledge, knowledge of other languages and using a process of elimination to figure out the meanings. It is differentiated as follows: All:Translate 7 Most: Translate 10 Some: Translate 11. When do we use à and en? PPC! (PPC = Perfect Pronunciation Challenge). The next slides have the phrase and a picture. Use this to elicit the pronunciation, the English and to drill. The 14th slide has pictures of all the phrases. This can be used for a Beat the Teacher game, which the students love! The teacher points to a picture and says a word. If it is the correct word the students all repeat it. If its the wrong word the students must stay absolutely silent. If they do, they win 1 point. If not, the teacher gets 1 point. Most points wins! Then there are "what's missing?" slides.

This series of worksheets accompany the fabulous and quirky French film Belleville Rendez-Vous, which links nicely to Le Tour de France. There are warmer activities and differentiated questions such as tick what you see and putting statements into the correct order for the students to complete. This should take about 3 lessons, great towards the end of term!! Example questions: Exercice B: Vrai ou faux? 1. Quand Champion était jeune il jouait du piano. 2. Quand Champion était jeune il aimait les trains. 3. Bruno aimait les trains. 4. Le film a lieu après 1937. 5. Champion n’aimait pas faire du vélo. 6. Plus tard Madame Souza est devenue entraîneuse. Exercice C : Mettez les phrases dans le bon ordre (1 – 11): Champion se couche : Madame Souza passe l’aspirateur : Bruno rêve (X2) : __ & __ Le Président parle du Tour de France : Des gangsters chassent Champion : Champion mange son dîner : On est au Tour de France : Le camion est en panne : Il s’entraîne en écoutant un disque : Champion monte la montagne : Extra : 1. Comment dit-on « Long live the Republic ? » 2. Comment dit-on « long live France ? » 3. Combien de fois est-ce qu’on voit la Tour Eiffel ? 4. Champion se couche à quelle heure ? 5. Quelle est la date de la photo de Bruno et Champion à la Boule ? 6. Le 17ième étape de la tour de France, où a-t-elle lieu ? 7. Comment dit-on « broom wagon ? » Enjoy!

As family vocabulary is pretty straight-forward I decided to create a "mystery" activity and gave the students clues. In teams they then had to draw out the family tree based on the information.As an extension I asked to create their own family trees and clues. Alternatively you could send quick-finishers to support teams that have not yet finished. The first sldie of the PowerPoint show some examples of family tress in case students are unsure. The second slide has the solution. Examples of clues: Kristell et Hervé ont divorcé. Lou est la demi-sœur de Yann. Yann est le demi-frère de Lise. Yvon est le mari de Kristell. Lise est la sœur d’Éric. Il y a six enfants. Anya est la fille de Kristell et Hervé. Hervé s’est remarié avec Marie. Yann a deux sœurs et deux demi-sœurs. Watch out for red herrings!

This two slide PowerPoint can be used to practise the following vocabulary which has caught out some of my GCSE students in their Listening and Reading papers: Ne...pas Ne...rien Ne...jamais Ne...que Maintenant De nos jours D’habitude De temps en temps Tous les jours Avant L’année dernière Dans l’avenir L’année prochaine Trop Un peu Seulement Souvent Toujours Quelquefois Surtout La plupart Certain Tellement Rarement Assez Beaucoup Par contre Même si Si Sans Le matin Le soir Parfois It can be used at the beginning of term and throughout the school year. I give the students time in team to translate the expressions and to discuss the pronunciation. I then use the vocabulary either for a game of lotto/ bingo or for a game of "slap the board" whereby I divide the students into 2 teams and line them up in front of the interactive whiteboard. One student from each team steps up and I say the English expression. The students race to slap the correct phrase to win a point for their team. The second slide has a link to the fabulous free classroomtool.net website where I have added the vocabulary to a fruit machine. The students compete against each other in pairs to shout out the correct translation. Fun and loud! Enjoy!

