1 - Friend or Principal? ~5 mins
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"
Take a few spoken attempts, then leave the question open. Do not confirm answers yet: the word-table in the next step sorts the greetings by how they are used. If a pupil already knows Bonjour (bohn-ZHOOR) or Salut (sah-LOO) from earlier years, welcome that and say today is about choosing the right one for the person and the moment. A light local detail you can mention once: many French pupils also greet with la bise (cheek kisses) or a handshake depending on context; today we focus on the words.
2 - Eight French Greetings ~10 mins
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.
Run the table in two passes so the class can hold register before the full set lands.
Wave 1 (about 6 minutes): Bonjour (bohn-ZHOOR), Salut (sah-LOO), Comment ça va ? (koh-mahn sah VAH), Comment allez-vous ? (koh-mahn tah-lay VOO), Je vais bien, merci (zhuh vay BYAN, mehr-SEE). Class repeats twice: once all together, once by table. Sort only the register pairs: Salut and Comment ça va ? for friends; Bonjour and Comment allez-vous ? for adults. Model one full exchange before you leave Wave 1: friendly Salut ! Comment ça va ? then Je vais bien, merci. Formal: Bonjour ! Comment allez-vous ? then Je vais bien, merci.
Wave 2 (about 4 minutes): add Bonsoir (bohn-SWAHR), Enchanté (ahn-shahn-TAY), Bienvenue (byan-vuh-NEW). Do not force these into friend-or-adult: Bonsoir is time of day (evening); Enchanté is for a first meeting (say Enchantée if you are a girl; it is not a daily hi); Bienvenue welcomes someone to a place. Quick choral repeat, then move on.
3 - Match the Greetings ~10 mins
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.
Run this whole-class on the IWB with volunteers taking turns only (no desk devices). When a pair is found, ask the class how that phrase is used before moving on: friend or adult for the register pair; evening for Bonsoir; first meeting for Enchanté (remind them: Enchantée if you are a girl; first introductions only, not a daily hi); welcome-to-a-place for Bienvenue. If the same card is missed twice, stop and say it chorally, for example Enchanté (ahn-shahn-TAY) and Bienvenue (byan-vuh-NEW).
Micro-break (about 30 seconds, after roughly three matches): call "Stand and greet!" Pupils stand, turn to a neighbour, and use one friendly or one formal opener from Wave 1, then sit. Keeps energy up without devices.
Keep the energy light: celebrate clean matches with a quick class snap or thumbs-up so quieter voices still feel part of the win.
4 - Into Your Copy ~3 mins
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 ✗
Pause the interactive and keep the word-table visible while they write. Model one full example line on the board first (friendly Salut with would/would-not, then formal Comment allez-vous ? or Bonjour). Everyone's pen should be moving for these three minutes. Look for one informal choice and one formal choice, each with a clear would / would not note. Do not collect the copies. Praise a clear register choice out loud once so the class hears what good looks like.
5 - Greeting Partners ~10 mins
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.
Finish with a quick whole-class beat: your teacher calls a situation and the class answers together.
Before pairs (scripts stay here and on the partner-practice screen, not duplicated as a full word list in the pupil description): model each exchange once with a volunteer, then choral-read each once. If the on-screen prompts need a board backup, write these two scripts large beside the IWB:
- Friendly (classmate at the gate): Salut ! Comment ça va ? / Je vais bien, merci.
- Formal (principal at the gate): Bonjour ! Comment allez-vous ? / Je vais bien, merci.
Pronunciation supports: sah-LOO, koh-mahn sah VAH, zhuh vay BYAN mehr-SEE, bohn-ZHOOR, koh-mahn tah-lay VOO.
Circulate and listen for the register choice, not only the words. When a pair nails the friendly/formal switch, freeze the room and get a class round of applause: that register choice is the whole win today.
Third beat (about 2 minutes, whole-class then pairs): call situations so the three Wave-2 words get spoken aloud too. You meet your teacher at 6pm: class says Bonsoir (bohn-SWAHR). You are introduced to a new classmate: Enchanté / Enchantée (ahn-shahn-TAY). A visitor arrives at the classroom door: Bienvenue (byan-vuh-NEW). Say each chorally, then once with a partner. Invite two pairs to perform one friendly and one formal gate exchange for the class.
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