Teaching about la francophonie is arguably the most important part of teaching French! Our students love learning about francophone countries & francophone cultures. Additionally, as French teachers we also want our students to think critically about the legacies of colonialism in the Francophone world. So, how do we balance celebrating francophone regions, but also teach about these legacies? I have found 10 excellent French activities to help you teach about la francophonie.

Before we begin – be sure to grab this freebie!

1. Teaching about the colonial legacies of la Francophonie – France’s Empire – Johnny Harris

Firstly, let’s chat about Johnny Harris! Johnny Harris is a very popular YouTuber. In this particular video, Harris discusses the French Empire and the fact that French colonies exist to this day.

In my opinion, Harris describes each of these colonies very well. Most importantly, he does not avoid discussing the tragic realities of colonialism.

For example, Harris mentions how France conducted nuclear tests in the French colonies in the 20th century.

It is important to discuss critically the former and present colonies. In fact, they are not only tropical destinations for tourists. These Francophone regions are home to people who live with the legacies of empire.

2. Spotlight on Francophone Africa – Conte-moi et TV5 Afrique (YouTube)

Secondly, we have a series of illustrated legends from la Francophonie. You can find illustrated tales from Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali and France.

These legends are ideal for advanced FSL students or intermediate-advanced French immersion students.

Moreover, each legend comes with free downloadable PDFs (teacher guides, student worksheets and more!)

Finally, you should subscribe to the TV5 Africa YouTube channel. Their YouTube channel contains excellent videos for the classroom on Francophone Africa!

3. Creative projects and assignments on la francophonie

If you are looking for prep-free Core French units and French projects on the Francophone world, I have got you covered!

You can find resources on :

• French slang (verlan) & racism in France
• a project on francophone celebrations
• French reading comprehension article on Francophone countries and regions
• a flag project on francophone regions and countries
• French reading comprehension article on breakfast in la francophonie

Looking for more ideas, tips and tricks? Read my blog post on 10 different ways to teach about Francophone countries.

4. Learning about Francophone Canada – Les visages de la francophonie

For those living outside Quebec/Ontario/New Brunswick and other Francophone communities, la Francophonie is not very visible.

I am from BC and there are not many opportunities to immerse yourself in francophone communities in my province. If you live in the US, that is probably true for you too!

Therefore, this is a fantastic video that illustrates what the French language means to francophones, especially those living in anglophone regions. Speakers also discuss the challenges they face and why they are proud to be Francophone.

Language level : beginning-intermediate

5. French reading comprehension worksheets on la francophonie

Are you looking for engaging and relevant French reading comprehension worksheets with pre-reading and post-reading activities? If you answered yes, these articles are for you!

I wanted to have engaging and appropriate texts for my middle students. As a result, I ended up writing these French reading comprehension worksheets for my students.

If you are looking for French reading comprehension strategies, I’ve got you covered on that as well. I have a whole blog post article dedicated to tips, tricks and strategies.

6. Francophone countries : 29 countries in 2 minutes

7. Conte-moi

This website contains many resources on the diverse Francophonie. You can find maps, tales in PDF format with illustrations and images.

8. On fête ensemble (TFO)

In our classrooms, we often talk about celebrations and how our celebrations and traditions differ from our origins. This website contains many videos about family celebrations.

Additionally, please note that these videos are a little dated. However, I still think they are a great tool for the class.

9. Réseau In-Terre-Actif – comprehensive PDFs

Here is another INCREDIBLE resource. This website offers you free PDFs on Francophone countries! These PDFs are very detailed.

10. Centre de la francophonie des Amériques

Finally, this last resource is a website of the Centre de la francophonie des Amériques. You can find many resources like posters, books and educational PDFs!

