Sep 27, 2017

French Speaking Activity


A simple activity to get students talking and yet be accountable for listening is Les bâtons bavards. This is a really easy activity and can be applied to any speaking activity. The concept is that students start with either a blue Popsicle stick or a green one. When I first came up with this activity, I actually coloured a bunch of Popsicle sticks blue, green, and red. Then I realized that I could buy them at our local discount store and I have since bought them there. They come with extra colours buy I just stick to these three colours.

The concept is simple:
Students with the blue sticks will be responsible for speaking.
Students with green sticks will be responsible for listening - one of them will be chosen to share something that someone with a blue stick said.
Students who are off-task get a red stick. I allow my students the opportunity to turn things around and get rid of their red stick in exchange for either a good share or good listening (depending on which colour stick they have).

Often we will play "Deux vérité et un mensonge" (Two truths and a lie) and use Les bâtons bavards to help organize who will be speaking and who will be guessing the answers first. First we play as a whole class and half of the students get blue sticks and half of the students get green sticks. Students with the blue sticks tell the class two statements (usually about themselves) that are true, and one statement that is not true. After one student with a blue stick has shared, either that student will choose or I will choose a student with a green stick to guess which statement was a lie. If the student with the green stick correctly identifies (with a complete sentence) the lie statement, then those two students switch sticks. If the lie was not correctly identified, then a different student with a green stick will be chosen.

For example:
Student A (blue stick) : "J'aime la pizza. J'ai deux frères. Je n'aime pas la couleur verte."
Student B (green stick) : "Le mensonge est tu n'aimes pas la couleur verte."
Student A (blue stick) : "Oui, j'aime la couleur verte."
(exchange sticks)

I like this game because it allows students to prepare themselves to actively listen if they have green sticks, or to prepare themselves to speak if they have blue sticks. Red sticks are a visual reminder that you need to get back on track. It serves as an excellent opportunity to assess listening skills, especially since students know in advance who might be called on to answer. Once students are familiar with how this activity works, they can break off into two groups and I can go back and forth between the two groups.

Be sure to check out my blog post about Games in the French Classroom to learn more about what types of games I use and how I use them to get my students talking more. 

Also check out my Resources for Teachers section as I am always trying to add to my list of resources for French Teachers. 

French Writing Activity

A great activity to get students to practice writing is Une conversation écrite. A lot of the games that we do in my classroom focus on oral communication skills to give students a solid foundation. This activity is simple and easy to do. One of my English teaching colleagues suggested doing "Chatterlogs" but I couldn't think of a French equivalent, so I just call it "Une conversation écrite". That is essentially what it is. With a partner, students take turns asking and answering questions on paper. 

I like to pair to this activity with Questions au hasard, which is a speaking game where they are asking and answering questions. Once they have practiced saying those questions, then they can practice writing them. The game boards for that game are an excellent reference for this activity as they contain many different questions and forms of questions, as well as the answer stems. Students are also using their reading skills when they do this activity because they have to read their partner's questions so that they know what they are responding to. 
The template that I use is available on TpT as a FREE download. It has a spot for the students' names to go at the top, one beside each number: number 1 and number 2. Students then just write their number beside what they write so that I can clearly see who wrote what afterwards, without students having to rewrite their name each time they answer or ask a question.  
I have my students introduce themselves at the beginning of each Conversation écrite and after they have both introduced themselves, they take turns asking questions. One person asks a question. The partner must answer the question IN A COMPLETE SENTENCE * and then asks a new question. *You can have students extend their thinking by providing a reason using parce que. Another challenge that I give students is to respond to their partner's answer. For example: 
1 - Salut.
2 - Salut
1 - Je m'appelle Kurtis. Comment t'appelles-tu?
2 - Je suis Amanda. Quelle est ta couleur préférée?
1 - Ma couleur préférée est bleue. Est-ce que tu aimes le chiens?
2 - J'aime bleu aussi. Oui, j'aime les chiens parce qu'ils sont mignons. Quel est ton sport préféré?

I like that you can differentiate this activity by allowing students to use a reference sheet if they need it, or by having them extend their thinking. It's a simple but fun activity to do to practice their interaction écrite without having to use technology.




