Bridging unit & Consolidation
2.16 Où habites-tu?
Bridging unit, consolidation & assessment This section includes ideas for additional activities that can be used to consolidate pupils’s learning, help you assess their progress, and celebrate just how much they have progressed .
Planning your work
We suggest 4 levels of activities:
1
Play “consolidation games” in everyday classwork, to bring together children’s learning from previous sections.
2 A more extended “cross-curricular project” using e.g. ICT or drama.
3
A “special event” with an audience to celebrate pupils’ linguistic achievement and cultural awareness, e.g. a whole-school assembly, a joint activity with a secondary school. Discuss with pupils how to assess their own
4 progress, using “can-do” sheets.
You can plan any such work together with their next class teacher as a “bridge” in readiness for the work they will do with Early Start French 3.
Progress in language learning:
Pupils who have covered the first two Early Start French packs can now conduct significant conversations and transactions. They can: ■ exchange personal details and preferences; ■ describe their town and their school; ■ ask for and give directions; ■ buy and pay for items in shops; ■ say what they like and want at mealtimes; ■ understand dates and times; ■ talk about the weather, clothes and hobbies. They will also have developed language-learning skills, e.g. using a dictionary to find new words; strategies for remembering. Pupils will have an insight into French life and culture from watching the films and discussing the topics highlighted in “talking points” and presentations. See the Introduction for a full section-by-section table of core vocabulary in Early Start French 2.
Activities
1. Consolidation games These games can be played with the whole class to reinforce the core vocabulary learned during Early Start French 1 and 2.
❑ Play “lucky dip” (name the card) Divide the class into two teams. Pupils from each team take it in turns to draw a card from a box for the opposing team to name. Prepare by putting a selection of picture cards from the activity sheets into a deep box so that pupils cannot see what is inside. There should be an even number of pictures, covering a variety of topics, e.g. colours, pets, groups of brothers and sisters, numbers, places in the town, rooms in school, classroom objects, clock faces, weather, sports and pastimes, school subjects, clothes, food and drink. ❑ Play “the memory game” Pupils have 30 seconds to memorize a selection of pictures from both Early Start French 1 and 2 that you display on the whiteboard, or by attaching flashcards to the wall. You remove one of the pictures and rearrange the rest while pupils’s eyes are closed. Pupils try to remember which picture is missing. Continue until only one picture remains. ❑ Play “what shall I draw?” Begin with a completely blank whiteboard and a pen - with which you will draw a French scene including anything that pupils say - as long as it is in French. You say “Quel temps fait-il?”. A pupil suggests you draw, e.g. “il y a du soleil”. You repeat what s/he said and draw a big sun. Someone says “il fait chaud” - you draw someone looking hot. Another suggests “une piscine”; you draw a swimming pool.
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Early Start French 2 For “j’aime la natation”; you draw someone swimming, and so on. Gradually the picture should build a complex scenario. If children run out of ideas, you can prompt them with a question, e.g. “Quelle heure est-il?” (and draw the clockface they suggest). Pupils may enjoy suggesting silly things, and it will be more fun if you draw anything they say. ❑ Play “who’s talking?” Divide the children into groups of four or five. One group hides behind a screen, or just outside the (open) door. They take it in turns to say something in French; the other groups try to guess the name of whoever is speaking. The hiding group can make it more difficult by disguising their voices, or by having a player perform more than once. Either ask children to say any phrases they like from their repertoire, or, you could give them a slip of paper telling them what to say, e.g. : ◆ say the days of the week; ◆ count from 50-60; ◆ say the hours from 1 a.m. to midday; ◆ sing “Happy Birthday” in French; ◆ say the first six letters of the alphabet; ◆ say you like football and not maths.
❑ Play “pendu” (hangman) Pupils saw a French class playing “pendu” in Early Start French 1, Ch.1.4. Use this familiar game to recall French words and names from both packs. Gently correct any mis-pronunciation of French letters, and (to keep it simple) write in any accents required as children call out the letter.