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  What Anti-Oppressive French Teaching Looks Like in 2025
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  French Films and Short Films with Muslim Representation for the Core French Classroom
  Today I am sharing French films and short films with Muslim representation for the Core French classroom. You can show these in the French Immersion classroom as well. These films and short films are a … Read more
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  French Resources for Asian Heritage Month in Canada
  In this blog post, I’m excited to share a curated selection of French resources tailored specifically for Asian Heritage Month in Canada.
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  French picture books with Muslim characters
  Here 5 French picture books with Muslim and/or Arab characters. French picture books are an incredible tool for Core French and/or French Immersion classrooms.
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  5 intermediate French Duolingo Podcast episodes for French class
  Are you a French teacher searching for listening activities for French students to improve their French listening skills? Today I am sharing with you five fun and informative French podcast episodes from the French Duolingo podcast.
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  French Orange Shirt Day Activities
  If you are a French teacher looking for meaningful & engaging French Orange Shirt Day activities and resources, look no further!

The post Here are 10 informative French activities on la francophonie appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Are you looking to diversify your French music playlists for your French courses? Teaching with French music is one of my favourite teaching strategies – it is just so effective! Today I will be sharing with you 5 diverse French singers for French class.

Don’t forget to grab your music freebie!

Why is important to have diverse French singers on your playlists?

I am part of many French teacher communities on social media and in real life. I often see teachers ask for French singer recommendations. It absolutely pains me to see only white singers be recommended. Furthermore, what is worse is that a lot of the recommended singers are either dead or they are seniors right now!

Don’t get me wrong, I do think that there is value in these songs. As a matter of fact, my students have memorized the lyrics to many popular tunes from Compagnie Créole!

However, as teachers we need to engage our students and French pop culture is one such way to capture their attention. In addition, representation is also really important in music and pop culture as it is in books.

Therefore, I am sharing with you 5 singers that are super popular right now for very good reasons! Also, If you are looking for a super fun & engaging music unit, see my French music unit below.

Finally, you may have noticed that Stromae is not mentioned in this article. He was my first favourite French singer. That being said, he has not released new music in some time and I really wanted to give some love to more current artists!

1. Soprano

Soprano is the stage name of Saïd M’Roubaba. He is a French singer, songwriter and rapper. He was born in Marseille, France in 1979 and his parents are originally from Comores.

Soprano sings and raps about topics that are meaningful and relevant. His music is powerful because there is always an important message that he attempts to convey.

Soprano’s top 5 most viewed songs on YouTube are Clown, En feu, Le Coach, Mon Precieux and Roule!

2. Aya Nakamura

Aya Namko was born in Bamako, Mali and she moved with her family to France as a child. She comes from a family of griots which are West African storytellers/singers.

Nakamura is known for the genres Afropop & pop and she often sings about topics such as relationships and love.

Her music is really catchy and you will want to get up and dance!

Nakamura’s most viewed songs on YouTube are Djadja, Pookie, Copines, Comportement and La dot.

3. Maître Gims

Gims is the stage name of Gandhi Bilel Djuna. Maître or simply Gims is a French singer, rapper and songwriter. He was born in Kinsasha, Congo and moved to France as a toddler.

Maître Gims also created his own record label that is affiliated with Universal Music France.

His brother Dadju is also a famous singer & rapper.

Gims’ most viewed songs on YouTube are Sapés comme jamais, Bella, Est-ce que tu m’aimes?, J’me tire and Mi Gna

4. Indila

Indila is the stage name of Adila Sedraïa. She is of Algerian, Egyptian, Indian and Cambodian descent and was born in Paris.

She is a singer and songwriter and has written songs for many famous French artists such as M. Pokora.

Indila not only sings in French, but she has also done vocals in English, Spanish and Hindi!

Indila’s 5 most viewed songs on YouTube are Dernière danse, S.O.S, Tourner dans le vide, Love story and Parle à ta tête.

5. Slimane

Slimane Nebchi is an Algerian-French singer and songwriter. Slimane won season 5 of The Voici and gained fame and success soon after.

In 2019, he released an album with Vitaa that was incredibly successful. Their most viewed songs on YouTube are Ça va ça vient, Avant toi, VersuS, Fais comme ça and À fleur de toi.

