Oui French Teachers

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We’ve been back to school, back to routines, back to the sounds of school for three weeks now and it’s been busy!

Each year I am reminded of all the balls being juggled at the beginning of a school year – both at home and for educators. Whether you teach elementary, middle or high school there are student names to learn, handouts to prepare, now online materials to prepare as well. I teach high school and I work at welcoming students. I am not always able to greet them at the door (during the quick class changeover) so I make sure to greet them by looking at them, saying their name and a welcoming phrase. I ask them a question that won’t take too much thinking but requires a personal response. This means the questions need to be open. Here is a short list of questions:

• Get ready for a great class! What are you looking forward to today?
• What has been the best part of the day so far?
• Quick shot! What colour are you thinking about?
• What’s on your mind as you walk in the door?

And while creating a welcoming space for students in which they feel comfortable, supported and valued, there’s attendance, fire and earthquake drill procedures to learn, class procedures to put into place and sports are starting up, to mention just a few things. OH! and don’t forget the photocopier jamming as we prep materials for our engaging lessons. But you know what? I love it! I enjoy the commotion going on around my classroom because it gives me an opportunity to create that safe space for students to anchor themselves.

Here are some highlights for the beginning of the school year (or start of semester).

1. Names: Knowing a student’s name is so important to helping them feel welcome. I let students know early that it will take me a bit to remember names, but that I try to do it quickly. I ask for grace as there are four groups (classes) of names for high school teachers to remember. I have often used a student’s last name with a title if I can’t remember their first name. It shows you are putting in an effort to know them.
2. Likes/dislikes: Like adults, students show what they are interested in by their clothes, their choice in binders, water bottles, and accessories. I take note and ask questions if I am not familiar with something. I also ask questions and open spaces for students to share what they are interested in. A wonderful part about this is it doesn’t have to connect to something we are learning, it creates a space where students can take a breath and share what brings them joy.
3. Build in breaks! Many students have had a summer during which they have not been in a structured learning program like school. Perhaps they spent the summer working, or they went to camp, went on a trip with their family, but they likely had a different schedule and had more moving around. I am being intentional in giving time for students to switch gears a bit and yes, have fun. This doesn’t have to be seen as or be wasted time. I am focusing on having students do bilateral brain activities which encourge both hemispheres of the brain to be used simultaneously. It has been interesting because some of the activities students think are really easy, but when they do them…it become clear that it takes more thought and perseverence than first anticipated.
4. WOW! Ways of Working. I love this and while it has many names, like class agreements, I like using WOW. This takes so little time to do and yet it has a big impact on the direction of the class for the year/semester. To start I give each student a Post-it note and ask them to write some of their values. I’m a huge believer in explaining words a) so everyone knows what they mean, and b) so no one feel excluded or embarrassed because they don’t know what a word means. Students are asked to put the notes on the board and then I read them to the class. We discuss which values apply to our class community. It is a great way for students to hear from peers what is important to them. From there I ask students what visitors would see if we are living out the values on the board. Students say things like: “no one is laughed at because the say the wrong thing or don’t know something”, “we listen to the teacher and our peers”, “we will share opinions and ideas respectfully”. One I like to add is “we will expect the best intentions of others”. By this I mean, if a comment could be taken as a compliment or put down we will automatically take it as a compliment. Students always have the option of asking for clarification. Next step is to write it up! This is usually a paragraph and no more than two. Either students write it as a community or you write it, but the whole class votes as to whether this is a good standard for us all to work on during our time together as a learning community. Students by in. Conversations are civil. Students improve thier conversation skills and the teacher has fewer behavioural issues to deal with. In fact, when something does come up, I refer students to the WOW poster in the class. There are far fewer instances when admin or parents need to be involved.
5. Introducing yourself to parents. At my school we are required to email all the parents in our classe(s) to let them know who we are and where the class learning will take us (topics/units). This is a great place to attach the WOW – Ways of Working you’ve set up with the class to let parents know what the expectations in class are. This is especially helpful should there be behaviour issues needing to be addressed because then students and parents will understand where we started as a class.

Moving forward I am already thinking about report cards and adding comments to the document I have for report card comments. I start making comments now because now I know the students, and I can start draft comments that will only need to be updated when I am able to input comments into report cards. It makes the process easier.

