Getting students speaking French is a challenge for foreign language teachers! Find effective French speaking strategies for FSL, core, and immersion classes.
Teaching French reading comprehension with these effective strategies will help students gain the confidence and skills to read in French.
I LOVE using centres with my students! My students love them, and will choose many of the centres to play during indoor recess instead of lego and other toys. It rained this week and one of my boys chose to build with magnets on cookie trays! Setting clear routines is the most important part. Take the time to teach the games to your students so that they understand how to play properly. If they haven't mastered the French vocab, then you will have behavioural and focus issues come up. With younger students, make sure you practice the game as a whole class many times before you introduce it as a centre. Set-up: I use the cards from my "j'ai fini" board as the centre rotation cards, as the centres are all things they can also choose to do if they finish their work early. I recently updated the file to include centre group cards, so you can write their names on the group # cards to set up your groups before they come to class. Normally my "j'ai fini" board is set up like this: Since they're on magnets, it's really easy to move them over to the other side of my whiteboard to set up the centres. I line them up vertically and put the group # cards beside them. I have each centre set up on a table group (except bug in a rug, they play on the carpet). I review the rules of each centre with them, and the CLEAN UP rules. We talk about what each centre should look like when it's been properly cleaned up. They get started at their centres, and I work with my small group at my table. When I'm done with them (about 10 minutes) I ding my bell. This means clean up and come back to the carpet. Once they're all back at the carpet, we look around to check that the room is cleaned up properly. Any groups who wrote on whiteboards are able to read a sentence they wrote to the class. This is our sharing centre. Then I move the centre cards on the whiteboard down one spot, and tell each group where they are going for their next centre. Here are some of the centres I do: 1. Bang game: Put all the vocab you’re practicing in a container. Students pull out a card. If they can say it in French (or use it in a sentence, to make it harder) then they can keep the card. If they pull a card that says “bang” then they get another turn (or lose all their cards, your choice!) You can use any empty yogurt container or plastic tupperware. Just make sure they can't see through the container! Some of my students like to play bang and then write the words they won on a whiteboard! 2. Bug in a rug: Lay out the vocab in a grid. One student hides the “bug” under a card, while the other students close their eyes. They guess in French which vocab card it’s hidden under. Whoever finds the bug gets to hide it next. This game requires an honest conversation with your students about why cheating will ruin the fun of the game! 3. Go fish: You can print any of the flashcards you're using in class. Copy them 2 or 4 per page to make them smaller. 4. Word building: Magnets on cookie trays! My students use our visual dictionaries or word wall strips to choose their words/sentences to build. These awesome magnets come from wintergreen. This set is much cheaper, but you'd likely need multiple sets. The cookie trays are from the dollar store. Ideally you want small magnets so they can fit more words on the cookie tray. 5. Sentence building: Print squares with a variety of sentence starters, numbers, colours, and objects. Students then put the words in order to build sentences. You can extend this by having them read their sentences to a partner, or write their sentences on a whiteboard/in their journals. 6. "Pictionary": One student draws on a whiteboard, the other student has to guess what they are drawing. 7. Matching: Picture to the word. My students use our visual dictionaries to check their work over when they're done! 8. Cootie catchers/fortune tellers with a partner. 9. Bingo - 1 group member can be the bingo caller, others put tokens on the words that are called. I use these as the bingo tokens. 10. Writing on whiteboards - 11. Hunting for sight words - 12. Cube game - Roll the cube and answer the question. Extension - write the question! I bought the cubes here, and write different prompts on sticky notes to slide under the plastic. 13. SMACK game - One student says the word, whoever smacks it first gets to say the next word! 14. Spin and graph sight words - 15. Stamp the sight words, themed vocab, or sentences! 16. Write the sight words - I bought salt from the dollar store and added a few drops of food colouring, then gave it a good shake. Students use a sharp pencil to write words in the salt! 17. Read and clip - 18. Spinner games - I use these in centres to give my students prompts for oral communication or writing. They can spin the spinner and either say a sentence or write a sentence. They can review vocabulary in partners (one spins, one says the word). 19. Working with Mlle - The BEST part about centres is that it means I can pull small groups to work with. Do you have any centres you love? Feel free to share in the comments :)
Fun fall teaching ideas for Core French and French immersion: speaking activities, games, vocabulary building and seasonal fun
I started teaching French over 15 years ago, and during that first year, I could have really used some free French resources to help me out! Instead, every Sunday was spent prepping, creating, and cutting
Tips for teaching the French passé composé - Teach the passé composé so students retain what they've learned : French teaching resources
French speaking resources for the FSL, Core, and immersion classrooms - find activities for beginners, intermediate, and advanced students.
French speaking and writing resources for the entire year! This bundle of beginner French 1 resources can supplement a curriculum or stand alone.
French ER verbs can be fun and engaging with the right games, speaking activities, and printables. Learn how to teach regular French ER verbs here!
French school supplies teaching resources for Core French- speaking activities, games, digital resources, worksheets, listening comprehension
Find effective ideas, games, speaking activities, paperless activities, and worksheets for practicing French verbs avoir and être.
French First Week Activities: In my previous 4 posts, I've talked about why it's so important to create an immersion atmosphere, how to set the tone for the year, and how to set expectations for the first day of French class. In this post about the French first week activities, I'll be sharing the lessons
French games for grammar, vocabulary, and verb conjugation for Core and Immersion: French class made fun and engaging!
