General

Extension adjectives
This could be especially useful for junior students, when the class is learning about basic description. Gifted students could be given these words, and then challenged to use them as many times as possible in class, or to find an object/person for each word.

Tongue twisters
In my opinion, tongue twisters are a great way of focusing on pronunciation without the students realising! I believe that they are good for gifted students because: they can be pushed to say it faster, to translate the tongue twister (drawing from their L1, guessing to fill in the gaps in their knowledge...) or even making their own.

Funny/Hard-to-translate French Words
In the same vein as the above. The words which I picked are either 'nonsense words', or ones which have an amusing sound to them. This should appeal to the creative side of gifted students, as well as their eccentricity. Again, it gives students more exposure to the language, so that they can learn which sounds are 'French', and which are not.

'Language Etymologist'
Hopkins and Shapiro (1969, p.13) suggest that gifted students can "build a word file of unusual adjectives, adverbs, and phrases, or compile lists of substitutes for overworked words", using a good thesaurus. This links directly to NCEA marking criteria, which states that "a wide variety of simple language" must be used if students are to achieve with excellence. Example of criteria for Achievement Standard 1.6 (grid on p.6).

Franglais
There is a lot to crossover between French and English. Many English and French words have common Latin roots; therefore, students will be able to draw on their native language to help them to understand the target language. Recall the example given in my list of what gifted students may be doing (making the connection "'terminer' = to finish, so that's like 'interminable'"). Also, the French use a lot of English words, but sometimes with a slightly different meaning to what we understand. Students could be encouraged to make links between words in French and English, or investigate the meanings of English words which are used in French.

This could be used as a starter: Everything Sounds Better In French A song by Larry Siegel, which talks about what would happen if we used English equivalents instead of foreign terms; "so much of English would be extinguished!". Eg 'je ne sais quoi' turns to 'I don't know what'; 'mardi gras' becomes 'fat Tuesday'.

Independent study
A few ideas for topics, and where to look for resources.

Links
love to know Contains some idioms and tongue twisters, with translations.

Reference s
Hopkins, L. & Shapiro, A. (1969) //Creative Activities for the Gifted Child//. Belmont, California: Lear Siegler, Inc/Fearon Publishers