This PowerPoint presentation discusses creative ways to teach grammar through speaking and writing activities. It provides many examples of activities that playfully engage with the sounds, words, and structures of the target language. These include poems, songs, word games, translations, and using digital tools. The goal is to make grammar learning more engaging for students by moving beyond traditional methods and incorporating creativity.

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Powerpoint Templates
More than words-
Creative Use of Text and Translation
Isabelle Jones, Head of Languages
@icpjones
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com

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More than words?
• Teaching grammar creatively: a
contradiction in terms?
• Creativity in translation
• Creativity and authentic resources
• Creative opportunities for learning
grammar through speaking and writing
• Creative use of digital and mobile tools

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/14996968@N08/3195916680
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73207064@N00/404321726
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48973657@N00/3983896965
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/4260085353
Teaching grammar creatively,
A contradiction in terms?

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Grammar?
Grammar “includes syntax,
morphology and semantics and was
originally associated with logic and
rhetoric.”
The Grammar Papers, QCA, 1998
What do this mean to me??

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Grammar?
Morphology (word level)
Analysis of stem/root words, prefixes/suffixes,
number, gender, person, “word families”…
Syntax (sentence level)
Study of sentence structures
(clauses, subjects, verbs, objects…)
Semantics (text level)
Study of meaning: literal (denotation) and implied
(connotation)

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Literature?
“Written material such as poetry, novels, essays, etc, esp works
of imagination characterized by excellence of style and
expression and by themes of general or enduring interest”.
Collins English dictionary
Just fiction?
Excellence of style and expression?
Themes of general or enduring interest?

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Text types
Grammar items Connectives
Information Facts and opinions
Third person
Ordinal numbers
Explanation Telling why, how, what
First/ third person
Sequence, causal
Comparison
Description Creating a picture with words
Third person
Sequence
(prepositions)
Instruction Imperative , present tense
Second person
Sequence
Recount Past tense
First/ third person
Temporal, causal
Contrast
Persuasion One-sided
Second person
Second person
Causal
Argument One-sided, logical steps Sequence, causal
Advice Addresses reader directly
Modal verbs
Sequence, causal
discussion Presents both side of an
argument
Sequence, causal
Alternatives,
examples

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Linguistic creative tools
The way words look
The way words sound
The way words interact with each
other
Text types
Being playful with the links between
languages

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The sound of language
• Target Language sounds different to
different learners (e/ é)
• Response to sounds (self-image,
deliberately not following phonic patterns,
self-conscious behaviour)
• Encouraging differences without
stereotyping
• Pure listening (without reference to
mother tongue?)
• Rhymes (assonance/alliteration)
• Reading out loud

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The sound/look of the language
• Silent letters, accents and grammar
• Chant/ chante/ chantent
• J’ai chanté/ je chante
• La/ là
• Gusto/gustó
• Si/ sí

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The sound of language
CHANT SONG
Moon lune
chant song
rivière river
garden rêveur
petit house
little maison
chant song
chant song
bleu song
et oiseau bleu
blood sang
and bird oiseau
bleu song red sang
chant song
chant song
chant song
chant song
blue song
et oiseau bleu
blood sang
and bird oiseau
blue song red sang
Oh girl fille
oh yes je t’aime
oh oui love you
oh girl fille
Oh flower girl
Je t’aime tant
Oh girl fille
Oh oui love you
Jacques Prévert, Spectacle
Moon lune
chant song
rivière rêveur
garden river
rêve dream
mer sea
Thank you
moon lune
thank you
mer sea
Moon lune
chant song
rivière river
garden rêveur
Children enfant
mer sea
time temps
Oh flower girl
children enfant
oh yes je t’aime
Je t’aime tant
t’aime tant
t’aime tant
time temps
time temps
time temps
time temps
et tant et tant
et tant et tant
et tant…
et temps.

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The sound of language
L’amiral Jacques Prévert, Parole
L’amiral Larima
Larima quoi
la rime à rien
l’amiral Larima
l’amiral Rien.

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Ana Tijoux: Las horas
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnRywV8Hh-U
Hace horas que te espero
y hace horas no te veo
hace horas que te quiero pero
hace horas que te pierdo
hace horas que te espero
y hace horas no te veo
hace horas que te quiero pero
hace horas que te pierdo
Hace horas que te pierdo
en esta esquina sólo me acompaña esta
tímida neblina el sabor de tus besos
impregnados al vapor de este solitario invierno
quizás me olvidaste
o quizás la verdad tú solo me borraste
este amor es un chiste triste triste
como se siente cuando todo lo perdiste
la miel la piel y el riel
cual es el sentido cuando la vida luego es tan cruel
dame más tiempo frecuento un momento
juro que mi sombra será tan discreta como tu silencio
pero nunca me respondes …

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Words and phrases
• Etymology: prefixes & suffixes
• http://www.etymonline.com/index.php
• Idioms (lost in translation language)
• «awkward English»
• Set phrases and expressions
• http://www.tv5.org/cms/chaine-francophone/lf/p-11171-Les-expressions-imagees-d-Archibald.htm
• http://enseigner.tv5monde.com/fle/les-expressions-francaises-le-corps
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUHtmKLIAnY (mind mistake and slang)

