French Teaching Resources. Sentence Building, adding sophistication to writing.

I use this resource with similar ability teams of students to build sentences and increase the level of sophistication of written work. It could be used as a revision task and the beginning of term and throughout the school year. I use it with Years 8 and 9.

I print out the first sheet and the second template sheet and have the sheets colour photocopied and enlarged onto A3 size paper.
The teams start with the middle sentence and work their way through the different stages to develop the sentence and increase the level of sophistication. The starter sentence here is:
Starter sentence:
Le week-end je porte mon jean, mon tee-shirt, mes chaussettes et mes baskets.
Je joue au foot.
Je mange un sandwich.


Then the first development box invites them to:

1.Add opinions e.g. j’adore, j’aime, je n’aime pas, je déteste, je préfère.
2. Add adjectives e.g. colours, génial, intéressant, fatigant, amusant. * Check masc/fem/plural endings. Check word order. C’est = it is, ce n’est pas = it isn’t.
* You can also add a range of connectives e.g. et = and, mais = but, avec= with, donc = therefore, où = where, qui = who, parce que/car = because, tandis que = whereas, while, puis = then, ensuite = then, après = after, de plus = furthermore, par contre = on the other hand, en revanche = on the other hand.
Add in a range of adverbs: très = very, assez = quite, un peu = a little, plutôt = rather, extrêmement = extremely, incroyablement = unbelievably, souvent = often, rarement = rarely.

The following boxes add in the Perfect and near Future tenses plus a range of sophisticated structures for your higher ability students.

I would not expect all groups to work through all of the stages, perhaps the weakest group would aim to incorporate only the first suggestions and so on.

I have been really impressed by the work produced using this support. It can also be used by students individually.