How to Use Children's Own Curiosity to Spice up Mundane Classroom Activities

Let's face it: school work can be boring. Poorly planned lessons or little in the way of fun or interesting content can be a significant factor in reduced concentration and all round poor learning experiences. We need to spice things up a little and create an enjoyable and motivational learning experience for all students and invite the whole class to learn together through teamwork and a beneficial approach. Here are just a few ideas to help classroom activities particularly if the course is learning French. Here's some food for thought...

Learning French or studying French people and their customs will at some stage point to food and French eating habits. Who hasn't heard of French Fries? Even if you are only learning French as a foreign language, it is always useful to quickly learn the unfamiliar names of food and dishes and maybe how they are prepared.

Classroom activities can involve splitting the class in half for competitions. How about getting the teacher to act as hangman (or maybe guillotine as we are learning French) on the board and suggest a food related word (such as croissant) by underscoring the number of letters. At random, a student is pointed to and offers a letter. the letter is added to the word if correct or added to the hangman's scaffold. Alternating the teams a letter is suggested until one team  guesses the word correctly or both teams fail and get hung by the teacher.

The classroom can be made into small groups and be supplied with a stack of alphabet cards and have the desks arranged into longer tables. Once again a word is suggested by the teacher and should be of a level to challenge the students. This is one of the noisy classroom activities. The teacher shouts out the chosen word, and the teams race to arrange their alphabet cards on their table and first team to spell correctly wins a point. How about continuing up to ten words or until the noise is high enough?

A quieter alternative for learning French names, especially for the younger students involves picture cards of food items held by the teacher and are one at a time revealed. The teams can be split into four, and the first team to spell the name of the picture correctly sends one member to the front of the class where they get one go at spelling to the teacher the name of the shop, such as boulangerie (bakery), to win the game. If they are incorrect, they stay at the front and another card is revealed to repeat the process. The difficulty increases for the dwindling teams to spell the card in time, but they have more chance of spelling the shop as more team members come forward. These types of classroom activities also have uses for team bonding and helping draw certain students closer together.

Spelling contests are always fun and need not be limited to learning French. There are numerous spelling games that are a perfect way to build teamwork and promote competitive excitement and friendship. The teacher is always at liberty to choose the teams to split close friends, etc. to create balanced classroom activities. If you have picture cards or pretend money, mystery games with shopkeepers can be fun especially if you have spare hats, for instance, to dress up the little ones!

 

 

 

 

What do I write to my French pen pal?

What a great way to practice your writing in French by writing to a French language pen pal!

But even when you are learning French, it is still hard to get started on your letter/email because you want to make a good first impression and you want your new pen pal to be interested in writing back to you in the French language.  You should know that everybody has trouble getting started when writing a letter or email.

If you are writing in French to someone who is close to your age, they will probably be interested in some of the same things that you are.  Try to think about what you would want to know about your French language pen pal.

If you ask your French language pen pal some questions in your letter, it will be easier for them to get started when they write back to you.

Here are some ideas to get you started writing in French:

§  Let your pen pal know who you are and why you are writing to them.  Tell them your first name or and your nickname if you have one and that you are learning French.

§  Explain where you found their name and email or street address, so they understand that you are serious about finding a pen pal.

§  Next, tell them your age, and if you are a boy or girl and what country you live in.

§  Write a little information about your neighborhood – for instance do you live in a busy city or in the country or somewhere in between.

§  Talk a little bit about your family – do you have brothers and sisters? – list their names and how old they are.

§  Share with them any hobbies you have or talk about what you like to do in your spare time – maybe you enjoy video games or reading.  Give your French language pen pal some details, like what are your favorite games or books.

§  Ask them if they have a pet – if you have a pet, tell them about it.

§  If there is a sport that you like you can talk a little about that and ask them if they play sports.

§  Things in your everyday life will be interesting to your pen pal.  You can talk about your favorite color, your favorite music or what you like best or least at school.

§  Trips or vacations are another topic you can add to your writing in French.  Have you been on a trip or do you plan to go on vacation?

To end your letter it is best to use something friendly in French language of course, but not too friendly – remember you are just getting to know each other.  Something like “your new friend” or “Cheers” is better than “Love”.

MOST IMPORTANT especially if you are emailing is to keep safety in mind.  Likely your parents and teachers have talked about safety online.  It is a good idea to let your parents know that you are writing in French to a new pen pal and let them look over your letter.