Sep 3, 2017

Strategies for Speaking French

The Complete Guide to Francocraft


Francocraft
As part of the French Immersion program that I run in my classroom, I strongly encourage and promote speaking in French at all times, especially interactions between students. In order to cultivate an environment where students are encouraged to take risks to talk to one another in French, I developed a system called Francocraft in 2014. It has had a tremendous impact on my teaching, as my students have been very motivated to speak in French at all times. Over the years, I have been adding and tweaking the system. This system is comprised of multiple mini-systems, that all feed into one another. The first one is the marble system. This guide will walk you through the different systems that I put into place in my classroom, as well as the resources that I use. You are welcome to use Francocraft in your classroom as well, the only thing that I ask is that you give credit where credit is due. If someone asks where you got the idea from, please give me credit.

You are welcome to make changes to the system as well, based on the needs and interests of your students and yourself. I started using Minecraft as a theme because my students were very interested in Minecraft and I, myself, quite enjoyed the game as well. I started using the game in my classroom as reward for students who achieved trophies. It served not only as a reward, but as an authentic situation for speaking in French, as students worked together, communicating only in French, to build things in Minecraft. Today I use Minecraft : Education Edition as a virtual classroom for class projects and learning, in addition to being used as a reward.

Here are the systems that I will be explaining:
Les billes – Marble System
Les billets – Ticket System
Francocraft – Les niveaux
Petit Profs
Les counters
Les trophées - Trophies
Les autres Petit Profs – Alternate Route to Petit Prof

Marble System – Les billes
I was inspired to use this system when I saw it in action at a French Immersion school in Kingston. I immediately put it into place in my classroom and noticed a change in the amount of French being spoken by students. This system rewards individuals for their efforts speaking French and the whole class as well.


I have two containers in my classroom – one that is labelled “Les classes” (because I have two classes of 20 students, one group I see in the morning, one group I see in the afternoon) and another one that is labelled “M. Hartnell”. To begin, I fill the container labelled “M. Hartnell” with marbles (les billes). As students speak French, they can take one of my marbles and place it in the container labelled “Les classes”. Students typically win between one and three marbles if they speak to me in French. Gradually, as the students speak more French, they take the billes from the teacher’s container to the classroom container. The goal is for them to transfer all of les billes to the classroom container. When this happens, there is a draw, where seven students are chosen at random to receive a prize from the prize box. 

The amount of marbles they win is in direct relation to the complexity of what they are saying, how much risk is involved and whether it is frequently practiced language that is a classroom expectation. This is also dependent on the time of the year, as at the beginning of the year, students are just coming off of summer vacation so they are rewarded for most of what they say in French. As the year progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to gain more marbles. As their French develops, so do my expectations – both in quantity and in quality.

To start off the year, I generally say that if a student speaks to me in French, that is worth 1 marble.

If two students are speaking to one another, they each get to put in a marble.

If a student speaks to another teacher in French, that is worth 3 marbles.

Students quickly realize that if they speak to each other in French, they can transfer marbles more quickly than by just speaking to the teacher in French.

I set up lots of opportunities for students to speak French and provide scaffolding for the students so that they have the vocabulary that they need in order to speak in French. For example, we will play games that put an emphasis on oral communication. If everyone is doing a good job of communicating only in French, then when they are done, I will reward the whole class by allowing them to each put in a few marbles.

Resources: two jars (purchased from Dollarama), multiple bags of marbles (purchased from Dollarama)

The Ticket System – Les billets
 

To encourage students to take risk and participate more during group discussions and activities, I developed the ticket system. Students can earn billets for things such as a good answer, a good observation, good participation, etc. When they earn these tickets, they get to hold onto the ticket until a break in our lesson/plan, where they can ask to exchange the ticket for three marbles, or 30 seconds added our P.A.T. time. P.A.T. stands for Preferred Activity Time and is a part of Fred Jone’s Positive Classroom Discipline, which I follow in my classroom. I have found that students become very motivated to earn billets and generally will try to earn one of each colour.



