It’s so important to be able to ask questions in a foreign language – and in the CI classroom, I use French question words all the time! It can be very helpful to have a poster or set of posters displayed prominently so you can refer to them frequently. I will ask a question while pointing to the relevant question word on the poster so that every student can see what information I’m looking for.
We usually don’t learn to ask questions until second semester of level 1 – but that doesn’t mean that the students can’t ask questions! If you use the French question words frequently while giving the students comprehensible input, by the time your students are ready to learn how to make their own questions, it will be much easier. My students are so used to hearing them that it’s really just a matter of teaching them the less frequent methods of asking a question – I don’t use inversion very much, so that’s something newer for them by the time we get to it.
To help you out with this, I have a set of free French question words posters. They are cute, with tropical animals and a muted color scheme. If you would prefer something even simpler, I have an older set of question words in French and Spanish. These are pretty dark and may take up a lot of ink, though – so you may not want to use them if you are buying your own ink or toner!
French question words – special requests welcome!
I may decide to make more poster sets, it’s a pretty easy thing that I enjoy doing when I have a little time and want a brain break to be creative. If you have any requests for themes or color schemes, please leave a comment on this post and I’ll see what I can do! If I have time I may even make some other French question words poster sets with a variety of themes and colors.