French is one of my favourite subjects to teach, especially at the Middle School level. In BC, students begin taking French in Grade 5. When I get them in Grade 6, they have an initial understanding of vocabulary, and it's amazing to see how much growth can occur in just one year. Last year, my class was so excited in February to be reading (and understanding) this French text during our study of Francophone communities in Canada.
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| This text comes from the TpT store Les Ressources de Mme Bedard |
Here are 10 tried and true activities and games that can bring some variety and fun to your FSL classroom!
1. Question du Jour (Question of the Day)
What? (purpose of the activity)
This activity gives a low-stress way for every student to speak French everyday, practice asking and answering questions, and connect letter patterns with pronunciation.
How? (steps)
- Create a question.
- I like to ask questions that fit in with the theme of the unit we’re studying at the time. I usually have the question written on the board as they come in to class.
- Brainstorm possible answers.
- I ask the students to brainstorm how to answer in different ways and write the answers on the board so that the students feel more confident and comfortable speaking.
- I go over how to pronounce the question and possible answers and the students repeat back.
- All students stand up.
- I ask the question to one student. That student answers, then asks someone else and so on.
- Once a student has answered the question, then asked another one, they sit down.
- The last student standing answers the question, then asks the question to me to complete the chain.
2. Grid Puzzle
What? (purpose of the activity)
This activity allows students to work as part of a team to achieve a goal, and to recognize the connection between English and French vocabulary.
How? (steps)
- Fill in the 4 x 4 grid so that each French word is facing its English translation.
- Make a copy of the grid for each pair/team.
- Cut along the lines so that you have 16 pieces.
- Ask the students to piece the puzzle back together so that all the French words are facing their English translations.
- Consider making it a race, and give the first team to complete the puzzle a prize.
- Consider using this as an intro to a new unit to see what words they already know or can figure out (by using cognates, etc.), or as a review game for the end of a unit.
- I like to put a line on the outside edges to give the students a bit of a clue.
3. Loto!
What? (purpose of the activity)
This is a fun review game for vocabulary. It also helps
students to make a connection between how French words are written and how they
are pronounced.
How? (steps)
- This game works like Bingo.
- Give your students a blank 4x4 or 5x5 grid and have them fill each box with a vocabulary word from your unit. I like to give my students a vocabulary list that they can use to build their Loto board, so that they have the same words as I do.
- Make a copy of each of the vocabulary words for yourself on small slips of paper and put them in a paper bag.
- One at a time, pull out a vocab word and call it out. If a student has the word on their board, they can mark the word. I usually give my students counters, buttons, or other small items to use to mark the squares, rather than having them cross out the word with pencil. That way, we can re-use the boards and play again.
- The first student to cross out a full line jumps up and shouts “Loto!”
- To win, I have my students tell me the words they marked and what they mean in English.
- You can set the goal to win as whatever you’d like: one line, two lines, outside edges, blackout, etc.
- I like this game because as I am calling out the words in French, the students need to recognize the words as they are written to know which words have been called.
4. Traversez la classe
What? (purpose of the activity)
This listening
activity gives students a chance to practice vocabulary. It incorporates
physical education, too. My students ask to play this all the time!
How? (steps)
- Move the furniture aside so that you have a clear space in the classroom, or bring your class to the gym or outside.
- Have half the class stand on one side of the space, and half on the other.
- You will say “Traversez la classe si tu…” (Cross the room if you…) and fill in the rest of the sentence with whatever vocabulary you’re working on.
- For example, when I teach my clothing unit, I use “…si tu portes…” (…if you are wearing…) and fill in clothing words. For an animal unit, you can use “…si tu as…” (…if you have…) or “…si tu veux…” (…if you want…) then add an animal word.
- Anyone who fits the category runs across the open space.
- You can extend this to make it a tag game as well if you have someone in the middle of the open space trying to tag the runners.
- I’ve also made this more advanced by having the “it” person come up with the next call.
5. Trouvez quelqu'un qui... (Find someone who...)
What? (purpose of the activity)
This is a simple speaking/listening activity that gets
students up and moving and talking to each other in French. It helps with
practicing vocabulary and asking and answering questions.
How? (steps)
- Decide on which questions you will use based on the theme of your unit. The questions should each begin with “find someone who…” ("trouvez quelqu’un qui…”)
- For example, in a food unit, you could use “Aimes-tu manger…” as your question stem, then fill in each line with a different food. In a sports unit, your stem could be “Aimes-tu jouer…” with different types of sports. In a pets unit, you could ask “As-tu des…” and complete the questions with different animals.
- Have the students go to each other and ask them the questions. Once they find someone who says “oui,” they can record that name on their page.
- Students are not allowed to use the same name more than once, so they must ask a lot of different people.
- After each student has found someone to fit each question, I usually go through and ask for volunteers for each question. For example: “Qui a un chien?” (Who has a dog?). Students respond with the name they recorded on their form.
6. Interview and Present
What? (purpose of the activity)
This is a simple activity that allows students to practice
speaking and listening, and gives them a chance to express their likes and
dislikes.