The first slide encourages the students to actively engage with the new vocabulary: working in teams, using their prior knowledge, knowledge of other languages and using a process of elimination to figure out the meanings. They then discuss the pronunciation and question each other before the teacher checks with the whole class. Mon école est vieille/ moderne. C’est une école mixte. Il y a 2500 élèves. Il y a soixante salles. Il y a une bibliothèque. Il y a une cantine. Il y a un centre sportif. Il y a dix labos. Il y a un terrain de sport. Il y a douze salles d’informatique. The next slides have the phrase and a picture. Use this to elicit the pronunciation, the English and to drill. The next section of slides have “either **** or ****?” questions. Then there are "what's missing?" slides. The final slide has pictures of all the phrases. This can be used for a Beat the Teacher game, which the students love! The teacher points to a picture and says a word. If it is the correct word the students all repeat it. If its the wrong word the students must stay absolutely silent. If they do, they win 1 point. If not, the teacher gets 1 point. Most points wins! The worksheet have a French to English match up of the new expressions. This is followed by a gap-fill where the words needed to fill in the gaps are jumbled up in brackets after the gaps (except for the school name). E.g. Mon école ____________ (aes’plple) __________________________. C’est une _________ (iieellv) école mixte près du centre-ville. ______ (y il a) environ deux mille cinq cents ________ (éèlevs) Then there is a further gap-fill which covers related topics about favourite subject, the school day etc.E.g. Some : Remplissez les blancs: L’école commence à ____________ (ithu hseeur) et demie. Chaque cours dure ______ (nue) heure. J’apprends treize ____________ (esmèrtia). J’adore ________ (sanlg’lai) car c’est ______ (rstè) intéressant, mais nous avons beaucoup de _________ (irdeovs). The final extension task is to: Écrivez 7 questions difficiles sur les textes! There is also a 4 slide PowerPoint with the answers.

This PowerPoint presentation explains the use of Spanish Reflexives and reflexive pronouns. I use this having already taught the following daily routine phrases: Me despierto Me levanto Me ducho Me visto Me peino Me lavo los dientes Me acuesto Use the first slide to elicit the English and pronunciation of the phrases above. The next slide helps the student to spot that conjugated reflexive verbs have an extra word (the reflexive pronoun). The next slide shows how you can spot a reflexive verb in the dictionary by it's infinitive ending. The final slide introduce the first 3 reflexive pronouns using the following expressions: Me despierto Te despiertas Se despierta Me levanto Te levantas Se levanta Me visto Te vistes Se viste This slide can also be used for a couple of fun games to reinforce the vocabulary: If you have a stamper facility on your interactive whiteboard, a fun game is to ask the students to recite the Spanish phrases over and over whilst you gradually cover the words in stampers e.g. smileys or apples making it more and more difficult – simple but fun! Another easy game is to send one student out of the room. The remaining class chooses a student to give a top secret signal – this could be a sound e.g. a deliberate sneeze or cough, or something visual e.g. an obvious stretch, zipping/unzipping their pencil case etc. The students then repeat the first phrase again and again until they see or hear the signal. The students then repeat the second phrase again and again until they see or hear the signal and so on. The student who has been sent out must then try to figure out who the secret signal giver is!

I use this differentiated worksheet to revise and build upon key school vocabulary. It features a 16 minute extract from the gorgeous French film Être et avoir, which we watch with subtitles. Être et avoir. 1.04.30 – 1.07.24 : Ami/ amie : Chapitre 12. The first section tells students to: Cochez les choses que vous voyez : Le coucher du soleil l’aube une vache un cheval un fleuve un champs un livre un tableau un élève une règle une trousse un professeur/ un instituteur une photocopieuse un stylo un crayon un cahier une chaise une poubelle une gomme un taille-crayon There are 5 Extra questions for stronger students such as: 1. Comment dit-on « un volet » en anglais ? 2. Comment dit-on « grince » en anglais ? 4. Marie et Jojo font… a. du café b. de l’équitation c. des photocopies The next extract: 1.07.24 – 1.16 minutes has 16 Vrai ou faux ? questions such as: 1. Ils apprennent comment dire « friend. » 2. Jojo dit « maman et son ami Jojo. » 3. Létitia fait une erreur. 4. Johann parle de son ami. 5. La photocopieuse est en panne. 6. Le collège est plus grand que l’école primaire. There are 7 Extra questions for stronger students such as : 1. Quel animal est sur le sweat de Laetitia ? 2. Comment s’appelle le collège ? 3. Ils parlent de deux types de vaches. Lesquels ? 4. Comment dit-on « Year 7 » en français ? The answers are on the first 2 sheets. The student question sheet is the third sheet.

