OÙ VAS-TU?

Today, as part of our unit on free time, I introduced the places in town to my students. To help with the pronunciation and recall of vocabulary we did one of my favourite activities...actions and repetitions. This usually ignites a collective groan from my students who don't want to get out of their chairs, but they usually get into and possibly even enjoy themselves! So, we practice the vocabulary with actions such as praying for the church, cheering at the stadium, swimming at the pool etc. as we repeat the words. I then scaffold the activity so that I say just the words and they have to remember the action, and then I do the action and they have to repeat the words. Afterwards, the students need to write the vocabulary down and I do the activity posted below: the students use two boxes from the grid to create a word e.g. CIN - ÉMA and after finding the gender of the word from http://www.wordreference.com/, write the word next to the correct definite article (le/l'/la).

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Next, using slide 3 of the PPT below, we discuss the rule of how to say "to the" and the contractions that take place. The students take notes and make a set of flashcards for the verb ALLER in the present tense in www.quizlet.com. We practise the rules using slide 4-7. The students in all my groups have French or Spanish names and I choose their names at random from my pot of sticks!

Finally for this lesson, the students complete a worksheet when they practice the use of the verb ALLER, the use of au/à la/à l'/aux, look up some new nouns and their genders e.g. la montage and practise the word order of sentences. You can buy this worksheet for just $1 here.

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For further practice of the places in town, perhaps as a review at the start of the lesson, you could play the hidden treasure game below.

First, the students complete the missing information with the present tense conjugation of the verb ALLER on the left followed by the use of au/àl'/à la/aux and the place in town in the boxes on the right. Next, I tell the students that there is hidden treasure in some of the squares and I randomly mark places on the grid on my own document. I choose the students names at random from the pot and they get the chance to guess where the treasure is by choosing a conjugation and a place e.g. tu vas au parc . If I have marked my sheet in the square tu vas au parc then I say <<oui, il y a du trésor>> and write the students name in that square and if there is no treasure I say  <<non, il n'y a pas du trésor>> . I choose the next name at random from the pot and the next student guesses and so on until they have found all of the treasure on my sheet. This game works well because all students are actively listening (the names go back into the pot once they have been called and could be called at chance again)  and need to pay attention to the places that have already been mentioned by the other students. Students who found treasure will get house points as prizes and sometimes if one student scores a lot of points I many give them a sticker or item out of my goody jar! I love to use my stickers and goody jars as incentives for the students.