 

 

Learning French words with mime/gesture

Teaching professionals agree that learning French or any other language is a verbal and auditory exercise.  You need to hear and speak the sounds when you are learning French words for example.

Learning styles have an impact on what and how we teach. Understanding strategies for teaching visual learners can help your Learning French Language students get the most out of your French language classes.

The challenge is that the majority of students are visual learners, so it is important to use a system that will provide visual cues or prompts to aid the memory of visual learners.  Just think of the expressions we use:

§  Let's look at it differently.

§  See how this works for you.

§  I can't quite picture it.

 

                  § Let's draw a picture or map.

For those who are teaching French words to visual learners you should use images, pictures, color and other visual aids to help students learn.

All children love to role play, so you could consider using gestures and mime in training your students in Learning French Language.   Here are some examples you could use:

-          When you say “good-bye” always wave

-          When  you say “sit down” you should use a gesture

-          Or if you say “be quiet” you can put your finger to your lips

To get the whole class involved, you could have French words for emotions on flash cards and as you hold up each card the students say the word and also gesture the emotion.  For instance, “happy” – everyone could smile, “sad” – everyone could frown.

 Students could also act out a story so they can associate the gestures with the words they are learning.

 

The most important thing to remember when using mime and gestures to students learning French is to be consistent, use them every time you say the words.  Practice makes perfect and it makes learning more fun.

 

Some French Expressions made with Vegetables and Fruits

Faire le poireauTo wait without moving

En avoir gros sur la patate To be deeply upset or to bear a grudge

 

Tomber dans les pommesTo faint

 

Ramener sa fraiseTo intervene during converstion without justification

      S’occuper de ses oignonsTo mind its own business

 

Ne plus avoir un radis To be broke

 

C’est la fin des haricotsThe end of everything

 

Etre haut comme trois pommesTo be small

                               

 Etre rouge comme une tomateTo be blushful or flushed  

 

Avoir les jambes en compoteTo have aching legs after long walk for example

 
 

 Couper la poire en deuxTo find a compromise

 

Avoir un cœur d'artichautTo fall easily in love

 

Avoir la ligne haricot vertTo be a tall and slim

 

 

Être un cornichonTo be an idiot

 

 

La cerise sur le gâteauThe best of everything

 

Mettre du beurre dans les épinardsTo improve one’s quality of life

 

 

Raconter des saladesTo tell lies

 

 

 

Se fendre la poireTo laugh heartily

Une purée de poisA very thick fog

 

Make Learning French Your New Year Resolution

The New Year is two weeks old. Have you thought of your New Year’s Resolution yet? Well, if not, why don’t you consider learning French? It could be a great choice to include in your New Year resolution. Yes, there are plenty of things that you can do to fulfill your New Year resolution, but to think about learning something new is much better and wiser.

An evident reason why learning French could be a great choice for New Year’s resolution is that it could help you to communicate with other people who know how to speak it. Similar with other kinds of language you take benefit from, learning French can help you to understand people from many countries. This certainly includes those people you get to meet when you are travelling and also the people within your community. Your journey going to another destination will be impressively improved in both easily communicating and your friendliness if you know how to speak the language of the person you are talking to, especially French.

Speaking the language of other people shows how much you respect their culture and almost every individual in each country much prefer it whenever tourists exert an effort to speak their local language, even if it is just very basic words. Furthermore, learning French could also help you in communicating with the populations of local immigrant at home.

Learning French could really be a great idea since speaking it, would further acquaint you with the lifestyle and the customs of France. Learning a new language such as French could open your mind gathering new concepts and new approaches on how to look at the world.

Say for an instance, you will be able to translate your own words into French and get to use these words to describe the world with a much deeper meaning. Since there are really plenty of words that differs your language from French it will be helpful if you will learn about them little by little. Not only will you communicate with other people but there are plenty other things you can benefit from if you know how to speak the language. If you know how to speak French, you will be able to enjoy French literature, watch French speaking films without having to read on the subtitles. Furthermore, you may also get to understand and appreciate the forms of music that have French lyrics. It is very hard for a certain translation to be the perfect replica of its original; hence the best possible approach in order to understand what an author really meant of his/her writings is to personally read what actually the author had written.

