My love for project-based classes stems from an incredible Elementary school teacher. When I became a teacher, I knew that I really want to teach with projects. However, how was I going to make my French projects fun, creative, engaging and meaningful opportunities for learning?
What qualities do fun French projects have?
From the very beginning of my career, I have strived to make French class engaging and meaningful for my FSL students. It has been a lot of trial and errors, but here is what has been successful in my French language classes.
Fun French projects are creative & engaging
We’ve all done projects that are mind-numbingly boring and I have certainly assigned those projects. Now, I ask myself the following question :
Will I want to mark the project?
If the answer is “yes”, then I know that it’ll be a fun project.
Additionally, I want to ensure that my students will enjoy the process as well as the end result. The end result is always something creative that students can be proud of!
Student voice and choice
This one is quite simple – when marking projects, I do not want to mark 90 of the same, exact project. Wherever possible, I like to give out 2-3 options for major projects. If that is not possible, I make that there is a wide range of possible topics for that project.
In French class, I allow my students to pick their topic. Whether that is a singer, country, famous person or song – the choice is there own!
Fun French projects are not overwhelming for students – they are structured
No matter how creative and fun your project is, if it is not structured well, students will NOT find it fun. This is especially true in a French language class where students are expected to work in a whole different language.
How do I structure my fun French projects?
- Thoroughly practice the standards for that unit before beginning the project
- explain criteria to students and break down the project into small sections, each one having a different due date (accountability checkpoint)
- have them work on the draft
- check their draft in class with them and circle mistakes that they are capable of correcting
Flags on francophone countries
As part of our unit on Francophone regions, one of the first activities we do is this research project. Students research and write about :
- the capital
- official and spoken languages
- where the region is located (country/continent)
- what the region is known for
- famous dishes
Music videos and reaction videos (and just any videos tbh)
Everyone does music units in French class. One of my favourite ways to end of this unit is to have my students create a music video where they have to act out the lyrics.
This is not only one of my students’ favourite projects, but it is also my favourite project to mark! If music videos are too easy, I’ve also had my students do ‘reaction’ videos to a music video!
French One-pagers on any topic
One-pagers were a project I tried for the first time this year and I LOVED the end result! The one you see in this photo is one I created myself as a sample and it isn’t even close to showing how amazing my students’ one-pagers were.
French Me Voici Projects
Another fun project we do in French 8 is this Me voici project. Students write about their :
- city of birth
- birthdate
- hobbies
- favourite foods
- things they do not like to do
Imparfait conjugations practice flipbook
This next project is a French flipbook that I have my intermediate French students do to practice imparfait!
Exploring real life issues such as climate change
Teaching about Earth Day and the environment isn’t just something that should occur in Science class. French class is most fun when the learning is relevant to real-world issues.
The following project is one I created myself! I am very passionate about informing my students about the harmful effects of our habits. For example, the fast fashion industry is one of the most harmful industries in the world. However, most students do not know how or why that is.
This resource includes 5 infographics on the following topics :
- Fast fashion
- Overconsumption of meat
- Banana and avocado farming
- The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
- The harmful effects of consumption during Christmas
Finally, for their final assignment, students will conduct research on one or many harmful consumption habits. They will then create a booklet presenting their research.
