As students begin their courses of beginning level French, they will learn to express likes and dislikes. This vocabulary naturally pairs with learning the adverb construction of “ne...pas”. Breathe life into your early practice exercises by allowing students to depict their opinions as they express them. For visual learners, this will help reinforce their basic vocabulary retention.
In this activity, students will use a T-Chart to express what “j’aime” in one column and what “je n’aime pas” in the other. Keep each row consistent by requiring that students choose a specific category for each row. Younger students may benefit from pre-selected topics to help them organize their categories.
To practice facility with multiple verbs, require students to rotate between -er verbs such as aimer, adorer, détester, and préférer. The example storyboard demonstrates a use of negation with a variety of verbs in order to avoid repetition of any verb more than once.
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Student Instructions
Create a T Chart expressing your likes and dislikes in four different categories. Consider discussing your preferences for books, sports, music, classes, movies, clothing, food, animals, weather, or other topics.
Use the verbs aimer, adorer, détester, and préférer. Make sure to avoid using any particular expression or verb more than once. You may use each verb a second time if you turn it into a negative.
Gamify learning by turning negation practice into engaging activities like Bingo, charades, or memory match. This approach motivates students and encourages quick thinking with sentences like "Je n’aime pas..." or "Je préfère..."
Demonstrate how to use "ne...pas" with picture cards and expressive gestures. For example, hold up a picture of pizza and say, "J’aime la pizza," then cross your arms and say, "Je n’aime pas la soupe." Visual cues help students connect meaning and structure.
Provide sentence starters such as "J’aime..." and "Je n’aime pas..." on the board. Encourage students to complete them using classroom vocabulary. Scaffolds boost confidence and support all learners.
Pair students up to ask and answer questions using negation. For example, "Qu’est-ce que tu n’aimes pas?" and "Qu’est-ce que tu préfères?" This interactive step builds speaking skills and reinforces new structures.
Assign small groups to make posters illustrating collective likes and dislikes using full sentences and images. Display posters in class for ongoing review and celebration of student work!
To teach French negation with likes and dislikes, introduce the "ne...pas" structure with common verbs like aimer (to like), adorer (to love), détester (to hate), and préférer (to prefer). Use T-Charts so students can write sentences with "j’aime" (I like) and "je n’aime pas" (I don’t like) about familiar topics, helping them practice both positive and negative expressions.
Try T-Charts where students list likes and dislikes in categories such as food, sports, or music. Use visual aids, sentence starters, and encourage students to illustrate each sentence. Rotate verbs like aimer, adorer, détester, and préférer for variety and deeper practice.
Start by modeling simple positive sentences (e.g., "J’aime le chocolat"), then demonstrate the negative form ("Je n’aime pas le chocolat"). Use clear visuals and sentence frames, and provide opportunities for students to compare and contrast their own preferences using the ne...pas structure.
T-Charts help students organize thoughts visually, making it easier to compare likes ("j’aime") and dislikes ("je n’aime pas"). They encourage category-based thinking and support vocabulary retention, especially for visual learners.
Examples: J’adore la musique (I love music), Je n’adore pas les épinards (I don’t love spinach), Je préfère les livres (I prefer books), Je ne préfère pas les films d’horreur (I don’t prefer horror movies).