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In my 19 years of teaching Core French I have been asked, a lot, “Can we play a game?!” and over the years my views on playing games has morphed. It likely will continue to change as I learn and grow as a teacher; here’s where I currently sit: games are ok in a classroom.

Every class is different and what worked one year of my teaching may not work for another but this year I have invested heavily in games in my language classrooms. Part of this change is that I am noticing more and more than grade 9 students in particular are struggling to learn and retain language skills in general and specifically until grade 10. This is influenced in part by the fact that grade 9 French in the school I teach at is only a term – elective course lasting 11 weeks (as few as 40 class sessions). Games is one way I have been intentional in helping my students get the most out of these 40 class sessions. Here are the common games used in my classroom.

As explained in our podcast, Oui French Teachers (available on Apple and Spotify), I’ve put time and money into games. The most expensive game I made – and honestly the most fun, is Scrabble. Granted I didn’t make up the game, but I did make the physical game used in my class. I printed large squares, I laminated the squares, I bought and stuck on magnets to make them easy to use on the white board, and it managed to draw only some students in as a ‘fun’ learning option.

I don’t like calling worksheets games, but there are some students who just like them and so I make them available.

While not widely used in my classroom, sometimes the students really want to play Kahoot or Blooket. I find this is more a moral booster than an actual review tool.

Stations is a game that encourages collaboration and team work. I find this ties in nicely with the Ways of Working or Classroom Agreements I make with students at the beginning of a semester. In this document we discuss what are values are as language learners, what we need to feel safe in our learning community, and what that would look like in real time. Students then take the understanding of what and inclusive and nurturing learning community looks like and bring that into their group tasks in the stations. Each station has a different task: writing a paragraph using varied vocabulary or verb tenses, identifying when and how a verb tense is used and writing sample sentences, identifying correct and incorrect (and making the corrections) sentences, sorting sentences that are in specific verb tenses. Stations is relatively easy to produce with a bit of time. I currently have two sets of stations and plan to add to them to include language skills for all grade levels I teach (grades 9-12)

Duolingo and Kwiziq are two online learning platforms I give students the option of using. I personally am not a fan of Duolingo, but I do like Kwiziq and use some of their material as pronunciation assignments.

We also play ‘Go Fish’ and counting games with decks of cards. This especially helps with learning numbers, helps students learn the vocabulary used in math and can solidify math computation skills. I bought the 8 packs of cards for my classroom from a dollar store. I have made instruction sheets for the various games the students play. They have been printed, in colour on card stock and laminated for durability.

Finally, the game I jumped in with two feet this year is Dobble, or Spot It. I first encountered this game while in Normandy, France. I was asked to join friends in a game. None of these friends spoke English and I had to learn vocabulary fast, ‘sur le pouce’ as they say. The goal of the game is to find a similar image on your card as is on the face up card.

To help students broaden their vocabulary ‘sur le pouce’ I created legends which have each image and what they are in French. I included an indefinite article for each image and name so as to help students remember the gender of each image. These legends were photocopied in black and white onto card stock and then laminated for durability. Initially I purchased Dobble (the packaging was all in French) and the first Spot It game from Amazon and they were between $12 – $15 dollars. I found other Spot It options on Temu for about $8 a game.

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Most experienced teachers, and a lot of research, will tell you that students who feel they are part of a community learn better. In fact, students who feel they are free to be themselves and that they have somthing to contribute, where they opinions are valued and welcomed, feel more comfortable taking learning risks.

Setting up a sense of community has some similar components regardless of the grade, as well as have some specifics depending on the grade. As a high school teacher, I have experienced classes made more rich for having set community expectations or ways of working (WOW). The way I do this is step one: I have students in small groups discuss and answer some questions: What do you need to feel safe in this classroom? What does a safe classroom look like/what would you see in a safe classroom? What are your values?

Step two: From these three questions students suddenly feel seen and heard, they have a say in what goes into our WOW document because then I ask students to write on the board the answers to the questions. As a whole class we discuss what is on the board, we give explanations for ideas or words we don’t fully understand, we agree or disagree. When there are no more questions or items to be added. Step three: I take the information from the board and write a WOW statement.

Step four: I show the class the statement I wrote based on their input. Students in their table groups edit it if they feel it needs it. This is the final step so we take time to make sure it sounds like something each student can work with. The next day we start class reading the WOW statement and we commit to working with this the whole semester. I refer to the statement often in class so students are reminded of how we agreed to work at the beginning of the semester. This was for high school but a similar, albeit possibly shortened for young ones to stay focused on.

