November is the ideal time to teach French and Spanish learners about food. Tukey, stuffing, and pumpking pie . . . mmmmm! Get your K-6 language learners using the target language for authentic communication this Thanksgiving holiday. Find out what foods they like and what foods they don’t like through highly structured pair work/interviews.
Younger children need manipulatives for hands-on learning. Use realia that they can both see and touch: plastic toy foods, cans of food from your pantry, empty food cartons, etc. Use a lot of TPR (Total Physical Response) to get your students physically moving the food items: pass, roll, toss, smell, put, etc. Picture visuals are effective, too.
Make the concept of expressing preferences as concrete as the food (noun) vocabulary. Use gestures, facial expressions, and pictures to denote various opinions. For younger children, begin with just 2 choices:
I like . . ./I don’t like . . .
J’aime. . . /Je n’aime pas . . .
Me gusta . . . /No me gusta . . .
From there, you can expand and enrich vocabulary as the children grow and advance. (I love, I don’t really like, etc.) We’ve got some new conversational downloads that make partner activities clear and concrete for kids.
French Conversational Activities About Thanksgiving Foods
Spanish Conversational Activities About Thanksgiving Foods
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Photo Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/636352
