"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others" (Groucho Marx). I posted earlier this year two blogs, each one featuring 10 lesson starters which I think would work for many students at various levels. In this post, I'm going to offer ten more, partly using examples I've posted on frenchteacher.net. So, if you weren't keen on some of the first twenty, you might find a few here to add to your low-prep repertoire.
Before I kick off, the other two posts are here and here.
1. True or false cultural facts
For near-beginners, just display a series of statements on slides. Students must decide if the sentence is true or false. They can show their answers on mini-whiteboards. After each slide, follow up with any other relevant cultural facts. Examples I used in my slides for French were (translated into English):
- The capital of France is London.
- Montreal is in Belgium.
- In Switzerland they speak English.
- Marseille(s) is a city in France.
You could do this without slides and at various levels, just upping the degree of difficulty.
2. Which time phrase?
This is for classes who have worked on verbs in present, past and future (or near future). They also need to be familiar with a range of time phrases. Display slides with sentences, followed by three time phrases. Students have to choose the right phrase to show they have grasped the time frame. Optionally, they could then translate the sentence into English. Here are a couple of examples (again, translated into English):
- I played tennis (yesterday/tomorrow night/next week)
- I'm going to go to the pool (yesterday/this evening/last weekend)
- I work in the office (every day/last week/last night)
3. What would you do if...?
This would be for students who have worked on the conditional mood/tense. So, assuming the class has recently had the verb forms explained and practised in some form, you can get students to retrieve the verbs and other language by asking questions such as:
- What would you do if you saw a burglar in the garden?
- What would you if you found 50 euros in the street?
- What would you do if you had not done your homework before class?
4. What's the word?
This would be for advanced students or a very proficient Y11 class (CEFR A2, Higher GCSE). Give definitions of words without using the word itself. Again, this is a super simple starter needing no preparation, but it supplies comprehensible input, gets students thinking and retrieving vocabulary from memory. You could choose words students have used recently, or ones not encountered for a while. Here are three examples:
- This term describes the means by which people communicate with each other using their smartphones, tablets or computers. Examples of tools are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Whatsapp. When using this term, people disagree whether the influence they exert is positive or harmful. (Answer: social media - French 'réseaux sociaux')
- In the world of cinema, this is the person who writes the script for a movie or TV series. (Answer: scriptwriter - French 'scénariste')
- Sometimes, when a family breaks up, the former husband and wife find new partners. The children from each family may end up living together in a new family. What's the term for a family like this? (Answer: reconstituted family - French 'famille recomposée')
With some classes, you could take this further by asking students to do the same task in pairs. Partners could either make up their own clues, or you could give a printed list of, say, five words or terms to define.
5. One chunk at a time.
You might have already used 'one word at a time', where you go round the class and each student has to continue a sentence using any suitable word. Students can say 'full stop' ('period') if the sentence has come to a natural end. The result is a short account, maybe absurd, maybe sensible. In this version students must use chunks of language, e.g. I went/to the movies/with my boyfriend/last week. We saw/the new film/with Tom Cruise./ It was/great.
6. What's my job?
If we go back to language learning fundamentals, we know that we need comprehensible input and interaction for acquisition to happen. This is an old classic, similar to the vocab definition activity above. Input is the key. This used to be called 'What's my line?' (after an ancient black and white TV programme). Just explain what you do for a living, without using the name of the job. I used to use this with Y9 students who had been learning the names for jobs. It's another example of an input-focused task. If the inoput language has any harder words or phrases you can scaffold them with gestures, the occasional translation or reformulation. Examples:
- I wear a uniform.I work in a hospital or in a clinic, but I'm not a doctor. I often work with the doctor by doing tests and procedures to help diagnose medical problems. (Answer: nurse)
- I work in a restaurant, but not in the kitchen. I take orders from customers, fetch meals and take them to the table. I answer questions which the customers ask. (Answer: waiter/waitress)
- I work outdoors. My work is physical and I must work in all weathers. I tend plants, prune plants and trees, remove weeds and cut the grass. (Answer: gardener)
7. Spelling practice
This is one for beginners who have learned the letters of the alphabet. Maybe you have taught them to recite the alphabet and used a tune to help (e.g. Twinkle Twinkle or the US marching song). But you need students to apply their knowledge in different ways. This simpel task does that while building a little cultural knowledge, in this case the names of some famous French people from various spheres.
Here is the teacher instructions slide from frenchteacher.net
8. What time do you do things?
This is one for near-beginners who have been learning how to tell the time. Give students an activity and students must jot down on their mini-whiteboard (or respond with hands up) at what time they do the task. Again, there is a good deal of listening input here. Examples:
- What time do you get up?
- What time do you have breakfast?
- What time do you arrive at school?
- What time do you have lunch at school? etc etc
This starter has clear potential to develop into a longer lesson about daily routines, maybe even one with a 'task-based/communicative' slant, where students ask each other about daily routines and times, e.g. for a survey.
9. Advice clinic
This could work well with advanced students and would allow them to rehearse verb forms like: I would advise you to...; You could...; You should...; Why don't you...? Here are some ideas:
- I'm looking for a new pair of headphones. What should I do?
- I dropped my phone and the screen is broken. What could I do?
- I want to become better at cooking. What should I do?
- I would like to learn a different language. What are my options?
This could be teacher-led, or you could give the various questions for pairs to practise. After pairwork, partners could report on what advice they received.
10. Fizz buzz
I found this game to be a handy starter for revising numbers and getting students to think quickly on their feet. In case you don't know it, you count up from 1 to as far as you want. Move around the class from student to student. For any number containing 5 or any multiples of 5 (e.g. 20, 35, 40) the student must say FIZZ (or any word you prefer). For any numbers with a 7 in or multiples of 7, students say BUZZ (e.g. 7, 14, 21). Where the number has both a 5 and 7 in it, or is a multiple of 5 and 7, students must say FIZZ BUZZ). All this depends on students having an understanding of multiples. First time round, they will make mistakes, but it's a fun way to practise numbers and to develop quick reactions in students.
Students could replay the game in small groups.
Enjoy your starters and do let me know if you have any favourites of your own.
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