Resources: les billets (available for purchase from TPT, we had them printed in colour at Staples and then cut out and laminated them)

Francocraft Levels – Les niveaux



This system tracks how much French students speak on a daily basis. All students start at Level 1 (Niveau 1), which is the grass level – to represent the grass in the game Minecraft. In Minecraft, characters dig below the surface to find different stones and gems. As students speak more French, they break through the grass level to get to the dirt level. The more French, they speak, the higher the level they will attain. Each level represents a different aspect from the game – the higher the level they are, the rarer the gem they are. Each level also has its own success criteria that students must meet in order to obtain that level. I track their progress with a game board in the classroom that is always displayed. Their levels are displayed with actual items that represent the grass/dirt/gems from the game Minecraft. They move up in levels gradually as the year goes on, depending on the amount of marbles they win. Therefore, if a student speaks frequently in French, that student will receive marbles, which in turn increases his/her level in Francocraft.

Resources for Levels Board:
-Bristol board (for levels success critera), photos of tokens for each level (printed online), success criteria
Resources for Display Board:
-bristol board (for Francocraft display), Minecraft calendar (for cutouts as decorations, purchased at Wal-Mart), mini plastic shot glasses (purchased from Dollarama, used for holding the tokens for each level), labels for names for display (purchased from Dollarama), tokens for each level: 

grass = wooden blocks from Dollarama, painted green
dirt = wooden blocks from Dollarama, painted brown

rock = wooden blocks from Dollarama, painted gray
coal = black glass stones from Dollarama
lapis = dark blue glass stones from Dollarama
gold = wooden blocks from Dollarama, painted yellow
diamond = light blue glass stones from Dollarama
emerald = light green glass stones from Dollarama
I make sure that I have enough tokens for everyone to be at the same level.

Petit Profs


Once students have demonstrated a strong commitment to the language by making a concerted effort to always speak in French with the teacher and their peers, thereby helping to create a truly French environment, then they are awarded the distinction of Petit Prof. This distinction is only provided to those who have achieved the highest level in Francocraft, which is the Emerald level. Becoming a Petit Prof entitles the student to certain privileges but also requires some extra responsibilities as well. Petit Profs are identified by either a bracelet, a necklace or a badge that says Petit Prof and these students chose our weekly P.A.T. game, which the class has earnd based on positive behaviour. During P.A.T, we play a game that reinforces what we are learning in class. The Petit Profs are given a selection to choose from and vote on which activity they would like for the class to do during P.A.T. As part of their responsibilities, which they accept once they become a Petit Prof, they are also required to provide assistance to students who need help speaking French. When students need help speaking in French, they are advised to seek out a Petit Prof as a resource before coming to the teacher for assistance.

Resources:
-bracelets (custom silicone bracelets in green and white with the words Petit Prof printed on them)
-necklaces – malemite board (purchased from Lowe’s), Petit Prof diamond printouts (printed at Staples, cut out, and laminated), green cord (purchased from Dollarama or Lowes)
-badges – wood (purchased from Michaels), green spray paint (purchased from Michaels), bar pins (purchased from Michaels)

Tally Counters
Petit Profs are tasked with the additional responsibility of tracking how often English is spoken in our class. Petit Profs are given a tally counter and keep track of how many times English is spoken. At the end of class, we update our Record Board, which is where we keep track of how many times we spoke English each day.


Resources :
Tally Counters, with lanyards (purchased from Amazon)
Record Sign (printed and laminated)

Trophies – les trophées


I keep a list of the students who are Petit Profs, and each week, the five students at the top of the list, get Minecraft trophies (that accompany them for the day) and as a reward, get to stay in at recess and build cooperatively in Minecraft: Education Edition together. Then those five names will go to the bottom of the list, until we have cycled through all of the Petit Profs. In order to keep their place on the list, students must continue to achieve the success criteria for a Petit Prof (i.e. speaking in French on a consistent basis with peers and teachers, and always assisting others with speaking in French). If students are not maintaining these standards, then their names are moved to the bottom of the list and will not move up the list until they are achieving those standards again.