Modelling the values students mention in the WOW starts with classroom teachers. Here are some of the ways I interact with students to make them feel at ease in my classroom. I teach French and Social Studies so there is a lot of room for students to feel out of place, unprepared, ill equipped, not smart enough. My goal is to meet them where they are, even if they should have read the chapter last night and so ‘should know’ the answer to a question.

If they don’t have the answer I ask them to share what they think they know about the question (this could also be the next sentence if we are reading aloud in French). “Give us what you’ve got” I will say. I bracket this with a comment that anything the student has will help us all to learn more about the topic or how to say something in French. This way students feel they have something valuable to contribute and it’s not all just to make an unprepared student feel better, it’s to show the student and the class that there is a kind way to walk along someone in class.

What about when students give the wrong answer? Here is a great opportunity for classroom teachers to meet a student where they are, without making them feel little, and in fact recognizing the courage it took to contribute to the class. I often will thank students for asking the question, for take the learning risk to ask it. I have seen this encourage students not just work harder, ask more questions, but ask questions and make comments that propelled learning because they knew it was safe to ask. I’ve also seen this help when students have intentionally tried to derail a class discussion or ask something inappropriate. Even in this last scenario, I thanked them for the question or comment, mentioning that may have taken courage to ask a risky question or make a risky comment. I gently correct “That’s not a term that is used today because we understand the negative connotations attached to it and the hurt it causes.”

Another tool I use for creating community and helping students to feel comfortable and encourage them to take learning risks is feedback. There will be a post in the near future will cover feedback specifics. How do I use feedback and does it take a long time? Legit questions because when you have 120 students a day, it takes a fair amount of time to give the sort of feedback that creates community…fiction! You certainly can give encouragement and let students know the areas of growth they can work on in a few sentences but still be meaningful and authentic. Focus on parts of the assignment (formative or summative) not on the teacher (“I like that you included symbols”. Be specific, make sure the student knows what you mean with your comment – “This assignment highlighted the correct use of conjunctions” and not ambiguous comments like “Great job!”

Oui French Teachers has added another level to the service it provides…we’ve started a podcast, or un balado as they say in French. As always the purpose is to provide pertinent and helpful information particularly to French teachers living in Engliah majority areas. We will have guests, we will share information and free resources, and we will have open mic and interviews all with the hopes of building a community of French teachers and providing rich learning experiences for our students!

Future topics we are working on include la rentrée (back to school), les bulletins de notes (report cards), des scéances avec des parents (parent-teacher meetings), collecting information, procedures and routines. We welcome feedback and questions as well as suggestions for topics to research and cover.

The show can be found on Apple and Spotify, just click the links!

Knowing as a teacher what goes into planning each lesson and unit and as a coach knowing the benefits of having another set of eyes on the mechanics of what happens in the classroom, I have become a certified organizational coach through the University of British Columbia.

In my teaching position this year, I have also become an instructional coach where I blend my experience of being in the classroom for 18 years with my knowledge and experience of being a personal coach.

A tenet of my coaching practice is to meet people where they are, no matter where that is, without judgement. As an instructional coach this same principle holds true. Each teacher has their distinct flare and approach to teaching and as a coach my goal is never to bend someone to how I do things in my classroom. The focus, always, is helping the teacher in an area they identify, and providing the best learning environment and practices for students.

After a teacher has identified an area to focus on, there is observation and communication between the teacher and the coach. A dialogue of generative questions and teacher reflection follow as the teacher explores where they would like to see changes that are meaningful and sustainable. As an instructional coach I may make suggestions, but this happens only if and when the teacher indicates they would like suggestions. These suggestions, made with the teacher’s intentions in mind, are made without attachment, meaning if the teacher declines the suggestion, there are no hard feelings or resentment from the instructional coach.

Staying up-to-date. As a way of staying up-to-date with instructional coaching trends and topics, considerable research and reading is conducted regularly. From April 8 – 12, 2024, I will be attending a week-long intensive conference of the Instructional Coaching Institute in Lawrence, Kansas. I look forward to networking with other instructional coaches, learning with other instructional coaches, and sharing this knowledge on this site.

