This resource is used by every teacher in my department and it's all about getting over that motivation barrier in the very first lesson. There's a settling activity which requires them to consider where French is spoken (thereby giving them a reason to learn the language), then a few of slides about the expectations we have of them (these can be taken out if preferred, or amended to suit your needs). The first 'real' task required students to identify the same word in four languages and to group them accordingly. This shows students how similar many languages are and that once they have begun to learn one foreign language, learning another one is easy! It also introduces them to the concept on cognates. Following this there are three pictures with a short phrase in French. Where necessary there are a few items of vocabulary. Students are to translate the meaning of the phrases, using cognates, the vocab given and the context of the picture to help them. I emphasise to them that in their first lesson they are already showing that they can understand whole phrases and practising important reading skills. The next slide shows a sign in Norwegian and asks students to apply the skills they've just learned to translate it, thereby showing students that although they are learning French, the skills they are learning can be applied to any language. The final section of the powerpoint shows a number of amazing places around the world (an attempt to broaden students' horizons beyond the region they live in), interspersed with reasons to learn a foreign language. I ask students to make brief notes of these reasons and then at the end of the ppt to select the 5 reasons which are most important to them. We discuss these reasons briefly at the end of the lesson.

It's vital to provide extension tasks for those new Y7s who already know some French, whilst others are still grappling with the vocab, so I created a worksheet to get them thinking about where the words for the days of the week come from and then asks them to work out the order of the Spanish and Italian days of the week too. The aim is to show them that by learning one language they will be able to understand a little of other languages too!

Included is a pronunciation table which can be glued into students' exercise books. I (or a student) select a section of the table at the beginning of the lesson and everyone has to answer the register with a word from that section. The repetition of a particular sound is helpful in reinforcing correct pronunciation and classes have confirmed that this has helped them greatly with their pronunciation. There is also a powerpoint which gives students tasks to complete based on the pronunciation table and a worksheet which can be set as homework. Finally I have included a set of spelling tests which are based on specific phonemes, rather than the traditional topics. These are also helpful when set occasionally, in helping students to focus on the link between sound and spelling. In terms of neuro-plasticity it is also helpful to give students something slightly different!

A selection of 17 settling activities based on authentic resources. An easy method of injecting a little humour into lessons whilst still ensuring a calm start to the lesson. I find that a settling activity on the board as students enter the classroom is helpful in challenging them from the first minute. All of the cartoon-based settling activities are intended to be used as comprehension exercises.

A collection of 40 resources, including worksheets and online resources to help your students to revise the topic ‘All About Me’ from their first term of Spanish. If, like many teachers across the country, you are spending term 6 revising this year’s topics, these resources should make planning quick and easy. Vocabulary covers the topics of: Greetings Numbers Months Dates / Birthdays Classroom objects Colours Classroom phrases There are also grammar resources looking at the gender of nouns and adjectival endings. Finally there is a resource which helps students to practise the reading skills of using cognates, context and keywords.

It's so important to be able to provide some extra for those Y7 students who've already learned some French, whilst the rest of them are still learning the vocab. I've put together a sheet which breaks down the greetings words and gets them to start using the vocab they've learned in other contexts.

An authentic resource - an article from 1jour1actu.fr about the collapse of a clothes factory in Bangladesh with comprehension activities to help students to understand the article. I find that students are always really proud of themselves when told that the article has come from a real French newspaper! I don't tell them it's a newspaper for kids!

A worksheet which requires students to demonstrate that they understand a wide range of days, months and numbers, plus a few phrases for saying what the day or date is. Students identify the same word or phrase in French and English and colour both boxes in the same colour to show that they have matched them. Students may need to use patterns as a means of showing matched pairs unless they have a huge number of different coloured pencils!

A collection of resources to be used at the beginning of KS3 to help students to understand classroom instructions. There is a list which we use as a department to ensure that we are all using the same phrases, plus a student worksheet, a help sheet for students who are 'on red' (traffic lights) and an extension task on powerpoint for the more able.

