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All the sentence builders on frenchteacher.net

Sentence builders, often previously known as substitution tables, have become a go-to tool for many language teachers. They have a some advantages, when designed in the Conti-style with translations:

  • They lay our clearly the language to be used. "This is the language you need to be able to understand and use."
  • They are full comprehensible — no student can say they do not understand.
  • They are great for modelling pronunciation, spelling and phonics (sound-spelling relationships).
  • They can be exploited in multiple ways, using all four modes — listening, speaking, reading and writing.
  • They can form an early part of a lesson sequence involving other forms of input and practice, e.g. texts, dialogues and grammar and vocab exercises.
  • For speakers with weak English (e.g. newly arrived immigrant pupils) they provide models of the L1 as well as the L2.
  • They can act as revision and vocab learning tools.

If you create them, just make sure that they feature chunked language much more than isolated words and that they are not too cluttered. They are not writing or speaking mats. The less material they contain, the more that material can be recycled and stay in long-term memory. When it comes to the design of sentence builders you may find this screencast useful.

Of course, sentence builders are just one way to model input and need not be used all the time, or at all. There are a range of ways to model input language.

Some teachers may worry that sentence builders just end up developing rote learned chunk usage. Remember that they are just part of a sequence that can include more communicative language use. In any case, you can make them more 'communicative' in their own right as shown here. 

On frenchteacher.net I have created many examples for each year group. The list is below:

Y7

Me (Word) or PowerPoint
How are you? or PowerPoint
Classroom items with prepositions (Word) orPowerPoint
In my classroom (Word) or PowerPoint
My pets (Word) or PowerPoint
My family (Word) or PowerPoint
Physical appearance (1st and 3rd person) (Word) or PowerPoint
Weather (Word) or PowerPoint
Favourite ice creams
Where I live (Word) or PowerPoint
In my house/flat (Word) or PowerPoint
In my town/village/local area (Word) or PowerPoint
Places in town (+ prepositions) (Word) or PowerPoint
Going places (present) - countries, cities, places (Word) or PowerPoint
Going places (future) - countries, cities, places (Word) or PowerPoint
What am I watching? What am I listening to? (Word) or PowerPoint
Using faire (present tense) (Word) or
PowerPoint
My bedroom (Word) or PowerPoint
Where are you going? Why? (Word) or PowerPoint
Where did you go? Why? (Word) or PowerPoint
Favourite means of transport (Word) or PowerPoint
Pastimes (Word) or PowerPoint
Christmas
Favourite subjects (Word) or PowerPoint
Describing a teacher I like (Word) or PowerPoint
What time do you do things?
What are you going to watch?
What time are you going to do things tomorrow?
Which animals do you like and why? (masculine)
Which animals do you like and why? (masculine and feminine)
When is your birthday?
Food and drink preferences
Which sports do you like? - J'aime
Which sports do you do? - Je joue/je fais

Y8

France (on peut…)
A day at the beach
A visit to Paris (past/je)
A visit to Paris (future)
A visit to Paris (past/nous/on)
A visit to Parc Asterix (past/nous/on)
A plane journey
A train journey
‘I watched… I listened to…’
‘I played’ (+ sports)
Going places (with perfect tense of aller, all parts)
Going places – future
Using faire (present tense, all parts)
Using faire (perfect tense)
Using faire (perfect tense) with silly sentences
Using jouer (+ au/à la and du/de la) with silly sentences
Using prendre with silly sentences
What I wear at school and at home
Finding directions
Asking questions about a friend’s interests
Weekend (present tense)
Perfect tense (être verbs)
Perfect tense irregular avoir verbs ending in u
Perfect tense irregular avoir verbs ending in s and t
Daily routine
What we do as a family (1st plural)
What my friends and I do (1st plural)
What my friend likes to do
Perfect tense (reflexive verbs)
Films and TV series
Saying what you want and don’t want to do
Saying what you have to (must) do
Saying what you like and don’t like doing (using plaire)
Saying what you can and can’t do where you live
Saying you know and don’t know how to do something
Last weekend

Y10-11 (matched to GCSE topics)

Digital technology (easier)
Digital technology (harder)
Celebrity culture
Celebrations and festivals
When I was younger
A plane journey (also in Y8)
A disastrous holiday
A holiday in England
Accidents (using present participles)
Holiday jobs (using present participles)
Protecting the environment (using present participles)
Healthy lifestyle
Cinema and TV
Sport
Music
Friends
Family
Family life
Typical school day
Life at school
Future plans
Volunteering
Pastimes in four tenses
Food preferences
A meal I had
My town
Poverty


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