Tuesday 21st February is Mardi Gras (Shrove/‘Fat’ Tuesday)! This is a power point resource all about Mardi Gras that includes accompanying activities that can be done afterwards. It is designed as a French lesson, but can easily be used as a whole school assembly, especially in a French-teaching primary school. There are some links to be made with RE and Lent, so it will work especially well in a CE/Catholic primary school teaching French. It is suitable for KS2 or perhaps just lower Key Stage 3. There are already many resources out there on the subject of Easter, but very few on Mardi Gras, which is increasing in popularity in the UK as ‘Fat Tuesday’. The lesson commences with the children analysing 2 photos showing Mardi Gras (carnival) scenes. (A means of activating critical thinking skills) before introducing the lesson as one about Mardi Gras, how it is celebrated and some key vocabulary. The ppt links to a You Tube clip of a parade in Montreal (providing opportunities to discuss French culture around the world). It introduces some key vocabulary, (and can be used as an opportunity to revise colours, days of the week and dates, as they come up, naturally). Possible activities include: -2 word searches using the key vocabulary. One easier, one harder. Reading slide (depending on ability, could be read as a whole class looking for ‘the word that means…’ Recorded audio of the reading slide - you could give the challenge of listening to hear a specific word or phrase. (In the passage, as there are some near-cognate words that are not given in the vocabulary - children have to work out they mean based on how they look, sound or are spelled.) As a creative task, children can design a Mardi Gras mask, and several templates are given. The ppt slides can be printed in A3 when there are 2 per page. To make a larger art/DT project. This provides opportunities for wonderful displays!!! I have seen examples of Mardi Gras displays on the internet, where, having created the masks, the children’s photographs are taken and printed A3 size and the masks stuck over the top of the child’s face on the board - looks amazing! In my school, I haven’t gone that far, but the children were occupied for a whole wet-play, making gold, green and purple paper chains, which I decorated around a notice board, using my ppt slides as information for the mid-section. Sorry, there are no word search answers for the 2nd word search, but you could retain a child’s once they have solved - also, using the word ‘or’ in the word search has resulted in there being several possible answers - I didn’t change it - it’s probably something else of interest that will enable the word to stick in their minds. Please note: Selling resources on TES has enabled me to donate £500 to date to our partner school in Sierra Leone. All author proceeds from this resource will be donated to our partner school, where it is used to buy medicines and period products

Thursday 26th September 2024 is the European Day of Languages! This is an assembly that has been prepared to let children know this, and to encourage them to reflect on why there is a special day for languages. It would work well as an introduction to a whole day of European language themed small activities e.g. the lunch menu in other languages/teachers greeting you in other languages. There are opportunities to iterate to children that, even though we are leaving the EU, we are part of Europe, and will still be part of Europe when we leave (Not overtly mentioned - this could be held as a discussion on the ‘Europe’ slides.) It links to what I have called in the presentation ‘British Values’ (but for my school we talk of Core Values) and prompts children to reflect on how learning about another person’s language and culture can link to values such as tolerance. There are links to a clip, where children have to listen for the French speaker saying ‘hello- talk to me’ - as we teach French in our school (simply amend the photo and listen for the language(s) that you teach if it is not French). Later on there are some fun activities, in French, which are appropriate if you do or do not teach French, as ideally, throughout the school day, you would incorporate ways to engage with the other languages spoken in Europe (e.g. am register in Italian, pm register in Spanish - I have chosen French as we teach it in our school and it needs a ‘push/plug’. The material is designed to fill approximately 20 minutes assembly time. If I had more time to fill, I would show one of the excellent French language short animations afterwards, such as Du Tout Cuit I hope you find this resource helpful.

This is an animated Power Point that can be used over several sessions of teaching telling the time. Introduces: firstly, the time on the hour; quarter past then half past; midday/midnight; minutes past; and finally minutes to. The slides have been animated to carry out listen/repeat type exercises first, then recall exercises next. Option to print out slides as worksheets/ or play games with slides - I’ve included some notes about which slides can be used for what purposes. I hope you enjoy using this resource. I would be grateful if you could leave a review.

One reading sheet Scenario: French teenagers talking about what they like doing in their hometown of Lille. The vocabulary has been deliberately chosen so that children can work out the meaning of the small paragraphs in the speech bubbles even if they have not been taught the vocabulary. This would be good for pair work - to try and figure out what is being said, for learners prior to it being read through and explained by the teacher. The second worksheet is a set of simple questions so it can be completed in a more traditional way.

