A few years ago, I retired from my position as head of Modern Languages, a bit fearful of the "R" word. But to date, it has been nothing but fun! Canadian law requires school-aged actors to study with a qualified teacher when they’re off-camera. Many of our young actors are in immersion French so I've found a happy little niche, teaching a few days a week as an on-set tutor and moving in inspiring and creative circles! Furthermore, I get to share resources here! Vive la retraite!
A few years ago, I retired from my position as head of Modern Languages, a bit fearful of the "R" word. But to date, it has been nothing but fun! Canadian law requires school-aged actors to study with a qualified teacher when they’re off-camera. Many of our young actors are in immersion French so I've found a happy little niche, teaching a few days a week as an on-set tutor and moving in inspiring and creative circles! Furthermore, I get to share resources here! Vive la retraite!
“Où sont les trésors cachés? (Noël)” works well both as a full-class, teacher-directed game and as a small group activity. You’ll find that even reluctant learners will be motivated to listen carefully to hear which squares have already been “played” by their classmates. And the promise of “treasure” tends to generate enthusiastic oral participation as well. After the fun of the oral treasure hunt, you can also assign co-ordinates to create an instant written assignment to reinforce the correct spelling of the verb endings.
This answer key is for le présent, le passé composé, l’imparfait, le futur simple & le conditionnel antérieur. However, the game works for all verb tenses.
To see if “Où sont les trésors cachés? (Noël)” is right for your students, download the free “Où sont les trésors cachés? (Les verbes ER)…
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/o-sont-les-tr-sors-cach-s-les-verbes-er-6438862
FOUND IT! is a game inspired by Spot it™ or Dobble™. There is always one matching expression on any two cards. FOUND IT! encourages students to concentrate, to read attentively and to pronounce the thematic vocabulary carefully.
This deck comprises 31 cards with 6 expressions or pictures per card.
Here is the vocabulary featured in FOUND IT! (The Hallowe’en deck):
autumn leaves
bat
black cat
broom
cauldron
cemetery
coffin
danger
devil
disguise
frightened
ghost
goosebumps
hat
haunted house
horror film
jack o’lantern
makeup
mask
owl
party
scar
scarecrow
scream
shiver
spider
sweets
toilet paper
trick or treat
vampire
witch
DIRE OU INTERDIRE? is a bit like “Taboo” and can be played 2 ways.
If your students are confident in French, have them play according to traditional Taboo® rules.
If your students are uncomfortable giving clues, turn the rules upside down. Have your students use the words beneath the red and green banner in their descriptions! This topsy-turvy approach encourages and empowers everyone to participate. You won’t believe what a positive game-changer it is. The green stars indicate challenging cards.
It’s usually a good idea for you as the teacher to announce that you will accept synonyms like 'un palet” or 'un disque” for 'une rondelle”.
The cards are designed to be run on business card sheets or card stock.
As it is suitable for French as a First Language, Immersion, Extended and advanced Core French students, it can be played at many grade levels.
Thanks to the accumulative-repetitive nature of QU’EST-CE QUI MANQUE ICI?, your pupils will master their vocabulaire de Noël. QQMI is a Kim’s game. Students are asked to remember and call out the Christmas expressions that have disappeared from the mix. A joyful whole-class activity that will get everyone involved!
A quick demo video: https://youtu.be/LsoHHmUHjKM
Le vocabulaire
l’arbre de Noël / le sapin
le bas de Noël
le bonhomme de neige
la boule de Noël / la décoration
la bûche de Noël
le cadeau / la surprise
la canne de Noël
le casse-noisette
les chandelles (f.)
le chant de Noël
les choristes (m.) de Noël / les chanteurs (m.) de Noël
les cloches (f.)
la couronne
la crèche
la dinde
l’église
l’étoile (f.)
le gâteau aux fruits
le gui
le houx
les jeux (m.)
les jouets (m.)
le lait de poule
les lumières de Noël (f.)
le lutin
la magie de Noël
la neige
le pain d’épice
la paix
le papier d’emballage
la papillote de Noël / le pétard de Noël
le Père Noël
le poinsettia / l’étoile de Noël (f.)
le pôle nord
le renne
les rois (m.) Mages
le traîneau
la veille de Noël
le vitrail
Appropriate for young French First Language and
Immersion pupils and for students in Core French.
