Fun Games for The MFL Classroom
Fun Language Games for The MFL Classroom To Engage Learners Games are defined as ‘activities that one engages in for amusement or fun’. Nowadays, when learners think of language lessons, they don’t usually synonymy them with the expression fun. So, why not change their thinking? You can do this, fairly simply, by including some low-prep, fun language games for the MFL classroom into your teaching repertoire. Josh Beattie, Assistant Director at the Department for Education stated in 2018 that not enough pupils are taking languages, because “they either consider them boring, dislike their teachers or think they are too difficult.”ย Although I definitely don’t think that teachers have to have…
Fun Speaking Activity for First Lesson in Language Classrooms
Want to get some weird looks and questions from your family when packing for a new term of college? Get some toilet roll out…! Ready for a fun speaking activity during first lessons in any language classroom. The ‘Loo’ Roll Speaking Activity For First Lessons Today, I started back at college, teaching a speaking and listening course. This ‘loo’ roll activity for speaking was the first fun speaking activity that I learnt during my teacher training course in 2009. I often use it to get students to talk about themselves from the outset of a new course or class. It works for post beginners, intermediate and advanced speakers and allows them…
Great Speaking Ideas for First German or Language Lesson Back
Start As You Mean To Go On with Any Of These 5 Amazing Speaking Activities for the First German Lesson Back (or French, English, Spanish or any other language!) How I do enjoy the first German lesson back after a summer holiday! I also love my first French lessons back and my first English lessons back too at the start of a new term! It’s a great opportunity to show your passion for the language you teach and re-enthuse your students to feel the same way. Who has ever done a ‘find someone who’ speaking activity in their first German lesson back? Me. It meets the criteria of speaking task.…
The Essential List of Websites To Learn French Online for Students
Where To Find Self-Study Websites to Learn French Online? I started teaching French in 2012. Ever since then, I have always been on the lookout for great self-study websites to learn French to share with my students to help improve their French level. I use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram religiously (come and follow me: @theidealteacher), which makes that task really easy.ย #mfltwitterati and languages teachers all over the world share websites to learn French online on these social networks, and in turn, I share these with my followers, as well as any other useful links I find myself. Thank you to all of you who share the best French resources…
Spontaneous Speaking with Video Clips in Language Learning
How To Improve Your Speaking with Short Video Clips Short video clips are fantastic prompts for spontaneous speaking practice when it comes to learning any language. “Videos generate visual stimulants that wake up the brain cells and demand focused attention” which can be used to enhance the language learning process. This post on using video clips for spontaneous speaking practice in language learning comes mainly from personal experience. Although “most teachers regard video as useful input” (Warwick University – Video For All). So…read on to see how using short video clips helped me to overcome my fear of spontaneous speaking, and to see some great websites with excellent short video…
Emojis Verb Builder To Learn and Revise Verbs
Use Emojis To Revise and Learn Vocabulary Last year, I wrote a post entitled Emojis Vocabulary Builder. Students receive a worksheet with chunks of emojis based around different themes. They annotate the sheet to revise vocabulary or develop their bank of vocabulary. Surprisingly, the worksheets were very well received by modern language teachers and students! Thanks to Twitter, I learnt that today, 17th July, is #WorldEmojiDay. At the same time, I also learnt that Apple will be adding a ‘yawn’ emoji – cue favourite, newest, overused emoji! Therefore, I decided to adapt my emoji vocabulary builder activity even further and make it perfect for language learners who want to learn…
Want to learn a language (French, German or English) online?
Learn French Online, Learn German Online and Have English Lessons Online Today! This year marks 10 years since I first qualified as a language teacher in Boston, Lincolnshire. That is crazy! The time really has flown by. Over the years, I have taught thousands of adults and children, French, German and English online and in-person. I truly have loved every single second of it. Having taught students in Spalding, West Pinchbeck, Bourne, King’s Lynn and Boston, as well as people in France, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Belgium and German, I have met many people all with different needs and of different abilities. Many of my earliest students still have a special…
Jobs – French Listening Practice and Transcript (Intermediate)
Check out my jobs and les mรฉtiers lesson below with some french listening practice for GCSE French, FSL and FLE lessons. We did vocabulary and phrase recall, questions, as well as some french listening practice through an audio file read by a native speaker. If you’re interested in how I structured the jobs and ambitions lesson, or would like a copy of the listening resources I used for the GCSE French lesson, read on! How Did I Structure The Jobs Topic Listening Revision Lesson? STARTER We started the French listening practice lesson by mind mapping all job related words, phrases and questions that we could think of and adding them…
Ma Ville – French Listening Practice & Transcript
French Listening Practice – ‘Ma Ville’ – with Audio, Transcript and Activities French listening practice was on my mind this week! My main aim was to create some intermediate French GCSE listening practice on the topic of ‘ma ville’. Mainly, as revision for my Year 11 GCSE French students, as part of the AQA syllabus. Speaking exams are looming and all we have done lately is focus on getting through the material and speaking! We have photo cards, role plays and general conversation questions coming out of our ears. So, I decided to have a slight interlude and finished the half term on a little high with some much needed…
French GCSE Speaking and Writing Handout with 39 ‘Ingredients’, Examples and Translations
Useful French GCSE Speaking and Writing Phrases for Grades 4-9 Sometimes I wonder if we give students too many handouts. Especially when I consider how often they look at them. Or on the other side of the scale, how reliant students can become on using handouts to produce their ‘own’ work. For these reasons, I am reluctant to give out so many handouts in my lessons. Usually only sharing those which I feel my language learners will truly benefit from, or can learn from. This is were this 39 Ingredients to Access Higher Grades in French GCSE Writing and Speaking handout document comes in! It’s a brilliant revision resource as…
