French story and poem: un amour qui finit mal !

My French students are now learning the passé composé in class and I am looking for ways to help them acquire this new tense without doing the traditional grammar approach.

The first text which came to my mind was Le déjeuner du matin which is actually a poem widely taught in French classes because the language is quite simple and repetitive.

[read more…]

acquire50 acquisition65 breakfast13 comprehensible100 comprehension250 cultural10 culture246 déjeuner du matin1 Education20 food154 French41 guidelines2 literature92 love81 Martina Bex11 meal10 miming1 MovieTalk14 passé-composé227 perfect tense4 poem71 poet16 Prévert4 questions74 reading252 script201 story46 storytelling39 target language12 target structure20 teacherspayteachers11 TPRS71 youtube67

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 French41 if clauses1 IGCSE12 oral12 output44 personalized16 PQA8 practice33 questions74 repetitive22 speaking73 story46

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 French41 game21 grammar66 guidelines2 ideas7 input47 instructions6 intermediate707 key structures8 Martina Bex11 oral12 speaking73 story46 story asking15 storytelling39 TPRS71 unit3

El día de los muertos and Halloween in Spanish

There are two great videos which are to be found on and which are great to talk about two major cultural events happening very soon!

The first one “La noche de brujas” is perfect for one lesson:

[read more…]

article46 brain break6 celebration20 channel2 cultural10 day of the dead4 día de los muertos1 Education20 fun413 halloween6 key structure10 Mary Glasgow6 miscositas1 ressources40 Spanish33 spanish cuentos1 story46 storytelling39 target language12 target structure20 thematic1 TPRS71 unit3 video350 vocabulary256 website1 youtube67

Spanish story script: se vende

This story comes from the wonderful Martina Bex who posts so many brilliant ideas and resources on her blog. I started a new unit with my grade 6 class which is about going shopping and this story fitted perfectly!

Speaking/vocabulary: I first started by introducing the different shops to my students using this slideshow: SHOPS.

[read more…]

acquire50 acquisition65 comprehensible100 comprehension250 creative13 expression21 flashcards8 key structure10 language45 Martina Bex11 pattern1 quizlet9 se vende1 sell6 selling1 shop9 shopping13 skills26 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 target9 TPRS71 writing55

Spanish story script number 4: Lo siento.

Here is another story script which follows the last story about little Pedro losing his notebook. This story has lots of repetitions to focus on “lo siento” and “no sé qué hacer“. I am telling those stories using wooden ice cream sticks which the students love.

[read more…]

acquire50 acquisition65 acting1 ci145 comprehend52 comprehension250 comprenhensible1 drama28 engage150 engaging10 fluency107 fluent57 fun413 funny256 high frequency217 high interest7 input47 interest10 interesting23 intonation2 key2 listening52 motivate151 motivated143 motivating1 motivation201 practice33 proficiency12 proficient9 pronunciation11 reading252 repetitive22 retell3 retelling4 script201 second language44 skills26 Spanish33 story46 storytelling39 structure10 target9 target language12 target structure20 TPRS71 vocabulary256 words18

How to learn a language when watching a movie?

 

The thought of watching a Spanish or French movie with my classes has always appealed to me. It develops listening and comprehension skills which are keys to then improve pronunciation and speaking skills. By watching a moving in the target language you can acquire a lot of vocabulary and you can also learn so much about the culture,

[read more…]

acquire50 acquisition65 blog7 ci145 comprehensible100 comprehension250 Education20 film41 foreign language35 input47 language45 languages13 listen283 listening52 movie20 MovieTalk14 resource102 second language44 skills26 storytelling39 teach3 teaching42 TPRS71 understand67 understanding22