Resources needed:

  • Flash cards saying ‘bonjour’ and ‘au revoir’ and ‘Comment t’appelles-tu?

 

  1. Have the children seated on the carpet or altogether in an area. Leave the room, calling ‘Au revoir!’ as you do so. Re-enter the room, calling ‘Bonjour!’ Do this a couple of times (use a bit of comedy, make them laugh!)
  2. Go to several individuals shaking hands and saying ‘Bonjour!’ or ‘Salut!’ Explain that bonjour is more formal (literally meaning ‘good day’), whilst ‘salut’ is more informal and means ‘hi!’. Praise responses from the children with ‘très bien!’. Model pronunciation where appropriate.
  3. Introduce a soft toy, saying: ‘Regardez! Voici Jacques!’ encouraging ‘Salut / Bonjour Jacques!’ Arrange the class in a circle and using the soft toy, demonstrate a game: throw the toy to a child, whilst saying ‘Bonjour Jacques!’ or ‘Salut!’ The child should repeat the greeting. They should then say ‘Au revoir!’ to the toy, and throw it to another child with a greeting of ‘Bonjour Jacques!’ or ‘Salut!’ Repeat until all the children have had a turn. If it is difficult to make a circle, move from table to table instead.
  4. Introduce the phrase ‘Comment t’appelles-tu?’ and explain its meaning, using a flash card. Explain the response should be ‘Je m’appelle ____’ but understand that some children may simply want to say only their name. Allow the children to ‘mingle’ (or ask the people on their table) asking and responding to the question. Ensure that the flash cards are placed somewhere prominent. Join in with the children to check their understanding.
  5. Using the soft toy again, throw it to a child, asking ‘Comment t’appelles-tu?’ The child should respond and then ask the question of someone else, throwing the toy to them as they do so.

 

Further Activities:

Make puppets with the children so that they can practise conversations.

Give the children the key phrases and let them draw characters with speech bubbles.

Make large speech bubbles to hang on the wall or from the ceiling as a reminder of the vocabulary.

Record the children speaking to each other and play it back at a later date to remind them of what they have learnt so far.

Curriculum Areas covered:

KS2 Foreign Language

Speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation

Explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words

Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases