How to reinforce French vocabulary

Are you looking for ways to reinforce French vocabulary with your students? 

It's so important for students to build up their vocabulary base. It doesn't matter how good their grammar is, if they don't have the words they need in order to get their message across, they are defeated before they begin!  Here are a couple of ways that I like to help with this.

1.  Since it's near the end of September and school objects seem to be a common vocabulary focus for this month, I like to have the students play "Kim's Game". Simply put, arrange a collection of items on your desk or table for your students to have a look at.  Before showing the objects to the students, cover the objects with a t-towel so that they are hidden. The goal for the students is to remember as many of the items "under the t-towel" as they can and to write the words on a sheet of paper. While the items are still covered, I have the students gather around the table so that everyone can see. They are NOT allowed to take notes at this time. Once everyone has a good view I uncover the items for 1-2 minutes for the students to try to memorize as many of them as possible. Remember NO NOTE TAKING. After the 1 or 2 minute time frame I cover the items back up and the students scurry back to their desks and start intensely writing down as many items as possible. It goes without saying that the words must be in French!  The student(s) with the most number of correct words written down win(s).  Even my high school students like to play this game.

2. Need something for that day you are going to be absent? --- cold and flu season has certainly begun and teachers are bound to catch something!  Have a LOTO/BINGO set of cards tucked away in your teaching supplies.  Even the most active of classes will remain calm for your substitute while playing LOTO. It's a great way to reinforce a themed set of vocabulary or to even introduce it to a class.  How does that work if they don't know the words yet? All of my LOTO/BINGO sets include the calling card which also doubles as a vocabulary reference card.  You can either copy this along with your LOTO cards set (one for each student to refer to while playing) OR you can have the substitute project this card onto the class screen for students to look at.  

If you would like to have a look at these LOTO/BINGO sets just click the link here.  CLICK HERE

Are you interesting in some free writing prompts to leave if you are away? 

If so, this will give you access to some:  CLICK HERE !  

Enjoy these French vocabulary ideas!

À la prochaine et bonne journée! 

Lorraine 

 

 

 

How to introduce your French speaking country unit

Are you starting a unit about a French speaking country ? There are so many to choose from but what I think you’ll like to get your unit studies going is a "springboard activity". Why not have your students do a webquest about that country? Here are some things to think about to help organize this!

If you have a lower level class you can use an  English version of a country webquest and if your students are able to do some French research a French webquest is ideal!

Do you have ESL students in your class or students who don’t have a strong background in their French studies who have joined your class? Use a differentiated learning option for them.  Try a webquest with fewer questions for them to do or have your students work in pairs.

If you would like to have your students study more than one country at the same time, divide the class into smaller groups and assign a different country to each group. Within each of those groups you can choose a “French version”, an “English version”, a differentiated learning version. Choose whichever best suits the students so that everyone is successful.

I've noticed that the most popular right now for the French country studies for this time of year are: Senegal, Haiti, Morocco, Switzerland and Belgium.

I'd like to help you out with these springboard activities.

-Try one or all of the above country’s webquests:

  

Senegal

  

Haiti

  

Morocco

  

Switzerland

  

Belgium

-If you’d like them all together, here’s la Francophonie webquest BUNDLE at my store

 

-La Francophonie --- This bundle includes the above countries and also Madagascar and France!

 

AND here's a FREEBIE for you which would be great as a finishing activity for your unit!

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE FREEBIE ! 

À la prochaine! 

Lorraine

Are you teaching French reading?

I remember my parents telling me that if you could read, you could pretty much learn to do anything in life. I’m pretty sure though they were NOT talking about hitting the platform at the railway station and jumping through the wall to go to a magical school of Hogwarts as my children loved! I couldn’t read the books fast enough for my son and soon he was reading the books on his own while I was still tidying up the kitchen. 

 

When teaching Core French reading to high school students it’s sometimes a challenge to find something that will interest them and help you accomplish your goals at the same time. Looking for authentic documents from restaurants, tourist attractions, posters, movie reviews, magazines, etc. will all help you with this! It’s not necessary to pick up a novel and hope that your students will be able to read it, but starting with smaller articles are great options for you. 

 

And reading together is a WONDERFUL IDEA! You can read as a whole class together or you can divide your students up into smaller groups and have them read a French article together aloud. The stronger students can help the students who may struggle with this and everyone benefits. It’s the “two heads are better than one” idea; in this case 4-5 heads in a group. Also, having your students take turns reading the passage aloud will give them the opportunity to practice their pronunciation. When you are doing this, be sure the students stop after a couple of sentences and go through what was read aloud.  Often students do not understand what they are reading aloud in French and need to go back and decipher the content with a comprehension focus. (not just the pronunciation focus)  Unless you are lucky enough to have a whole class of readers, assigning the reading for homework may NOT work. Some of your students just might not be able to do it on their own. 

 

Using in-class reading activities to promote comprehension is crucial and if chosen wisely can be fun and engaging at the same time.  What is something that I like to choose?  Over the years more and more of my students have been travelling with their families and so I like to use webquests about Francophone countries. Technology is so prevalent in students’ lives in most cases that exploring the internet is a life skill that is developed very early on.  Teaching about the French speaking world is interesting and is included in curriculums. So here is what I have to share with you…. A BUNDLE which includes country webquests.

 

      

  Click here to have a look!

 

For those of you who would like to check out one of my French research projects, please GRAB this FREEBIE.    

Click here to GRAB THE FREEBIE !

 

Enjoy the world of virtual travel and reading!

 

Bonne journée!

Lorraine