Who are your favourite diverse French singers? Share with all of us in the comments below!

The post 5 diverse French singers for French Class appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Fellow French teachers – it is almost that time of the year where my heart yearns for Michaels! However, given our circumstances, I think many of us are limiting our trips to physical stores (as we should!). Today I am going to share with you some of my French teacher amazon essentials!

That way, you can take on a project or two for the classroom, should you choose to, and never leave the safety of your home!

You absolutely do not have to purchase any of these. I always love reading these types of articles just to see what others are using in their classrooms!

The objects I am sharing with you completely revolutionized my teaching. Because of these products, I was able to do so much more!

These links are NOT affiliate links. I am not an Amazon Affiliate – they are just for fun!

1. AmazonBasics Heavy Duty Dry Erase Ticket Holder Pockets 8.5″ X 11″

In my French classes, we play so many games. We also do tons of activities where students need a sheet for the period but they don’t necessarily need to put it in their binder. More often than not, it just ends up on my floor, on desks and, if I’m lucky, in the recycling bin. With multiple preps, the waste just accumulates!

These dry erase folders are amazing! I can switch up what worksheets I want in there. For example, for one prep it may be a BINGO game and for another prep it might be a reading comprehension activity.

Students can write directly on the folders with their dry erase markers and I can save the worksheets for more preps and for future years!

2. LNKOO Powerpoint Clicker Flip Pen Wireless 2.4 GHz RF PPT Controlor Presentation Pen Presentation Presenter Remote Control USB Flip Pen

This next one completely revolutionized my teaching! Up until June of this year, I’ve had a projector that sits on my AV cart. As someone who teaches with a lot of PowerPoints and Internet tools even pre-Covid, I hated being stuck next to my cart!

I wanted to be able to move around my classroom and even WALK as I teach.

I bought this remote for $15 CAD and I was SO excited to use it that my students would roll their eyes at me. There’s no complicate setup required. You plug in the USB key into your computer and turn on the remote! Your computer is then connected to your projector via HDMI or VGA and voilà!

I can change slides (Google or PowerPoint) with this remote anywhere in the classroom. My other favourite part about this remote is the laser pointer!

My projector is now ceiling-mounted. However, I will continue to use the laser pointer in September!

3. Scotch Thermal Laminator Machine, 5 Minute Warm-up, 9″ Input, for Laminating Sheets Up to 5-Mil Thick

I absolutely LOVE my laminator and I have done so much with it! From laminating puzzle games, to posters, to grammar charts, or French recipe instructions – it has truly been super useful!

My school also does not have a laminator and so this cheap one has honestly saved me from printing so many copies of destroyed materials that I use year after year.

4. French Grammar Pamphlet – March 1 2001

This next one is actually one that my sister introduced me to! My sister is minoring in French in university and bought one of these from the campus bookstore! I thought that it was absolutely genius.

My students do tons of creative writing tasks in French and as much as I can, I like to make them as independent as possible. Teaching my intermediate students took find answers to their questions if I am busy with another student is a game changer!

5. SO many French movies

This next one isn’t so much one resource. It’s the fact that Amazon has a HUGE collection of affordable French films that are AWESOME! French language films are incredibly important to me given that my goals are inclusivity and critical thinking in French class.

Remember, students leaving your classroom with a greater understanding of how other peoples’ lives differ from their own and being empathetic is more important than any grammar lesson you do!

I want my students to be exposed as many different stories, lived experiences and perspectives. All 6 of the films above are my favourites to show to my students!

Do you have different French teacher Amazon essentials? What is something you find essential from Amazon? Share with us in the comments below!

The post French Teacher Amazon Essentials appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Today I am going to be sharing with you 5 French books on residential schools. It is incredibly important that our students understand the magnitude of the traumas inflicted on Indigenous peoples in residential schools.

All 5 of these books are in French and are picture books appropriate for Elementary-aged students and older. There is a number of activities that you can do with your students to demonstrate their understanding.

