Imperfect tense - interviewing a grandparent

 It's always an interesting challenge trying to find a non-mechanical way to practise grammar, one which will motivate a class more and force them to use a construction in an interesting way. Technically speaking, this is an example of 'pushed output' - putting students in a position where they have to use a structure repeatedly. In so doing they have a greater chance of internalising or 'acquiring' the construction. (We'll not get into the debate here about whether pshed output is a valid way to further acquisition, but, like most teachers, I happen to think it is and there is plenty of research support for the idea, starting with Swain (1985).)

The example below, from my website, is a homework task which will force students to use the imperfect tense in French. I have in mind Y9-10 students with about theree yeras of French. In English it could equally be used to get students to use verb phrases with 'used to' - 'he used to go to school in Birmingham'. I'll copy in below the sheet given to students.

One or two points first. The idea is that students ask a grandparent the questions provided in English (L1). They use the anwers to produce a short artcile about what their life was like. If there is no access to a grandparent, students could interview a parent or other older adult, including a teacher. I like the idea of the grandparent partly because it would open up an interesting conversation with someone from an older generation and maybe even strengthen the bond between family members. As the student ask the grandparent the list of questions, they must jot down the answers in note form. They could do this after each question, or at the end. So far, no target language has been used and that's fine. This is going to be primarily a written task.

Once the notes are complete, the students can write their article by putting together some French (L2) sentences about what their grandparent's life used to be like. It is assumed that students will have been taught and practised the imperfet tense to some extent. The worksheet below gives a reminder. If you fear students will cheat by using AI, they could be instructed to bring in their English notes and do the writing in class.

So here is the sheet. For the benefit of non-French readers, I've translated the questions into English beneath the French version.

Vous allez interviewer votre grand-père/grand-mère/père/mère/etc

Regardez la liste de questions en français. Traduisez les questions et posez-les en anglais. Prenez des notes en anglais.

Ecrivez un compte-rendu des réponses français sous forme de reportage.

1. A quelle école allais-tu quand tu avais 10 ans?
2. Qu'est-ce que tu aimais manger quand tu étais petit?
3. Où habitais-tu?
4. Quelles émissions de télé ou de radio préférais-tu?
5. Qui étaient tes meilleurs amis?
6. De quoi avais-tu peur quand tu étais petit?
7. Allais-tu régulièrement en vacances? Où?
8. Avais-tu des animaux familiers?
9. Qu'est-ce que tu aimais faire à l'école primaire?
10. Quelles matières aimais-tu à l'école secondaire?
11. Avais-tu des ambitions quand tu étais jeune?
12. Que faisaient tes parents comme travail?
13. Tu t'entendais bien avec tes parents?
14. Quels passe-temps avais-tu?
15. Quelle musique aimais-tu quand tu étais adolescent?

English translation

1. What school did you go to when you were 10 years old?  

2. What did you like to eat when you were little?  

3. Where did you live?  

4. What TV or radio shows did you prefer?  

5. Who were your best friends?  

6. What were you afraid of when you were little?  

7. Did you go on vacation often? Where?  

8. Did you have any pets?  

9. What did you like to do in primary (elementary) school?  

10. What subjects did you like in secondary (high) school?  

11. Did you have any ambitions when you were young?  

12. What did your parents do for a living?  

13. Did you get along well with your parents?  

14. What hobbies did you have?  

15. What music did you like when you were a teenager?  

Reminder: here are the endings on a regular verbs in the imperfect tense:

Je regardais (I used to watch)                                  Nous regardions (We used to watch)

Tu regardais  (You used to watch)                          Vous regardiez (You used to watch)

Il/elle/on regardait  (He/she/we) used to watch)    Ils/elles regardait (They used to watch)

So you will use verb constructions like Il regardait, Elle allait, Elle faisait, Il jouait and so on.

In conclusion,  students could just hand in their work to be marked (graded) or they could read aloud their article in class, for example to one or more partners. They could, of course, read aloud and record their short article, perhaps to be shared on a school platform. Perhaps you can think of other angles for this.

Reference

Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 235–253). Newbury House.