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EXTRA WORDS AND PHRASES for the Auction Game
une vente aux enchères - auction (literally: “a sale by bids”)
[Eric], tu fais une enchère? - [Eric], are you making a bid? The French way to conclude a sale is:
[10 euros] une fois, [10 euros] deux fois, ... adjugé! [10 euros] for the first time; [10 euros] for the second time; ... gone! ... vendu à [Eric]! ... sold to [Eric]! For low value items, you could use centimes as well as/ instead of euros. Hear the pronunciation of these additional phrases on the Talking Dictionary. see Talking Dictionary
❑ Play “the auction game” Hold a class auction to revise numbers, prices in euros; also (so far as pupils are able) words to name and describe what is for sale. Each pupil has a “pot” of euros, and bids for items shown on picture cards from both packs. Establish some ground rules for bidding, e.g. bids must be increased by 5 or 10 euros at a time. You hold up a card, say what it is, and give a starting price, e.g. “10 euros”. As auctioneer, you simply repeat each pupil’s bid, then suggest a higher figure in the form of a question. Ask “Combien?” (how much?) whenever someone says a figure that you can’t quite hear. Pupils aim to collect sets (e.g. pets pictures), and the winner is the one with the biggest set. Confident pupils could take on the auctioneer role when they have seen how you do it. NOTE: If you are working with a very mixed ability class, it might be better to play this game in groups, bidding via a spokesperson.
Bridging unit & Consolidation TV-style quiz show / chat show
These activities described in Early Start French 1 (ch.1.18) can be extended to incorporate the vocabulary learnt in French 2. Both quizzes and chat show have well-known simple formats; if you adapt current TV favourites, children will know what is expected of them. Even with a limited French vocabulary, they generate lots of talking and Q-and-A that is fun for participants and onlookers. Divide your class into several small teams, each named after a colour. Three teams compete in each round; the rest are the “studio audience”. As quizmaster, you ask each team to present themselves to the audience (e.g. Je m’appelle Emily. J’ai 10 ans. J’aime la natation. Ma matière préferée, c’est les maths). Nominate a captain for each team. S/he can then be the person who runs to you with pictures in the games like “find the picture”. Play “what’s this?” Quick fire rounds where the teams compete against each other to name animals, colours, places, classroom objects, clothes, food etc. from flashcards. If possible, provide “buzzers”.
If you say “J’aime le football”, the next pupil gets the football; if you say “il est deux heures”, they return with the hands of the clock showing two o’clock, and so on. Play “find the picture” Instead of using real props, arrange identical sets of flashcards face-up on separate tables placed at equal distance from the teams. Choose different pictures from those used in “what’s this?”, e.g. weather, clock faces ... Start by calling out single phrases e.g. “il y a des averses”. Gradually increase the list to several items, e.g. “il est trois heures, il pleut, j’aime l’équitation”. As soon as you finish speaking, the teams run to their tables; the first team to bring you the correct picture(s) scores the point. Play “c’est combien?” round 1 Prepare flashcards showing French prices in euros and centimes. Pupils compete to press the buzzer and be first to correctly say the price. Play “c’est combien?” round 2 Hold up two or more pre-prepared prices. Pupils have to “add up the bill” correctly and say what the total is. Play “name the town” If you have been teaching the alphabet, you could spell out the names of some French towns that children are familiar with. The groups write down the letters as you say them and try to be the first to press the buzzer and name the town.
2. Cross-curricular projects
Play “cherchez...” (find it) Fill two boxes with real props, e.g. clothes, a football, roller-skates and other sports equipment; classroom objects, e.g. a rubber , a ruler; a toy clock with moveable hands. Provide duplicates, so you have one for each box. As in “find the picture”, call out a variety of phrases. If you say “un chapeau”, the first person from each team runs to the box, hunts for the hat and tries to be first back to their team.
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These activities bring together core vocabulary from Early Start French 1 and 2, in a context involving other curriculum subjects.
2.1 ICT / video
Video helps young beginners communicate by augmenting their limited ability to write French with pictures and sound that help convey their meaning. Children can exchange simply-made films with their French partner school even at an early stage of language-learning.