Whole lesson presentation. Teaches 'tu aimes …?' And Oui, j’aime …/Non, je n’aime pas … For activities that are typically done in one’s home town. Builds upon a lesson(s) where learners have covered the basic vocabulary for places in a town. Includes recorded French.

Power Point presentation and games to introduce vocabulary for places in town. This includes an auto play recording of each piece of vocabulary introduced. It is selected to introduce vocabulary for what might be found in most English towns. It has vocabulary for seaside towns included. Includes typical games that can be played to help consolidate new vocabulary (noughts and crosses, que manque-t-il) Includes a slide to help guide some writing using the new vocabulary. There is an optional printout in the slides of a map of a UK town - there are spaces to write the French equivalent next to the English symbol (practise map reading skills too!) Print directly from Power Point. I hope you enjoy using this resource. I would be grateful if you could leave a review.

This introduces vocabulary for common household pets. This bumper powerpoint includes: French voice recordings for each animal. Guess the missing picture game (Que manque-t-il?) Guess the animal by the sound it makes (C’est quel animal?) Watch carefully to count the number of animals Animated noughts and crosses (Morpion) Printable word search. This resource is suitable for a variety of ages - photographs have been carefully selected to look modern and appealing; the activities are best used over several short sessions - introduce vocabulary and then come back to some of the other activities at other times.

Just a bit of fun - this could be used when teaching French on a themed day such as World Book Day or maybe a Harry Potter themed event is taking place at your school. It is a short (5 question) quiz that shows how the titles of Harry Potter books have been translated, and the characters, so it could be used as a starter. I would probably use it to elicit a brief discussion about whether people’s names should be translated - or not - in this case, they often need translating, as the name also conveys the character, a bit (like Miss Honey in Matilda) in the French translations of the Harry Potter books, many characters have different names e.g Snape = Rogue, but in the German translations, they are not altered - can give older children an idea about the subtleties of translating! **Tip: **I have used a special Harry Potter font (which I love!) to make it more relatable. This can be easily downloaded for free with a quick internet search.

This is a twist on a getting-to know-you exercise to do, perhaps, with a new class, on a transition, or when starting German after a break, if the teaching is staggered. The printout (print directly from ppt slides) is designed to look like a Facebook page, entitled Deutschbook. This resource aims to engage older learners of German to revisit the basics in a manner that doesn’t feel babyish or repetitive. If you like this resource, I would be grateful if you could leave a review.

Les Animaux de la Jungle. Now with recorded French for each piece of vocabulary used or introduced. This is an engaging way to introduce vocabulary for animals that live in the Indian jungle. It would support a topic of India or simply use as something different to the usual animals that are taught. Games: Listen to the animal sound and say the animal that makes the noise (C’est quel animal?) Look at the picture closely and state which one is missing (Que manque-t-il) Revise numbers at the same time by watching the moving pictures closely and counting how many animals there were altogether. (Combien de…?) Also includes: A three-page worksheet that includes simple cut/stick, matching activities and a wordsearch using the new vocabulary. The powerpoint is available in two options: Autoplay soundbites for non speakers of French (learn alongside!). This duplicates slides and auto plays all French phrases. Sound clips included when you click on the icon - to vary interest and give another voice for children to listen to. The worksheets are supplied in Microsoft Word format so they are fully editable. Note: the Power Point presentations are animated which cannot be viewed in preview mode.

Two simple time-saving Power Point resources - one simply with each letter of the alphabet per slide, for simple teaching of the alphabet - listen/repeat exercises. One Power Point will spin randomly - when in presentation mode (push F5) through all the letters, and will stop/start again on pushing s on the keyboard. Lots of fun activities to be done with this - far beyond knowing the letters of the alphabet - depending on the level of vocabulary acquired this could be used as a starter for a - ‘un object qui commence par …’ (something that starts with …) Equally useful in other languages, and deliberately written plainly to support use in many different ways. Alternatively - print in smaller (e.g. 2 slides per page) versions and use as flash cards, or for small group games.

Christmas Fun: A version of the 12 Days of Christmas song to revise animals, colours and numbers (ordinal and cardinal) in French.