I show the film with English subtitles.This differentiated worksheet is divided into extracts (timings shown). I translate the questions with the students, watch the extract and then check the answers. All sections have some Extra questions to stretch the more able students. Worksheet EXTRACTS: Les choristes. Introduction : divisez les mots ! Lefilm« Leschoristes »alieuenFranceen1949. ClémentMathieuestprofesseurdemusiqueauchômage.Ilaccepteunemploidesurveillantdansuneécoleoùsontplacésdesgarçonsdifficiles. Extra extract : Mathieuserendcomptequelesenfantsontdavantagebesoindecompréhensionet delibertéetilformeunechoraleàpartirdesaclasse. 0 – 4.16 Extract: Cochez les choses que vous voyez : un drapeau des bijoux des gratte-ciels un syndicat d’initiative un nœud papillon un ouvre-boite un costume une rose Extra extract : 1. Le début du film a lieu dans quel pays ? 2. Comment dit-on «an urgent phone call from France» en français? 4.16 – 15.00 extract: Vrai ou faux ? 1. L’histoire commence le 15 janvier 1949. 2. Fond de l’étang veut dire « rock bottom. » 3. Il y a du soleil. 4. Le directeur est ancien joueur de piano. Extra extract : 1. Comment dit-on « ils sont comment, les gamins ? »? 2. Quand Clément rencontre Rachin il est quelle heure? 15.00 – 25.08 extract: Choisissez la bonne réponse. 1. Chaque élève doit écrire leur nom, leur âge et…. a. …leur adresse. b. …leur anniversaire. c. …le métier qu’ils aimeraient faire. 2. Clément a… a. …faim. b. …peur. c. …soif. 3. Le Querec aide… a. …le père Maxence. b. …Clément. c. …le directeur.

These resources celebrate the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic games. They build student’s knowledge of sports vocabulary and adjectives using YouTube extracts, colourful slides, animations, matching cards, a video extract worksheet and finally a creative task to help the students express their Olympic/Paralympic passions! Slide 2 presents the differentiated lesson objectives. Slide 3 has the Olympic motto and some great black and white pictures of Olympian heroes. Slide 4 is the warmer task to name as many Olympic/Paralympic sports as possible from student’s previous knowledge and includes links to the Ensemble Campagne officielle du CIO in both French and English (1 min 30 secs each) to inspire the students. They may do this in teams, pairs or individually. The full list of Olympic and Paralympic events can be found on a PDF in these resources. Slides 5 to 43 build new Olympic/Paralympic sports vocabulary. Expressions presented: L’athlétisme L’aviron Le canoë-kayak Les sports équestres L’escrime L’haltérophilie La lutte Le plongeon La natation synchronisée Le tir Le tir à l'arc La voile Slide 5 invites the students to: All: Match Up! Most: Perfect Pronunciation Challenge! Some: Quick Fire Questions! *Here the students quiz each other, e.g French to English, English to French, spellings etc. of the new vocabulary. Slides 6 to 17 have 1 slide per expression and allow you to drill the new vocabulary. Then there is graded questioning. Slides 19 to 30 show the images and give the students a choice of two possible sports to choose from. Then slides 31 to 43 are what’s missing? slides. Slide 44 should be used in conjunction with the worksheet. Here the students tick the sports they see on the Paralympic trailer video (2 mins 48 secs) and includes an extension task for stronger students. The answers are on the first two pages of the worksheet PDF. The next slide should be used in conjunction with the English-French adjectives matching cards. Adjectives: travailleur/ euse, enthousiaste, paresseux/euse, nerveux/euse, concentré(e), assuré(e), détendu, ravi(e), fier/ fière, égoïste, têtu(e), lent(e), rapide, bavard(e), habile. Then complete the second half of the worksheet where students watch the official Rio 2016 trailer and tick the adjectives which reflect the emotions of the athletes and spectators as well as other adjectives to describe what they see. There is an extension task. Then the students have a choice of three creative tasks: to design and decorate in French an Olympic torch, a flag or to write a poem about their Olympian/Paralympic hero. Both PowerPoint slides have an accompanying worksheet including a suggested poem template. The final slide provides an opportunity for reflection.