Additionally, if you teach Indigenous students, please ensure that you are speaking to counsellors and family members in advance. This is a crucial step to avoid re-inflicting trauma on those students.

Finally, if you are looking for more French resources with Indigenous perspectives, I have a whole blog post dedicated to movies, documentaries, texts, books and so much more.

1. Les bas du pensionnat

This is a 7 chapter story about Margaret a 7 year-old Inuit girl who lives near Aklavik.

Margaret desperately wants to attend the same residential school her father attended, but her father will not allow that. She dreams to read, write and attend this school her half-sister also attends.

After attempting to convince her father for months, her father reluctantly agrees to allow her to attend residential school. Margaret discovers all too soon that the school is nothing like home and that the sisters are nothing like her family.

2. Quand j’avais huit ans

This picture book and Les bas du pensionnats are written by the same authors. Quand j’avais huit ans is a condensed version of Les bas du pensionnat.

3. Shi-shi-etko

This story is about Shi-shi-etko, a little girl who is about to leave for residential school for the first time.

Days before leaving, Shi-shi-etko spends all her time outdoors and with her family. She savours the way the sand feels under her toes, the sound of bees buzzing around her and the tall grasses swaying from the wind. She savours all the sights, sounds, and feel of everything and everyone she finds comforting and familiar.

In the end, Shi-shi-etko promises to herself that no matter what happens at school, she will never forget all of the lessons her family taught her and the memories she holds in her heart.

4. La pirogue de Shin-chi

La pirogue de Shini-chi, written by the same authors as Shi-shi-etko, features the story of Shin-chi who is Shi-shi-etko’s little brother. Before leaving for school, the two siblings ask their father if he will make them a new canoe.

During their long journey to school, Shi-shi-etko comforts her little brother by reminding him about the best part of home and she tells him important. When they arrive at the school, she gives him the little oak canoe that.

5. L’histoire du chandail orange

This book is absolutely one that you should begin with, if your students are completely new to the history of Orange Shirt Day.

Phyllis Webstad went shopping with her grandmother before attending her residential school. Her grandmother purchased her a brand new orange shirt and she could not wait to wear it on her first day of school.

When Phyllis got to her school, the sisters took Phyllis’ shirt cruelly. The orange shirt has become a symbol of the trauma and pain inflicted on Indigenous children in residential schools.

Do you know of French resources on residential schools?

Do you know of French Books on Residential Schools not mentioned in this post? Please share with us in the comments below!

Are you looking for more resources, ideas and inspiration on prioritizing BIPOC representation in your French class? Join our FaceBook Group!

The post 5 French Books on Residential Schools appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Aujourd’hui, je vais partager avec vous une de mes lectures récentes intitulée Kuessipan de Naomi Fontaine.

C’était un de ces livres où on arrête de lire vers la fin parce qu’on ne veut pas que ça finisse !

Si vous cherchez d’autres ressources avec des perspectives autochtones, veuillez cliquer ici. J’ai écrit un article avec des liens aux documentaires, films, textes, livres, podcasts et plus. J’ai également un autre article avec des ressources pour La vie des Noirs compte.

Qui est Naomi Fontaine ?

Naomi Fontaine est écrivaine innue. Elle est née à Uashat, au Québec. En plus, elle est aussi enseignante de la langue française au secondaire dans sa propre communauté.

Ce qui est très intéressant, c’est que le talent de Fontaine a été découvert par son prof lors de son bac en éducation.

Fontaine a écrit et publié Kuessipan en 2011 à l’âge de 23 ans.

Quel est le but du livre ?

Pour commencer, Kuessipan est d’une collection de descriptions abstraites et émouvantes de lieux, de personnes et des évènements. Le roman est divisé en quatre parties intitulées Nomade, Uashat, Nutshimit et Nikuss.

L’écriture de Fontaine coule si merveilleusement et est de nature poétique. Fontaine raconte la vie dure mais plein d’espoir et de résilience au sein de son communauté innue.

