Note: This is an update of a post I wrote back in 2016. Outdated resources have been removed and new ones have been added.
Time, day, and date are all incredibly useful concepts to know in any language, but they don’t really lend themselves to conversation the way other topics do. So how do we make these topics accessible and engaging for students? Below I have compiled a list of some of the ways I present and review time, day and date. Feel free to add your own in the comments!
Time Zone Activity
Stephanie Bass of Bonne idée! shared the wonderful idea to use the native clock app on the iPad to reinforce time (click here to read her presentation on using smart phones and iPads in the FSL classroom). I took this idea and had my students complete a Socrative quiz about time in different francophone cities. First, they switched the language and the keyboard to French to make it more authentic, then they opened up the Socrative quiz (I blogged about Socrative here, by the way). As questions popped up about various cities, they added those cities to the app. Then, they could swipe from the right, and the clocks appear at the side of the screen. The questions asked things like “Il est huit heures à New York. Quelle heure est-il à Paris ?” Since the question and answers were written as words, and the clock app provided numbers, they needed to know how to say the numbers in French. In addition to reinforcing the vocabulary for time, it also reinforced the idea of time zones and geographic awareness.
2025 Update: Since my students no longer use iPads and have 1:1 laptops instead, they look at 24timezones.com to see the time zones. Students can change the clock from AM-PM to 24 hour in the settings. They can type a city in the search bar to see it on the map with the time.
Télérama
Télérama is a French television guide that has program listings on its website. I put this up on the board and ask students when different shows are on. They enjoy seeing what their favorite shows are called in France. I like to use this to reinforce the “à” in “at what time.” After looking at what times shows are on, I ask them to identify the days of the week.
Gimkit Draw That
When you think of drawing, you usually think of images, but Gimkit‘s Draw That mode can easily be used for times and dates. The drawer chooses a time or a date written as words and simply writes the numbers on the drawing canvas. The rest of the class types the time or date as words.
Tarsia Puzzles
I’ve been blogging about Tarsia a lot lately. Click here to read my post about this puzzle-making website. Tarsia puzzles are made up of squares or rectangles. On each edge of each piece (except the outside pieces), there is a date or time in number or word form. On the edge that touches it, is the same date or time in the opposite form (number or word). I don’t have a photo of the date and time puzzle in action but above is a photo of a similar puzzle in progress that reviews numbers and other vocabulary. When it is done, it forms a 4×4 square. Below is an example of a time and days of the week puzzle before it is cut out. Click here to make your own Tarsia puzzle!
TV5MONDE Activities
I recently came upon this wonderful video and set of activities from TV5MONDE’s website (click here to access them). First, students watch a short video with captions in which middle school students in France describe what they are doing at various times during the school day. As I showed this video, I paused to check for understanding. I then had students complete all but the third exercise (which contained too much vocabulary they hadn’t learned) independently. It reviewed time and days of the week, as well as morning, noon and afternoon. Students really enjoy seeing what life is like for kids their age in the target cultures.
Using My Own Travel Photos in a Learning Activity
In 2022, I blogged about how I used my own travels throughout the Canadian province of Québec to create a lesson for my students, which reviews time and days of the week and introduces date. Click here to read more about it.
Number/Word Match Up
Students get a slip of card stock with a date or time in word form or in number form. They must find their partner with the corresponding date or time. For dates, I include dates with inversed numbers such as “le premier juin” and “le six janvier” to encourage students to think about the order of the numbers in French, which is inversed from how Americans state and write them.
Virtual Trip
Back in 2014, I blogged about the virtual trip to Paris activity I do with my students. I updated the post last year. Students visit a series of websites and plan an imaginary trip, noting down times, days, dates and prices. Back in the day, they used to call this a WebQuest!
Ecole Poudlard (Hogwarts)
This is an activity I no longer do simply because it is a little bit too advanced for my novice students, but I am including it here for teachers of more advanced students. This site and others have schedules from all 7 years of Hogwarts. I go through the names of the courses with the students, then I have them play a game. Everyone gets a sheet of paper. On one side is a blank schedule. On the other side are the schedules for the first three years. Students get a sticker on their forehead with the number 1-3 (for first through third year). Then, they go around the room asking when they have their various classes. As they tell each other, they fill in the schedule. At the end, they compare the schedules and figure out which year they are in.
Nearpod Draw It Schedules
Using Nearpod‘s awesome Draw It feature, I provide my students with a blank schedule to draw on. For each prompt, I write using words what time and days I have a particular class, and then students put the class where it belongs on the schedule. I choose one correct schedule to display for the class. Around this time, students are learning how to say the various school subjects in French, and their pen pals in France have written them letters describing their schedules.
Birthday Line Up
This is an old classic that you may have heard of before. I have the students (sometimes in two separate groups) line themselves up by birthday speaking only French.
LOTO/BINGO
Time and date lend themselves well to Bingo, or the French version, LOTO. I use My Free Bingo Cards, which lets me create a virtual game for my students. Click here to learn more about how I use My Free Bingo Cards.
Tic Tac Toe
I recently mentioned Tic Tac Toe in my blog post, “20 of My Favorite Low-Tech Activities.” It’s very similar to LOTO, but instead of listening, students are practicing speaking.
Celebrity Birthdays
For homework, I give students a calendar for a month and put some celebrity birthdays on it. Students have to answer a few multiple-choice questions about the celebrities’ birth dates and days of the week, as well as how old they are turning. I settled on December because it was the month I was able to find the most “relevant” (to American middle schoolers) celebrities’ birthdays in.
Months Worksheet
I use this worksheet that I found on Pinterest to introduce the months. It’s challenging, but students can use cognates and context clues to determine which month is being described.
Picture Grid
I got the idea to do a picture grid from the blog Confesiones y Realidades. On the blog, Anne talks about grids with the numbers 1-100. The teacher calls out a number, and the students color it in. When the teacher is done, it forms a picture (that the teacher has pre-planned). I have this activity with numbers and also with dates. It could also be done with times. This is another activity that you may recognize from my last post.
Emploi du temps
I show my students French school schedules and ask them questions about them. I use these on homework assignments and quizzes. They enjoy learning about Wednesday afternoons being free!
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