At the end of the calendar year, I do a retrospective on my favorite activities and resources I used for the first time or brought back after not using them. Here are nine activities and resources I tried or brought back in 2024:
Tried: Paris Olympics and Phryges
Earlier this year I blogged about some activities I did to teach my students about the 2024 Olympics in Paris, including a writing task where students invented their own phryge mascot. The writing task was adapted from an activity posted by Chelsea Peeters in the French Teachers in the US Facebook groups. Click here to read about this activity. The activity turned out so well that I am already thinking about how to repackage it for this year, since the Olympics are now over.
I also printed out these medals with names of athletes from francophone countries and what they won, provided by Kathryn Mangiamele on the French Teachers in the US Facebook group.
Tried: Expanding Food and Meal-Taking AuthRes
Over the years, I have expanded my authentic and cultural resources to encompass a variety of francophone countries, not just the ones I’ve been to. This year I added some more videos and menus to my arsenal for my food and meal-taking unit. I recently wrote a blog post sharing my favorite AuthRes and cultural resources for food and meal-taking. Click here to read it.
Brought Back: “Je voudrais” Writing Assignment
This is a task I used to do and revived this year. Students pick someone to write an imaginary letter to (Santa, a parent, etc.) and state what they want for Christmas, Hanukkah, their birthday, or any other occasion. They also state the price and the total. Click here to see the document I give my students. I give them a document with items from Amazon.fr that they can choose from. Of course this is one of those things that needs to keep getting updated each year as items go out of style. Click here to access the list I gave them this year.
Tried: “Tu es qui ?” Nationalities Task
I made this simple speaking task this year to help students practice asking for and talking about where they are from and how they are doing. They take turns being the interviewer and the interviewee. The interviewer asks the interviewee their nationality, city of origin, and mood, and based on the answers, determines who the interviewee is.
Tried: Eliminating More “Textbook Language”
Over the past few years, the 8th grade French teacher and I have been moving more in the direction of using common conversational language with our students as opposed to proper “textbook language.” This means *gasp* sometimes using language that is not grammatically correct. As teachers, we are often grammar nerds, and teaching something grammatically incorrect can feel wrong, but it’s also important to give students real world language they can use. In addition to replacing some of the proper/textbook type language with more common expressions, we are incorporating more useful expressions, such as saying “Moi, c’est…” (I’m…) to give your name, in addition to “Je m’appelle” (My name is).
I used the below video for the first time this year. I love how it incorporates “Moi c’est.” Email subscribers, click here to watch the video
Tried: Daily Greetings
This is something so simple that it may surprise you that I only got into doing it this year. This year, I began taking time at the beginning of each class to individually ask students how they are doing and giving them time to answer in French. Previously, I did this, but it was quick, and the class just answered at once and we moved on. Now, each student is given the opportunity to answer one at a time if they want to. I spend a lot of time at the beginning of the year helping students understand that “Ça va” can mean a lot of different things depending on the tone of voice. As the year progresses, I am adding in more responses they can give. Since students recently learned how to say they are hungry, that is now a possible response. The class that meets right before lunch makes good use of that expression. What I love about this exercise is that it provides some personalization and relationship building and it elicits participation from some students who don’t otherwise participate a lot. I display this image on the screen for students to refer to as they answer.
Tried: Adjectives Musical Connections
Earlier this year, I conducted two lessons during which students sampled some music videos from francophone artists and then wrote and spoke their opinions about them in French. All of the music came from my music library in Independent Exploration. I selected five songs from various parts of the francophone world, some recent, some not. Click here to learn more about this activity.
Brought Back: Using YouGlish to Find Authentic Videos
A few years ago, I blogged about using a tool called YouGlish to find authentic videos. Click here to read that blog post. Essentially YouGlish is a web-based tool that searches the content of YouTube videos for words or phrases that you enter in. So, if you wanted your students to hear someone saying “Je m’appelle” in context, it searches YouTube for videos containing that bit of spoken French. Obviously the possibilities with a tool like this are endless. This year, I have working to incorporate more authentic listening activities, and I have gone back to using YouGlish to find them. Be aware that if you are using the free version, these is a limit to how many searches you can conduct in a day.
The video I made below gives you a basic overview of how to use YouGlish. Email subscribers, click here to watch the video.
Tried: Revisiting Colors with Elementary Students
Back in 2023, I wrote a blog post about teaching colors to elementary students. Click here to read that post. Earlier this year, I was meeting with another group of students, some of whom had previously had this lesson and some who had not. I was planning to introduce colors but I needed new activities. In this post I shared some of the new activities I reincorporated.
One of the resources I incorporated the second time around was the book “Petit-Bleu et Petit-Jaune” 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.
What activities or resources did you try in 2024? Tell me in the comments!
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