Resources:
Trophies (Minecraft plush toys, purchased from https://www.minecraftshop.com/shop/cat/toys/toys/plush/coll/minecraft/ (the Official Store of Minecraft)
Trophy case (drawer organizer, purchased from Wal-Mart)
5 devices with Minecraft: Education Edition

*Modifications* - Alternate Route to Petit Prof Status
Sometimes, despite students’ best efforts, they may not be able to achieve Petit Prof status. For some of my students, I have created an alternate path for them to become a Petit Prof. I have created a card, that they keep on them during class time. This card has 8 sections. Whenever I noticed that they are making a concerted effort to speak in French, I will initial a box. When the card is filled, they get to “level up” to the next level in Francocraft.

Additional Resources to Support French Speaking
I have created a variety of resources that serve as scaffolding to help my students communicate in French. Many of these resources are available for purchase via TPT.

Reference Pages & Posters
Each group has copies of desk references with common phrases/expressions in French, as well as language structures for playing games in French.
I also have a poster that I created for dismissal so students can ask to leave the classroom at the end of the day in French.

Games
We play a lot of games in my classroom to help students build a strong oral foundation. I enjoy playing games myself so I try to make sure that they have an element of fun to them, but also have an emphasis on speaking and listening in French. I find that when students are engaged, they are more motivated to speak in French, and it helps when they actually want to play the games. I also try to incorporate new vocabulary into the games whenever possible. For a complete listing of the games that I have created for my students, please check out our games section on TPT.

Vocabulary Development
In order to help facilitate the vocabulary development of my students, I have created a high frequency interactive word program. While we do the interactive lessons for the new words, students can earn marbles and tickets. I also have games to support the new vocabulary, which gives students more talking time in French. This in turns helps to develop their communication skills in French. As my students become more proficient in their speaking and listening skills, I have observed that their reading and writing skills develop and improve as well.

Rules in French Class

We always discuss the rules for our classroom and these can be summed up into five simple rules. I have created a poster with these rules, that I get printed up as a black and white engineering print at Staples for less than $3.00. I encourage my students to speak as much French as possible, all the time. To be clear, I teach a 50% French Immersion program and am currently teaching two classes every day. I teach French, Social Studies (in French), Visual Arts (in French), and Drama (in French) to one class, while the other class is receiving their English instruction and then we swap classes halfway through the day.
Although I expect students to use French as much as possible, I understand that students enter my class of varying abilities so I do try to provide a lot support so that my students know what to do if they don't understand something or if they need help saying something in French. We review strategies for speaking and listening in French. I have a poster set from PosterPals that has served as a great visual reference for my students. We go through the strategies with modelling and practice saying the different sayings that they can use so that students become familiar with what to do, where to look for help, what to say and how to say it. 



In addition to the posters on the wall, I created my own "Feuille de référence French Class Reference Sheet" that contains the most frequently used questions and objects so students can easily access them. I place these on their desks/tables. 

I do spend some time at the beginning of the year going over routines and how my classroom works. I introduce the Strategies to Maximize Communication in French. (See that blog post to learn more). 

Setting Up My Classroom in September

A lot of teachers ask me about how I run my classroom so I figured it was finally time to do a blog post about it. Seeing as it's almost September, I'll lay out how I set things up and how I explain how my classroom works to my students. I believe that a strong foundation in oral French is essential and that learning French should be fun. These beliefs are very evident in everything I do and that you see in my classroom.
One of the first things I explain to my students is "Les six étapes del'aquisitation d'une langue seconde", which is a poster that I made based on my understandings and beliefs about how you learn a second language. I get this printed up as a poster at Staples for around $15.00 because I like it best in colour format.




We always discuss the rules for our classroom and these can be summed up into five simple rules. I have created a poster with these rules, that I get printed up as a black and white engineering print at Staples for less than $3.00. I encourage my students to speak as much French as possible, all the time. To be clear, I teach a 50% French Immersion program and am currently teaching two classes every day. I teach French, Social Studies (in French), Visual Arts (in French), and Drama (in French) to one class, while the other class is receiving their English instruction and then we swap classes halfway through the day.



