French Lesson Plan The House

French Lesson Plan
The House
Purpose and requirements:
The main theme of the lesson is the house. The students will learn
vocabulary related to the home, electronic goods/appliances/devices,
furniture, rooms, etc. Additionally, the lesson will use classroom-related
vocabulary, but students at this point usually know a few words already
(trousse, crayon, cartable, etc.) They will mainly work on description
objectives using the indicatif présent tense and prépositions de lieu.
This lesson is aimed at beginners who should already know how to ask
questions using what, who, and ideally also why and how. The lesson
introduces the “where” and deals with il y a in affirmative, negative, and
interrogative forms. Lesson objectives:
• Communication: describe a place and locate things; describe a
place using il y a/il n’y a pas de and prépositions de lieu; ask and
answer questions using “where”
• Grammar focus: indicatif présent, prépositions de lieu, interrogative
and negative
• Vocabulary: home-related vocabulary, (new) school, classroom
related vocabulary, (review) colors, adjectives
Material:
• Dictionaries
• Images of furniture, electronic appliances, home accessories,
home design accessories, etc.
• paper, scissors, glue, pencil, tape
• a big house plan
Bridge-in
Part 1
• Students in pairs or groups will create one room of a house using a sheet of paper and images from
magazines or from a selection provided by the teacher.
Rooms to create: la cuisine, la salle à manger, le salon, la chambre des parents, la chambre de l’enfant,
la salle de bains/les toilettes. Depending on the number of students and groups to create, additional
rooms can be suggested: la chambre de la fille/du garçon, le garage, la salle de jeux or places outside, le
jardin, etc. The teacher provides students with the different room names.
• Students have to look in the dictionary to find the name of the various objects they select for their rooms
and write the words with a pencil.
Visit www.PimsleurApproach.com for more free French language learning resources
French Lesson Plan
The House
Part 2
Examples:
• The teacher collects students’ work to create a
house plan on the board and can draw corridors
and doors and also write in big letters the room
names on the board.
• Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans la cuisine ?
• Il y a une table et quatre chaises.
• The teacher writes the question “Qu’est-ce qu’il
y a dans...” and the answer “Il y a…” and asks
each group of students to answer questions so
each room is described.
• Où est la voiture ?
• La voiture est dans le garage.
• Only once all rooms have been described,
other questions may be asked using “qu’est-ce
que c’est ?” and “où est … ?” (only requiring
answers using “dans”) as well as “est-ce qu’il y
a…”, the most difficult one, implying the answer
«il n’y a pas de”. However, the rule does not
need to be explained as it works for masculine,
feminine, and plural.
• Qu’est-ce que c’est ?
• C’est un lit.
• Est-ce qu’il y a une télévision dans la cuisine ?
• Non, il n’y a pas de télévision dans la cuisine.
These questions can also be asked to introduce
qui est-ce que/qui and qu’est-ce que/qui :
• Qui est-ce qui dort dans la chambre ?
• La fille.
• Qu’est-ce qu’elle aime comme couleurs ?
• Le rose.
Guidelines
Students must place the objects, devices, and furniture in as realistic a way as possible.
As appropriate, they have to place objects on tables, beds, or shelves, things on the walls, etc. as in a real
house.
When asking the question “qu’est-ce qu’il y a”, the teacher writes the list of vocabulary on the side of the board
including the déterminants to indicate word genders. This can also be done under the name of each room.
The teacher could also introduce new colors or review colors when possible with furniture, for example.
Visit www.PimsleurApproach.com for more free French language learning resources
French Lesson Plan
The House
Activity
The activity will introduce prépositions de lieu. There
are quite a few of them and the teacher should only
use the main ones with simple forms, i.e. the ones
requiring le, la, les without any de: sur, sous, devant,
derrière, entre … et ….
• “chez” and “à/au/à la/aux” are often introduced
along with this list, “chez moi” and “chez toi”
could be introduced and more depending on the
students’ level (chez nous, chez vous, chez lui,
chez elle, chez eux, chez elles)
Part 1
A- A good way of providing this vocabulary without
any translation is to use a picture of a room from a
magazine and show the students where things are,
making sentences. The teacher should make simple
sentences, but can also use “il y a”.