Dans chaque partie du livre, elle raconte des événements qui ont fait de la vie une lutte pour elle-même et pour sa communauté. En même temps, la lectrice témoigne de la résilience et de la force de sa communauté.

Quels sont les thèmes du roman ?

Fontaine raconte des histoires au sujet de la pauvreté dans sa communauté, les tragédies, l’amour de sa grand-mère, les pensionnats et beaucoup d’autres sujets.

Pourquoi ce livre est-il particulièrement remarquable ?

J’ai fait mon baccalauréat en français au Canada. À l’université, nous avons suivi des cours où nous devions mémoriser le vocabulaire descriptif en mémorisant des listes de vocabulaire.

Quand je lisais Kuessipan, ce qui me frappait, c’était la façon dont Fontaine tissait des mots pour créer des images vives. Ses descriptions peignaient des images si vives dans mon esprit comme si je regardais le monde à travers ses yeux.

En fait, vers la fin, j’arrêterais de lire le livre parce que je ne voulais pas qu’il finisse !

Qui devrait le lire ?

Je me demande combien de programme d’immersion au secondaire lit au moins un livre écrit par un autochtone francophone. À mon avis, ce livre devrait faire parti de chaque programme de littérature au secondaire en immersion ou à l’université.

Les mots de Fontaine et la manière dont elle écrit sont tellement puissants.

Fontaine écrit, pour la plupart, au présent et au passé (composé et imparfait). Pour cette raison, les élèves en immersion pourront facilement comprendre les évènements.

En plus, vous pouvez aborder une quantité infinie de discussions, de questions et de réflexions sur les expériences, les histoires et les perspectives autochtones.

Pour conclure – procurez-vous Kuessipan de Naomi Fontaine immédiatement

En conclusion, je vous encourage, surtout si vous êtes blanc, à tenir des discussions réfléchies avec les membres de votre département.

Demandez-vous combien de livres que vos élèves lisent, sont écrits par des francophones autochtones. Les francophones autochtones existent depuis le début de la colonisation. Ils DOIVENT être représentés dans nos classes de FSL et de FRIMM.

Veuillez cliquer ici pour voir Kuessipan sur Amazon

The post Kuessipan de Naomi Fontaine | Lectures diverses 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 June 2020, I put together a blog post filled with a variety of French-language resources for Black Lives Matter. This blog post contains educational resources for French teachers with Indigenous perspectives, lived experiences and stories.

Additionally, I created this list of resources not to speak over or on behalf of Indigenous voices. On the contrary, my goal is to create a list of resources with Indigenous perspectives and voices.

Furthermore, please do your due diligence by thoroughly watching and reading the resources before showing them to your own students. 

This is not a complete and final list of resources. As I stumble upon and/or am made aware of other documents, I will be adding them to this blog post. If you know of resources, please share them with me in the comments!

Documentaries, Films & Videos

1. National Film Board of Canada

A. Documentaries For Parents and Teachers

B. Documentaries for students 15+

C. Documentaries for ages 12-14

D. Documentaries for ages 6-11

2. Québec Cinéma

3. Wapikoni

A. Où sont tes plumes ?

4. YouTube : Radio-Canada – Espaces Autochtones

5. Kuessipan – le film

Readings & Other Resources

1. Les enfants devenus (a chronological timeline starting at 1615)

2. Atlas des peuples autochtones

3. Guide pédagogique Historica Canada – perspectives autochtones

4. Musée virtuel – Anutshish

5. Relations-autochtones.ca

Podcasts

1. Voix Autochtones

2. Atalukan

Where to find books written by Indigenous authors

1. Kwahiatonhk

2. Free digital books using Québec’s Samuel website (Canadian teachers have free access by making an account)

3. Librairie Hannenorak

4. Indigo Chapters – Voix autochtones

Children’s Books

Novels

1. Kuessipan (Naomi Fontaine)

2. Les bas du pensionnat (Christy Jordan-Fenton et Margaret Pokiak-Fenton)

Art & Posters & Maps

1. Indigenous History Month Posters [French & English]

2. Map of Indigenous place names

3. Journée du chandail orange – chaque enfant compte

Instagram Accounts

I hope that this list was useful to you and your students.