Although I expect students to use French as much as possible, I understand that students enter my class of varying abilities so I do try to provide a lot support so that my students know what to do if they don't understand something or if they need help saying something in French. We review strategies for speaking and listening in French. I have a poster set from PosterPals that has served as a great visual reference for my students. We go through the strategies with modelling and practice saying the different sayings that they can use so that students become familiar with what to do, where to look for help, what to say and how to say it. 




In addition to the posters on the wall, I created my own "Feuille de référence French Class Reference Sheet" that contains the most frequently used questions and objects so students can easily access them. I place these on their desks/tables. 


I do spend some time at the beginning of the year going over routines and how my classroom works. I introduce the Strategies to Maximize Communication in French. (See that blog post to learn more). 


At this point, it's time to have some fun, because, after all, that's one of my central tenants about teaching French. I usually break out one of my games; two of my favourite games for the beginning of the year (or any time, really) are "Pige dans le lac" and "Qui suis-je". They are both available for download for FREE from our TpT page. We were inspired by Nadine Pharand's version of Pige dans le lac and with her permission, added some language structures to facilitate increased oral communication in French. Pige dans le lac has students practice asking and answering questions with the verb avoir; it is the game "Go Fish" in French. It was such a hit with our students that we ended up making "Qui suis-je", which is a slightly different, but also easy to play card game that has students use the verb "être". 


*A quick note but important note about the games we make.* We aim to create enough copies of each game so that the whole class can be playing with a partner at one time. This allows us to easily transition from modelling the game and having the class play with us, to students playing in pairs and the teacher moving around to provide support where needed. It's easy for a teacher to parachute in on the game play. 


I make sure buy enough packs of cards for the class to play in partners, print and laminate the reference sheets and buy soap containers from Dollarama to hold the packs of cards. I label each set of cards with a number so that lost cards can be returned to the correct deck and the number is also labelled on the soap box. 


Another game that I play during the first week is one that we created called "Questions au hasard", which is a French speaking game. I print off and laminate enough copies for the whole class to work in partners and each pair to have a copy of the game so that we can all play at one time. First, we play as a class and I pull up a PDF version of the game on the Smartboard and I use a giant die that I bought from Dollarama and I model how to play the game. We play a few rounds together before the students play with a partner. I like to play this particular game because there is a lot of structure so it is easy for students to figure out the format and there is also a lot of scaffolding so students who need assistance have access to support, while those who don't can generate their own questions and answers. 


Another thing that I go over at the beginning of the year is my homework expectations. My at-home reading program consists of students reading three times a week for at least 10 minutes in French, completing a reading response in French once a week, visiting my class website once a week (to play some French literacy-based games or watch some YouTube videos in French), as well as studying our mots de la semaine (which they can do from the website). I put together a package with the expectations, language structures and sentence starters for the reading response as well a sample response, and pages for tracking the reading and reading responses in a duotang labelled Journal de lecture. The reading log pages and reference sheets are available on my TpT store. 






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Here's a sneak peek 🧐 🔎of our updated Journal de lecture - French Reading Program Package ! 📖📕📚 If you already own this product, download today to get the latest updated version! The reference page has been extended to two pages and now includes website support AND a word bank of 300 high frequency words. PLUS you get an EDITABLE information page to staple in your duotang to explain homework expectations and a sample completed reading log. Available on TPT: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Journal-de-lecture-French-Reading-Program-with-Reading-Logs-Reference-Pages-3398008 #teachersofinstagram #iteachfrench #iteachthird #primaryfrenchimmersion #frenchimmersion #teacherspayteachers #teachersfollowteachers #canadianteachers #primaryteacher #corefrench #fsl #frimm #frenchreading
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I run a weekly word program that I call Mots de la semaine. I just restructured my program last year and have an updated blog post all about how I run it. You can find the post here.


Here's what my class looks like at the beginning of September 2017:

Why you should be playing more games in French


Speaking French

On my Strategies for Speaking French page, I've outlined some of the strategies that I have put in place in order to encourage my students to speak French. Honestly, one of the best strategies that I've put in place is to make learning French fun. In order to promote speaking and listening, my students play a lot of games in French. 


Why play games?