As family members are pretty straight-forward I have added in a range of other structures to these matching cards in order to expose the students to some other new vocabulary. Expressions: Mon père s’appelle Guillaume. Ma mère est allée en ville. Ma sœur adore faire du cheval. Je vais jouer au foot avec mon frère. L’anniversaire de ma tante est le quinze janvier. Mon oncle déteste le cyclisme. Nous allons rendre visite à ma grand-mère. Mon grand-père a visité la Tour Eiffel ! Mon cousin adore Paris ! Son fils s’appelle Florien et sa fille s’appelle Lucie. These matching cards can be used either to elicit the family members or to revise previous learning. You may choose to have different levels of challenge. For example, Level 1 = match the cards and discuss the pronunciation. Level 2 = match the cards , discuss the pronunciation and then have quick fire questions from French to English, whereby 1 student closes their eyes and their partner reads out the French cards which the student must translate into English from memory. Level 3 = As Level 2 but the quick fire questions are from English to French. Following checking there are 2 fun games to play, either pelmenism or a game I learnt in Japan called Karuta. In Karuta the students put the English language cards to one side and spread out the French cards in front of them. I then say the English and the students compete to touch the correct French card first. Whoever touches it first wins the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. The students love this game!

This colourful and fun PowerPoint presentation presents descriptions of eye colours. Phrases: Tengo los ojos azules. Tengo los ojos verdes. Tengo los ojos marrones. Tengo el ojo morado. Llevo gafas. Use the first slide to ask students to work in groups to discuss the English translation, the pronunciation and to explain the parts hi-lighted in red. Then go through each slide checking the translation, pronunciation and grammatical rules and then drilling the phrase. The final slide of the new expressions can be used to revise and to play the following games" If you have a stamper facility on your interactive whiteboard, a fun game is to ask the students to recite the Spanish phrases over and over whilst you gradually cover the words in stampers e.g. smileys or apples making it more and more difficult – simple but fun! Another easy game is to send one student out of the room. The remaining class chooses a student to give a top secret signal – this could be a sound e.g. a deliberate sneeze or cough, or something visual e.g. an obvious stretch, zipping/unzipping their pencil case etc. The students then repeat the first phrase again and again until they see or hear the signal. The students then repeat the second phrase again and again until they see or hear the signal and so on. The student who has been sent out must then try to figure out who the secret signal giver is!

The first slide encourages the students to actively engage with the new vocabulary: working in teams, using their prior knowledge, knowledge of other languages and using a process of elimination to figure out the meanings. They then discuss the pronunciation and question each other before the teacher checks with the whole class. Phrases: Asseyez-vous. Levez-vous. Levez la main. Travaillez avec votre partenaire. Prenez un stylo. Ouvrez les cahiers. Pour les devoirs…. Écrivez. Lisez. Parlez. Écoutez. Rangez vos affaires. The next slides have the phrase and a picture. Use this to elicit the pronunciation, the English and to drill. The next section of slides have multiple choice questions. Then there are "what's missing?" slides. The final slide has pictures of all the phrases. This can be used for a Beat the Teacher game, which the students love! The teacher points to a picture and says a word. If it is the correct word the students all repeat it. If it’s the wrong word the students must stay absolutely silent. If they do, they win 1 point. If not, the teacher gets 1 point. Most points wins! There is also a fanfold to help the students to learn the phrases. They fold over the sheet of paper so they can only see the English and try to write the French. They then open up the sheet and make any corrections. Then they fold over the sheet of paper so they can only see the French and try to write the English. They then open up the sheet and make any corrections. They continue writing and folding until they have filled in the whole sheet. By this time they have hopefully memorised all the phrases!

This PowerPoint (which I use following the Healthy Living advice PowerPoint) is a step-by-step introduction to The Imperative lasting about 20 minutes. For example, the third slide asks: Look at these examples of the imperative. What form of the verb is used: je/ tu/ il/ nous/ vous/ ils? Répétez! Mangez! Écoutez! I give the students time to reflect, discuss each question before eliciting the answer. The next slide asks: What kind of people are we talking to if we give the vous command mangez? Then: Do you think there is another form of the imperative? Who for? How is it formed? And so on. The final slide asks questions to summarise the learning with an Extra section for Gifted students to consider.

This is a template for a 20 minute introductory session for the first lesson in September. It includes: a slide to introduce yourself a quick tonguetwister a slide for you to fill in the lesson objectives a slide for you to fill in why you love languages, a slide with the Nelson Mandela quotation: ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.’ Then the students discuss the questions: What percentage of the world’s population speak English as a first language? What percentage of the world’s population do not speak any English? You talk through the answers and watch 2 short fun Youtube links. Then there is a slide for you to add in your expectations (examples given). Finally there are 2 motivational slides: Intelligence is not fixed or unchanging. We can build intelligence. You have power over your perception of the world. Replace “it’s a problem” with “it’s an opportunity”. When we believe in our abilities we can accomplish great things. Take risks! Stay curious! Inspire others.