Picture this – it is August and you are looking for the perfect French teacher planner. So, you decide to head to Michaels and shell $50 on a shiny new teacher planner. During the school year, you realize the planner just doesn’t fit with your school schedule or teaching needs. Well – how can it?!

The companies and people who make these teacher planners make a “one size fits all” planner. This is despite the fact that our teaching realities, schedules and needs are so different.

Before we begin – quick tips for putting together your French teacher planner

Print your planner at home for cheap

Not only have I created my own teacher planner, but I also print my own planner! This saves me so much money. For real, some TPT creators suggest having their planners printed and binded at Staples which costs more than $50! If I wanted to spend that much money, I would buy a fancy planner!

I have an HP Instant Ink subscription where I pay 5.99 for 100 sheets a month. The best part is that the ink arrives at my doorstep right before I run out!

If you’re interested in HP, get a month of ink free on me by clicking here!

Put your planner in a binder or use your old Happy Planner rings

The most convenient method to put your French teacher planner together is to use your favourite binder. On the other hand, if you like the look of Happy Planners, use your old rings (or buy new ones) and a Happy Planner stapler.

I purchased a set as well as a binder and I reuse these items every year for my home planner and for my teaching planner.

Say AU REVOIR to expensive French teacher planners that you CANNOT edit to suit your needs

After spending two years with those shiny, expensive teacher planners from Michaels, I decided that I was done with using a planner that I could not customize. So, I decided to make my own!

Here is why you should check out my planificateur de prof!

1. Spend $8 on a French teacher agenda that you can use year after year

My French teacher planner costs $8 total! All you have to do is purchase once and then you get lifetime access. Each year you can go ahead and download the updated French teacher planner from TPT and print.

It’s that easy!

2. Weekly lesson plan templates in 4-8 blocks – you choose!

What I hate about standard French teacher planners is the fact that they come in a certain number of blocks. However, we do not all have the same schedules! In fact, our schedules may even change from day to day, week to week, or year to year!

Another personal pet peeve of mine was horizontal weekly templates for lesson planning.

Below is a photo of what my schedule looks like this school year.

My French teacher planner comes in 4-8 blocks for weekly lesson planning templates & in seasonal colour schemes. My planner is both aesthetic and functional!

3. You’re not compromising on the aesthetic – each month comes with its own festive colour palette

When I decided to create my planner, I knew that I did not want to comprise on the look of my teacher planner. So I decided to create my French teacher planner with monthly themes that are festive!

4. Personalize your teacher planner cover

You can choose your planner cover from over 20+ options that are ready to print. If you want to personalize the text, editable covers are included as well!

5. Monthly calenders in a one-page horizontal template OR two-page vertical calenders.

What I really loved about those expensive planners was the seasonal themes. I did not want to miss out on a beautiful, aesthetic seasonal theme!

6. Commercial teacher planners don’t come with any classroom trackers or forms!

My French teacher agenda comes with the following :

• parent communication log
• class list form
• behaviour reflection sheet
• to do lists
• staff meeting notes
• student progress log
• allergies in the classroom

7. Commercial French teacher agendas don’t listen to teacher feedback and improve their planners each year

Yes, you heard that right! Each year I update my French teacher planner based on feedback I have received from fellow teachers and my own experience! So, what are you waiting for?

The post The Ultimate French Teacher Planner For French Teachers appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Hey there fellow beginner French teacher. Are you feeling lost and confused about how to teach your beginner French class? Do you spend hours looking for beginner French lessons and beginner French worksheets? You are definitely in the right

Don’t forget to grab your beginner French freebie!

1. French Greetings and saluations

One of the first lessons I begin my beginner French class with is salutations and important questions! This beginner French worksheet is a great tool to practice those important questions students will be asking in French.

Bonus tip : I play musical chairs (without the chairs) and have students dance around the classroom. When the music stops, they have to find their closest peer and have a quick French conversation with them!

2. French vocabulary

This beginner French resource is a package of the most essential vocabulary beginner French students will learn in the first year of French.

It includes notes, worksheets and other tools on the following topics :

Pronunciation patterns, numbers, writing the date, colours, seasons, salutations, essential questions, pronouns, prepositions, interrogatory words, and basic vocabulary.

