This is my first FLES post in awhile. Since last year, I have been teaching elementary enrichment classes after school. Click here to read my previous FLES posts. I am by no means a pre-eminent resource on all things FLES, but on this blog I share what activities worked for me (and sometimes what didn’t!). I previously blogged about a lesson I did on colors. In this post, I will share some additional resources I’ve used to teach and reinforce colors to elementary students.
I love this children’s book called “On s’aime quand même – En couleurs.” It’s simple and contains similes of colors and objects, but I like the underlying message that no matter what color someone is, we can all still love each other. There is a video on YouTube of a child reading it. Email subscribers, click here to watch the video. You can also read the story on Storyplayr (a subscription is needed to read the whole story).
During every session, I like to show students a map of the French-speaking world and look at photos. For colors, we looked at photos from various French-speaking countries around the world as well as their flags, and I asked students in French what various colors were. Students had a vocabulary sheet to refer to. You can see the slides in the slideshow below. Email subscribers, click here to view the slideshow.
“Voilà” is a game played in groups. I name a color, and the first group to hold up the card showing that color gets a point. I play this game with all sorts of vocabulary. You can also play it within groups, where the first person in the group to hold up the card gets a point, but younger students tend to argue over who touched the card first when you play it that way.
Another activity I like is “Rip Bingo” (sometimes called “Strip Bingo”). I don’t know where this game originated, but Martina Bex has a good description of it on her website. In her explanation, she uses a text, but it can also be played with vocabulary words. Students first get a strip of paper divided into five sections, as shown below. Students write five random colors in French, one in each box. Then, I display colors on the screen one at a time. If they have the color written on an end piece, they can rip it off. This continues until someone has ripped apart all their pieces. I have played this with my middle schoolers too, and it’s a lot of fun!
After introducing colors, you can incorporate some art education by discussing what mixing colors makes. I put two colors on the board, and students have to determine what color they made. Next students put together a puzzle from Lightbulb Languages that has some color mixtures in it (it’s the resource labeled “Colours squares puzzle (with pictures)”). Students have to match the French word with the color or color mixture. They do this with a partner. It’s definitely challenging, but they eventually get it. It’s a great lead up to the next activity.
“Petit-bleu et petit-jaune” is a simple story by Leo Lionni. I can’t remember where I first heard about this book, but I know it’s been brought up at multiple conferences I’ve attended as a great story to not only reinforce colors but explore a social justice message. In the story, two colors (blue and yellow) mix together and become green when they hug. At first, their families don’t like this, but eventually they come to embrace it. After reading the story, we discussed the themes in the story. There is a video of someone reading the story on YouTube. Email subscribers, click here to watch the video.
Liked this post? Sign up below to receive future posts by email!
