Getting to know our students is one of the most important things we can do as we start the new year off! Those first few weeks of school set the tone for the full year and it is important to take time to get to know our student’s interests. However, it can sometimes be a challenge in a French Immersion classroom to find meaningful ways to help student’s communicate their interests in French. Here are three fun activities to help you get to know your students in September.
Activity #1: Daily Shared Writing/Reading Activity
In my classrooms, I like to have a “étoile du jour”. This student is responsible for handing out things, answering the phone, leading the line etc. I found it too confusing for me when I had a job board! I simply go down the class list and choose a new student each day! One of the things we do when it is their special day is spend a little time discovering their interests.
Each day, we complete a “Me Voici” page for the Star Student! To discover whose turn it is, I write all the letters of their name on little sticky notes. The consonants are blue and the vowels are red. We then have to figure out who it might be by looking at the mixed up letters. It is quite amusing watching them try to figure it out. I also enjoy the looks I get when the star student realises it is their turn!
Once we have figured out who the Star Student is, I have them complete a variety of sentence starters. For the first round, I keep it fairly simple. Students come in knowing no French so starting with simple, structured sentences is important. I follow the exact same format for each student. As you can imagine after the first few times, the children become very good at reading the sentences and helping to fill in the blank
Once the chart is complete, “l’étoile du jour” takes out a pointer and points to each word as the class reads along chorally. I find this activity helpful to see if the student can match the words to the spoken texts. For the other students, choral reading helps to develop fluency and get students comfortable speaking in French.
The chart then is posted on the classroom wall and students will gravitate towards it and practice reading it throughout the day. Once we have gone through the class, students get to take their “All About Me” page home and share it with their families! I have so many parents let me know that it is hung up in their child’s room and they use the chart to play school!
Other topics could be favourite sports, favourite TV show, where they live, what they like to eat. The possibilities are endless!
Activity #2: All About Me Book
Creating an All About Me Book is another fun way to get to know your students. For beginning students, working on a page a day over the course of couple of weeks helps to build some stamina and get used to completing pencil/paper tasks. It will also help you get to know your students wile getting them writing a little bit in a non-threatening way. This All About Me Book requires minimal writing so that students can be successful no matter their ability level this time of year.
With older students, you may be able to print the booklet and have them work on it more independently. With over 20 different pages, you can pick and choose the ones you wish to use. This booklet makes a wonderful keepsake. Hold onto them until June – students love to see how far they have come when you show them at the end of the year!
My All About Me Book is available directly from the Teaching French Immersion store in Canadian dollars!
You can also find it at La classe de Madame Angel on TeachersPayTeachers!
Activity #3: Ceci ou Cela Game
This or that games are so much fun! I love watching students get to know each other as they have to identify which they prefer when given a choice of two items. This activity is so much fun when you need a brain break or have a few minutes before recess with time to fill. And the choices are endless!
For this Back to School version, I have students choose between two objects. They need to move to the side of the room for the object they have chosen and then do the exercise on the bottom to demonstrate their choice!
This French Back to School This or That game is created in Google Slides™ for easy download! In addition to already done for you slides, I have included several blank slides that you can customise with your own images! Superheroes, movies, books and songs are just some of the many themes you can add to this resource!
This game is available for FREE to my e-mail subscribers! Click the link at the bottom of this post to subscribe and get your FREE download!
And there you have it! 3 activities to help you get to know your students this year!