The day before Thanksgiving break can be a challenging lesson to teach. I know my students are sooooo ready for a break. And so am I! If I give a test, I have to grade it over the holiday. Ugh. So I opt for harnessing the excitement of the holiday to get my students talking, talking, talking in the target language. My last pre-Thanksgiving lesson was this past Friday, and I had a fantastic time doing a variety of conversational activities with my middle schoolers. (This would work great with high school levels I and II, too.) I have linked the product downloads if you are interested in the actual materials for your classes.
Here’s my pre-Thanksgiving French lesson 2011:
1. Parlez-vous “turkey”? I talked about how animals make different sounds in different languages. French cows say “Meuh,” French pigs say “Gron, gron,” and French roosters say “Cocorico!” American turkeys may say “Gobble, gobble,” but French turkeys say “Glou, glou, glou!” I showed the following video clip and my students loved it as a fun way to set the Thanksgiving theme.
I found something similar in Spanish, too:
2. Next, I introduced a Thanksgiving vocabulary PowerPoint that we made at ForeignLanguageHouse.com. It’s available in French or Spanish. It was effective to have the students guess the feminine forms of pilgrim and Native American before I revealed the word. When it came to foods vocabulary, I asked students their preferences. I usually draw various smily/frowny faces on the board to indicate J’adore – J’aime (bien, beaucoup) – Je n’aime pas (du tout) – Je déteste. Students ask a partner about a preference, and then I ask several students. Follow-up questions are extremely important to keep the conversations flowing. My students like to use “sauf” (except) and “mais” (but) to go beyond a simple statement.
If your students are younger, or if the concept of expressing preferences is brand new, consider our “Expressing Preferences with Thanksgiving Foods” downloads in French or Spanish
We also have a Tic Tac Toe board of Thanksgiving foods that can be used in any language. Students can make a statement about the food (preference, pass me please, etc.) before placing an X or an O on the space. You can make copies for students to play in partners, or you can project it onto a screen for team play.
3. The main thing my students like to talk about is themselves. (Who doesn’t, right?) So we spent a lot of time discussing our plans for Thanksgiving break. Luckily, we had recently learned the immediate future tense, so it was fabulous practice. Some verbs and expressions were new, but within the context of the conversation it was easy to introduce them for use in the lesson. We have French and Spanish printables in which students ask each other if they are going to cook, watch football, travel, shop, eat turkey, etc. They write, they interview partners, and they circulate around the room collecting signatures for affirmative responses. Be sure to participate in this activity as well!
Here’s a fun follow-up to the circulating activity: Human Bingo! Read off the names of the students you found while walking around the room asking, “Are you going to . . . ?” For example: Chantal va voyager. Jean va faire la cuisine. Juliette va regarder un match de football américain. Students give themselves one point for every name/activity that matches the teacher’s answer. Candy is always appreciated for the winner!
I am always thankful for lessons such as this that get my students speaking!
p.s. Looking for a quick, easy lesson for the day AFTER Thanksgiving break? If your students know the past tense, the downloads from #3 above also include past tense versions of the printables.