Finally, if you are familiar with any resources with Indigenous perspectives and voices in the French language, please share them with me below!

The post Indigenous Perspectives – Educational Resources for French Teachers appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Are you looking for free French resources for French class to get started on planning? Or are you looking for inspiration for your French classes?

To help reduce your stress load and to inspire you, I am sharing 10 of my favourite TPT freebies for Core French teachers!

Also, don’t forget to grab my free reading comprehension resource on cabane à sucre by signing up for my mailing list!

Lastly, all of the products in this blog are FREE downloadable resources created by some of my favourite French Teacher Authors. Click on the titles to download the resources.

Click on the subheadings or images to check out each resource!

1. African Culture and History Activity | Africa Free Distance Learning (La Libre Language Learning)

To begin, this activity is an EXCELLENT resource for remote learning and to begin a conversation on stereotyping and generalizing the continent of Africa.

Specifically, it comprises of a Google Forms activity created by La Libre Language Learning.

In short, students will watch a short clip of an Al Jazeera interview with Angélique Kidjo and answer a series of questions to further their understanding.

La Libre Language Learning’s Instagram

La Libre Language Learning’s Blog

La Libre Language Learning’s TPT

2. Free French Virtual Field Trip – le Calvados (La Brunette)

I recently discovered La Brunette‘s Instagram and I have fallen in love with her resources!

La Brunette creates engaging and super creative virtual trip presentations to francophone destinations.

In this particular free French resource, students will visit the region of Le Calvados in Normandy.

Consequently, students will complete listening and reading comprehension work and consequently discover the beautiful city whilst never leaving home!

La Brunette’s Instagram

La Brunette’s TPT

3. French Conversation Starters: Les Activités / Activities (Madame Yak)

Madame Yak creates super engaging resources. A unique aspect about her resources is that she creates the clipart in her work as well!

This particular free resource is perfect for the first few weeks of an introductory French class.

Essentially, over the span of several classes, you will introduce your students to a new question. Students will practice pronouncing and answering the question. In addition, they will also have the opportunity to practice with partners, in small groups or with the whole class!

Madame Yak’s TPT

4. Food Bingo – La nourriture Bingo (Fleavecmmed)

This resource is one of my own! Introduce your students to French food vocabulary with this freebie! It comes with vocabulary sheets and FOOD BINGO! I have a class set laminated and we play with whiteboard markers! My students always beg for more rounds when we play food bingo!

My TPT

My Instagram

5. French Simple Future – Task Cards (French with Elise)

French with Elise created a task card set to practice futur simple with intermediate-advanced students.

All you have to do is print and cut out the card sets for your class and print out a copy of the worksheet for all of your students.

In short, students will then take turns reading each card, predicting the future (the image on the task card) and writing a sentence for the subject pronoun indicated on the card.

French with Elise’s TPT

French with Elise’s Instagram

6. Edith Piaf French Homework Passes (La libre language learning)

Next, this one is a super fun and creative idea. La Libre Language Learning created Edith Piaf-themed homework passes!

I don’t know about you guys — but nothing motivates my students more than the prize of a homework pass during a competitive game or activity!

Even if we rarely have homework in my classes, my students will fight fiercely for these types of passes!

La Libre Language Learning’s Instagram

La Libre Language Learning’s Blog

La Libre Language Learning’s TPT

7. Les oeuvres de Claude Monet (Fleavecmmed)

Thé et Monet is one of my own and one of my favourites! The goal is for students to practice imparfait or the present tense while describing Claude Monet’s famous paintings!

Further, I add a little twist to this activity and make my students hot chocolate or tea while they are working and they ABSOLUTELY LOVE being served a hot drink while working. Who wouldn’t?

Lastly, It’s peaceful, relaxing and they are practicing description vocabulary and either the imparfait or present tense with a cultural twist!