If you choose learning French as your New Year’s resolution, you may also get the chance to increase your ability to market. Knowing how to speak French will help you to talk with potential associates and customers. This is one of the best arms of a businessperson who wishes to grow within the field of business. Therefore, if you want to have a resolution that is worth doing then choose learning French as it will surely demonstrate the worth you are after.
 

Learning French for Beginners Should Include Lots of Practice

Don't underestimate the challenge of learning french for beginners. It may not take too long to be able to say hello and goodbye, but if you want to be able to communicate anything useful, it is going to take practice. Repetition is the key to remembering new words and phrases.

These cards come with the Spoken pronunciation

 At first you will be mentally translating all your words from English to French. But with enough practice, you will start to skip the mental translation process, and you'll be able to speak or respond fluently in basic situations. It's a good idea to listen to French radio or watch French television shows, if they are available. Even if you don't understand ninety percent of what is said, just hearing French will get you familiar with the cadence and tones of the language. A new language always sounds like undifferentiated gibberish in the beginning, but the more you listen to it the more you will pick out separate words.

Impress Your Friends With Your French Language Skills

As the world becomes a smaller place and people cutting across different demographics and cultures come together across various walks of life, learning a new language can be an extremely utilitarian and exhilarating experience. There was a time when knowing different languages was only reserved for those who had a passion for it and these people also basked in the glory of their knowledge. Over the course of modern times, learning French language often became a hobby for some and a requisite for others. While it is true that people get compelled to learn a new language only when they have a passion or are required to do so, yet it is also a fact that mastering French language skills can be a fun experience.

 

We live in a global village today where travelling to foreign countries, having friends from various demographics and also blending in various cultures into our lifestyle to make it even more happening are not considered exceptions but an instance of the paradigm shift towards being a citizen of the world. Very few people would have no friends from France and very few people would not wish to explore France during Christmas. It is not that people in France do not know English but it certainly helps when you know the French language.


Consider a scenario where you are hosting a few friends at a Christmas party or are about to meet your French friends at a gathering. It will be an amazing idea to impress them with your French language skills. Albeit you do not need to get a Masters in French literature but knowing how to speak, listen to and correspond can be thrilling enough.

If you are visiting France anytime soon, for Christmas or for some other reason, knowing the French language would be immensely helpful. When in Paris, you would perhaps find most people being able to speak and correspond in English but as you go farther from Paris and explore the country sides, small towns and villages, you would need the help of your French language skills. Foreign tourists in France were predominantly restricted to Paris but the real picturesque France and the true essence of French culture can be best experienced when you hit the road and explore the small towns and remote areas.

 

French language is also one of the sweetest languages in the world and learning it can be a very fulfilling experience.

 

French Learning Resources

How Popular is the French Language?

When people consider learning a second language, one that pops up more often than others is the French language. Not only is French one of the popular romance languages, which also includes Spanish and Italian, but it is extremely pleasing to the ear when spoken. People all over the world love to hear it spoken aloud, and from high schools to universities, French is offered and taught to thousands of students each year. Adults who decide to learn a second language often choose French because of its pleasant phonetic sounds, but are there other reasons that people decide to learn it? From business to pleasure and beyond, there are many reasons why millions of people all over the world have chosen to learn the language of love.

Nearly eighty million people in the world speak French, and it is among the most popular modern languages spoken today. Not only is the French language spoken throughout Europe, but it also widely spoken throughout Canada and even in some places in the U.S. (such as New Orleans, where the French language gave birth to the Creole culture). Nearly thirty countries all over the world have chosen French as their official language, as have over a dozen dependent territories, so it is easy to see that it is not only beloved in its native land, but around the globe as well. This is probably why so many people choose it as their second language—it is well-known in many places, and it is a very useful language to know when traveling. People who become fluent in French have a definite advantage because it is more of a universal language than an obscure one. If they become lost while abroad, the chances that they will find someone who speaks French in order to ask them for help is much better than it would be of finding someone who speaks Mandarin or Japanese.

The French language is also one of the fast-growing business languages in the world. French is becoming more popular in America along the Canadian border as Americans look to their neighbors in the north for employment. Nearly a quarter of the Canadian populace speaks French, and this would be a definite advantage to anyone traveling there for the purpose of finding a job. From fun to business and so much more, the French language is one of the most popular in the world, with more and more people learning the language of love each and every day.