Here’s a quick demo video:
https://youtu.be/LsoHHmUHjKM
Play standard bingo - lines, four corners or full house - with these cards. The list of the vocabulary illustrated on the cards is appended below. If you have access to a laminating machine, protect your cards with a coat of plastic and they will last until you retire! (And then you can give them to a younger teacher!)
un balai
des bonbons
une boum
la chair de poule
un chat noir
une chauve-souris
une citrouille
au claire de la lune
un costume / un déguisement
un cimetière
crier
effrayé
un épouvantail
faire du porte-à-porte
un fantôme
un hibou
jeter un sort
jouer un tour
une lanterne citrouille
un loup
une maison hantée
le maquillage
la nuit
les petits monstres
une potion magique
une poule mouillée
un squelette
un sorcier
une sorcière
une toile d’araignée
un vampire
DIRE OU INTERDIRE? can be played by intermediate and advanced students
For advanced, immersion and francophone groups:
If your students are confident and articulate in French, have them play DIRE OU INTERDIRE? like traditional Taboo®. Divide the class into two teams. Place the deck facedown on a desk. A player from the first group chooses a card and tells his/her team everything s/he can about the word at the top of the card. The only catch is that s/he may not use any of the words listed under the orange and black lines in the descriptions. If the class cannot guess the word within 60 seconds, the mystery word is announced to the class and a player from the second team tries his or her luck. A point is scored each time the mystery word is correctly guessed. It’s usually a good idea for you as a teacher to announce that you will accept synonyms. For example, in Canada, a student might guess “un party (de Halloween)” rather than “une fête”.
For intermediate level learners:
If your students are uncomfortable giving clues, turn the rules upside down. Tell them to use the words beneath the black and orange banner in their descriptions! This topsy-turvy approach encourages and empowers everyone to participate. You won’t believe what a positive game-changer it is.
This package includes 28 Halloween-themed cards, a template for students to make their own DIRE OR INTERDIRE? game and a how-to-play guide.
The objective of “Où sont les trésors cachés? (Les aliments)” is to help students to build sentences and to talk about food using indefinite and partitive adjectives. It uses primarily the present tense. Even reluctant learners will be motivated to listen carefully to speak in French in full sentences. After the oral treasure hunt, you can assign coordinates to create an instant written assignment.
To see if “Où sont les trésors cachés? (Les vêtements)” is right for your students, download the free “Où sont les trésors cachés? (Les verbes ER).
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/o-sont-les-tr-sors-cach-s-les-verbes-er-6438862
VOCABULARY FEATURED IN THIS GAME
le beignet
la boisson
le beurre d’arachides
le biscuit
le café
la cerise
les chips (f.)
le chocolat
les choux de Bruxelles (m.)
la fraise
les frites (f.)
le fromage
le gâteau
la glace
le hamburger
le légume
les oeufs (m.) au plat
la pastèque
la pizza
la pomme
le poulet
le raisin
le sandwich
les spaghettis
le sushi
ALTERNATIVE VOCABULARY FEATURED IN THE QUÉBÉCOIS VERSION
la beigne
le beurre de pinottes
la crème glacée
les croustilles
le melon d���eau
This activity works well as a full class, teacher directed game or as a small group activity. After the fun of the oral treasure hunt, you can also assign co-ordinates to create an instant written assignment to reinforce the correct spelling of the verb endings. You’ll find that even reluctant learners will be motivated to listen carefully and the promise of “treasure” tends to generate enthusiastic oral participation as well. My answer key is for le présent, le passé composé, le futur simple and le présent du subjonctif but the game works for virtually every verb tense.
To see if this activity is right for your students, try the free, “Où sont les trésors cachés (les verbes ER):
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/o-sont-les-tr-sors-cach-s--les-verbes-er-6438862
Because it’s not easy finding French stickers with meaningful captions and because my students are always looking for an excuse to use their cell phones, I decided to tell them, “I think QR doing a good job” using QR codes. The 34 comments I’ve encoded are listed below. See the enthusiastic reaction the codes generate for yourself by attaching one of the QR comments in the preview to your students’ next assignment.
1
Un bel effort!
C’est génial
Très impressionnant!
C’est un bonheur de t’enseigner!
Excellent comme d’habitude!
Chouette! Bien fait!
2
Tu vois? Tu es très capable.
Bravo! Tu réussis haut la main!
Formidable! Tu connais bien tes verbes irréguliers!
Vouloir, c’est pouvoir, n’est-ce pas? Bravo!
Tu fais des progrès!
1, 2, 3 . . . je peux toujours compter sur toi!
3
Je suis content que tu sois dans ma classe!
Je suis contentE que tu sois dans ma classe!
Je suis fier de toi!
Je suis fièrE de toi!
Tu es un éleve de rêve!
Tu es unE éleve de rêve!
4
Je savais que tu y arriverais!
