How to Teach Days, Months and Dates in Primary French
When
teaching days, months and dates in primary French, teachers need to plan a number of lessons.
Yes, many do teach primary French calendar vocabulary with a song (played many,
many times) but that is not the best way! A song should be in addition to
everything else. Pupils need to know how to put a date together in French but
also to translate a key date and understand when it is exactly on a calendar.
There is a lot of vocabulary that needs to be covered slowly and carefully and
pupils will need adequate time and lots of activities to help them learn,
retain and recall this very useful language. Numbers 1-31, the days of the week
and months of the year in French are all very practical, useful vocabulary that
primary aged learners can use but should also know by the time they transfer to
secondary phase. This language will help our young learners say the date, ask
the date, recognise key dates and also say when their birthday is all in
French! This content is always best taught in smaller chunks so teaching of the
days of the weeks, months of the year, numbers 1-31, months of the year and
then showing the children how to use all of their language to say and ask the
date. Ensure plenty of daily routines and practice moving forward.
How Many Lessons will be Required?
To cover all the vocabulary that is needed to ask the key questions, ‘Quelle est la date aujourd’hui ?’ (what is the date today) and ‘C’est quand ton anniversaire ?’ (when is your birthday) and then answer both questions correctly pupils will need a number of weeks. You will need to cover French numbers 1-31, French days of the week and French months of the year. This cannot be taught in one lesson. Pupils will need time to hear, speak and use the language in an authentic context if we want the children to remember the language. As an example, over a six week block, with lessons of 45-60mins the following could work:
- Week 1: Teach the 7 days of the week in French
- Week 2: Consolidate the 7 days of the week and learn the 12 months of the year
- Week 3: Consolidate days of the week, months of the year and learn/revise nos 1-31 in French
- Week 4: Learn how to say the date in French and ask the question
- Week 5: Learn how to say when your birthday is in French and ask the question
- Week 6: Consolidate and assess!
How Do You Teach Dates in French?
The date in
French can cause confusion as there are a couple of options, each one slightly
different but at primary phase, staff should stay simple and consider using the
following format:
Aujourd’hui, c’est lundi huit juillet (today is Monday 8th July)
This is the easiest and cleanest way to say the date in French and suits the needs of primary aged pupils. Everything should be introduced in chunks/stages gradually building up to the final phrase. This allows pupils to create and formulate the date on their own going forward.
.
Always try to also teach the question ‘C’est quand ton anniversaire ?’ (when is your birthday) as well as showing the children how to formulate the answer. It is always helpful to ensure pupils know how to say the date in French too before teaching them how to say when their birthday in French as it will support them. If this is taught alongside teaching the date as suggested, there will be no need to pre-teach the numbers and months of the year, only revisit them quickly at the start of the lesson. A great way to for children to see the language they are learning in context!