 

French Learning Resources

 

Learning French For Kids Through Music

Are you aware of the fact that learning French for kids is easier when they learn the language through songs and music? The fact is that kids easily catch, memorize, and understand a song especially when they tend to sing it by heart. This will then allow them to have an attachment to the song, allowing them to naturally understand what they are singing.

In the tender years of a child, teachers and parents work hand in hand to teach children nursery rhymes and repetitive songs to the kids. By doing so, this will allow the kids to have a quick grasp of their language or native tongue. With this kind of technique, you will know that this is truly one of the oldest techniques imposed by many language educators even to these days.

And since children simply adore singing songs, they can easily memorize them even in just a short span of time. Because of this, learning a particular language through songs has become a favorite technique of children. As a matter of fact, it is considered by many language professionals as the most effective way by which one can learn a particular language.

The French language can be a very challenging thing to learn. Even when it is related to the development of the universal language which is English, both have distinct speech patterns, basic sounds, and syntax rules. Because of this, language experts consider learning French for kids can be easily done and achieved through songs and music.

One great advantage of learning a new language like French is that your voice used in singing is not as confined to your native tongue as is in your voice which you use for speaking. Because of this reality, you can easily tell that a singer mainly sings without following the accents of the given words or lyrics. Obviously, these lyrics or words are plainly recited as the song’s melody, diction, and meter require.

Because of the singing structure which is mainly different from speaking structure, it is much easier for everyone particularly children to learn a difficult language like French. When a child listens to a song and has decided to learn how to sing it, this would allow him to have an easier grasp of the language until such time that he is capable of understanding and interpreting the song word by word.

French actually comes with many different words and finding an occasion to use them frequently is hard. In this regard, when you sing a French song, you will have the best time singing them casually, allowing you to remember them most of the time. As of the students learning the language, it will be much easier for them to remember the words taught to them. And when the French language is taught through music or songs, it will be easier for them to recall.

So if you want your child to learn the French language, keep in mind that learning French for kids through music or songs is truly the best way for you and your child to do it.

 

French Learning resources

 

Learning French Verbs - Don't let French Verbs Get You Down

If you happen to be learning French verbs then you have already realized that the verb system of the French grammar is considered as the most complicated. For those who do not know yet, the French grammar consists of twelve thousand verbs, each is being conjugated in a number of tenses. Additionally the verbs used in French language are also very notorious in terms of their spelling and irregular verbs. You may want to perceive that learning the French language is hard and daunting: the truth is you're right. The fact is that you have to undergo certain logic procedures and strategies in order for you to learn the verbs precisely.

There are four easy steps for everyone who has the heart and the interest to go learning French verbs.
They are easy and simple steps that will lead you to mastery and perfection when followed accordingly.

Get a French verb handbook.
The handbook is a very essential thing you need to have when you want to learn French verbs the fast and easy way. With the handbook, you will have the source on the different key verbs, the index that contains thousands of verbs such as model verbs, irregular verbs, etc. The handbook will also teach you different ways by which a particular type of verb is conjugated. So instead of browsing the internet for the French verb guide, it is still best to make use of the paper, the handbook so to speak.

Focus your attention to irregular verbs
When making use of the different tenses such as past, present, and future tenses, conjugation is highly required. Through conjugation, the form of the verb is being modified making it much easier for you to understand and memorize them. The same rule also applies to the different pronouns such as I, you, he, she, etc.

Focus on the major tenses
Based on your handbook you will see that there are sixteen tables designated for each verb. However, you will realize that some are rarely used especially when spoken. The tables can be downright confusing. It is advisable to get by at least four or five of them and that suffices. Keep in mind to learn the present tenses of French verbs because they are considered as the most flexible among all other forms of verbs in the French language.

Focus on the more commonly used verbs
You will learn from the start that French verbs consist of thousands and thousands of verbs, yet only less than a hundred are used in an everyday conversation. As a matter of fact, only nine irregular verbs account for about forty per cent of all the verbs used in an ordinary conversation. Such irregular verbs include être, faire, avoir, aller, dire, savoir, pouvoir, vouloir and devoir. In short, if you already speak a little bit of French, you would use or encounter these verbs frequently. Of course when you want to go learning French verbs, you want to make sure you're learning by heart.

Verb Posters with Pronunciation