Examples: les fleurs sont sur la table, le tapis est
sous la table, il y a un canapé devant la fenêtre, la
fenêtre est derrière le canapé, entre la fenêtre et le
canapé, il y a une plante.
B – Students can also use the prépositions with
objects from the class. The teacher can ask three
students to come with objects of their choice and
place them on the teacher’s desk. Students can then
raise hands to describe the “scene.”
Part 2
The teacher distributes to the class a big house plan
telling them they have inherited a luxury house and
they are free to furnish and decorate it as they see fit.
But they also have inherited a few objects that they
must keep in the house.
They will use a list of things and objects in addition
to the vocabulary they already have. They can also
explain, for some of the objects they like or don’t like,
why they placed them in this or that room.
They can work on their own or in pairs. They write a
short text describing the dream house and then read
it aloud. They do not have to use all the vocabulary
or the whole list, but the teacher should indicate a
minimum number of words to use.
Dictionaries are still used here, but the teacher can
also answer vocabulary questions when checking
students’ work on the text.
List of objects/things for the luxury dream house:
un jacuzzi
un piano blanc
un grand tableau
un home cinéma
un palmier
une bibliothèque
une table de billard
un aquarium
un jeu d’échecs
un bar
une peau d’ours
un coffre à jouets
une statue de Napoléon
Test
The test is in a “right or wrong” question form. Vrai ou faux. The teacher asks 10 questions using the
prépositions de lieu and il y a/il n’y a pas based on students’ places in the classroom and the classroom itself.
• If qui est-ce que/qui and qu’est-ce que/qui were introduced, the teacher can add them to the list
of questions.
Examples: John est devant Peter, vrai ou faux ? Il n’y a pas de trousse rose sur la table de X., vrai ou
faux ? Il y a un livre sur le bureau de Y., etc.
• Qui est-ce qui est assis devant John ? Qu’est-ce que Peter a dans la main ? etc.
The teacher writes questions and answers while asking the questions if the task is not prepared before, and
corrects the answers.
Visit www.PimsleurApproach.com for more free French language learning resources
French Lesson Plan
The House
Game
The game introduces new prépositions. They can be given with translation or explained using the students’
positions and their possessions in the class room.
The teacher will describe a simple scene from an image that students cannot see. They have to draw following
the teacher’s instructions. Ideal themes are rooms and classrooms.
Images below are given as examples :
•
•
•
•
•
http://coloriage.gulli.fr/Coloriages-Maison/Salon/Salon-9
http://www.coloriage-dessin.com/coloriage/coloriage_dessin-coloriage-cuisine-1232808310.html
http://www.coloriages.com/coloriages/divers/la-chambre-de-marine/
http://www.trucsetdeco.com/coloriage-enfant/coloriage-chambre-van-gogh.html
http://coloriage-en-ligne.lol.net/ecole/classe-d-ecole.htm
At the end of the activity, the teacher shows the image to the students and students can vote for the drawing
that is the closest to it.
Assessment:
The teacher will photocopy each room made by students so all students
have all the rooms. Vocabulary and misspellings can be corrected before
photocopying the sheets of papers because the students have written the
words using a pencil. The teacher should make sure at this point that all
the vocabulary used in the Quizzes is listed.
Homework is given to create a number of sentences describing each room,
using prépositions de lieu.
Tips:
Student(s) who scored 10 on the test can prepare their own list of
questions to ask the class to start the next lesson.
The student who has made the most accurate drawing can bring his/her
own drawing/image to describe to other students who will draw according
to his/her instructions.
Copyright © 2000-2012 Internet Order, LLC. All rights reserved. “Stroll” and “Internet Order” are trademarks of Internet Order,
LLC. Internet Order, LLC sells Pimsleur® products but is not an affiliate of Simon & Schuster, Inc. (the publisher of Pimsleur®
products) or of Beverly Pimsleur (the owner of the Pimsleur® trademark, which is licensed exclusively to Simon & Schuster).
Any use of the Pimsleur® name or associated marks is solely to identify the products sold by Internet Order, LLC. Internet
Order, LLC is solely responsible for the contents of this document.
Visit www.PimsleurApproach.com for more free French language learning resources
List of prépositions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
à côté de
près de
à gauche de
à droite de
au-dessous de
au-dessus de
au milieu de
en face de