Are you tired of spending hours planning out your French as a Second Language classes? Do you find it tricky to incorporate speaking, listening, reading and writing opportunities into your daily lessons?
Today I am going to share my biggest secret for making core French classes a breeze! Creating a simple French routine.
If you’re pulling your hair out trying to come up with new activities every day, I am about to change your life!
French Routine Activity 1: Calendar and Weather Time
Are you required to teach the following concepts throughout the year?
- Numbers to 31
- Weather
- Temperature
- Emotions
- Special Holidays
Me too! That’s why starting each and every French class off with Calendar time is an awesome way to start the day. Not only do the kiddos get the vocabulary practice that they need, but it starts our lessons off in a calm and predictable way. This is especially important when you are teaching multiple classes or switching for FSL.
It is ideal if the Calendar and Weather activities that you select can be done independently. This will free you up to do things like attendance, checking in with kiddos who have been away, and dare I say taking a sip of your coffee before it becomes iced cold.
This is why I LOVE using my French Digital Calendar and Weather Bundle. After a few days of modelling, students can complete the activities independently.
After giving students some time to complete their calendar and weather activities independently, I suggest using these same activities for some oral language practice. Ask students to describe the weather to a partner. Then they can tell their partner today’s date and season!
Differentiation Tip: Your struggling or beginning French learners can use the sentence stems from the digital activities as a scaffold!
Timeline: You can spend 7-10 minutes on Calendar and Weather activities each class! Once your students have mastered the vocabulary and the concepts, you might switch to only doing Calendar time a few times a week.
French Routine Activity 2: Music
It is so important that kiddos love coming to French class. For this reason, I suggest incorporating a song into each and every French class.
You might choose to use a general “Welcome” song or choose a song that more directly relates to the concepts that students are currently studying. There are a ton of wonderful songs available on YouTube.
Here are some of my favourites:
Timeline: You will probably spend 3-5 minutes listening and singing along each class.
French Routine Activity 3: Vocabulary Instruction
There are a TON of different vocabulary activities that I suggest incorporating into your French as a Second Language classroom. Here are a few:
- PowerPoint / Google Slides presentations that introduce vocabulary terms and correct pronunciation
- Digital Activities which are essentially digital worksheets that provide meaningful practice opportunities for students
- Projects like “Design your Own Animal” and “Create an Animal Habitat”
- Immersive Experiences like Noel Autour du Monde
- Centres or Stations with a variety of games like LOTO and Aller Pêcher.
- Oral language activities like interviews and Would you Rather Slides
- BOOM learning cards
Differentiation Tip: If you use a PowerPoint presentation to introduce students to new vocabulary terms, you can create a quick Screencastify video of yourself going through the slides and post it in Google Classroom for students to access. This will allow your beginning French students to work with greater independence.
Timeline: You will probably spend 10 – 15 minutes on vocabulary instruction and activities each class.
French Routine Activity 4: End with a Game
I suggest ending each and every French class with a quick game. I love games so much that I created an entire blog post all about core French number games! Click HERE to learn more about the following games:
- Pamplemouse
- Onze
- Loto
- Téléphone
There you have it! Your no fuss, easy way to teach French as a Second Language. Be sure to pin the image below so that you can reference this post when you need it!