1 - How Do You Get to School? ~5 mins
How long does it take you to get to school, and how do you travel? Tell a partner in English first: the way you go, and roughly how many minutes.
Today you will say the same thing in French, joining a transport word to a time.
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Name eight ways to travel in French
- Say how you get to school and how long it takes
- Sort transport words into le and la
- Talk about why some French tickets are checked before boarding and why fast trains give you a seat number
Take four or five quick answers in English only. Do not translate yet; the point is to prime the idea of joining transport and duration. Listen for variety (walk, car, bus) so you can come back to those pupils when the French sentence pattern appears.
If someone says they walk, that is useful later: they can still choose a French transport word they would use at the weekend or on a trip.
2 - Eight Ways to Travel ~10 mins
Morning outside a French collège, near the SNCF station and the RATP bus stop. Listen as each transport word is played, then say it back with the class — first a cluster of four, then the next four. Keep the article when you name the word.
Journey pattern:
Je vais à l'école en bus. Ça prend dix minutes. (I go to school by bus. It takes ten minutes.)
Je vais à l'école à vélo. Ça prend quinze minutes. (I go to school by bike. It takes fifteen minutes.)
After en, drop le/la: en bus, en train, en voiture, en avion, en bateau, en taxi, en moto. Bike is different: à vélo.
Times today: cinq (sank), dix (dees), quinze (kanz), vingt (van).
Play the words in two clusters of four so the class hears and echoes each set before the next. Cluster A: le bus (luh boos), le train (luh trahn), la voiture (lah vwa-TOOR), le vélo (luh vay-LOH). Cluster B: l'avion (lah-VYOHN), la moto (lah mo-TOH), le bateau (luh bah-TOH), le taxi (luh tak-SEE). Point at the article every time you name a word. Celebrate a crisp vwa-TOOR — that oi is a win.
Article vs en: the article stays for naming and sorting (le bus, la voiture). After en the article drops: en bus, en train, en voiture, en avion, en bateau, en taxi, en moto. Bike breaks the pattern: French uses à vélo (and à pied for walking), not en vélo. Chorus the bare en + noun list once, then the à vélo model once.
Number refresh (only these four today): cinq (sank), dix (dees), quinze (kanz), vingt (van). Flash them on the board and echo once — the journey sentence needs them.
Model slowly: Je vais à l'école en bus (zhuh vay ah lay-KOL ahn boos). Ça prend dix minutes (sah prahn dees mee-NOOT). Then the bike variant: Je vais à l'école à vélo (ah vay-LOH). Class echoes each once before you leave the board.
3 - Busy Street Labels ~8 mins
Same morning street outside the French collège: SNCF trains, RATP buses and the other vehicles from today. Look at each picture and choose the correct French label. Say the word quietly with its article as you choose.
Run this on the IWB with volunteers taking turns, or let tables call answers while one pupil clicks. Insist on the full form with the article: voiture alone is not enough; la voiture is the answer. If a label is missed twice, pause and say it together from the word-table still in mind, then continue. Cheer a clean full phrase — they are already sounding like travellers, not a word list.
4 - Say It, Then Write It ~7 mins
First, say your journey. Keep the model on the board. Teacher models two or three personal lines, then the class choruses. With a partner: Partner A says their full journey sentence; Partner B repeats it; then swap.
Then open your copy and write the sentence you just said:
Je vais à l'école en ____. Ça prend ____ minutes.
Use en + a transport word from today (no le/la after en). If you choose the bike, write à vélo instead. Pick a time from the board bank: cinq, dix, quinze, vingt. Copy accents carefully from the board.
Oral beat first (about 4 minutes) — do not open copies yet. Keep pinned: Je vais à l'école en bus. Ça prend dix minutes. and the bike model Je vais à l'école à vélo. Ça prend quinze minutes. Plus the mini bank: cinq, dix, quinze, vingt. Model two or three variants yourself (different transport + different number), class echoes each. Then point-and-say by table: you name a transport (or a pupil chooses), class builds the full sentence and says it. Pair round: every pupil says their own journey once; partner repeats; swap. Pupils who walk may use a weekend or trip line (for example the train into town).
Writing beat (about 3 minutes). Pause the board interactives; model stays visible. Everyone writes the sentence they just spoke. Walk the room: check en + bare noun (not en le bus), à vélo if bike, a number from the bank, and accents in vélo, à, école, Ça. If you see a full sentence with a clear time, tick the copy and say brillant. Do not collect these.
5 - Le or La Transport? ~8 mins
On the station board, drag each transport word into the correct gender column (le or la). Think about the article you heard with it on the word table before you decide.
Whole class on the IWB first for two or three nouns, then volunteers or table turns. Two feminine nouns in today's set: la voiture and la moto; the rest take le or l'. Use that on purpose: ask why guessing is not enough and why they must learn the article with the word. If someone drops l'avion wrongly, remind them the hidden article is still masculine: le becomes l' before a vowel. A quick finger-show (left hand = le, right hand = la) keeps energy up — smile when the whole class snaps to the right side together.
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