my 5 tips To Get Your Students Speaking French!
How do you get your students to speak french in class?
This is one of my top frequently asked questions. Here are 5 tips to get your students speaking French that will keep them motivated and engaged in your classroom!
THE MAGIC LINE
I heard about the “magic line” when I first started teaching 2nd grade. It requires very little setup, but a whole lot of over the top “selling” on the teacher’s part. Put a colourful strip of tape at the entrance of your classroom and when anyone crosses this line, they “magically” begin to speak in French! This tip is indeed magical and it works EVERY year, even with my more challenging students. There is no reward, no consequence involved! I simply make a big deal and even do a demonstration for my kiddos (make sure it is OVER THE TOP).
**BONUS TIP: If you notice your kiddos speaking in English, explain that the magic line must have lost it’s powers and either “replace it” with a NEW magic line (this can be fun if you like buying themed duck-tape) or “refill” it’s magical powers using a sprinkle shaker or some magical words.
GUMBALL MACHINE
This is one of my favourite whole class incentives. I print out (or draw) a gumball machine and display it in our classroom. When I catch students speaking in French, they get to go up and colour in a gumball in our class gumball machine. You can do any type of reward you like when your gumball machine is full. Some of my favourites include: Dance Party, Themed Day, Dress-Down Day, Pyjama Party, Show and Tell.
**BONUS TIP: You can choose any sort of fill-in drawing for your students (apples on a tree, pumpkins in a patch, letters of the alphabet, etc.).
You can grab my Speakin FRENCH Behaviour Tracker sheets in my store HERE. There are 4 poster versions (with 50 and 25 images to colour in) and 3 punch out cards (with 12 spaces).
BINGO OR PUNCH CARD
My students love having individual incentive charts and I find these especially helpful at the beginning of the year (but they are honestly fun all year round). Each student has a themed bingo card or punch card. When you catch them speaking French they get to colour in a space (for Bingo I have my students pick a card to find out what to colour in) or I punch a hole in their punch card. Students who complete their cards can win a visit to your prize box (mine is all coupons with no-cost to the teacher) or earn a reward (class helper for the day, line leader, certificate to go home, etc.).
**BONUS TIP: Make sure you have a place to store these cards! I like to display mine on a bulletin board, but a binder or pencil case also works well.
I love this resource by Maternelle avec Mme Andrea! This is what I use in my classroom.
MORNING MEETING
Each morning have a sentence starter (or even a couple) displayed for your students. Read them out and then go around the circle and invite each student to complete one of the sentence starters. This helps your students develop their vocabulary and helps them build up their confidence in a low stress environment. Make sure the sentence starters are easy for students to finish. The goal here is to build their confidence and get them speaking in French. We want it to be fun and easy to feel successful!
**BONUS TIP: Have students come up with sentence starters that you pick from each morning. They will be so thrilled when they see you have chosen their sentence starter for the morning meeting!
COUPONS
Coupons (or billets de fierté) is one of the easiest ways to encourage your students to speak French in the classroom. Simply print out little tags or coupons and keep them on hand for when you catch students speaking in French. You can also use these for improvement and perseverance! Students can glue them in a notebook or attach them to a necklace. My kiddos love earning all the different types of billets de fierté.
**BONUS TIP: Laminate your coupons to ensure a longer lifespan. You won’t regret it!
I hope that you enjoyed these 5 tips to get your students speaking French! What are your favourite ways to get your students speaking in French? I’d love to know! Be sure to let me know in the comments below!
P.S. Are you teaching virtually? Be sure to check out my post all about “Online Teaching Essentials”!