3. French school supply vocabulary

School supply vocabulary is one of the first things we cover in a beginner French class.

In my class, the first term of French class is intense speaking activities, much like a late immersion class. However, sometimes I need a break from the chaos and performance of this teaching style. For that reason, this resource comes in handy. Students can work independently or in partners on a series of vocab-based worksheets and activities on school supplies and my voice gets a break!

4. French indefinite and definite articles

In my classroom, I teach basic grammar and instead try to teach French in a more “natural” way. However, when I do need to teach grammar, I like my worksheets to be simple, aesthetically pleasing and efficient.

I use these notes and worksheets to teach my students indefinite and definite articles, as they pretty much are the foundations of the language!

5. Quelle heure est-il?

I am going to be honest — I do NOT love to teach time in French. I think this is probably because telling time is SO complicated in the French language.

That being said, I find that teaching students the 24-hour clock is actually really important due to its widespread use in universities and during overseas travel. I am also Canadian and Québec uses the 24-hour clock. For that reason, I teach how to read the clock AND telling time in French.

Finally, what I love about this resource is the game my students play to show their understanding of what they have learnt in this mini-unit.

All notes and worksheets included too!

6. Teaching French weather expressions

What is a MORE fun way of FSL students learning French weather vocabulary than becoming little meteorologists? This beginner French resource contains notes, worksheets, a peer survey, instructions and a rubric for weather presentations.

7. Me voici storybook

One of the very first units I begin with in FSL is an All About Me unit.

We learn adjectives, agreement, expressing our interests and preferences, etc.

At the end of the unit, students write picture books describing themselves and their preferences.

8. Food bingo freebie

Stop what you’re doing and go download this freebie pronto! My students absolutely LOVE playing food bingo. I laminate my bingo sheets and students circle their choices using whiteboard markers.

It also includes food bingo vocab worksheets.

9. Introduction aux verbes être et avoir

Everything you need to introduce your students to these important verbs is in this resource.

The resource includes step by step notes, practice, speaking and writing activities and task cards.

10. Le verbe aller et les endroits en ville

Aller et les endroits en ville is another unit my beginner FSL students complete.

They learn the verb aller, its’ conjugations, important prepositions, and location vocabulary.

One of my favourite activities in this resource is a Google Maps virtual tour activity. Students must find two locations in Québec on Google Maps and write a sentence describing what method of transport they should take between the two locations.

11. Introduction aux verbes réguliers

This was one of the first resources I ever made for my beginner French class. Don’t worry — it has been updated many times over the years!

It includes so many notes, worksheets, fun speaking and writing activities in order to help students master regular verbs in French.

12. Unité thématique : la nourriture

This is the final unit my beginner students complete and it is SO MUCH fun!

Students discover all about food and cooking vocabulary and complete a number of reading, speaking, writing AND reading and written comprehension activities.

13. Jeu de vocabulaire : la nourriture

I created this game to reinforce food vocabulary for my beginner students. I also play this in several different courses to refresh their memories when it comes to this essential vocabulary.

14. French verbs vouloir and pouvoir

Finally, I always end the year off by teaching the verbs vouloir and pouvoir. I keep it super simple and have my students complete listening comprehension activity and have them describes things they want vs. things they can do!

If you liked these beginner French resources, please share what you do in your class in the comments below!

The post 14 fantastic beginner French Resources appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

In 2018, I learned about daily slides from Teacher Youtubers. The absolute new teacher that I was, I decided to give them a go. I have used French daily agenda templates every single year since then! This year I taught a whole semester with 0 prep time. The first semester I moved from classroom to classroom. Daily slides quite literally were a lifesaver.

Today, I am going to share with you HOW and WHY you should need this amazing routine for French class. Routines are an absolute must in French class. They serve so many purposes. This one, in particular, is all about convenience and efficiency.

What are French daily slides?

Daily slides are a digital way to display the day’s agenda (plan du jour), reminders, announcements, and other pertinent information to your students.

French daily slides are digital agendas.

Who should use French daily agenda templates?

