French culture: celebrating la Chandeleur !

Candlemas is around the corner and I have prepared some fun activities to do in the French class to celebrate this special event. In fact as the activities are mainly centered around crepes and how to make them, you could also use them to celebrate Mardi Gras (which is on the 9th of February this year) or if you are teaching a topic on food.

[read more…]

acquisition65 activities5 bundle1 celebrate26 celebration20 communicative7 comprehensible100 Cooking41 cultural10 culture246 Education20 food154 grammar66 infinitive1 input47 logic1 logical2 numeracy1 passé-composé227 past316 perfect tense4 recipe36 song29 story46 storytelling39 teacherspayteachers11 TPRS71 tradition57

Personalized questions in French: l’étoile du jour.

This morning, I was reading the Active learner blog post about “Café y conversación” and it inspired me to share about an authentic conversation I had last week with my French students. As mentioned in the post: “When we have authentic conversation about topics that students want to talk about,

[read more…]

acquire50 acquisition65 answers24 authentic168 beginner318 Blogging1 compelling39 comprehensible100 comprehension250 conditional13 Education20 if clauses1 IGCSE12 oral12 output44 personalized16 PQA8 practice33 questions74 repetition42 repetitive22 speaking73 story46

Reading activity for French learners (beginner level).

Yeah!!! I am back to blogging! I had a very good excuse though for not posting for such a while: I had my fourth boy on the 24th of September. His name is Antoine and he is a lovely baby boy doing well 🙂

Whilst recovering from the birth and taking care of my precious little boy,

[read more…]

acquire50 acquisition65 beginner318 blog7 Blogging1 ci145 comprehensible100 comprehension250 confidence92 confident8 content6 creative13 Education20 engaging10 grammar66 input47 key structures8 languages13 Martina Bex11 meaning17 meaningful15 parallel story3 practice33 prepare6 printable1 reading252 story46 storytelling39 teacherspayteachers11 TPRS71 vocabulary256 worksheet2 writing55

Communicative activity for French learners (beginner level).

As well as teaching online private English lessons to Spanish students, I help some French students at beginner level. As you may already know, I am a big fan of Martina Bex and I decided to use her storytelling unit for French 1: Dit.

[read more…]

activity13 adjective1 beginner318 cognates7 communicative7 comprehensible100 dit1 Education20 endings1 game21 grammar66 guidelines2 ideas7 input47 instructions6 intermediate707 key structures8 Martina Bex11 oral12 repetition42 speaking73 story46 story asking15 storytelling39 TPRS71 unit3

Marceline Loridan-Ivens: a moving account.

When I prepare dinner in the evening, I like to listen to the radio and it usually falls during Le Grand Entretien on France Inter. François Busnel, a journalist spends an hour interviewing different people from authors to comedians to politicians. I like the way this journalist conducts the interviews.

[read more…]

acquired4 acquiring18 acquisition65 advanced294 biograhy3 cinema35 comprehensible100 comprehension250 culture246 history92 input47 interview15 interviewee3 journalist3 life21 listen283 listening52 Marceline Loridan-Ivens1 past316 personal13 personalized16 podcast127 radio3 risks7 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 war30

Crepes party!

We are in the midst of the pancakes (crêpes in French) season before the start of Lent (for Christian believers). In France, we have crêpes twice. First on the 2nd of February to celebrate la fête de la Chandeleur which commemorates the presentation of Jesus at the temple.

[read more…]

chandeleur13 Cooking41 crepes15 culture246 France221 mardi gras4 pancakes4 party7 recipe36

French resources about the Epihany

To share the Epiphany tradition with your French students, here are some ideas:

Explain the tradition
The Mary Glasgow website published an article La Galette des Rois which explains the tradition in France with its audio version to download (all for free).

[read more…]

acquire50 acquisition65 activity13 bake11 book95 celebrate26 celebration20 compelling39 comprehensible100 comprehensible input36 comprehension250 cook32 Cooking41 cultural10 culture246 Education20 epiphany8 France221 franchculture1 frenchfood61 game21 ideas7 input47 listening52 Mary Glasgow6 pastry6 play27 playing3 recipe36 shareandbake4 singing7 song29 storylistening142 storytelling39 TPRS71