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As a French teacher in a majority-English region of Canada it is often very difficult to find opportunities to practice and learn French. I have managed to visit Quebec City to participate in a teacher bursary program through the University of British Columbia (UBC), and I have studied in Montréal as part of an M.Ed. program of UBC. I have also found opportunities to volunteer at a guest house in Normandy, France. Each of these trips have provided me with both formal and informal practice of my French.

Beyond the spontaneous use of French, they afford me opportunities to ask questions about culture and daily practices. In Québec, I have been able to as French Canadians how they feel living in a bilingual country like Canada, do they see Canada through this lens, or do the efforts to preserve language and culture change how they view Canada. I have found that Québécois and Québécoises are often surprised that an Anglophone from Western Canada is curious about such things and wanting to learn more. I value their answers to my questions and the extras they provide me with.

In France, I am often asked about stereotypes of Canadians. I enjoy sharing what British Columbia is like, how I live and the differences I notice between British Columbia and Normandy. Here is where I see the more noticeable cultural differences. From la bise to drinking morning coffee from a bowl, and hugs to coffee mugs there is an energy in the conversations. As well, new friends are made. Through these connections, and with the bonus that Zoom provides, my classes can have virtual conversations with native French speakers during the school year.

I am always looking for other French teachers with whom to connect. I have been able to connect with French teachers through Facebook pages and have been able to have flip grid video exchanges, I’ve connected with French speaking businesses and had interviews via Zoom with my classes. The sky is the limit if you are able to put the time in to find resources.

I’m happy to help with ideas and /or make connections for my classes with other classes. Reach out. Let’s make some plans!

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It’s the end of another school year and this is the time when I need to be focused, take down the bulletin boards, pack up my desk, and clear out. It is also when I find I have the most creative ideas that I want to implement next school year! It’s time to leave for vacation and I’m already thinking of my classes in the fall.

One area I am looking to broaden and improve in is making learning fun. I don’t just mean all games all the time, but rather allowing students to be students who experience and find joy while they learn. Teaching a language is not just learning verbs and vocabulary, it’s enjoying the interactions with the language, becoming familiar with it and using it!

On this note, I have created scrabble tiles for French. The ’tiles’ have a letter and the value of that letter – just like the game scrabble, and the letters in French with accents. For these I simply assigned them a value. The idea here is to print them off on cardstock, cut them out and laminate them, and then put a flat magnet on the back. My goal is to have a variety of stations that have games and activities students can use to practice grammar and vocabulary without having to sit in a desk writing words out like lines in detention.

Another game idea I had as I was updating my materials, is the game Go Fish or Faire de la pêche, in this case I made the cards to help students with school related vocabulary. Again, the plan is to print them on cardstock and to have them laminated. I have a dedicated shelf in the classroom with games and I will add the scrabble and the Faire de la pêche to that area. I also plan to be intentional about dedicating time each week so that students can play games. One I thought I had was that I could use this time to check in with students and go over materials they missed or that they are struggling with. I want to be careful however that I am not singling out anyone, or that any one student consistently misses out on the opportunity to play and learn.

Wherever you are going this summer, whatever you find yourself doing, relax and enjoy some down time. If you’re anything like me I know you will still be wearing your teacher hat, constantly on the look out for that next thing that will bring your lessons to life! Passez un bon été! À plus!

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Do you follow teachers on social media? This can be a phenomenal way to glean from others’ experiences, learn about resources online or resources teachers have created and are sharing for free, or line up exchanges with teachers and their classes in other areas!

I have personally picked up practices that I have implemented into my classrooms that have been game changing. From ways to organize, better flow systems, how to help students with transitions, how to better support students in general. There has been so much. I have also widened my network of teachers who are in this career, who are meeting challenges in creative, and often entertaining ways, who are finding ways to create community among their students and with their social media audience, and who are willing to partner with my classes on projects.

As a French teacher this opens the door to one of my favourite teaching topics – culture in the classroom. By this I mean beyond the Eiffel Tower, baguettes, and berets, but really learning about the culture and customs of a people. Students’ interest is activated, their engagement is heightened, and their experience in the classroom more authentic.

On TikTok there is #teachersoftiktok and #frenchteachersoftiktok. Ouifrencheachers is on both TikTok and Instagram – click the links below. I teach Core French for grades 9-12 and I’m always interested in collaborations and partnering with teachers from anywhere.

• TikTok

• Instagram

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OuiFrenchTeachers is happy to partner with Pacific Coaching to support teachers in their practice.

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