Mastering the Past Tense

Curriculum Area

Modern Foreign Languages (French) – KS3 (Year 9, UK Curriculum)
Focus: Past tense using avoir and être, past participle agreement, key verbs (arriver, aller, partir, rester), and phonetics ([a], è, ê).

Lesson Objectives

By the end of the 30-minute lesson, students will:

• Accurately form the past tense with avoir and être.
• Understand and apply past participle agreement (number & gender).
• Correctly conjugate and use key verbs (arriver, aller, partir, rester) in the past tense.
• Recognise and pronounce phonemes [a], è, and ê accurately.

Resources Needed

• Mini whiteboards & markers
• Printed verb conjugation reference sheet
• Flashcards with different subject-verb combinations
• A short humorous anecdote in French using the past tense

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Lesson Breakdown (30 Minutes)

1. Engaging Starter: Quick-Fire Whiteboard Challenge (5 mins)

• Display ten infinitives on the board.
• Call out a subject pronoun (je, tu, il, nous etc.).
• Students race to write the correct past tense form on their whiteboards.
• Quick class review → Discuss common mistakes.

Why it works: Engages students immediately, encourages recall, and sets the pace.

2. Grammar Focus: Avoir vs. Être (7 mins)

• Teacher Explanation:

  • avoir → most verbs, no agreement.
  • être → verbs of movement/state (arriver, aller, partir, rester), agreement required.

• Paired Practice:

  • Each pair receives a flashcard with a sentence (Il … arrivé).
  • They choose the correct auxiliary and past participle, making necessary agreements.
  • Fast-paced peer correction.

Challenge Extension: Introduce exceptions like descendre (J’ai descendu les escaliers vs Je suis descendu).

3. Speaking Focus: Phoneme Pronunciation Drills (5 mins)

• Display minimal pairs: pâte/patte, mère/même, tête/thé.
• Model pronunciation, exaggerating differences.
• Students repeat in pairs, correcting each other.
• Fun “echo chain”—students pass the pronunciation around the room.

Why it works: Helps refine pronunciation and differentiate subtle vowel sounds.

4. Active Application: Building Past Tense Stories (8 mins)

• Group Task (turn-based storytelling):
  • Each student contributes a sentence in the past tense.
  • Must use at least one être verb with correct agreement.
  • Encourage creativity—unexpected plot twists!
• Mini presentations: Groups read back their stories while the class checks past participle agreements.

Why it works: Encourages independent sentence construction and reinforces grammar in context.

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Plenary: ‘One-Minute Reflection’ (3 mins)

• Ask: Qu’as-tu appris aujourd’hui ? (What did you learn today?)
• Students write one correct past tense sentence demonstrating agreement.

Exit Ticket Challenge: On a sticky note, students write one être verb sentence and pass it to the teacher at the door.

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Assessment & Differentiation

• Visual learners: Highlight auxiliary verbs in different colours.
• Kinaesthetic learners: Act out verbs before forming sentences.
• Support: Reference sheet scaffold, model answers.
• Stretch: Reflexive past tense verbs (Je me suis réveillé).

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Teacher’s Wow Factor!

🚀 Unconventional angle: Using storytelling and phonics drill together strengthens both grammar and pronunciation—skills that often stay siloed!
🔥 Memorable classroom energy: Competitive whiteboard racing, echo chains, and student-led storytelling drive active participation and retention.
🎭 Physical engagement: Adding gestures to key verbs (jumping forward for aller, stepping back for partir) solidifies meaning.

This is not just another past tense lesson—students speak, move, and create while internalising complex concepts effortlessly.