“Bonjour, je m’appelle…” Open the session
Aim of the session : Say your name, your age and where you are from, and ask someone else — without going through English or Chinese.
By the end, the learner can
- Answer “Comment tu t’appelles ?” and “Tu as quel âge ?”
- Spell their first name using the French alphabet
- Count to twenty and give their age
What you need
A soft ball, blank name tags, the alphabet on the wall, twenty number cards, one marker per child
Minute by minute
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0 – 15 min
Warm-up
Wake the language up before asking for anything new.
- The teacher throws the ball to a child saying “Bonjour !” The child answers “Bonjour !” and throws it on.
- Second round: the teacher adds their first name. “Bonjour, je m’appelle Marie.” The child repeats the structure with their own.
- Third round: whoever catches the ball must ask before answering. “Comment tu t’appelles ?”
- No correction at this stage. We are after flow, not accuracy.
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15 – 35 min
Discovery
Meet the day’s point inside a document, before any explanation.
- Listen twice to a thirty-second dialogue: two children meeting in a school playground.
- First listening, books closed, one instruction only: “How many first names do you hear?”
- Second listening with the transcript in front of them. The children highlight everything they recognise.
- Pooling on the board: the four lines of the dialogue are written up exactly as heard.
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35 – 55 min
Working out the rule
Have the group formulate the rule, then fix it on the board.
- The four lines on the board. The teacher circles “je m’appelle” and “tu t’appelles” and asks: “What changes?”
- Let the children put it into words. They usually say “the little word in front”. That is enough: je / tu.
- Put the alphabet up and spell three of the class’s first names, letter by letter, all together.
- Numbers 1 to 20: count them clapping, then hand out the number cards.
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55 – 65 min
Break
Ten minutes, properly. A class that does not stop loses people at minute eighty.
- Ten minutes. The children leave the room or change seats.
- The teacher uses the time to write the name tags.
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65 – 90 min
Guided practice
Apply the rule on closed exercises, corrected on the spot.
- Roll-call game: each child gets a number card and must say “J’ai huit ans” while showing it.
- Name dictation: the teacher spells, the children write. Five names, corrected on the board straight away.
- In pairs, with the partner’s tag hidden: ask the three questions and fill in the tag. Then check.
- The teacher walks around and notes the two most frequent errors in passing, without interrupting.
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90 – 110 min
Production
Use the day’s point in a task that has a purpose beyond the exercise.
- The class gallery: each child draws themselves and writes the three learnt sentences under the drawing.
- Then each one comes up to introduce their neighbour — not themselves: “Il s’appelle Chen Hao, il a neuf ans, il est chinois.”
- This is the first move into the third person. We do not explain it, we have them say it.
- The drawings go up on the wall and stay there for the whole session.
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110 – 120 min
Review and homework
What is learnt, what is left, and what to do before next time.
- Round the room: each child says their name and age again, standing, out loud.
- The teacher goes over the two errors noted during practice. Two, no more.
- Homework announced and written on the board.
Differentiation
- The child who moves fast: they learn to spell their surname too, not just their first name, and become the one who spells for the others.
- The child who drops out: remove the writing stage and keep speaking only. They will write next week.
- The shy child: pair them up, never in front of the whole group in the first lesson.
Expected errors, and what to do with them
- « Je m'appelle est Paul » — calque de l'anglais. On ne corrige pas par la règle : on redit la forme juste et on la fait répéter trois fois.
- « J'ai huit » sans « ans » — très fréquent. On met une carte « ANS » sur la table et on la montre du doigt à chaque oubli.
- Le prénom épelé à l'anglaise (i grec, double v). On réaffiche l'alphabet et on répète les quatre lettres qui posent problème : e, i, g, j.
Homework
Spell their first name and a parent’s out loud, three times, in front of someone at home. And bring a family photo for the next session.
It worked if
- Every child has said their name and age in front of the group, standing, unprompted.
- At least half the group has asked someone else a question without being told to.
- Nobody fell back on English during the last twenty minutes.