Fun ideas for teaching French possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives are a thing that comes up again and again if you teach multiple levels of French. They’re one of those things that is tricky to teach because I find that students may get the concept when we first go over it and practice it, but as soon as we move on to something else it leaves their heads. I always feel that even if I spent an entire month on it, the minute we move away from it, it will be as if I never taught it!

French possessive adjectives in level 1

We see possessive adjectives for the first time in level 1 French when we do the family unit. The kids learn the difference between mon and ma with a few mes mixed in for good measure. When it comes to PEOPLE, they seem to get it. But the idea that THINGS need a different word based on gender? That’s crazy talk!

You know what’s really crazy talk? Nearly all of my students come to me already bilingual in Spanish and English. So the concept of masculine and feminine and using different possessive adjectives in Spanish isn’t weird or new at all to them. The second we try to do that in French, it’s like they haven’t ever heard of such a silly thing.

In first year, I like to break them down into smaller pieces. We do the singular forms (mon/ton/son) on the first day. This gets them thinking about whether things are masculine, feminine or plural. I do a practice activity in Boom with using the correct form in front of a variety of people. It’s self-correcting and students can do it as many times as they need to in order to feel comfortable with it. On the second day, we do the plural forms (notre/votre/leur) and a different Boom deck for plural possessive adjectives.

Once they seem to get the gist of using the adjectives when referring to people, it’s time to start expanding to non-people. I have yet another Boom deck, this time using all of the different possessive adjectives with inanimate objects.

French possessive adjectives in level 2

So we come back in second year and it’s time to review! Most of unit 1 is review of everything we did the previous year. Of course, many students have forgotten how to use these words which means we can’t just take a quick peek. I also don’t want students to know how to use them in exercises, but then be clueless when it comes to how they are used in real life! So while I do want to review choosing the correct form, I also want to have a chance to really understand the meaning and that it’s entirely possible to mix and match – I can have your things, or he can have our things.

We start off by doing the correct form practice with a silly set of Boom cards that I made about different animals. Most of the animals are real, but there are some fun AI-generated imaginary creatures in the deck. They enjoy seeing the interesting crosses. Rather than multiple-choice, students will need to type in their answers and get some practice spelling the words correctly.

And now, for the grand finale: a story that uses a lot of the different words in a realistic setting. It can be really difficult to come up with a story that uses possessive adjectives in a way that sounds normal, but also allows for a good variety of adjectives. I was inspired by a real-life issue: the issue of dog poop on the streets of Paris. This is a real problem, as it is unsightly and a health hazard.

I wrote a quick and simple story about a person who is concerned that some dog is leaving gigantic piles of poop around the neighborhood. He goes around asking people if it belongs to them, and every person sends him to some other possible culprit. In the end, he finds the perpetrator. But does it solve the problem? You can open the PowerPoint for Le caca est à qui? and find out for yourself!