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A fun way to teach daily routine

I came across this on the Teaching English site (BBC/British Council). It was an idea submitted by Jo Adkin and Jeff Fowler. I have adapted it considerably for a French class.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/daily-routines

You need a list of 15 sentences on the whiteboard (out of order). These would be fine:

Je me réveille à 7 heures
Je me lève à 7 heures et quart
Je me brosse les dents
Je m'habille
Je prends le petit déjeuner à 7h 30
Je quitte la maison et je vais au collège
Je travaille en cours
Je déjeune à la cantine avec mes amis à une heure
Je rentre chez mois en bus à 17 heures
Je goûte
Je regarde la télé un peu
Je fais mes devoirs
Je prends le dîner avec mes parents à 20 heures
Je joue à la console
Je me couche à 10 heures

1.Teacher mimes the day in order . Pupils choose a sentence from the board.
2.Get a pupil up to the front to mime any of the day's events. This time pupils adapt the sentences to say "tu...." Watch out for the reflexive verbs where the pronoun changes.
3.Now cover up the sentences on the board and get individuals (or pairs if the atmosphere is right) to write down as many sentences as they can remember. (Break from oral/listening - quite moment in lesson)
4.Back into partner mode. One partner mimes an action, the other tells them what they are doing (alternate).
5.  If the class is good enough, each partner now has to recount the same daily routine from memory. Tell them not to worry about making mistakes. To add an element of competition, the partner who is listening could time the speaker to see how long they can go without stopping.
6.Lastly, the pairs recite their OWN daily routines, adapting the original one as much or as little as they can (differentiation).
7.Homework: write up (they have quite a few sentences already written down in rough)

There are variations you could work in. One which would work well for good classes: each person jots down five actions with times. The partner has to guess them with yes/no questions. First to get all five wins.

I have always found that classes respond well to tasks which require short term memory challenges and time limits/challenges. These can make quite mundane activities more motivating.


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