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One of the big topics that French 1 studies is how to talk about likes and dislikes – j’aime and je n’aime pas. It’s one of the essential standards that we test and it’s one of the most useful things to be able to do in a new language. Luckily, it’s also a topic that students enjoy learning because everyone likes to talk about their likes and dislikes. Just because it’s fun doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily easy, and students still need repetition and practice to learn how to talk about their likes and dislikes.
J’aime: starting the lesson with lots of input
I start off my lesson by sharing my own likes and dislikes with the students. I have a presentation that I built in canvas that has a variety of slides saying j’aime and je n’aime pas with a large photo of the item I am talking about. Some of the things are cognates, others are not. In any case, the photo makes it quite clear what I am talking about. I go through the slide deck and read it out loud. As I do this, I am also getting more repetition and circling by asking students in the class if they like the same things I do.
Once we’ve gone through the deck, I will go through it a second time with more student participation. This time, I have four posters around the room – moi aussi, moi non plus, pas moi and moi, si. I go over the meaning of the four expressions. The posters are color coded – the ones that are used to respond to “j’aime” are a different color from the ones that are used to respond to “je n’aime pas.” This time, as we go through the deck of slides I have my students move around the room to share their opinions.



Output practice ideas for j’aime and je n’aime pas
Now that the students have had reading and listening input, it’s time to start working on the output. We write a few practice sentences together so they can recognize the pattern. As simple as it may seem (just put j’aime plus the thing you like!”) there are some students who still need to see it written out and walked through before they are ready to write in French themselves.
Depending on how much time you have to spend on practice, you can either have students do a basic list of things they like and don’t like – or you can have them make their own presentation or poster. For posters, I like using canva but sometimes I just don’t feel like dealing with having them sign up for an account. I allow them to use PowerPoint and Google Slides if they wish. I’ve also had them make doodle-type posters about themselves, adding little drawings of the things they like and don’t like.
The last activity we do is some speaking practice. I have a bingo-style board with different items and activities that students will use to go around the room and find classmates who like certain things. This leads to practice asking the question “Est-ce que tu aimes…?” We run through a few practice questions together before I let them walk around and talk to other students.
A fun way to encourage students to speak French
Every time we do a speaking activity, I remind my students of two things:
- If you aren’t going to do the speaking activity in French as intended, there is no point in doing it. You already speak English and you can easily copy someone else’s answers. But the whole point of the activity is to learn to speak French, and if you aren’t getting speaking practice in the activity, it’s a waste of time.
- If your plan is to just attend class, read a few things and listen and you think that you’ll magically wake up one day able to speak French, you’ll be disappointed. Practice is important, and this is your chance to practice.

That said, I also have a secret weapon: my WTF stamp. I have a cheap stamp that says WTF, and I tell my students that if I hear them speaking French as I walk around, they get a stamp. If their French was great, it stands for “wow, that’s French!” If their French wasn’t that great, it’s “was that French?” In either case, they get a laugh out of having a teacher stamp their paper with WTF.
The kids will even correct each other when they try to say that WTF means anything else – they will say “no, silly – it’s WOW THAT’S FRENCH!” of course this might not work for every situation, so consider your admin and parents before you use this idea.
Is there a German version?
Not yet, but I will look at making one!