Nine themes for everyday life
Nine themes support adults learning French in everyday situations: introducing yourself, renting a home, going to the town hall, looking for a job.
Lexikit now also addresses adults learning French. “Add a theme” gains a seventh group, “Everyday life”. Its nine themes follow the situations of a person arriving in a new country: introducing yourself, the language class, emergencies, renting a home, the post office and the bank, paperwork, looking for a job, your children's school, sport and leisure.
A domain for each theme
Each theme shows its domain: Identity, Health, Housing, Work or Leisure. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) describes situations of communication with these domains. They appear in the themes window, next to the number of words.
No theme shows an A1 or A2 level. A level would mean comparing every word with a reference list. Until that work is done, I prefer not to show one.
Adult words and their traps
Adult themes raise difficulties that the children's themes did not have. In ARASAAC, the first pictogram for “propriétaire” (owner) shows a dog with its master, and the one for “gagner” (to earn, but also to win) an athlete receiving a medal. The words of these themes are checked one by one with their picture. A word whose picture says something else changes picture or leaves the theme.
A few words are still missing from the lexicon, such as “loyer” (rent) or “préfecture” (the office that issues residence permits). You can add them with a photo or a picture of your choice, and they join your resources like the others.
Ready-made sentences
Six sentences come with each theme for the sentence resources, for example “The rent is too expensive.” or “I take the lift with my neighbour.”. They are cut out, put back in order and read aloud, like the sentences of the children's themes.
These themes are also used at school, with children who have just arrived in France and with their parents.
