Picture the gate of a French collège on a Monday morning. Greet your teacher the way you would greet a friend. Now greet them the way you would greet the principal. Should those two greetings sound the same?
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Choose the right French greeting for a friend or an adult
- Open a short conversation with a greeting and a reply
- Explain why French has two ways of saying "you"
Here are today's eight greetings, in two short waves.
Wave 1 (core): tap each one, listen, then say it back together. Listen for the soft zh sound in Bonjour, like the s in treasure. Sort as you go: which suit a friend, and which suit a teacher?
Wave 2 (add-ons): three more to listen and repeat, then we are ready to match.
Watch the board. When a classmate flips a French card, say it with them, then help the class decide how it is used: friend, adult, evening, first meeting, or welcome. If a card is missed twice, we all say it together before moving on.
Stand-and-greet break: after a few matches, everyone stands, greets the person beside them with a friendly or formal hello, then sits and keeps matching.
Keep looking at the greetings on the board while you write. Open your copy and write two greetings you have already said today: one friendly and one formal. Beside each one, write who you would say it to and who you would not.
Example shape on the board: Salut: friend ✓ / principal ✗
Morning at the gate of a French collège. Follow the partner prompts on screen: Partner A greets, Partner B answers, then swap.
Run one classmate round (friendly) and one principal round (formal). Your teacher models each exchange once and you choral-read before pairs begin.
To finish, your teacher calls out a situation and the whole class answers together.
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