Article and exercises on xenophobia in France. Following the European parliament elections and dismaying success of xenophophobic political parties, I have put together a good text with vocabulary, discussion, gapfill and translation. This would work well with AS level students returning after exams, or just keep in the file for A2 level. The resource would work well with advanced adult students too.

Parallel reading for near beginners. "My friend". Simple description with English translation based on a 10 year old. True/flase/not mentioned exercises and simple writing task. I have done two versions, one for a male friend, the other female. This should simplify adjective use. The tasks can be used with primary or Y7.

Parallel reading for near beginners: daily routine. Pupils tick off the true sentences in French and complete sentences to decribe their own routine at a very basic level. The routine fits primary (elementary) children best.

A list of variations on traditional number bingo. All of these require little or no advance preparation. Note that I have been building up the beginners' resources with primary French teachers in mind.

Telling the time matching task. Digital time on left, sentences in French on the right to match. 24 hour clock.

Parallel reading task for near beginners or primary children. Spiders. Did you know that the tarantula ("mygale") can be 30cm long? Yikes!

Parallel reading task for near beginners. Asking directions - a slightly annoying tourist.

Parallel reading for beginners: "The boy who cried wolf". Find the true French sentences and vocabulary list to complete.

Parallel reading task for beginners (primary or Y7). A simple weather forrcast with true sentences to identify and a word list to complete with key weather words and points of the compass. Good pupils could write their own forecast based on this model. Also provided as a free sample.

Parallel reading for beginners about Brazil. Short parallel texts, find the true sentences, highlight the cognates and complete a word list.