Daily slides can be used by teachers of all subjects + grade 5+ students. They are a tool to help your students become more independent in their learning. French daily slides are especially ideal for teachers who :

• teach multiple preps
• have preps that repeat
• move from classroom to classroom and have a hard time keeping a paper planner
• like to have a record of previous classes handy
• are working on getting their students to be more independent
• teach students who are in high school

Why should you incorporate French daily slides into French class routines?

Save time with different preps

If you teach many preps, it takes a lot more time to erase the agenda from the board and write it for different classes.

Or maybe you don’t even share the agenda with your students. If that’s you, you probably have a lineup of students coming to you during the precious three minutes of transition asking, “So what are we doing today?”

Daily slides make for a smooth transition

I continue to use French daily slides year after year because they make transitions between classes so much easier. I get my students to prepare themselves mentally and physically for the tasks. For example, students take out the right materials or flip to the right page BEFORE class begins.

I make it very clear to students at the beginning of the year that my expectation is that they will follow the directions on the slides without me instructing them.

How do daily slides make for smooth transitions?

• students hand in assignments as it’s written on the slide
• they take out the materials I’ve specified
• students begin the first task without me asking them to
• reminders for next week/the day are already on the board

A convenient and exact record of lessons for previous years

This year I taught a whole semester without 0 prep time. From time to time, I went back to my daily slides from the previous semester for an exact order of tasks. It was an exhausting semester, so it was convenient to have my previous daily slides to refer to.

Reduce student anxiety

My one year of teaching without daily slides, my students used to tell me how badly they needed to know the agenda because they were anxious. Students, especially teens, like knowing what tasks and activities they will be working on. Also, if you do fun things – it’s so motivating for them to know a fun activity is just 10 minutes away.

Teach students vocabulary and structures in context

I teach Core French to teens and my daily slides are all in French. For beginner students, we spend the first month going over the daily slide and learning what the words are. I also use pictures and images in my slides to show students what the vocabulary means.

Make it easy for absent students to keep up

When you teach 150+ students, it can be REALLY hard to keep up with absences. Add in a lack of prep time, and tracking everyone down is virtually impossible.

Three years ago, I shared a “view-only” link of my French daily slides in Teams. This has now become a routine in my classroom. Students go to Teams when they are sick, they click on the link shared at the start of the semester, and they catch up on work they missed during their absence.

I also colour code the text on my French daily agenda slides so that students can easily understand what occurred in class!

How do you use daily slides?

I recorded a tutorial to help with this task!

Ready to try out French daily agenda templates?

The post French daily slides – the one French class routine you need appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

The school year has come to an end and you may already be thinking about how to improve our classroom routines for the following year. Today I am going to be sharing essential Teacher planner trackers with you!

Every summer, I choose one major thing that I want to overhaul for the following school year. 

After my second year of teaching, I chose to focus on improving record/data tracking and documentation of all communication. As a high school teacher with over 120 students, I found this aspect of teaching to be incredibly time-consuming. 

As a result, I developed classroom trackers to track student engagement, progress, behaviour and all communication. 

The importance of keeping detailed records

Firstly, I want to prepared in case admin want to see documentation on student support & parent communication.

Today I am going to share with you 5 essential documents I use to organize all of the aforementioned information. 

All of these documents are geared toward high school classes. You can easily create your own trackers. However, all trackers mentioned in this article (and more) are all available in my French teacher planner resource. 

Teacher planner tracker 1 : student allergies

Keeping all of my students alive and healthy is my biggest priority in the first week of September. 

In my district, Student health information is available on an online system that isn’t the most convenient to navigate. There are a lot of pages to click through (and 150+ names) to find this crucial information.

Therefore, I prioritize finding each and every severe allergy and recording it on this page. This way, I am immediately prepared to inform students what allergens are not permitted in the class.

When meeting parents at the Parent-Teacher Night, I also want to assure parents that I know all of the information to keep their child healthy in my classroom. 

On this tracker, I record data such as name, which class the student is in, the allergen, the nature of their allergic reaction and whether they use an epi-pen and where the epi-pen is located.

