Freebies, TPT products
10 Free This or That graphics – and how to use them
This or That can be a fun game to play – and it’s a great way to get some CI in to your classes, even in the earliest days of level 1. The pictures help students who may not be 100% certain that they’ve understood the text, and it’s a very low-stakes way to get them talking. If you use the right choices, students might really get into the conversation – some of them will be very opinionated about which choice they pick!
I’ve made a set of 10 free graphics for you to use, and if you like them there’s another set of 190 more – enough to use every day of the school year. You can project them on a screen or embed them in Nearpod, Peardeck, Desmos – or whatever LMS you happen to prefer.
The idea behind This or That questions is pretty simple – students choose between two different things. But you can use them for more than just a quick throwaway voting type question – they can be your way to start off each day with a little bit of conversation. They are very adaptable for all levels, and you can spend just a minute or two on them – or fill an entire class hour with a discussion!
This or That in different levels of French
In level 1, you can keep it very simple. The students may not know any French yet, so just getting them to choose “this or that” can be low-stress in the first weeks. You can discuss how many students chose each response as a way to practice numbers. Many of the graphics are for cognates, which makes it even easier to have them choose between “this or that.”
You can have students make a complete sentence using “je préfère…” either in writing or speaking – that text is at the top of each graphic, so they will always have a reference on how to say it. Once you’ve learned how to use ne…pas, you can go around the class talking about who prefers item A and doesn’t prefer item B.
In level 2, start adding more details. Have them tell you where or when or with whom they do the item they choose. Have them write more complex sentences using parce que and mais – “Je préfère la pizza parce que j’adore les tomates” or “Je préfère la pizza, mais j’aime les tacos aussi.” With details, you can easily get 4-5 sentences about student choices. You can also have them practice the past tenses whenever you get to that – if they choose pizza, have them write about the last time they eat pizza, or about what type of pizza they used to eat.
In level 3, you can add more hypotheticals. They can discuss whether they would choose one or the other, or what it would take to make the opposite choice. They can discuss the choices of the class and then talk about who they would rather spend time with – based on their choices. Of course, if you’re looking for a jumping-off point for a class story, the choices give you an idea for who wants (the thing they chose) but only has (the thing they didn’t choose). If you’re interested in trying them out, here’s the link to the freebie set of 10 graphics. You can see the set of 190 here.
If your students get into the questions, you might even ask them to make their own graphics. They can pick any two things that will allow for a good choice and then use Canva to make the graphic. This is especially useful for current pop-culture references, since they are likely to have ideas for topics that you might not think of.