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Words and phrases
http://www.franceloisirs.com /

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Words and phrases
Fluency?
2000 everyday English expressions translated into French
Another 2000 everyday English expressions translated into
French
Kit Brett
Free Podcasts
http://www.frenchbyrepetition.co.uk/

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Language Awareness
starters
• Jar, coffee, sugar
• Sky, leg, wife
• Pill, wagon
• Damp, luck
• Shampoo, bungalow, cot
• Umbrella, piano, corridor
• Tent, café, route
• Rose, atlas, museum
Which languages have these been borrowed from?
Arabic
Norwegian/ Danish
Dutch
German
Hindi
Italian
French
Greek

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Language Awareness
startersWord order
»Une maison blanche
»Una casa blanca
»A white house

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Playfulness with language
Poetry:
Does not have to rhyme (writing-exploring a topic/building sentences)
Using rhymes (speaking-exploring the sounds of the language,
reinforcing patterns)
Rhyming dictionary (online or app)
http://www.dicodesrimes.com/ http://dictionnaire-des-rimes.fr/
http://buscapalabras.com.ar/rimas.php
Puns and jokes:
Cultural references
Sounds of the language
Double meaning
Carambar jokes
http://blague.carambar.free.fr/blagues/blague.html
Lepe
http://www.1000chistes.com/chistes-de-lepe
Tongue twisters:
Great for pronunciation practice & development of grammatical awareness
http://www.tv5.org/TV5Site/publication/publi-39-Les_virelangues.htm

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Playfulness with language
Premier jour Jacques Prévert, Parole
Des draps blancs dans une armoire
Des draps rouges dans un lit
Un enfant dans sa mere
Sa mère dans les douleurs
Le père dans le couloir
Le couloir dans la maison
La maison dans la ville
La ville dans la nuit
La mort dans un cri
Et l’enfant dans la vie.
Fais des phrases completes? Ecris une histoire?

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Playfulness with language
Le message Jacques Prévert, Parole
La porte que quelqu’un a ouverte
La porte que quelqu’un a refermée
La chaise où quelqu’un s’est assis
Le chat que quelqu’un a caressé
Le fruit que quelqu’un a mordu
La lettre que quelqu’un a lue
La chaise que quelqu’un a renversée
La porte que quelqu’un a ouverte
La route où quelqu’un court encore
Le bois que quelqu’un traverse
La rivière où quelqu’un se jette
L’hôpital où quelqu’un est mort.
Grammar: what is the rule? /Story/Art/clip scripting

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UN INVENTAIRE A LA PREVERT
• Vous ne ferez pas de phrases complètes, mais une liste de
thèmes, objets, sentiments, personnes, actions…ayant rapport à
l’amour. (focus on agreements)
• ·Nombre de vers : maximum 20
• Vous utiliserez des allitérations et/ou des assonances.
• Utilisez au moins trois mots de chacune des listes suivantes dans
votre poème :
► adjectifs : ému, heureux, ensorcelé, amusé, ébloui, séduit,
amoureux, fasciné, fou
► verbes : embrasser, murmurer, serrer contre soi, manquer,
cajoler, penser à, tomber sous le charme de…
► adverbes : tendrement, doucement, amoureusement,
passionnément, follement, affectueusement, intensément
► substantifs : la passion, l’amour, la flamme, la rencontre, la
femme de ma vie, l’homme idéal, le coup de foudre.

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Un verbe : Aimer
• 1. Un regard, une rencontre... un été, un sourire…
2. un numéro, un mail, une attente, un souvenir…
3. un appel, une voix, un début, un rencard…
4. un horaire, un endroit, une venue, un espoir…
5. une terrasse, un café, un dialogue, un moment…
6. un soleil, une lumière, un cœur, un battement…
7. une seconde, une minute, une heure, un plaisir…
8. un au-revoir, une prochaine, une promesse, un désir..
9. un après, une durée, une patience, un silence..
10. un doute, un pourquoi, un regret, une distance..
11. un retour, une surprise, un déluge, une marée..
12. une suite, une envie un projet.. une soirée..
13. une pleine lune, une virée, un instant, une pulsion..
14. un frôlement, un baiser, une magie ... Un frisson...
15. un accord, un avenir, une force,
• une destinée..
16. une étoile, un poème
• et un verbe "aimer"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5FFtxl18ck
Dictionary skills,
Gender, articles

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Word clouds &
Calligrammes
• Wordle http://www.wordle.net

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Tagxedo
http://www.tagxedo.com/

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Diamond poems
noun
adjective adjective
verb verb verb
adjective adjective
noun

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Haikus
En/core/ de/ la/ pluie (5)
Comme/ je/ pré/fére/ le/ so/leil… (7)
Vi/ ve/ ment/ l’é/té (5)