Tips for teaching the French passé composé - Teach the passé composé so students retain what they've learned : French teaching resources
Tips and teaching ideas for a French split class. Teaching mixed levels requires special planning and differentiation. Get strategies here.
Some of my favorite French music to listen to in secondary French classes for reinforcing verbs, grammar, and vocabulary
French games for grammar, vocabulary, and verb conjugation for Core and Immersion: French class made fun and engaging!
Find free French fall resources for FSL, core, and immersion classes here. Grab a Halloween freebie perfect for French creative writing.
Love French task cards? Try them in a game of scoot for a fun & engaging way to practice French verb conjugation & vocabulary in your core or immersion class.
Teaching French reading comprehension with these effective strategies will help students gain the confidence and skills to read in French.
Tips for teaching the French passé composé - Teach the passé composé so students retain what they've learned : French teaching resources
Ever wonder which countries use French as their official language? Did you know there are over 25 Francophone countries? North America - 1, The Caribbean - 1, Europe - 5, and Africa - 21, Australia - 1. This list only includes countries that use French as one of their official languages, however there are many
Here's a game that I made up: It's pretty simple, but my kids LOVE it. We have had to have talks about controlling our excitement while we play! We play it to practice both oral communication and writing. I read them a book with vocabulary that we are learning (in this case winter words). Then we choose vocabulary from the book (or just from our winter word wall) and I draw it on the board. Then I say each word, and my students repeat it after me. I give them two minutes on a timer to "dwrite" (write a sentence using pictures and words), and then they have to read what they wrote to their table group. Then I spin the spinner. If the spinner lands on the word you chose, you get a point! The great part about this game is that I can play it with both my grade 1s and 2s simultaneously (which is a dream for a split class). My grade 2s are expected to write more than the grade 1s, and can use more than one of the words in their sentences. We play a few rounds with each set of vocabulary before I erase it and choose new words. I get them to repeat the words a LOT, to give them lots of opportunities to practice. What games are your students loving??
These dice games for French are a fun and engaging way to practice vocabulary, grammar, and sentence writing with core and immersion classes.
Tips for teaching the French passé composé - Teach the passé composé so students retain what they've learned : French teaching resources
French games for grammar, vocabulary, and verb conjugation for Core and Immersion: French class made fun and engaging!
Engaging and fun end of the year activities for French class to use with your Core French or French immersion students.
French Boom Cards™ are paperless cards played on the Boom Learning℠ site. These digital cards are self-checking, super-fun, and great for distance learning!
Save time by checking out this list of French back-to-school resources with links to videos, free printables, and more! Ready for "la rentrée scolaire"?
Celebrating Halloween in the French classroom? Check out this list of French Halloween freebies with lots of fun French printables! Links to videos too!
Creating a Core French Long Range Plan based on a wealth of resources and understanding of what the average Ontario English-stream student is capable of learning at the various grade levels.
Ok, I know - it's too soon. But it helps to be prepared! Here are some resources that can help save you some time in September, so you can enjoy your summer for a bittttt longer! These French Immersion start up activities are great for k-2 Immersion, depending on where your students are. My grade 1s are BRAND new to French, so when I use these with them we practice a LOT, and the activities are done over a few weeks. I use the colour mini book as an assessment once they've learned all their colours! For grade 2 Immersion students, the activities make a great review of everything they learned in grade 1 (and may have forgotten over the summer). These French back to school activities are fun, quick activities to do during the first week of school. I use the activities in here to set up our classroom and make some bulletin boards to showcase their work! If you're ready so start thinking about your program structure, then you might be interested in this poem and song duotang file! I use this as our weekly homework activity. My students have a general homework duotang, and we focus on 1 poem or song each week. We also use the Shadow Puppet app to record it and post it on our class Weebly website, so my kids can practice at home with audio! These printable worksheets are quick, easy activities that your students can do to practice their French. I treat each one as a longer activity than just completing the sheet. We read a related book, talk about the vocabulary they'll need to use at the carpet, and practice talking about what we're going to draw/write with a partner. Then when they're done, they can share their work with the class (and you can take anecdotal notes)! They also make great activities to leave for a supply teacher. If your students are not brand new to French, Bingo games make a fun way to review their fall vocabulary. Last but not least, these cootie catchers can help your kids get back into the groove of speaking in French! We used them in grade 1 last year to review colours, numbers, and letters. If your students are further along in French, they can use them to practice building sentences with the vocabulary! Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Distance learning tools I'm loving! These sites and extensions are great for organization and teaching during remote learning periods.
French speaking and writing resources for the entire year! This bundle of beginner French 1 resources can supplement a curriculum or stand alone.
Need ideas for Teaching French verbs? Here are a few of my favorite ways to practice verb conjugation in core and immersion French classes.
These are my favorite activities for French class - Practice French vocabulary, verb conjugation, and grammar with these engaging activities.
French reading comprehension activities for beginning & intermediate students from Mme R's French Resources help teachers differentiate.
French listening comprehension activities for beginners - paperless and printable activities for Core and French immersion classes
French listening comprehension activities for beginners - paperless and printable activities for Core and French immersion classes
French speaking resources for the FSL, Core, and immersion classrooms - find activities for beginners, intermediate, and advanced students.
These fun French games are a great way to bring life into your French lessons! Students will love these games for speaking, vocabulary and grammar. Click here to read more about them and find links to great ideas!
Here is a list of some of the Free French Resources found in my TPT store. Click on the title of each resource for a direct link!
