Objective:

Students will know how to ask “How does one say hello?” and answer “I say hello, You say hello, He says hello and “She says hello.”

Comment dit-on “hello?”

Je dis _____.  Tu dis _____.  Il dit_____.  Elle dit _____. Iel dit _____. 

Information on iel: www.oneschoolroom.ca/french-pronouns/

Resources:

• Star Shapes
• How to say hello and good bye in 70 countries 
• What is your mother language video?
• TIBZ – Nation video
• Making of TIBZ – Nation video
• TIBZ – Nation translation

I like to do this lesson in the first week of a new school year. It allows students who speak another language other than English to share how they say “hello.”  It also allows students to perhaps observe some of the diversity in the classroom they may not have known about from previous years.

The lesson starts with me writing “Je di, Tu di, Il di, Elle di” on the board. This is a good time to teach/remind the students that the French “i” sounds like the English “e.”

While they were writing out these words, I hand out a paper with the word “hello” in many different languages. The cards are top secret.

After the cards are handed out and we have practiced “Je di,” the students must walk around the room and find other people who have the same language as themselves.  Once the groups are made, they collectively say hello in their card’s language. For example, “Je dis Jambo.”

Once the students sit down again, they glue the card on their paper with the words they just wrote. I then hand out another card with the matching country.

At this point “di” is still on the board. Then I add the appropriate “s” and “t” to “di.” I usually put a ghost under the silent letters to remind the students to not say that letter.

This is a good time to show the video How to say hello in 60 languages.  I usually talk about when I see my family and friends in Vancouver I usually give them a hug but when I am in Montreal, we lightly touch each others cheeks twice and make a kiss sound.  In other countries, some people bow, while others put their hands in a praying position.

Then the students write one more time “Je dis _____________.”  I encourage the students to call out different langages which I quickly google and spell “hello” in those languages.  From there they draw the flag from that nation.  It is important to me that students know they can choose any country or Aboriginal nation.

The final step is the production of a star that says “Je m’appelle _______” and “Je dis _________.” Each star is cut out and stapled to our community bulletin board.