Getting to know each other better + game to make them think in French and improve their vocabulary

How did you pick this theme or topic?

Some students had joined the group after the first class, or left the advanced group for the intermediate group (or vice versa) so I thought it could be nice to get to know them and to have the students get to know each other better. I also wanted to test their vocabulary.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

General discussion
Game
Handouts

How did students react?

They reacted well, they were rather numerous so they had to walk through the lounge to ask questions to each other.
For the vocabulary game, at first they did not find a lot of words but then they were more productive. And they tried to find uncommon words. They seemed to enjoy it.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes. They had to ask questions to each other to fill out the chart.
And they had to share the words they had found with everyone to know if they scored a point or not.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
handouts

Please attach a copy.
Below is the plan I had with me in class

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes, it was a good way of getting to know them better and of making them speak.

Advanced 09/08

1. Pass around the agreement sheets for the students who weren’t there before to fill them out

2. Warm-up in the meantime

3. Explain the game: the students need to fill out the chart with as many names as they can in the allotted time

4. Discussion about the results: who got the most names? Who has been to France, where, when? …

5. 2nd game: 2 truths and a lie
• explain the rules: they need to tell two truths and a lie and the other students need to find which sentence is the lie.

6. 3rd game: “petit bac”
• Explain the rules: I’m going to give you a letter, you need to find a word for each category, and to fill out the sheet as quickly as possible because the first one to finish says STOP and the others need to stop writing. Then we are going to share these words; those of you who have the same ones don’t score a point for this word, those who have words which are not repeated score one point for each word.
• Give them the sheets
• And do as many rows as needed