Early Start French 2 Communication with partners
In many chapters in Early Start French 2, we suggest groups of pupils make short films as a means of describing to their French partner school: ■ their community, ■ their school, ■ what they eat and drink, ■ their pastimes and sports facilities, ■ what clothes they wear, etc.
Film projects also develop ICT and literacy skills, such as considering style and content appropriate to the audience. They encourage planning, organising information, and working together in a collaborative activity.
Video for assessment and feedback
In Early Start French 1, we suggested how teacher-led or pupil-led interviews could be used, either as a motivating context to get children speaking French, or as a useful means
of assessment. You could compare recordings of pupils being interviewed at different stages of the course, and include them in their portfolio when they transfer to the next class or school.
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Pupils will also appreciate the chance to use video-playback (maybe in privacy, rather than in front of the whole class) as feedback to improve their speaking and pronunciation. They now have a much larger range of topics on which they can ask and answer questions.
2.2 ICT: Video conferencing
More and more schools are discovering the benefits of video-conferencing with pupils from other European countries. You could explore how your school could set up a live Skype call with your partner school.
An international video-conference, as seen in in the overseas partner school. The UK school is on the main screen; their partners are on the insert picture.
To prepare for a successful call: ■ Agree topics of conversation with your partners, and who will speak which language. ■ Remember there may be a difference in time zone when you agree date and time. ■ Practise beforehand (maybe teacher to teacher) to check that everything works! ■ Discuss with pupils how to make their language clear and simple to understand. ■ Practise conversations using puppets (in French and English). ■ Film practice conversations so pupils can review their performance. ■ Plan what pictures and objects they might show in the conference, e.g. photographs; a trophy won in a football match. ■ Choose an activity that will be the focus of the call: perhaps teach your partner school a song? The process of planning and preparing for the video conference is as important as the conference itself. Encourage pupils talk about how the call went and to discuss how to improve mutual understanding next time.
Bridging unit & Consolidation Other uses of video-conferencing With this facility, the class can ask live questions of an interesting French-speaking person (who should also have fluent English): see “arranging a French-speaking visitor” later in this chapter.
2.3 Drama: role-plays
Many chapters include suggested activities where you ask groups of pupils to invent scenarios with conversations using vocabulary from both packs. Chapter 2.11 has examples that you could develop as consolidation activities. Set them in France or in your country: ■ Shopping for a picnic in an unfamiliar French town. They get lost and ask directions... ■ Going on the picnic; meeting other children at the picnic site... ■ A French penfriend comes to visit; you give a guided tour of your home town and school... ■ French-speaking aliens from outer-space arrive in your town needing help... Encourage pupils to think through the situation. This helps make role-plays more expressive, and more fun for participants and watchers: ● Is everyone excited about the situation? ● Does the weather affect the plot? ● Do any characters display emotions or characteristics? Pupils may also like to make or bring in props to enhance the role-plays. To avoid inhibiting children’s imagination, you can allow mime to cover small gaps in their French vocabulary.
2.4 Puppet shows
Pupils can improvise similar scenarios using their French-speaking puppets.
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Designing and making backdrops with French touches can add to the fun. Perform the puppet shows to the rest of the class or to younger classes.
Assessment
Role-plays and puppet shows can be effective assessment tasks, especially if you film them. They give pupils a chance to demonstrate their language skills and knowledge of the cultural context, and require them to work together as a team. Pupils can evaluate their own performance and join with you in assessing their classmates’ presentations.
3. Special events An event with an audience becomes a focus for children’s efforts, and a celebration of their achievements. ❑ Fêtes, shows and concerts Children could contribute items to a school fête or concert, or as part of a wider celebration such as the annual European Day of Languages: they could sing in French; perform prepared roleplays or puppet shows; involve the audience in some simple French games. Pupils could help to prepare French-style refreshments and serve them to visitors and parents, using their French to offer food. ❑ Whole-school assemblies A group of pupils could make a presentation in French to a whole-school assembly, such as showing a Town Guide - with visual aids so that the meaning was clear to all pupils.
Show an “en France” display
Throw open the display area in your classroom to show everyone what pupils found out about their chosen French town. Some of the children could be “stewards” to mind the exhibition and answer questions. Invite other classes, teachers, parents and the local town-twinning society to come and see.