Wow! Je n’aurais pas pu mieux faire moi-même!
Tu as bien réussi cette tâche!
Tu t’exprimes très clairement! Bravo!
Encore un peu et tu l’auras!
J’ai remarqué que tu as vraiment fait de ton mieux aujourd’hui! Je t’en félicite!
5
Tu as écouté très attentivement aujourd’hui.
C’est toute une amélioration! Félicitations!
Ton comportement était exemplaire aujourd’hui! Félicitations!
Viens me voir pour de l’aide supplémentaire.
C’est bien trouvé!
Je t’applaudis!
En récompense de ce travail si bien fait, ce soir tu n’auras PAS DE DEVOIRS!
The latest update of this 38-page resource includes a tutorial on how to make regular and irregular adjectives agree with nouns and several activities and exercises to reinforce the concept.
The topics covered include:
• regular adjectives and
• irregular adjectives including adjectives ending in:
- é
- e
- eux
- if
- el
- en
- on
- er
• beau, bon, nouveau, vieux
• BANGS adjectives
• adjectives that change meaning when they change position
• adjectives of colour
• possessive adjectives
• demonstrative adjectives
les adjectifs possessifs
“meilleur versus mieux”
I’ve also included one of my favourite, most playful activities, " la vente aux enchères (des adjectifs de personnalité)" , a playful approach to mastering French adjectives
This game is a bit like “Taboo” and can be played 2 ways.
If your students are confident in French, have them play according to traditional Taboo® rules.
If your students are uncomfortable giving clues, turn the rules upside down. Have your students use the words beneath the red and green banner in their descriptions! This topsy-turvy approach encourages and empowers everyone to participate. You won’t believe what a positive game-changer it is. The green stars indicate challenging cards.
It’s usually a good idea for you as the teacher to announce that you will accept synonyms like 'un palet” or 'un disque” for 'une rondelle”.
The cards are designed to be run on business card sheets or card stock.
“Où sont les trésors cachés? (DEVOIR, VOULOIR et POUVOIR)” works well as a full-class, teacher-directed game or as a small group activity. After the fun of the oral treasure hunt, you can also assign co-ordinates to create an instant written assignment to reinforce the correct spelling of the verb endings. You’ll find that even reluctant learners will be motivated to listen carefully and the promise of “treasure” tends to generate enthusiastic oral participation as well. My answer key is for le présent tense but the game works for virtually every verb tense.
Try the free, “Où sont les trésors cachés (les verbes ER) to see if ”Où sont les trésors cachés? (Les verbes DEVOIR, VOULOIR et POUVOIR)” is right for your students:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/o-sont-les-tr-sors-cach-s--les-verbes-er-6438862
OÙ SONT LES TRÉSORS CACHÉS? works well as a full-class, teacher directed activity or as a small group game. After the fun of the oral treasure hunt, assign a handful of co-ordinates and, voilà, an instant written assignment that reinforces the correct spelling of the verb endings. You’ll find that even reluctant learners will be motivated to listen carefully and the promise of “treasure” tends to generate enthusiastic oral participation as well. My answer key is for le présent, le passé composé and le futur simple but the game can be played in virtually every verb tense.
To see if this activity is right for your students, try the free, “Où sont les trésors cachés (les verbes ER):
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/o-sont-les-tr-sors-cach-s-les-verbes-er-6438862
Both of the self-correcting games in this file are designed to hone your students’ understanding of les phrases hypothétiques or sentences built around “si” clauses.
GET THE PICTURE? After students have shuffled the 44 cards in this deck and spread them, text side up, on a table, they look for pairs of cards that make logical “phrases hypothétiques”. To check their work, they turn over each set of cards. Matching pictures mean they’ve made the right choices. Pictures that don’t match are gentle encouragements to try again.
The TRIANGLE PUZZLE asks students to align the text printed on the edges of 16 triangles to reconstitute the original hypothetical sentences.
Both of these activities work for independent learning, learning centres and competitive play with a study buddy.
Examples are not repeated in the two games.
Here are three of the “hypothetical” sentences your students will work with:
Quelqu’un qui boit trop d’alcool est alcoolique. Alors si moi, je bois beaucoup de Fanta, JE SERAI FANTASTIQUE, N’EST-CE PAS?
Couche-toi de bonne heure SI TU AS UN EXAMEN DEMAIN.
À mon avis, si Shakespeare vivait aujourd’hui, IL ÉCRIRAIT DU RAP.
You’ll find a simple aide-mémoire at the end of the GET THE PICTURE? file. It reminds students that the tense of the “then” clause depends on the tense of the “if” clause and charts what those tenses are.
