The best French classes are those in which the students learn by doing. A dynamic, group-focused class allows students a better environment in which to practice the language.
Activities in language classes help students visualize and retain vocabulary. There is no doubt that when students have fun, their brains are more receptive.
To celebrate Francophonie month, we want to share five activities with you that will entertain your students while also enriching their knowledge of French.
Find someone who…
This activity is a great way to break the ice and help students get to know each other. It works best when there is a fairly large group.
Each student will have a list of characteristics like plays a musical instrument, works in a particular profession, has children, likes cats, has traveled to Paris, etc.
Then each student will have to get up from their chair and start interviewing their classmates in French until they find someone who meets one of the characteristics. When they do, they will write the person’s name next to the characteristic.
Write a poem
In this activity, the teacher gives the students a series of words, expressions, or vocabulary.
Each student then composes a short poem (with rhyme) that uses all the words the teacher provided. The result is often very funny and the student will have to bring out all their creativity and knowledge of French.
Ideally, this game should be played once the students already have a certain level of knowledge.
Truths and lies
This is a fun game that can be played in pairs or in groups. All participants have a piece of paper where they will write three sentences about themselves. They can be all truths, all lies, or a combination of both.
The groups or pairs then give their opinions and decide whether each sentence is true or false, and why.
Continue the alphabet
“Continue the alphabet” is a more challenging game that is aimed at students who already have some knowledge of the language. It is an exceptional game for improving fluency in speaking French and for using a wide range of expressions.
To play this game, several classmates will have to maintain a meaningful conversation in which each player starts their sentence with a word that begins with the next consecutive letter of the alphabet.
In other words, one student will say an initial phrase and the next one will have to continue speaking with a word beginning with a, the next one continues with b and so on—all the while maintaining the coherence of the conversation.
Taboo word
Playing “taboo word” is a great way for students to learn new synonyms and to express ideas with words they do not usually use, thus helping them gain a much richer and wider vocabulary.
In this game, a student will have to help their partner guess what the forbidden word is, but without using terms related to that word.
Mastering French is possible
As you have seen above, there are many tools that will help your students master a new language.
Another idea is to share songs with your students. Why not organize a fun game of karaoke?
It has been proven that learning a language through music allows people to become familiar with pronunciation, and the constant repetition makes it easier to retain words.
There is even scientific evidence showing that listening to music in the target language helps students learn vocabulary and grammar, and helps improve students’ spelling in the foreign language.
Read also: French, Language of Romance and Diversity
