There is no doubt that French classroom routines are really important opportunities for engaging our Core French students. In my five years of teaching, I have tried and ditched a plethora of classroom routines over the years. Here is a quick list of my FSL students’ favourite classroom routines that you should give a shot in your own French classroom!
Pro tip : assign a French classroom routine to each day of the school week
If you teach on a semester schedule and see the same students, I highly recommend assigning each day of the week a different French classroom routine. My students loved looking forward to a different activity each day. Sure, quizzes weren’t their favourite, however, I needed a small way to keep them accountable.
My quizzes are very chill and can be reading or listening comprehension tasks, instead of just pure vocab and grammar regurgitation.
| Day of the week | French Classroom Routine |
|---|---|
| lundi | Manie musicale |
| mardi | Speed-dating |
| mercredi | Quiz |
| jeudi | JEU-di |
| vendredi | Lecture |
Start every Monday with Manie Musicale or chansons de la semaine
Most French teachers have probably heard of Manie Musicale.
It was actually the original idea of two French teachers who have generously created resources based off of the activity. They also have an awesome Facebook group you can join.
The premise is simple. Each week I introduce my students to two new music videos. These French music videos always featured artists from diverse backgrounds. In addition, I also try to choose songs on topics that make my students think critically and creatively about the world around them.
I have a YouTube playlist with all of my favourite songs if you’d like to check them out!
Click here to download a chanson de la semaine template from my TPT
Daily slides
Daily slides are a way to digitally display your agenda, objective and reminders for the day. I have been using this routine in my classroom for years now and I wouldn’t change a thing about them!
Click here to download a free daily slide template + to check out more options
Question du jour
One of my students’ favourite French classroom routines is Question du jour. As I take attendance, a beginner-friendly prompt is displayed on the board and students answer it one at a time.
This strategy was so successful with my students!
It became “our thing” and the few times it wasn’t on our daily slide, students told me we couldn’t skip question du jour!
Here’s what happened after we did question du jour every single class for a whole semester :
- I didn’t have to teach French interrogative words “qui, quoi, est-ce que, quel, etc”. They learned these by seeing them every single class
- They implicitly picked up a lot of sentence structures
- Listening to their peers say the same answer was really helpful in improving their pronunciation without explicitly teaching them sounds
- By the end of the semester, my French 9 students were extremely comfortable asking and responding to questions in French
- They remembered so much of the vocabulary they had only seen a few times (win!)
You can make these yourself, but I have several sets that are ready to use!
Speed dating once a week
With my second year French students (French 9), we do speed dating once a week! Here’s how to structure this activity with your class :
- after question du jour, ask students to take out their “speed dating” page
- Get your students to write down one question they want to ask their peers (I give them a couple of minutes to do this)
- Number everyone off as A or B
- Take everyone out into an open space on my floor. If you don’t have this, you can also take your students outside
- Have them form two lines (A and B). They face a partner and ask/respond to one another’s questions. I remind them to begin their conversations with “bonjour, comment ça va?”.
- After about a minute, I ring my bell and the person at the front of line A goes to the back and everyone scoots over one person and begins to chat with their new partner
This is an awesome activity for the following reasons :
- Students practice asking and responding to at least 10-15 questions
- Students get to speak to so many different peers so it’s a great get to know you activity
Sometimes we don’t necessarily have time to do this activity so I change it up sometimes :
- ask Mme 30 questions (I do this 1-2 times every semester) or even ask a student 30 questions
- 15 classmates come up to the front of the classroom and the other 15 peers ask them a question (I switch to this format halfway into the semester when they have built significance confidence and comfort).
Expression de la semaine
I have started teaching my students one expression a week! With my intermediates, we learn one French slang expression weekly and with my other preps, one idiomatic expression.
I then challenge my students to use that expression during the week!
French Calendar routine
After completing my practicum in Secondary Core French, I was placed in a Kindergarten French Immersion class for five days. This five-day job had a HUGE impact on how I teach Core French.
I actually have my beginner French students (Grade 8s) do a calendar routine every single class in order to practice essential questions and vocabulary. The goals of this calendar routines are :
- to ask and to respond to essential questions
- to practice listening to and repeating key French vocabulary
REPETITION is key, y’all! Seriously, ditch the vocabulary lists and quizzes because that is not what will help them remember French vocabulary.
I do the calendar routine for the first month or so and then I have a different student do it everyday!
My French calendar routine consists of the following :
- Greetings/ça va
- quelle est la date aujourd’hui, quelle était la date hier, quelle sera la date hier
- combien d’élèves sont en classe aujourd’hui?
- quels sont les jours de la semaine?
- quels sont les mois de l’année?
If you are looking for printable French calendars that are super aesthetic, I have several sets in my TPT.
Lecture silencieuse ou lecture en partenaires
Regardless of whether you teach Elementary, Middle or High School or Core French or French Immersion, silent reading works for all levels and programs.
As a result of schedule changes due to the pandemic, I started having my Core French students read silently every Friday. My classroom library contains diverse picture books and magazines written for FSL students such as Okapi.
Routine variations :
- lecture en partenaires à haute voix
- select the same digital book for everyone to read
Where to find digital French books :
- https://storyweaver.org.in/
- https://www.raz-kids.com/main/RazQuizRoom/collectionId/4/leveledBookLanguageId/2
- https://boukili.ca/
JEU-di
Every Thursday, we begin class with French games. We play everything all sorts of fun, highly interactive games to review and practice what we have learned.
My beginners in particular love Bingo, Categories & Quizlet Live!
French tv shows
With my Grade 11 students, we watched Effet Secondaire on Ici Tou Tv and they absolutely loved it!
Tv5unis.com is a free website with French TV shows and movies and you should definitely explore the website for French tv shows and movies for your French classroom!
Save on the full French routines bundle!
