FLTEACH: ne ... pas

Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 18:53:12 -0500
From: M & D Blaz blazm@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: french negation

The day we learn negation, I tell mine to think of and write down seven things they don't do, as homework. I tell them to try to think of things they don't do that many classmates actually do. I give examples, (in the TL) such as I don't eat hamburgers, I don't watchhorror movies,I don't play football... They have to use words they already know, or, with permission, ones they ask me for (I only give permission for easy-to-recognize cognates).
The next day I give everyone a stack of poker chips. (You could use anything. The chips just make a cool"plonk" noise in the bowl.... and I got a big container of them at a garage sale.) We sit in a circle, and take turns saying one of our sentences, passing a big bowl. Example: I say, "I don't eat hamburgers," and pass the bowl. The person next to me says if he/she does or doesn't eat hamburgers, and if they do,they put a chip in the bowl. Everyone else says if they do or don't do that.... I trust them to tell the truth; classmates will "out" someone who doesn't, in most cases. The object is to hold onto your chips the longest. Winners are whoever runs out of chips first ("consolation prize for the most experienced") and last (if we play that long:I watch the 'natives' for signs of restlessness and call the game over at the end of that round.) It doesn't take too long, is fairly high-interest (and communicative)... rarely do we use more than two of the seven written, and I have them hand in their sentences. This also works when you learn "never".
Deb Blaz

Hi all,> does anyone have an fun ways of teaching ne...pas in french? I> teach 6th grade, first year french.