1 - What Would You Order ~5 mins
Picture a sunny terrasse outside a café in Lyon: clink of glasses, menu on the table, people chatting. What would you order at home? Call out a few favourites. By the end of today you will name eight drinks in French and ask for one out loud.
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Name eight drinks in French with le, la or l'
- Spot drink words when you hear them
- Ask for a drink using a simple French phrase
Set the Lyon terrasse scene in one breath, collect four or five English café orders quickly, then move on. Do not teach the French yet; the flashcards do that. If someone already knows a French drink word, smile and park it for the next step rather than confirming the whole list now.
2 - Eight French Drinks ~10 mins
We will see English first on the board, then hear the French. Listen carefully, repeat the French out loud with the article, then we flip to check the spelling. Listen for the soft zh sound in jus.
Whole class on the IWB. For the first two or three cards, run a full hear–say–see cycle: play or model the French with the article, class repeats twice, then flip so they see the spelling, then say it once more together. Only after that pattern is clear may a confident volunteer try to anticipate before a flip. Insist on the full naming form: le lait (luh lay), not bare lait. Point at the article every time.
Useful respellings: l'eau (lo), le jus d'orange (luh zhoo doh-RAH(n)zh), le lait (luh lay), le thé (luh tay), le café (luh ka-FAY), le chocolat chaud (luh sho-ko-LAH shoh), la limonade (lah lee-moh-NAD), le jus de pomme (luh zhoo duh pom).
When the zh in jus lands well, freeze and praise it: that sound is a badge of honour. After all eight cards, do a quick whole-class choral pass of the three hardest items only: le jus d'orange, le chocolat chaud, le jus de pomme (say each twice). Then plant today's order-phrase sounds once so they are already in the room before the wheel: model Je voudrais... (zhuh voo-DRAY) and s'il vous plaît (seel voo PLAY); full chorus, substitution drill and cold-call production all come later in this lesson on the spin-the-wheel step.
Culture aside if a pupil asks: in France la limonade is a fizzy lemon drink (more like lemonade soda than homemade cloudy lemonade); citronnade is the fresh-squeezed version.
3 - Drinks Bingo ~10 mins
Your card shows drink pictures (or English labels). Listen for the French name and mark each drink as you hear it. First full line calls out!
How to Play Bingo:
Option 1: Students on Devices (Digital Version)
- Use the digital version where your teacher view of the lesson displays the cards that are being called out.
- Play the pronunciation sound of each word and the children mark it off their unique digital bingo card.
- Each student has a randomised bingo card so winners will vary!
Option 2: Print Out the Bingo Cards
- Print out the Bingo Cards from the attachment above, cut out the cards, and give one to each student.
- You call out the vocabulary words and students mark off their sheets.
- First student to complete a line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) calls "Bingo!" and wins.
4 - Into Your Copy ~3 mins
Copy the eight drinks from the board with le, la or l', then circle the two you would order on the Lyon terrasse.
Pause the board but leave the full eight-drink list with articles clearly visible for the whole three minutes. Everyone writes; this is the only stretch where every pupil's pen is moving. Walk the room and check the article is going in front of every word, including the apostrophe on l'eau. Do not collect these. A quick smile for neat articles goes a long way.
5 - Spin and Order ~10 mins
Back on the Lyon terrasse. First we learn the café order together. Listen, then say it with the class:
You: Je voudrais un chocolat chaud, s'il vous plaît.
(I would like a hot chocolate, please.)
When we order we use un, une or de l' (not le/la). The wheel lands on a drink; that pupil asks for it aloud. Swap in whichever drink the wheel gives you.
Before any spin:
- Play the TTS on the full model sentence so the class hears voudrais and s'il vous plaît.
- Line-by-line guide (class repeats each chunk twice): Je voudrais (zhuh voo-DRAY) / drink with ordering article / s'il vous plaît (seel voo PLAY).
- Whole-class substitution drill: you (or a quick spin you narrate) supply the drink; the whole class says the full order together for four or five drinks before anyone is cold-called.
Ordering forms (naming stays le/la/l'; orders switch): de l'eau, un jus d'orange, un lait, un thé, un café, un chocolat chaud, une limonade, un jus de pomme.
Then spin and cold-call. Accept a clear drink name with its ordering article if a pupil freezes on the full sentence, then scaffold them back to the frame. Aim for several different voices so a good spread of the set is heard in production. Big reaction after each order — "Ooh, bon choix!" — so the next volunteer wants the wheel.
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