Birthday Party

Objective & content

A two-page printable built on one line-art scene, "Birthday Party", covering a birthday party. 10 objects in the picture carry a numbered pin; pupils write the English word for each on the line provided, then colour the scene as they like. Page 2 is the teacher key and is not handed out. By the end, pupils can name 10 everyday objects in the scene without a word bank.

Pedagogical guide

Colouring buys time on task, which is the point: a pupil who is colouring a kitchen is still looking at the kitchen, and the words stay in front of them while they do it. The picture also removes the translation step. A pin points at a thing, not at a French word, so the pupil retrieves the English word from the object rather than from a list. Use it to consolidate a theme already met, or as the quiet second half of a lesson whose first half was oral.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Project or hold up the scene. Ask what pupils can see, in English, without writing anything.
2. (15 min) Hand out page 1. Pupils write the word next to each numbered pin.
3. (5 min) Correct from page 2, pin by pin, saying each word aloud before writing it.
4. (10 min) Colouring. While they colour, go round and ask individuals to point at and name three objects.

Adaptations

[S] Give the word bank filled in, or write the words on the board: the task becomes matching a number to a word instead of recalling it.

[A] Cover the word bank. Once the pins are labelled, pupils write three sentences about the scene using the words they wrote.

Materials & prerequisites

Page 1 printed for every pupil, plus coloured pencils. Keep page 2, the teacher key. Black and white printing is enough and is what the sheet is designed for.