Early Start French 2 “Our Imaginary Town” project
In the same way, arrange an “open day” to show others your imaginary French town.
Town Guide project
To launch the Guide to your community, why not ask the local Mayor and some guests from France to join you in a guided tour of your town? The children could introduce the highlights of the tour in French.
learning, or as “ice-breaking” activities to get children talking and working together when you meet with your French partner school. Chapters 2.10 to 12 suggest several group foodmaking and -testing activities. Children can use numbers in measuring, also vocabulary they know for sharing tools and materials. Some new words for ingredients will be needed, and these can be taught in the usual way. The activity sheet below shows how to help pupils with simple written instructions in French supported by pictures.
Arranging a French-speaking visitor
Pupils will be strongly motivated by the chance to talk with French native speakers in person, or via a video-conference (see earlier). Ask a French native speaker to visit your class, e.g. a parent or friend; a French assistant(e) borrowed from a local secondary school; a French employee from a local business, or a visitor from your community’s twin town. Your MFL adviser or the local French consul may be able to help - especially if a group of local schools “share” a visit. Preparation Involve children in preparing for the visitor: talk about what questions they want to ask. Encourage them to use this person as a source of information about his/her personal experience of growing up in France. Prior to the visit, it is also a good idea to brief the visitor. Ask them to bring in photographs or objects relating to their home town, family celebrations, etc. Let them know the extent of pupils’ French vocabulary, and that much of the conversation will need to be in English. A visitor from a French-speaking country other than France is an opportunity to add to pupils’ understanding of the wider world.
Food, kite-making and ice-breakers
In Early Start French 2, we suggest several cross-curricular projects as potential contexts for children to engage in purposeful activity whilst using French. Each is chosen to be simple in its language demands, fun to do, and related in some way to French culture and everyday life. These are ideal to consolidate language-
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How to make ice cream - see Ch.2.12: “Les glaces”.
A food activity offers many cultural links. You can encourage children to try couscous, and talk about why it has become popular in France. There are potential links with aspects of music, art, history, RE, geography, technology, citizenship and global awareness.
Kite-making A technology project, e.g. designing a kite, can also provide a fruitful context for meaningful language work and cultural exploration, possibly with a French partner school.
Bridging unit & Consolidation 4. Assessing pupils’ progress
At the end of this chapter you will find a series of “can-do” statements. These encompass all the core vocabulary in Early Start French 2.
Transfer to another class or to secondary education
You can help secure progression and continuity in learning when your pupils pass from one teacher to another and then on to secondary school. ■ Share assessment information to help “bridge the gap”. Have each pupil compile a European Language Portfolio (including examples of good work) to accompany them as they move on.
Each child completes his/her own sheet, which is best done at intervals throughout the course: after sections 3, 6, 10, 13 and 15. Discuss with pupils - perhaps in “circle time” - how they should approach self-assessment. When pupils complete a sheet, arrange a session to review their “can-do”s, and discuss how best to respond to any opportunities or problems that emerge.
Not a test
These self-assessment sheets should not be seen as a test - simply a useful way for children to let you know which areas they feel confident in, and which need more practice.
Portfolio
The sheets can be included in pupils’ Language Portfolios, and passed on to their next class teacher or to their secondary school.
Teacher assessment
Events and projects give you the opportunity to monitor pupils’ understanding of French culture and their command of the language. They can inform your own planning, as well as providing information to pass on to the next stage of their language education.
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■ Share experience of the children’s achievement. Organise a joint project with secondary colleagues. Even if your pupils are not yet ready for secondary school, it is a good idea to encourage secondary colleagues to become familiar with the work you are doing. Many of the activities suggested in this chapter could be adapted. ■ plan your scheme of work to help children develop transferable language-learning skills. Help children to be culturally aware, and confident that they can communicate in another language. A “language apprenticeship” Easing pupils’ transfer to the next stage of learning is the ultimate test of their “language apprenticeship”. Early Start French 3, “Ici et là” will broaden their experience; enabling them to use French as part of their learning in other subjects. Learning French with you will provide a foundation for whatever languages they go on to study in later years.