basic reflexive verbs -- paper strips activity

To help students learn how to conjugate reflexive verbs for a variety of verbs and subjects.

Hand each pair of students either (A) a selection of subjects - reflexive pronouns - verb endings or (B) a selection of verb roots.

| bronz | | amus | | lev | | bross .............. les dents | | baign |

| Je | | me | | e |

| Tu | | te | | es |

| Il | | se | | e |

| Elle | | se | | e |

| Nous | | nous | | ons |

| Vous | | vous | | ez |

| Ils | | se | | ent |

| Elles | | se | | ent |


| ne | | pas |
etc.

For control of error, give each pair the matching subject - reflexive pronoun - verb ending. That way the only variable in play is the order of the words.

Say a sentence in English, using a different sentence and verb each time, and ask the students with the corresponding verb root, subject, pronoun, and ending to come up and assemble the sentence. Ask the rest of the class if it is correct; if not, ask for "helpers" to come up and rearrange the words.

Once they seem to have mastered this first step, you can add in "ne .... pas" and infinitive verbs, i.e. "j'aime me bronzer" "elle va se lever a 11h"

This activity give students a chance to manipulate the language in a physical, active way that will help students who don't learn easily in literal, written-down ways to understand how to use reflexive verbs.

"ticket Out" - Do Now Activity

From: D & M Blaz
To: FLTEACH@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 18:14:07 -0500
Subject: Re: Bell ringer question ("ticket out of class" idea)
Well, mine can't leave the room until the bell rings...but they can't leave
until they say something to me... My classes are 34, 32 and 30.

As I said, they know that they WILL be responsible for the bellringer we do
at the beginning as part of or all of their Ticket Out...so generally they
are prepared when it's time (they also know the Ticket Outs are part of the
speaking on the unit test, too) and then you have to have an idea how long
the Ticket will take.
Mine generally just say a sentence or two AT MOST.
Today's were: Level III had to tell me something they were doing and what
interrupted it (preterit and imperfect)
Level II had to tell me something they've NEVER done before (passé compose
and ne...jamais)
Level I had to tell me a food or beverage and if it was delicious or gross
-- "Le café, c'est dégoutant!" (and not repeat what the person in front of
them had said, of course).
All of them had written several such phrases at the beginning of the block,
and then said them about midway through to several people sitting near them.
I'd say each kid could do that in ten seconds or less, times 32...so I
started it about 3 minutes before the bell.

They walk past my desk, and then wait by the door for the bell.

Deb

Games for positions and rooms in a house

Get a doll house with several distinc rooms in it, preferably with furniture. With students, point to and say aloud the names of the rooms and the furniture.

Activity: Turn the house so students can't see inside. Hide a small object, such as a small stuffed animal. Students then guess where it is hidden.
Est-ce dans le salon? (teacher points) No, il n'est pas dans le salon.
Est-ce dans la salle de bain? (teacher points) Oui, il est dans la salle de bain. Mais ou dans la salle de bain?
Est-ce derriere la toilette? Est-ce dans le bain? Est-ce dans le placard? etc.

Paper dolls: activity for learning clothing vocabulary

Several variations on the same concept

Each student/ group of students gets a paper doll and several clothing options... or alternatively, they could get blank outlines of the clothing and color each piece in however they like They "dress" the doll and then present their doll to the class, explaining what pieces of clothing it is wearing and the color and style of each garment.

Pairs of students could work on giving directions. One student has a picture of the dressed doll (or a real photo from a magazine, etc.) and gives the other student directions on how to dress the doll to match the original.

Technical problem: Having enough clothing pieces for each group to make the activity challenging, i.e. black pants and striped pants, a short skirt and a long skirt, etc.

Inspired by "Dress the bear", Curtain & Dahlberg p. 122

Strategy for learning personal characteristics

Materials:

Photos/ Magazine pictures of well-known people: celebrities, personalities within the school or classroom, etc.

Cards with adjectives on them

“Floating” letters to add to cards to make gender/ number agree

The teacher starts by presenting the word bank of cards and taping them up on one side of the chalkboard as she presents each word. Each word is either acted out with a gesture or facial expression or it is matched up to one of the photos. Example: (In the target language) Ah, here is “short” (she crouches down). Short. Who is short? Let’s find a picture. Is Michael Jordan short? No. Is Tom Cruise short? Yes. What other words describe Tom Cruise? He is a brunette … etc.) Each word’s meaning is shown either by a physical action or by associating it with a well-known picture. As each word is discussed in relation to a picture, the two are taped side by side on the board.

Mis Cositas

http://www.miscositas.com/

Lists of links with authentic L2 texts (and some stories) . ex.: the Tintin site! Such cool stuff... including some videos!

Discuss & Debate in L2

Richard-Amato p. 113 mentions the importance of encouraging friendships and the finding of similarities in a classroom. Many sources discuss the value of having real, meaningful communication in the target language - immersion programs are praised because the focus is on content moreso than direct language instruction. So here's an activity idea in that vein.

Ask students where they stand on a controversial issue, a famous person, or a preference - i.e. - "Qui aime George Bush?" "Qui croit que la fumee devrait etre defendu en espaces publiques?" "Est-ce que les chiens ou les chats sont les meilleurs animaux domestiques?" Have students talk in small groups of like-minded students. Why do you think that way? What arguments would you give someone who felt differently? Next, have one small group of pro- students sit with a small group of con- students. Ask them to share their opinions and have a mini-debate.

Scaffolding: Write pertinent vocabulary and perhaps guiding questions on an overhead.

French News for Kids site

http://www.lesclesjunior.com/

song for remembering subject pronouns

Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 12:14:52 -0700
From: sarah LaComb <sarahllacomb@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: French mnemonic needed

There is a song set to the Mickey Mouse club song

Je is I
Tu is you
Il-he elle is she
on means one
and vous can mean you all
vous means you formal
nous is we
and vous can mean you all
Ils is they Elles is they (have the boys sing Ils and the girls Elles)
Ils is they Elle is they
Maybe this helps
Sarah