Crucial information for substitutes & teachers-on-call

When I was an on-call teacher, I noticed that this information was not always provided to guest teachers.

In my opinion, this information needs to be presented to any and all teachers in your classroom, regardless of elementary or high school.

Teacher planner tracker 2 : student progress log

This document is to help you keep track of students who are failing in your courses. In my district, we are required to communicate students’ standing in the course if they are in danger of failing.

Teachers often reach out to students’ parents numerous times throughout the year to inform them of outstanding assessment and progress. 

In my second year of teaching, I had a weird year where I had SO many students failing my introductory French classes. There were dozens of students who were not attending classes and not completing any assessment. 

I could not keep track of the emails I had sent, the subject matter and who I still needed to be in contact with. The sheer volume of emails and communication was astounding. 

For these reasons, a progress log is so helpful because I keep a separate record for each child who is failing and/or has numerous outstanding assessments.

Every single time that I communicate with counsellors, parents, admin or other professionals in the school, I quickly jot down the communication and what actions transpired as a result. 

This type of tracking is also fantastic because if you are ever asked for evidence that you did in fact communicate students’ progress, you can quickly pull out a complete record of communication!

Teacher planner tracker 3 : parent communication log

This tracker is similar to the one above. However, the goal of this tracker is to keep a record of ALL communication with parents, regardless of the topic of conversation or the means.

This is particularly helpful if you meet with some parents numerous times over the course of the school year.

Keeping a record of dates, times, topics of conversation, means of communication and any actions or communication that transpired, as a result, are important in case a parent claims that you did not communicate with them or provide the appropriate support. 

You should especially be doing this for parent meetings outside of conferences AND phone calls! Emails can also tend to disappear from your inbox, so keeping track of this is also really helpful. 

Teacher planner tracker 4 : student behaviour log

Over the past three years, I have worked with many students with varying needs and behaviour challenges. I learned too late that I should be keeping a behaviour log for students demonstrating challenging behaviour.

For instance, did a student throw a chair across the room today?

Or did you catch a student eating their eraser?

It is really important to record all of the (factual) information regarding these types of events in case you have to communicate with administration or the school-based team.

In addition, you may notice patterns over time and while you may not forget the actual event, you want to keep a note of where you were, what the child was doing, what the class was doing (triggers), how you dealt with the event and what actions/communication transpired as part of the follow-up. 

I want to reiterate here that you should only record facts here. Try your best to remove the emotion out of the situation and remain as neutral as possible. The best way to do this is to record the series of events (what happened first, then, followed by…etc.)

Teacher planner tracker 5 : behaviour reflection sheet

Classroom management can be one of the most difficult aspects of the job for new and experienced teachers alike. As a matter of fact, classroom management was my biggest challenge in my second year of teaching. 

My second year had also been “the year of the emails” and I was determined to come up with an intervention between yelling at students and calling home. I really wanted to reserve the emails and the phone calls for the most urgent matters. 

The credit for this tracker goes to Megan DuVarney from Too Cool For Middle School. I saw Megan’s Instagram post on having her students fill out a worksheet reflecting on conduct transgressing their classroom expectations. 

I knew right away that I absolutely had to try the reflection worksheets out!

Since I teach high school and Megan teaches middle school, I changed the questions so that they were more relevant to my own reality.

You guys — this intervention rocked my world (for the better) and the behaviour that had been occurring in my class. My mental health is at least 75% better because of this! 

Here is what I did : 

I made my classroom expectations incredibly clear at the beginning of the year. I also have my classroom rules up as posters in my classroom in case I need to revisit them with the group or with certain individuals. 

Here are the questions students respond to in the reflection sheet : 

They must respond to the questions thoughtfully and they must also be adequately descriptive. I do not let them leave until I think that their answers are truthful. 

After I approve of their responses, we both sign and date the bottom of the page. I am not sure what it is about signing a paper — but this is where it gets real for them! Signing the document makes it feel very official and they know that there is a paper out there, signed by them, owning up to their choices!

This tracker is also wonderful because you now have a written record to share with administration and/or parents.

There is something about reflecting about your actions in writing and then signing it that makes this intervention really effective for teenagers!