If kids find the games fun, then they want to play them. And in my classroom, I use games that specifically encourage students to be speaking and listening. We don't play silent games in French class. At first, I did a lot of speaking activities but I found that students were much more motivated and desired to speak French more if there was a game element added to the activity. For example, I used to do the activity "Questions au hasard" with my students and while it is a good activity, I noticed that students didn't seem very excited about doing it. That was because there was no end goal besides just speaking French. I added in a score sheet and created a few simple rules to turn it into more of a game and noticed a big difference in how it was being received with my students.


Introducing Games


Whenever I introduce a new game, I project a reference sheet or the game up on the Smartboard and gather the students around the game and go through the instructions (using student-friendly language in French) and by modelling the rules. Then I play the game with the class. Next I have students break out into pairs and EVERYONE plays the game with a partner at the same time. 


I go from group to group to listen in on their conversations and to offer assistance and feedback if needed. When I notice that students are doing a good job or putting forth a great effort, I reward that with a "billet".


I use these French behaviour tickets to reward positive behaviour. Students may exchange these "billets" for three "billes" (see "Les billes - marbles" for more details) or some extra time for P.A.T. for the class.  

As I mentioned in another blog post, I find it important to create enough copies of the games so that everyone can play at the same time. This allows me to easily notice who needs support and how students are handling the game. It always affords me an opportunity to see how I might tweak the game if need be. Aside from purchased cards (UNO, decks of cards, flashcards), I laminate all of my games (game boards, score trackers, reference sheets), so that they can be used year after year. 


I created a reference sheet with commonly used phrases when playing games that I introduce and use with my students when they are playing games so that everything can be done in French. 
After we have played the games enough that students are familiar with them, we play them in Game Centers, with French buddies, and when students have completed work early.







Where do I get my games? 

I have created most my games myself (or with my wife). It has taken hours and hours to create these games, as we aim to make them fun but also functional in helping students to improve their French. Most of them are available in our TeachersPayTeachers store (some are a free download, some are not). We have purchased a few of our games from other vendors - if you click on the title of each game, it will take you to where you can buy that game. 
It does take a long time to actually physically produce them, especially since I like to have a class set of everything. It costs money to print in colour (thank goodness Ontario teachers who are Edvantage members now have a 10% discount off of certain printing services at Staples - see the deal through Edvantage), it takes time to cut everything out, laminate it and cut it out again. I suggest you buy a good paper trimmer and a good laminator. We like 5mm laminating pouches the best and buy ours from Walmart. We often put on Netflix in the background while we make our games. HOWEVER, it is completely worth the effort. Once you've made them, then you have them forever. My students highly enjoy playing games, so they enjoy speaking French. I try to package my games so that they all fit neatly into pencil cases or soap boxes that go into specific bins from Dollarama so everything looks nice and orderly. This is a picture of just part of my games wall. 


What games do I use and how do I use them?



Games to get students speaking: 


UNO Card Game: 
Materials for a class of 20 students: -6 decks of UNO cards (can buy from many locations - Dollarama, Walmart, etc)

-6 reference sheets
-Students play in groups of 3-4.

I purchased my card sets from Walmart and labelled each card set with a unique number and bought containers from the Dollarama to hold the cards (since soap containers were not big enough for the UNO decks). I created a simple reference sheet for my students that included phrases such as "J'ai un # (couleur)." "Manque ton tour." "Je change la couleur à (nouvelle couleur)." My rule is that you cannot play silently, you must tell your partner what you are doing every time you play a card or pick up a card. 

Pige dans le lac (Go Fish) 
Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 decks of cards (numbered so that lost cards can be returned to the correct deck and stored in a numbered soap container)
-10 reference sheets

- Students play in pairs.

Students practice asking questions with the verb "avoir". They also review their basic numbers in French. I created this reference page to help support more speaking in French while students are playing the game. 

Qui suis-je (Guessing Game) 
Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 decks of cards (numbered so that lost cards can be returned to the correct deck and stored in a numbered soap container)
-10 reference sheets

- Students play in pairs. 

Students pretend to be a number and try to guess who their partner is (what number they have), using the the verb "être". They are also practicing basic numbers and numeration in French with "higher than" and "lower than" phrases in French. I created this game after I saw how much my students loved playing "Pige dans le lac". 