OÙ SONT LES TRÉSORS CACHÉS? works well as a full-class, teacher directed activity or as a small group game. After the fun of the oral treasure hunt, assign a handful of co-ordinates and, voilà, an instant written assignment that reinforces the correct spelling of the verb endings. You’ll find that even reluctant learners will be motivated to listen carefully and the promise of “treasure” tends to generate enthusiastic oral participation as well. My answer key is for le présent, le passé composé and le futur simple but the game can be played in virtually every verb tense.
To see if this activity is right for your students, try the free, “Où sont les trésors cachés (les verbes ER):
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/o-sont-les-tr-sors-cach-s--les-verbes-er-6438862
"Où sont les trésors cachés? (ÊTRE et AVOIR)" works well as a full-class, teacher-directed game or as a small group activity. After the fun of the oral treasure hunt, you can also assign co-ordinates to create an instant written assignment to reinforce the correct spelling of the verb endings. You’ll find that even reluctant learners will be motivated to listen carefully and the promise of “treasure” tends to generate enthusiastic oral participation as well. My answer key is for le présent tense but the game works for virtually every verb tense.
To see if this this ÊTRE and AVOIR lesson is right for your students, try the free, “Où sont les trésors cachés (les verbes ER):
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/o-sont-les-tr-sors-cach-s--les-verbes-er-6438862
This resource will help visual learners master the following idioms:
aller droit au but
avoir du pain sur la planche
avoir la langue bien pendue
avoir le bras long
avoir le coeur sur la main
avoir une peur bleue
c'est dans la poche
c’est simple comme bonjour
ce n’est pas la mer à boire
ce n’est pas sorcier
connaître les ficelles
couper la poire en deux
coûter les yeux de la tête
en faire tout un fromage
faire la court échelle à quelqu'un
faire la pluie et le beau temps
faire la une
faire le pont
il y a quelque chose qui ne tourne pas rond
je suis un vrai tombeau
les doigts dans le nez
mettre la main à la pâte
parler français comme une vache espagnole
plier bagage
quand les poules auront des dents
un ours mal léché
If you like this resource, please let me know and I will make more like it.
In “Où sont les trésors cachés? (Les verbes conjugués avec ÊTRE)", the focus is on the Dr. and Mrs. VAN DER TRAMP verbs, ALLER, VENIR, DEVENIR and RENTRER. This activity works well as a full-class, teacher-directed game or as a small group activity.
After the fun of the oral treasure hunt, you can also assign co-ordinates to create an instant written assignment to reinforce the correct spelling of the verb endings. You’ll find that even reluctant learners will be motivated to listen carefully and the promise of “treasure” tends to generate enthusiastic oral participation as well. My answer key is for le présent tense and the passé composé but the game works for virtually every verb tense.
To see if this Dr. & Mrs. VAN DER TRAMP lesson is right for your students, try the free, “Où sont les trésors cachés (les verbes ER):
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/o-sont-les-tr-sors-cach-s--les-verbes-er-6438862
Featured in “Où sont les trésors cachés? (Les verbes PRONOMINAUX)” are SE LAVER, SE LEVER, S’HABILLER, SE PARLER and S’ACHETER. The activity works well as a full-class, teacher-directed game or as a small group activity. After the fun of the oral treasure hunt, you can also assign co-ordinates to create an instant written assignment to reinforce the correct spelling of the verb endings. You’ll find that even reluctant learners will be motivated to listen carefully and the promise of “treasure” tends to generate enthusiastic oral participation as well. My answer key is for le présent et le passé composé but the game works for virtually every verb tense.
Try the free, “Où sont les trésors cachés (les verbes ER) to see if ”Où sont les trésors cachés? (Les verbes DEVOIR, VOULOIR et POUVOIR)” is right for your students:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/o-sont-les-tr-sors-c
“Où sont les trésors cachés? (FAIRE, PRENDRE, METTRE)” works well as a full-class, teacher-directed game or as a small group activity. After the fun of the oral treasure hunt, you can also assign co-ordinates to create an instant written assignment to reinforce the correct spelling of the verb endings. You’ll find that even reluctant learners will be motivated to listen carefully and the promise of “treasure” tends to generate enthusiastic oral participation as well. My answer key is for le présent tense, but the game works for virtually every verb tense.
Try the free, “Où sont les trésors cachés (les verbes ER) to see if ”Où sont les trésors cachés? (Les verbes DEVOIR, VOULOIR et POUVOIR)” is right for your students:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/o-sont-les-tr-sors-cach-s--les-verbes-er-6438862