Presenting New

Vocabulary

Presenting new vocabulary: a graded approach

Koutsantonis MFL Centers

Allow the children opportunities to hear and respond physically before having to repeat the words and produce
them themselves.

Stage 1: Listening and responding physically

1. Say the new words and allow the children just to listen.

2. Show all items on OHP and say the words – children listen for cognates

3. Say the words and allow the children to repeat them silently in their heads.

4. Teacher says the word – children ‘traffic light’ each word in terms of pronunciation difficulty

5. Say the words and children respond with an action (this can be an action related to the sound of the word
– eg: jaune = zoom action, or related to the meaning – eg: un chat = cat’s whiskers action, or an
unrelated action – eg: bonjour, hands on heads, salut, arms in air). Teacher language: montrez-moi
… (l’action pour …) – show me (the action for …)

6. Say the words and ch respond with a thumbs up or down signal, according to whether the word is
correct or not
Stage 2: Responding verbally as a class

Koutsantonis MFL Centers

7. Say the words and children answer ‘oui’ or ‘non’ or ‘vrai’ or ‘faux’ according to whether they are correct
or not.

6. Repeat chorally - using rhythm and rhyme – children clap the beat

7. Say the words and children repeat – chorally. Vary voices to retain interest.

8. Use mood flashcards for children to interpret and respond accordingly. Teach masc / fem / plural words
separately (eg: all ‘un’ words together).

9. Offer alternatives – c’est un stylo ou une règle ? Children choose correct answer.

10. Répétez si c’est vrai, silence si c’est faux. Teacher describes the flashcard, children only repeat if true.
Awarding points for the class if they are silent when they should be encourages children to do this
carefully. If they speak when they shouldn’t, the teacher gets a point.

11. Flashcard games – hot and cold hide and seek.

Hide the puppet / flashcard to practise repetition of language.
One child leaves room. Class hides puppet or flashcard. Child returns and tries to find item, while class chants word or
phrase. Child is guided to object by volume of chanting.

Koutsantonis MFL Centers

12. Flashcard games - Classe contre professeur
Teacher holds flashcards hidden from class, with one on top, and offers class a choice of two (eg: c’est une
orange ou une pomme?) Class must agree on what their answer will be (eg: c’est une pomme). If
correct, the class wins one point, if incorrect the teacher wins a point.
Variation: Draw two mouths on board, with the same number of teeth in each. Label one mouth
‘professeur’, and the other ‘classe’. If answer is correct the class ‘pulls’ one tooth from the teacher’s
mouth, and so on.

Stage 3: Respond verbally individually

13. Guess the flashcard / object. Children guess the card the teacher has chosen.

14. Teacher claps out syllables in a word – children work out which word is being clapped.

15. Teacher includes gender by tapping head for masc words, clicking for fem words, then clapping out
syllables (eg: un stylo = tap head, two claps; une calculette = click, three claps). Children supply the word.

16. Form a chain

Each child is given a word card and has to whisper the word repeatedly as he/she moves around the
class, gradually joining up with any other children who have the same word.

Koutsantonis MFL Centers

17. Flip the flashcard – teacher holds the picture side away from children and flips cards over very quickly. Children
have to say which flashcard they saw.

18. Show pictures on the OHP, out of focus. Gradually bring into focus, children say what they see.

19. Display all pictures on OHP / white board. Children shut eyes while one picture is removed. Children open eyes
and say which picture is missing (Qu’est-ce qui manque?)

20. Show pictures on OHP, covered up by sheet of paper with a small keyhole in it (or use circular
spotlight facility on IWB). Children see only a small part of the picture and guess what it is.

21. Children are shown a series of pictures and have to choose the Odd One Out. As long as children can justify
their answer, accept any Odd One Out (eg: masc / fem, only word with two syllables, only animal
with 2 legs etc)

22. Teacher reveals flashcard slowly, children guess what they see.

Stage 4: Encouraging sentence-level work.

23. Divide the class into teams. Show a flashcard or object and invite responses from class. Award

Koutsantonis MFL Centers

 points for more detailed answers (eg: un chien = 1 point; j’ai un chien = 2 points; j’ai un chien et
un cheval = 3 points, j’ai un chien mais je n’ai pas de cheval = 4 points)

24. Morpion - Noughts and crosses. Can be used as soon as 9+ words have been learnt. Teacher draws
a noughts/crosses grid on board. Teacher has a list of 9 words or shows 9 pictures on the squares of
the grid. If child guesses a word which is on the list, he/she earns the right for his/her team to put a
0/X on board.
Use: en haut (at top), en bas (at the bottom), au milieu (in the middle), à
gauche (left), à droite (right)
Develop into sentence-level response - eg: on topic of animals / pets. Teacher asks ‘As-tu un
animal?’, children have to guess the animal correctly to win the square, but also have to answer using a
sentence (‘J’ai …’ / ‘Je n’ai pas de …’)

25. Classroom tennis. Class is divided in half, with an imaginary ‘net’ down the centre of the room.
Children throw a soft toy from one side of the net to the other, giving a full sentence (eg: J’ai un chat, as-
tu un animal?). Class is given a time limit (eg: 3 mins) in which all children are to have asked and
answered the question.
Stage 5: Introducing the written word.

26. Children identify letter strings that differ from English.

27. Use different colour fonts to present m/f words.

Koutsantonis MFL Centers

28. Children group words into phonic clouds or word banks according to sounds / letter strings.

29. Children match written word cards to picture cards. This can be played as pelmanism or pairs on the
board.

30. Chef d’orchestre.

Children look at the new vocabulary written up in a list. One child leaves the room.
The class agrees who will be ‘chef d’orchestre’ – while the whole class repeatedly chants the first
new word, this child will perform an agreed signal (eg: scratching head) which moves everyone on
to the second word. When the child comes back in to the classroom, he/she must work out who is
the chef d’orchestre.’

31. Feely bag activity. Word cards are placed inside a feely bag.
Children pass the bag round while singing a song twice. Whoever is holding the bag when the song
stops has to pull out the word and name it.
Variation: Child holds the card INSIDE the bag and performs an action to the class to convey the
meaning of the word. The class selects the correct word from a list shown on the board.

Koutsantonis MFL Centers