It’s a win-win for everyone!

My TPT

My Instagram

8. Core French Listening Pack (Smalltownfrenchie)

This activity is a listening comprehension activity suitable for a number of age groups. Students will listen to a series of sentences and then either draw and/or write down what they hear.

Additionally, Smalltownfrenchie has provided a few different worksheet options in this resource so that this activity works with different levels of French!

Smalltownfrenchie’s Instagram

Smalltownfrenchie’s TPT

9. Les signets de la rentrée (Sprinkle it with French)

Start off the school year by printing these fun, watercolour-themed bookmarkers for your students. Grades included are 1-7!

Sprinkle it with French’s Instagram

Sprinkle it with French’s TPT

10. Le verbe FAIRE (Fleavecmmed)

Last but not least, introduce your students to the verb FAIRE and all of its relevant vocabulary and grammar with this free French resource.

Students will complete a number of fun activities while learning all about this important verb!

My TPT

My Instagram

I hope that you found some amazing free resources for French class in this article!

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Join our FaceBook community where French Immersion & Core French teachers share the resources we use in our own classrooms. Click here to join.

The post 10 Free Resources for French Class 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.

This past year was my third year as a teacher. Incidentally, it was also the first year that I thought I had nailed. And then the pandemic happened…! I found that I made so many mistakes during remote learning that I had stopped making in my F2F classes.

During the summer, I had set myself up for success by meticulously planning units and ensuring that my classroom routines and procedures were crystal clear to students.

I had also prepared a series of activities for Back to School to ensure a successful start to the year. I had even put in place the perfect classroom management strategy!

Truly, it could not have been a better school year in comparison to my first two (nightmare) years.

And then Covid-19 happened.

Covid-19 threw us all for a loop undoubtedly. However, I think that language teachers were particularly panicked because…how do you learn a language on the Internet??

Google Translate is our WORST enemy. So many of us have structured our courses so that there is very little temptation to use Google Translate.

Essentially, my remote teaching self decided that absolutely nothing that works during in-class lessons would work online.

Given that we will most likely be continuing remote learning in the fall, I’ve reflected on all of the mistakes. I most definitely will not be repeating these remote learning mistakes in September!

Remote learning mistake 1 : planning week to week

What was I even thinking planning week to week? This was probably the worst remote learning mistake I made!

As an FSL teacher, I normally plan my units ahead of time. I know exactly what my objectives will be and what the unit assessment will be.

During the pandemic, I was so overwhelmed that I stopped doing this. In the beginning, I was spending Sunday planning activities for the week.

I soon realized that this was NOT sustainable. Then, I started planning an entire week’s worth of activities on Monday morning. In addition, I was completely reinventing the wheel like the exhausted fool of a new teacher I am!

Let me tell you — I burnt out faster than you can say “snacks in the staffroom”.

At school, I never go more than two weeks without planning activities spanning multiple classes. These types of assignments are always creative, engaging and rich. Students never get bored because we are constantly learning in different ways. And, I don’t spend all of my time planning!

Towards the end of the school year, I finally thought to plan an activity that would span two weeks! It was SO liberating to not have to worry about planning and creating brand new activities week after week.

Overall, I put far too much pressure and stress on myself by completely reinventing the wheel and by not planning activities spanning more than one week.

Remote learning mistake : doing the same types of activities week after week

I have always prided myself on the fact that my lessons, activities and projects are all so unique and engaging.

During remote learning, I felt that I was extremely limited. Since student participation was not mandatory and students’ grades could not decrease, student engagement was significantly impacted. For that reason, I decided to not do big projects.

Week after week, I had my students do writing activities. Some of the writing activities were in fact creative.

Students would describe their daily routines and activities and attach photos of what they were up to. While these were super fun at first, it was SO boring to mark the same type of activity week after week.

My students also told me that they were bored of writing activities. Well, if not writing, what else could they do?

As soon as I allowed myself to think outside of the box, I had SO many ideas. I had them film Tik Toks, make francophone recipes, describe their dinner, listen to podcasts, watch Netflix movies, film group discussions, etc.