How? (steps)
- Separate students into pairs.
- Students will ask each other “Est-ce que tu aimes…” or “Aimes-tu…” (Do you like…) questions. The end of the question will depend on the vocabulary theme you are working on (food, animals, colours, etc.).
- Students will answer in full sentences, and their partners will record the answers.
- After each partner has asked and answered their questions, each student will prepare a short presentation to the class, describing the likes and dislikes of their partner.
- Mon partenaire s’appelle…
- Mon partenaire aime…
- Mon partneaire n’aime pas…
- Alternatively, you can have the students write a short paragraph about their partners’ likes and dislikes.
- You can extend this to have students include reasons for their likes and dislikes.
7. This or That?
What? (purpose of the activity)
This activity gives students a chance to express reasons for
their preferences. It also allows for practice with adverbs of quantity (trop,
assez, beaucoup, etc.) and adjectives.
How? (steps)
- Choose two elements that relate to the theme of your unit (two different animals for an animal unit, two different foods for a food unit, etc.).
- Have the students choose which one they like better and describe why.
- This can be done in writing or verbally
- Students can come up with the pairings, or you can decide for them.
- You could extend this to a whole class activity by having the students move to one side of the room or the other to indicate their preferences, then try to persuade others to join their side by offering reasons for their preferences.
8. Heads Up! (Suis je...)
What? (purpose of the activity)
This is a fun, interactive activity to help students practice
vocabulary and ask and answer simple questions.
How? (steps)
- Make flash cards for the vocabulary unit you’re studying, or have the students make them. (I like to laminate the cards so that they’ll last). Make enough for each student to have their own.
- Each student will get a card and hold it up to their forehead without looking at it.
- Students walk around the room and have other students give them clues, or act out the word until they guess their own word.
- To guess, students will ask “Suis je…?” (Am I…?).
- Once a student guesses their word, they hand back in the card but keep playing until everyone knows their word.
- Alternatively, you can give 2 or 3 copies of each card out and students have to find the other students with the same card.
- You can extend this by having the students ask each other questions in French to help guess the word.
- For example, if you are using animal vocabulary, your students can ask “Est-ce que j’habite dans le mer?” (Do I live in the ocean) “Est-ce que j’ai une crinière?” (Do I have a mane), etc.
9. Memory Matching Game
What? (purpose of the activity)
This is a fun game that students can play on their own in
free time, or with a partner to practice vocabulary words.
How? (steps)
- Give students pairs of cards with a French word and a matching image.
- Students turn each card upside down and mix them up so that they don’t know which card is where.
- One at a time, students turn over two cards. If they are a match, the student gets to keep the pair and try again. If they are not a match, the student turns them back over and the other student gets a turn.
- Play goes back and forth until all the cards are claimed.
- The player with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.
- This can be adapted to include French and English words (instead of French words and images). You can also get students to create the cards themselves.
- This can be further extended in higher grades to require students to create a full sentence using the French word before they can claim the cards.
10. Zut!
What? (purpose of the activity)
This is a fun game that helps students remember French numbers and can tie in to math outcomes about multiples.
How? (steps)
- Ask the students to stand in a circle.
- Choose a number to be the "Zut!"
- One at a time, students count in French around the circle, but for every multiple of your chosen number, the student must say "Zut" instead of the number.
- For example, if the number is 4, then the first student would say "un." The next student says "deux." Then "trois." Then "zut!" (instead of quatre). The next student would go on to "cinq."
- If a student is supposed to say zut, but says the number, that student is out. A student is also out if they count the wrong number. For example, if they count sept after cinq and forget six. A student is also out if they say zut when it isn't a multiple of the chosen number.
- Every time a student is out, the next person starts back at un. I usually start the year by challenging my class to get all the way to 31 without a mistake. It's tricky, but last year's class made it to 31 before winter break!
- Whenever we have a bit of time, my students always ask to play Zut! It's definitely a favourite.
Bonus Activities using a Verb Ball :
There are several
ways to use a “Verb Ball” in your classroom. Here are a few I’ve done:
SET UP:
- Write the standard subject pronouns (je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles) on a beach ball (or other soft ball that can be passed around the classroom).
- Make sure to cover the ball with pronouns.
PRONOUN RECOGNITION:
- Have students pass the ball to one another.
- The student who catches the ball will translate the subject pronoun under his or her thumb to English.
REGULAR VERB ENDINGS:
- Have students pass the ball to one another. When a student tosses the ball, he or she will say a regular verb category (ER, RE, or IR).
- The student who catches the ball will give the correct verb ending for the subject pronoun under his or her thumb.
VERB CONJUGATION:
- This works for whatever verb you are working on at the time.
- Have students pass the ball to one another.
- The student who catches the ball will conjugate the verb for the subject pronoun under his or her thumb.
- If you are working on a verb group (RE verbs, for example), the student who tosses the ball can choose a verb for the person who catches the ball to conjugate.
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