Questions au hasard 
Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 game boards 
-24 BINGO chips per game board (I store mine in plastic baggies from the Dollarama and buy the BINGO chips from Walmart)
-20 score cards (1 per player) 
-10 dice (1 per game)

- Students play in pairs. This is the game that started out as a speaking activity that we created but then we modified it into a game. Students take turns asking and answering questions. As they answer questions, they fill up a score sheet, which has two slots per question. The first person to have their score sheet completed wins.
This has students practice asking "est-ce que" questions with the verbs "pouvoir", "vouloir", "aimer", "avoir", "être" and "préférer". Each question is started but students need to actually come up with what they are asking. There are many stems and possible ways suggested for students to complete the question, which gives to support to those who need it. Students are not required to use those examples. 
Students also practice how to answer the question in a complete sentence and there is a "parce que" stem to encourage students to justify their answers. 
I also have versions that practice "qu'est-ce que" questions, intonation, and inversion, as well as a question variety pack (comment, quand, quel/quelle, combien, où, and qui questions) and a futur proche & passé composé (with the verbs aller, visiter, and faire). I love how much differentiation is available with this game. Students of all levels can access this game so that it suits their needs and challenges them at the right level. Some students might just be working on asking questions using the support stems and answering them in a complete sentence without the "parce que". Other students may just be using the question starters but coming up with their own unique endings and answering questions with detailed justifications of their answers. 

I start out giving the students regular dice and if they are on task, I will promote them larger dice. I have three sizes in total.

 

Le Défi Français 1 - Now available in our TPT store!
Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 game sets
-20 player tokens (1 per player) 
-10 dice (1 per game)

- Students play in pairs. 


This is a board game that I created that involves all the great elements of a board game - a special "track" on the board, with some twists and turns, question cards (of varying difficulty, worth different point values), and chance cards (that affect players). I currently have made three versions of this game - my students LOVE this game! It promotes so much speaking. Each game has 30 different easy questions and 10 different hard questions. The questions vary from version to version and the game mechanics change in the different versions as well.

Le Défi Français 2 
Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 game sets
-20 player tokens (1 per player) 
-10 dice (1 per game)

- Students play in pairs. 

This is the second version of Le Défi Français. In this version, students are exposed to 50 new question cards (30 easier questions, 20 harder questions) and risk cards! Sometimes when students land on a question square, they have the option of taking a risk card, after they've answered their question. The risk cards can have HUGE rewards or SERIOUS consequences! However, students can choose whether or not they want to draw the card. The first person to finish the game gets a 5 point bonus and triggers the end of the game. The player with the most points wins!



Connectez les mots
Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 packages of English-French flashcards from Canadian Curriculum Press (we bought them at Staples)
-10 game boards
-40 BINGO chips per game (20 of one colour and 20 of a different colour)
- Students play in pairs. 


My wife bought these flashcards at Staples and didn't know what she could do with them since they show a picture of what's on the reverse side. We both liked the cards and thought it would be a great way to introduce/review French vocabulary so I came up with the idea to use them in a "Connect 4" type of game. I created a game board with the words all typed out. Students lay down the cards and select a card that is face up by saying it's name. If they are correct, they get to place a BINGO chip on that square on the game board and the card is flipped over so that the image on the reverse is revealed and the turn is over. If the guess is incorrect *to verify, the students flip over the card as the answer is on the back corner*, that turn ends.  You can play to see who can get the most chips on the board, or who can create as many four-in-a-row as possible. It's a great way to expose students to more vocabulary.

Spot it (Basic French) 
Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-6 games of Spot it! (I refer to the game as "Trouve-le")
-optional: I made a reference page for this and print of 10 copies of the reference page to go with the game.

- Students play in groups of 3-4. 
I teach my students how to play each of the different versions of Spot it!, we play it in French. Instructions are included with the game. My students really enjoy this game and as an added bonus it exposes them to 57 French vocabulary words. 