These are my five must-have trackers I keep in my agenda for my secondary FSL classes. Do you have different trackers you use in your teacher planner? Please feel free to share in the comments below or DM me on Instagram!

The post 5 trackers to keep in your FSL Teacher Planner appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Back to school can be an exciting, but overwhelming time of year! I am always so excited to meet my students and see my students after a long, restful summer. If you are a new teacher, this can also be a stressful time of year as there is so much to do and to prepare for. Here are my top French Back to School activities for a fun & stress-free rentrée scolaire!

Before you scroll – grab this Back to School freebie!

What kinds of French back to school activities are ideal?

Before we discuss what activities are ideal, let’s chat about the overall goals for the first week back :

1. to get to know our students with the right back to school activities

This is my most important goal for the first week of school in September and thus they inform the kinds of French back to school activities I do. Who are my students as individuals? What are their likes and interests? What are their needs? How do they like to learn? How can I support them?

2. French back to school activities to review and recall learning from last year

I do not do worksheets to review important content and competencies from last year. Worksheets do not, in my opinion, make for valuable and significant learning opportunities.

Instead, I review things like verb conjugations by doing fun craftivities.

Who are these French back to school activities ideal for?

All of these French back to school activities are suitable for Core French and French Immersion students!

1. French & English Syllabus & Course Outline Templates

Syllabus and course outline templates do not have to be boring! In addition, I like to spend LOTS of time going over my class expectations with my students.

This ensures that we are all on the same page when it comes to routines and expectations. Using this template, I also create a course expectations “scavenger hunt” as a fun way to see if my students know the routines on the course expectations sheet.

In my first two years of teaching, I made the mistake of not spending time explaining my routines, expectations and criteria for success. This unfortunately made for a confusing few months. Definitely do not make the same mistake I did!

I use these templates in my own classroom to create course outlines (basic information), classroom procedures (extremely detailed), and a document for Parent-Teacher Night!

2. All About Me Surveys for New & Returning Students

Ever since my practicum days, I have always started every course with a student survey. My student surveys are brief & to the point.

My goals with student surveys are to :
– open dialogue with students
– learn about who they are as individuals, and what their interests and learning preferences are
– learn crucial information that will allow me to support them best
– start the course off on a positive note by indicating that I care about each and every one of them as individuals & that I am going to do my best to support them and their needs.

3. Le vocabulaire du matériel scolaire

If you teach FSL students of any grade, you probably review key vocabulary, such as school supplies vocab, with them at the start of the year.

This resource can be either used to introduce or review vocabulary.

It includes illustrated vocabulary pages in both colour and black and white, a word search activity, a crossword activity, and a dans mon sac à dos, il y a … activity.

4. LOTO sur le matériel scolaire

Bingo is absolutely one of my favourite ways to review vocabulary with students.

School supply BINGO is one of my favourite French back to school activities!

Seriously – my students always beg for more rounds! So much so that I ended up creating multiple BINGO games for them!

I print and laminate my bingo sheets & have students write directly on them using a whiteboard marker.

I love that Bingo is still so popular with students because I have very fond memories of playing Bingo in Elementary!

5. Tout sur moi – les fanions

This next activity is a very fun way to have students introduce themselves and who they are as individuals.

Included in this bundle are three choices of activities for students to share about themselves and also review vocabulary and grammar from the previous year(s).

This one in particular is best suited for students who have completed at least a year of French.

Students describe themselves and their preferences using present tense conjugations.

6. Moi, mes préférences et mes buts

Next up, this French back to school activity is one of my favourites! It includes four different types of templates for students to share all about themselves, their learning preferences and their goals for the year.

And honestly, how cute are they? Each of these drafts comes with a draft template as well, so students know exactly what questions they must answer before working on their good copy.

It’s a fun way to not only write in French for the first time in months, but for students to share about themselves!

7. Me voici – je peux me décrire

For the last choice, students will write and illustrate a picture book about themselves!

This French back to school activity is suitable for students who have at least a year of experience, however, I would use it for any grade.

This activity will take the most amount of time, however, it is also entirely in present tense.

The post French Back to School Activities appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.