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Kennings
A kenning is a form of metaphor,
originally used in Anglo-Saxon and
Norse poetry.
In a kenning, an object is described in a
two-word phrase, such as 'whale-road'
for 'sea'.
Some kennings can be more obscure
than others, and are close to being a
riddle.
Un jardin
Un ordinateur
Un teléfono
Un amigo

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Strategies to focus on structures and
Topic-specific language
Grand Corps Malade-Le blues de l’instituteur
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1bL9yIdAOw
L’ école
L’environnement
Le monde
Les média
Les guerres
La religion
L’enfance
Les riches et les pauvres
Le futur
Les mots-clé?
Without Lyrics
With gapped lyrics
Without image
With image/karaoke
Les thèmes
Words and phrases

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•Develop/ extend ideas/ practise new structures
•Write about it: newspaper article/ letter/presentation
to penpal/ blog post/ short play/ poem/ story for young
audience.
http://mfl-storybirds.wikispaces.com/French+Storybirds
•Talk about it: record an interview/ podcast (dialogue,
News report, drama...) audio/ video
•Use your imagination
Nightmare holiday/day, Famous for a day: who/what/why,
Life Swap (dice), School of the future, My film (dice)
Summer/ Winter uniform..
Creative Writing

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Parallel Reading
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parallel-books/id

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Parallel Reading
• http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/
• http://www.20minutes.fr/
• http://www.20minutos.es/

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Translation into L2 and writing frames
Writing frames?
• Unsatisfying?
• Not encouraging independent writing?
• Use of model texts and reference materials to
• Pupils identify which structures will be kept from the
model (word/ printing + highlighting)
• Pupils are given prompt and they have to suggest
how the sentences could be completed => literal /
proper translation
handout

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Translation, grammatical application
and creativity
• Vocabulary test
• Oral /written dominoes
(words or phrases)
• Gap-fill exercise
• Translation of sentences
illustrating a specific
grammatical point
• Find the English
phrases in the T L text
• Redraft someone else’s
translation
English => TL TL => English
• Vocabulary test
• Oral /written dominoes
(words or phrases)
• Redraft someone else’s
translation
• Add titles (in English) to
text in T L
• Paraphrase or summarise
• Question and answer in
English
• True / false or multiple
choice
• Subtitles

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Translation, culture and creativity
• Wikipedia
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_fran%C3%A7aise
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_France
• Infographics
https://uk.pinterest.com/icpjones/infographie-francais/
https://uk.pinterest.com/icpjones/infografia-en-espanol/
• Adverts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktZ-5FVafXA
• FB Jokes
https://uk.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=blague+francais
https://uk.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=chistes+espa%C3%B1oles
• Cover songs
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCG5oU9pYdhbXH8D1xOlo9w
https://www.youtube.com/user/sarahageali/videos

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Musical translation
*Compare words in the song with
transcript-correct mistakes
*Compare words in the song with the
translation-what has been changed?
Why?
*Tense discrimination/comparison
Use cover versions of popular songs like
…

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Wrecking Ball"
We clawed,
we chained our hearts in vain
We jumped never asking why
We kissed, I fell under your spell.
A love no one could deny
Don't you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you
I can't live a lie, running for my life
I will always want you
I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me
I put you high up in the sky
And now, you're not coming down
It slowly turned, you let me burn
And now, we're ashes on the ground
Don't you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you
I can't live a lie, running for my life
I will always want you
En vano hoy mi corazón saltó,
Pero sin preguntar, hoy te besé
Un hechizo fue
Amor, no lo puedo negar
No me digas que sólo me alejé
Yo siempre te amaré
Ya no mentiré, por ti escaparé
Yo siempre te amaré
Es como una Demolición
Golpea fuerte el corazón
cada muro en mi derribas hoy
lo único que hiciste tu, fue destruir
sólo, fue destruir
Te puse en lo alto de Cielo
Y ahora no bajarás
Esto cambio el fuego
Me quemó
Cenizas quedarán
No me digas que sólo me alejé
Yo siempre te amaré
Ya no mentiré, por ti escaparé
Yo siempre te amaré

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Tense practice:
script-writing
Subtitling songs or silent movies using
Amara or Movie Maker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=kPWLxhu_ETc&list=PL35B8F0E6427AC3BC (Morph)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOHvZjiDANg&list=TLU8HG-
nMoQ6N8VB_TRUU6HiRpQTqHVB1Y (Simon’s cat)
Oktapodi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=badHUNl2HXU
http://www.amara.org/en/

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Literatura para todos/ Littérature pour tous
http://uk.pinterest.com/icpjones/litt%C3%A9rature-pour-tous/
http://uk.pinterest.com/icpjones/french-texts/
http://uk.pinterest.com/icpjones/literatura-para-todos/
http://uk.pinterest.com/icpjones/spanish-texts/
for texts

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More than words?
• Teaching grammar creatively: a
contradiction in terms?
• Creativity in translation
• Creativity and authentic resources
• Creative opportunities for learning
grammar through speaking and writing
• Creative use of digital and mobile tools

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Powerpoint Templates
More than words-
Creative Use of Text and Translation
Isabelle Jones, Head of Languages
@icpjones
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com