Games to help students with French sounds/French reading:

Les mots fréquents 

Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 sets of Les mots fréquents

I have made High Frequency Word lists for Grade 1, 2 and 3 French Immersion, each containing 100 words: 100 high frequency cards for Level 1 (Grade 1 French Immersion), 100 high frequency cards for Level 2 (Grade 2 French Immersion), and 100 high frequency cards for Level 3 (Grade 3 French Immersion). Each level has 5 sub-sets of cards: A, B, C, D, and E. Each sub-set of cards contains 20 different high frequency words. The file for each level contains two copies of each sub-set, which is what you need in order to play the games as the goal of each game is to make pairs of the same word. 

Students learn 300 new high frequency words in French through four fun games with these double-sided flashcards. Reference sheets are included for each game so the students can play them all in French These are AMAZING and are helping my students learn their high frequency words in a fun, hands-on way. 

La course des voyelles
Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 game sets
     -Each set has :
     -100 cards in total (20 cards per vowel sound)
     -game board
     -hint or “indices” trackers (each tracker contains 6 slots for tokens)
     -2 sided reference sheet (side 1: title page side 2: all pictures and words for each vowel sound)
-10 dice (1 per game)
-10 player tokens (1 per player)
-hint tokens (6 per player – this could be counters/chips)

Here is a game that I created to practice French vowel sounds, while also building/reviewing vocabulary. Students roll to advance along the game board, drawing cards of images and identifying the vocabulary it represents. Students have a reference sheet to use if they need it, but they have a limited number of times they can use it for help. There is exposure to over 100 different French words through this one game!

Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-20 BINGO cards
-Smart Notebook Interactive Bingo word caller (or caller sheet (to cut out individual words to call) and tracking sheet to keep track of the words called)
- BINGO chips (many)
-We play as a class.

I created this game to help my students practice their sounds, but to also introduce/review French vocabulary. Each game focuses on the sound a specific sound, with 24 different vocabulary words that contain that sound. I made BINGO games for 10 sounds in total. Every word is on every card, but no two cards are the same, so students are engaged every time a word a called as they search to find the word on their card. 






Serpents et échelles
 

Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 copies of Serpents et échelles des syllabes (from Littératout)
     - each set contains 1 game board and a set of easy syllable cards and a set of more difficult syllable cards
-20 game tokens (1 per player)

-10 dice (1 per game)
-Students play in pairs.

I found this game on Littératout (which requires a paid subscription) and my students really liked it. I ended up creating a slightly different game board because I found that the Snakes & Ladder board game from their site didn't facilitate very long games. However, the syllable cards are great! Students roll a dice and before they can advance, they have to draw a syllable card and read it out loud (they can choose an easy one or a difficult one). Once they have read it, they can advance to the space that they rolled.  It's a great way to refine pronunciation as well as improve reading skills. 
Our version of the board is available here
La course à dix 
Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 game boards
-20 BINGO chips per game board (I store mine in plastic baggies from the Dollarama and buy the BINGO chips from Walmart)
-ten 12-sided dice (1 per game- we purchased from a local gaming store)

- Students play in pairs. 

I created this game to help my students continue to practice their sounds in a fun way. It's a sound-word association game with some risk involved! Students try to fill up their score card first but have to be careful because there is always a risk that the other player could remove some of their chips. Each game board has three different ways of playing the game and features 10 different sounds.



La tour française 
Materials for a class of 20 students: 
-10 sets of tumbling blocks (from Dollarama but could be from anywhere, Jenga works too)
  -I divide the number of blocks by 7 and number them equally from 1 to 7. 
-20 stories (I print enough copies so that there are two copies of the story per tower so that students don't need to share their story)

-Students play in pairs.
I created this game as an engaging way to practice reading comprehension, as well as active listening. Students pick a block, answer a question about a French text and keep the block (as a point) if they answered correctly. We made four unique stories and each story has 14 comprehension questions. The answers can all be found in the text. If the answer is not correct, the block must be returned to the top of the tower. My students really love to play this game!







Writing Activity 

While this is not a game, this is an activity that I do with my students once they have been playing our oral communication games so that they can practice their writing.  

Check out this blog post to learn more. 














Please check back as I am always adding to this list and I still have games in my classroom that I use to add to this post. If you have any games that you think I should be using, or that you would like to see created, please send me an email at kurtisandamandahartnell@gmail.com . Thanks for reading!