I like to have one of these settling activities on the board as the students come into the classroom. It's part of their routine that they start on the settling activity as soon as they've sat down and copied the date and title. I find that it makes a calm start to the lesson and in addition it's an excellent opportunity to cover vocab or a grammar point that students haven't seen for some time.

I like to have one of these settling activities on the board as the students come into the classroom. It's part of their routine that they start on the settling activity as soon as they've sat down and copied the date and title. I find that it makes a calm start to the lesson and in addition it's an excellent opportunity to cover vocab or a grammar point that students haven't seen for some time. They may also contain words or phrases in other languages in order to show students how learning one language can help them to understand others.

27 settling activities that I use with Year 8 more able students. I find that a settling activity on the board is really useful in ensuring a calm start to the lesson, whilst offering challenge from the first minute. These offer an easy means of revising vocab and grammar points that are not frequently covered and therefore easily forgotten!

A useful resource for getting students to speak spontaneously. In small groups (4 players) students roll a dice and move their counters to the relevant spot on the board. They have to say the phrase in French shown on the square they've landed on. If they can't say it they go back to their original square. In my experience students really enjoy this opportunity to use spoken French in a small group, rather than in front of the class. As the teacher I can move around the groups checking what the students are saying. To help them last longer we laminate the boards. Counters and dice are required too, but can be bought very cheaply.

I like to have one of these settling activities on the board as the students come into the classroom. It's part of their routine that they start on the settling activity as soon as they've sat down and copied the date and title. I find that it makes a calm start to the lesson and in addition it's an excellent opportunity to cover vocab or a grammar point that students haven't seen for some time. These are aimed at Y7 in their first term of French so the main aim is to improve their cultural knowledge. It's important that students should be able to complete the activities independently (whilst I do the register, etc) so the activities require little knowledge of French language. Any comprehension activities rely mainly on cognates.

An excellent way to get students giving spontaneous spoken phrases at the end of a lesson. To uncover a cell (to find out if there's a battleship hiding) students have to give a phrase that includes a phrase from the top of the screen and one from the left of the screen. When they've said the phrase you click on the blue rectangle to show whether there's a battleship beneath it or not. I've found this works particularly well with boys' classes. This resource is made using Active Inspire software, compatible with Promethean Interactive Whiteboards.

A useful resource to get students practising saying the phrases they've learned in their first term of French. Contains days, months, numbers, greetings and phrases students should use in class to ask permission to do something. Useful for vocab recap too. Give one domino to each student (if there are more dominoes than students give more able students two dominoes). The students with the domino that starts with 'Début' begins by saying the French phrase. The student with the matching phrase in English says it and then the French phrase that forms the other side of their domino. Keep going until the class reaches the final domino. To introduce a competitive element challenge students to get through the whole domino set in less than 2 minutes. The dominoes last longer if laminated before being used!

A useful resource for getting students to speak spontaneously. In small groups (4 players) students roll a dice and move their counters to the relevant spot on the board. They have to say the phrase in French shown on the square they've landed on. If they can't say it they go back to their original square. In my experience students really enjoy this opportunity to use spoken French in a small group, rather than in front of the class. As the teacher I can move around the groups checking what the students are saying. To help them last longer we laminate the boards. Counters and dice are required too, but can be bought very cheaply.

A useful resource for getting students to speak spontaneously. In small groups (4 players) students roll a dice and move their counters to the relevant spot on the board. They have to say the phrase in French shown on the square they've landed on. If they can't say it they go back to their original square. In my experience students really enjoy this opportunity to use spoken French in a small group, rather than in front of the class. As the teacher I can move around the groups checking what the students are saying. To help them last longer we laminate the boards. Counters and dice are required too, but can be bought very cheaply.

A useful resource for getting students to speak spontaneously. In small groups (4 players) students roll a dice and move their counters to the relevant spot on the board. They have to say the phrase in French shown on the square they've landed on. If they can't say it they go back to their original square. In my experience students really enjoy this opportunity to use spoken French in a small group, rather than in front of the class. As the teacher I can move around the groups checking what the students are saying. To help them last longer we laminate the boards. Counters and dice are required too, but can be bought very cheaply.