Whether you are a brand new French teacher or a seasoned one, classroom management can be really challenging regardless of the number of years you have under your belt. Join my teacher bestie Sheena and me in a conversation about classroom management tips for French teachers. Please note that these classroom management tips are for middle and high school French teachers.

I hope you enjoyed our chat about classroom management tips for French teachers! Interested in connecting with Sheena? Connect with her via her Instagram account or check out her TPT.

STOP! and download these FREE French classroom management tools

French classroom management tip #1 : Send your syllabus home at the start of the school year along with your classroom and school expectations

This is an obvious one, but I have my students take home the class syllabus at the start of the semester. This semester is very explicit on classroom routines and expectations.

My school does not have the parents sign the syllabus, but I actually edit mine and DO have the families of my students sign them.

Click here for fun French syllabus templates.

French classroom management tip #2: Send a welcome email to families at the start of the school year or semester

One thing I LOVE to do is send a welcome email to the families of my students at the start of my school year.

Why is a welcome email important?

At my school we don’t have a “meet the teacher night” anymore sadly. I actually LOVED these! It is so important that families hear from you in a neutral manner first, before you reach out and discuss students and their progress.

What do I include in my welcome email?

• Introduction – I briefly introduce myself, share some very basic information (years of teaching, how many languages I speak) and that I care very much about my students, their well-being, and their progress
• Reminder – I remind parents to read and sign the syllabus that went home that day. I also remind them where to check grades and what to do when students are absent.
• Encourage – I encourage them to reach out whenever they have questions
• Sign-off – I sign off by saying that I look forward to working with them to support their child in their academic journey

Parents are so receptive to this email. I often have dozens of replies thanking me for the introduction and the reminders. This way when I do eventually reach out to communicate about incidents in the classroom, parents have heard from me previously.

French classroom management tip #3 : Prioritize relationship building

Whether it is la rentrée scolaire or mid-year, prioritize relationship building.

Remember that students are also very nervous and anxious during this first week back. What can you do to break the ice, get to know your students, but also encourage them to get to know one another?

Now full disclosure, I HATE first-week games or icebreakers where individual students have to speak in front of the whole class. As I said above, you have not yet established a safe classroom environment and students are likely not ready to speak in front of the class if they are super introverted.

Instead, I like to break the ice by playing French Back to School icebreakers like Levez-vous si… and Four Corners.

I also have my students respond to surveys where they tell me about their personalities and what they need in order to be successful.

The truth is that if you have solid relationships with your teenage students, they are more likely to make good choices because they respect you!

French classroom management tip #4 : What does your seating arrangement look like?

Like Sheena and I discussed briefly in the video, seating arrangements are a really important tool as part of your classroom management strategy as a French teacher.

I have a very detailed blog post on classroom desk arrangements that you should read. For each desk arrangement, I speak at length about pros and cons.

Now in terms of seating plan, I do prefer to have set seating plans for Grades 8-10. Now, before I create my seating plan, I do ask my students about who they’d like to sit with. I do accommodate their wishes if I think they’ve made good choices.

French classroom management tip #5 : Be explicit about expectations and reteach them when necessary

Like I mentioned in the video, be very explicit about your expectations.

Some teachers like to co-create norms with their students.

I am a Punjabi, 5″1, a woman, and “young-appearing”. I have to be very explicit about my expectations because I do not look scary. I have seen my students behave VERY different with male teachers who are white and 6 feet tall.

If you are a new teacher, do not assume that teenagers “know” things. If you want them to stack chairs a certain way, show them how to do it.

In September, every time you feel like you need to stop and reteach expectations, please take the time to do that. It will make the rest of your year so much more smooth.

Finally, how you set your expectations will depend on your specific situation (# of classes, age, maturity, etc).

French classroom management tip #6 : Try behaviour reflection sheets

When students make poor choices and transgress classroom expectations, I use that as a learning opportunity.

When I think about how I am going to address these choices, the most important goal is to have students take ownership of their choices and be intentional about making better choices in the future.