In conclusion, planning a variety of activities is something that works inside a traditional brick and mortar school, but it can also definitely work for remote learning too!

Remote learning mistake 3 : not doing partner & group work

At the start of the pandemic, I had ruled out partner and group work completely.

How in the world were my teen students going to be able to collaborate and communicate with one another when their realities at home could differ vastly. In addition, they may not even have the tools to complete work with their friends.

In the last few weeks of school, I decided to try out group work to see what would happen. The results were really surprising!

Students who had not participated in any activities were all of sudden working with a group and completing work!

It made me realize that working with peers is really important for their growth, despite the remote learning obstacles. For 2.5 months, they were not able to collaborate with their peers.

The experience of not being able to collaborate and communicate with their peers for weeks or months must have been so isolating for our students!

Group work certainly was not perfect. There are many kinks I am going to have to work out for the fall. That being said, I am completely convinced that the end result is worth all of the troubleshooting.

Remote learning mistake 4 : only doing digital work

My district uses Microsoft OneDrive and because I love learning about technology, I immediately jumped into all of the different applications.

I quickly taught myself all about OneNote, Teams, Sharepoint, ec.. Week after week, I was having my students do all sorts of digital activities like writing reflections in OneNote, posting photos, completing PDF or Powerpoint activities, etc.

Upon my return to school in June, I learned that so many of my colleagues had their students do rich, engaging activities that involved them minimally using their computer. It made me realize how computer-centred my own lessons were.

Students and teachers alike communicated that the most engaging activities were experiential ones. For example, I had my students recreate francophone activities that they had to film. Others asked their students to complete artwork by hand and take photos. One colleague had her students interview a family member in Spanish!

There has been a massive shift towards Boom Cards and PowerPoint slides in education lately. While these are great to have here and there, students need to continue to be exposed to non-digital activities.

Students SHOULD NOT be doing Boom Card activities and moveable Google Slides work weekly. I would much rather my students do fewer but incredibly rich and thoughtful activities that students will never forget instead of time fillers.

Remote learning mistake 5 : collecting too much summative assessment

My last remote learning mistake is one that was entirely responsible for my teacher burnout!

Microsoft Teams has a really handy Assignment feature that allows me to collect assignments from my classes. It also allows me to see who has viewed and handed in assignments and when they have done so. Sounds super cool, right?

Starting the second week, I started assigning weekly assignments for all of my classes. My students requested I do this because they receive a notification when the assignment is posted and it shows up in their calendar. I was only too happy to make things as easy as possible for my students.

So each week I assigned an assignment to each of my 7 classes. This meant that each week I had up to 150+ assignments to grade. Some weeks I had 300+ to grade because I was assigning weekly reflections and assignments.

On top of that, I was meeting with my classes weekly, answering their questions at all hours of my waking hours, answering hundreds of emails that were coming in from all directions, checking in with students individually who were not engaging and reinventing the wheel for assignments.

No wonder I burnt out so quickly!

If we continue remote learning in September, and I think we will, I will definitely not be collecting assignments every week! This is not something I do at school and this shouldn’t be something I do during remote learning. It does not work for the students nor myself because what they were handing in was not super engaging.

Quality over quantity is still incredibly important — whether we are in class or on a computer!

Basically — my remote teaching practices should not differ all that much from my in-person teaching practices.

Now that I think about it, everything that I did for remote learning was a complete 360 from what I do in person. It totally makes sense that a lot of my “new” practices did not work.

The big lesson I learnt is that my teaching practices and routines that worked really well in the classroom will continue to work remotely. I do not have to, and I shouldn’t be, reinventing whole new systems.

At a time when there is so much uncertainty, there is a lot of stability in my classroom practices and routines that are grounded in my students’ and my own well-being and success.

Basically — tweak, don’t recreate! What remote learning mistakes have you made?

The post 5 mistakes I made during the pandemic as an FSL teacher appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.