Jouons en ville !
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It seems like the best ideas are always the ones that come to me at the last minute. I've always been a procrastinator and teaching is no exception, but I tend to do my best work under pressure (or at least I tell myself!). A few weeks ago I was trying to think of something to do with my first graders to introduce city vocabulary about twenty minutes before class when I came up with this game. It not only helps students practice place names but also basic directions.I have a set of laminated flashcards of place names illustrated with cartoonish pictures of the places. Pretty boring, until you add construction paper roads AND hotwheels! I started with just the roads and displayed each card to the kids, having them repeat and look at the picture to figure out the definition. Following this protocol I added them to the "city" one at a time, sometimes justifying their location in simple terms ("Je mets la pharmacie à côté de l'hôpital" or "Je mets le parking en face du supermarché").
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à gauche
à droite
tout droit
arrêtez
Next I pull out my little car, explaining that I am new in town and they have to give me directions. I announce my destination and start driving, making sure to pause at each carrefour and wait for directions. The key here is that I do NOT understand directions given in English, and I will keep right on driving if they don't tell me to stop at my destination! The kids really get into this game and it gets pretty hilarious when they mix up their directions and drive me off road or straight into a building. This is the perfect game to get students speaking in the target language because they are either motivated to help me get to the right spot or be mischievous and drive me off the road on purpose. Joke's on them because as long as they are speaking French I am happy :) Once I've practiced with them a few times they are pretty good about taking turns driving on their own and I can include the game in a rotation, allowing me to focus on other skills in small groups. You can even get fancy and add school buses an ice cream trucks with special destinations!
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