Building and construction vocabulary is a useful subject for adult learners wanting to improve their business French, older children and, of course, anyone wanting to build or renovate a house in France!
This activity requires no equipment other than paper and pens, and will help students memorise vocabulary and phrases.
French Building and Construction Vocabulary and Learning Game
Vocabulary List
Each item on the list has been assigned a number of points, depending on how generally useful it is. For example, nails and screws both score three points each, whereas a mechanical digger scores 15 points.
Low scoring items – 3 points each
Toolbox – la boîte à outils
Tape measure – le metre à ruban
Hammer – le marteau
Saw - la scie
Nail – le clou
Screw – la vis
Stepladder – l’escabeau (m)
Screwdriver – le tournevis
Medium scoring items – 7 points each
Sandpaper – le papier de verre
Paintbrushes – les pinceaux (m pl)
Chisel – le ciseau
Trowel – la truelle
Knife – le couteau
Tape measure – le metre à ruban
Spirit level – le niveau à bulle
Glue – la colle
High scoring items – 15 points each
Spade – la pelle
Axe – l’hache (f)
Mechanical digger – l’excavatrice (f)
Varnish – le vernis
Suggested Jobs
- Hanging a picture on the wall – accrocher un tableau au mur
- Planting a tree – planter un arbre
- Digging out a drainage ditch – creuser un fossé
- Painting a wall – peindre un mur
- Putting down a new carpet – poser une nouvelle moquette
- Building a wall – constuire un mur
- Cutting up firewood – couper du bois
- Repairing a chair – réparer une chaise
Pre-lesson preparation required – create the handout squares of jobs, as detailed below. Total preparation time – no more than 15 minutes.
- Divide your students into two teams. Create a master list of the vocabulary, and the number of points assigned to each tool. Give each team a copy of the list.
- Tear a piece of paper into squares, and on each square write a job to be done. Some examples are given above, you will need at least one job per student plus a couple of extras.
- The squares of paper are shuffled and one square given to each student. Each student then has to say which tools he will need to do the job, trying to maximise his points by using as many items as possible and using the highest scoring tools if possible.
- The opposing team can issue challenges: (Why do you need a crane digger to build a wall?) and lose points if they can’t justify using the equipment. The team with the most points wins.
Variation
The game can obviously be played continuously by introducing new jobs and tools. For older or more advanced students, you can also make it harder by handing out a randomly assigned job, but also two or three randomly assigned tools. Students then have to justify using their peculiar collection of tools to do the job, gaining bonus points for each tool they justify.
Bonne chance!
Sara Walker - I graduated from the University of Liverpool with a BA in English and French, and spent many years working as a software trainer and then ...
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