What questions are on my behaviour reflection sheet? You can download a copy of my behaviour reflection sheet here ABOVE

Scroll up to download these!

French classroom management tip #7 : Give your vocal chords a rest & use a charm

In the first few years of my career, oh boy did I overuse my vocal chords.

Now I use this charm to get my students’ attention and it is so much more effective than yelling over them!

French classroom management tip #8 : Involve administration, counselors, and parents when necessary

This last one is the most important one.

Whenever my colleagues tell me about incidents that occurred in their classroom, I ask them if they’ve already communicated with the family. The answer is often negative.

I do not have children, but I know that if I was a parent and my child was making those choices, I would want to be informed!

When communicating with families, it is important to keep things FACTUAL. Leave all of your emotions and feelings out in the hallway. State facts. Be transparent and professional.

Remember, if you’re too upset to write the email – draft it and come back to it tomorrow.

Lastly, feel free to ask admin or TRUSTED colleagues to read over your draft before you send it out.

You’ve got this!

The post Classroom management tips for French teachers appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

If your students are anything like my students, they probably love coming to French class! That is one of the best parts about teaching an elective — our students want to be there! However, this can be a little tricky as well. You know, sometimes they’re a little too excited to come to French class, because they know we’re going to be having tons of fun!

Therefore, it can truly throw your classroom management off when students are entering the classroom all riled up and excited.

I teach Grades 8-10 and I especially find this to be true for the younger grades.

As a matter of fact, it can be rather challenging to bring teenagers back to a calm place when they run in all hyper!

Before you scroll – grab this music freebie!

Are your students too chatty or far too loud when working on activities?

Teenagers can be so social and in my second year of teaching, I was struggling with them socializing a little too loudly with their classmates.

To combat these two issues, I made one of my favourite classroom purchases in my teaching career!

I bought a bluetooth speaker! For the past two years, I have religiously used my bluetooth speaker during strategic moments.

Play calm French music as students are walking into class

In my three years of being a teacher, I have had the pleasure of teaching only TWO introverted classes out of 18 classes!

The rest of my classes have been anywhere from sometimes rambunctious to ALWAYS rambunctious.

I started playing calm French music at the start of class as students were walking in. When I do this, I also ensure that I have my daily slides projected on the whiteboard. My daily slides explain the shape of the day and which activities students should begin immediately.

If you struggle with the start of class transition, I highly recommend doing this. Students love listening to music, regardless of their grade, and it creates such a lovely ambiance.

My favourite calm artists are Louane, Coeur de Pirate, Charles Aznavour, Julien Doré and Matt Holubowski.

Play French music when students are working on assignments and projects

I frequently play French music as students are working on individual assignments or group projects.

Students are not allowed to wear their own listening devices in class, given that French class is all about collaboration. Due to that reason, my students beg me to play music as they are working.

I find that music can help my students focus on their task. They still socialize and work collaboratively with their peers, but they do not shout over the music as they would shout over one another.

My favourite is when I catch my teens asking their friends to speak quieter so that they can hear the music!

Ask your students to recommend calm French music to you as “homework”

It can be incredibly motivating for students when they see that you have acknowledged and included their interests.

Have students email you up to 5 calm, school-appropriate French songs “for homework”. I would then listen to each song to ensure that it is in fact a) calm and b) school-appropriate.

Create French music playlists for classroom management using Apple Music or Spotify

I decided to purchase a Bluetooth speaker and not use the projector speakers. I hated connecting my computer to the projector in order to listen to music.

Creating playlists on Apple Music on my iPhone has been incredibly convenient. I have all sorts of playlists — I have ones for the start of class, more upbeat songs for fun activities and games, and playlists of students’ recommendations. Here’s a playlist on YouTube of French music for the classroom.

Also, if you’re looking to diversify your playlist, check out my Instagram post by clicking this link!

Below is an image of the Bluetooth speaker I have at school and at home. Please note that the link below is an affiliate link.

If you find these tips to be helpful, comment below & share your favourite Francophone artists for the classroom!

The post Teaching with French music – tips & tricks appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.