It’s hard to teach beginning French students!  They need so much structured practice in order to master those basic skills. Speaking doesn’t come naturally for them, spelling is not easy, and they often freak out if you try to speak too much French from the start. Whether you’re a veteran teacher, a new teacher, or somewhere in between, you need to have a ton of supplementary materials to reach all your learning styles. These French 1 resources are engaging and effective, plus they save so much time planning that you can enjoy what you’re teaching!

Here are some of my favorite French 1 resources:

1.  School supplies 

You need to get your students speaking and listening right away, and a logical place to start is with school supplies. They will use that vocabulary every day they are in your French class, so start with the basics! The speaking activities are geared towards the newest beginners, making the activities really accessible for hesitant speakers.

2. Adjectives

This bundle is HUGE! I mean it! It has over 500 pages of resources for teaching adjectives. There are games, speaking activities, projects, an adjective dictionary, plus a printable packet and accompanying PowerPoint show that are available in English or, if you want to use it with more proficient students, there is an all-French version of the packet AND the PowerPoint! Also includes a packet of speaking and writing activities for comparative and superlative adjectives. Take a peek here:

3.  Scoot games and task cards

These are by far my favorite games to play, because students NEED to move! It helps them concentrate, it keeps them from getting bored, and did you know that movement helps them learn? So, it’s not just for fun, it is effective! (But it is fun, too). Here’s a peek at my avoir/être Scoot game:

You can get all the French 1 scoot games here.

4. Weather 

Again, this is something you can teach early and use over and over in your class. From colors to clothing to seasonal topics, the weather terms come back over and over.

5. Projects

I’m not crazy about tests. It bores me to sit in a quiet room all day. To be honest, it kind of weirds me out. However, watching student presentations (that I can grade on the spot) or admiring my students’ projects makes me smile. Plus, real-life learning helps students retain that information so much better, it’s more fun for them, and students will get sentimemental when they remember fun projects they did in your class. Can you say that for a test?

Read this to find out more about using projects in your French class.

6. Speaking cards

Students need to speak. They did not take French class to spell verbs on paper. They just didn’t. Hesitant speakers need structured activities like the ones found in these speaking cards. Students will thrive with the chance to move, and even your shy speakers will enjoy speaking when the activities are not intimidating. Here’s a peek at some cards for practicing -ir and -re verbs.

7. Reading comprehension

Students need to be able to read texts containing words they don’t know, but they need those texts to be accessible. My reading comprehension packets contain 10 reading passages each, and each reading passage has 3 differentiated levels of questions, making it a friendly resource for struggling learners and the most-advanced beginners.

8. Food

We all love to eat, right? The food unit is always my favorite, and the kids love learning food vocabulary. It’s even more fun if you have a food tasting day. 🙂

Want to have a year’s worth of French 1 resources with updates?

You can get all of these French 1 resources in one huge bundle! That’s right, get all of these and many more. In fact, an entire year’s worth! I add to it a few times a month, and I will until it is complete. Right now, there are over 4300 pages of activities for French 1!

Once it’s done, it will be complete curriculum with a pacing guide and all the French 1 resources needed to teach that curriculum. It will be a great stand-alone resource or as a really useful supplement to an existing curriculum.

So, what do teachers have to say about this French 1 resoure and the individual bundles you’ll find in this year-long resource? Here are some teacher comments:

“I cannot express how much I love these resources! I’ve just gone back to teaching after staying home for 15 years. These are such a huge help! Merci beaucoup!!!”

“I have bought several of Mme R’s resources before and I find them very helpful. I have been teaching French for many years, but I can really use some new strategies for working with vocabulary retention and I know that these will help. Merci!!!”

“As a beginning French teacher, this is incredible. I cannot tell you how much stress this has lifted from me!!! Merci merci!!”

“Can’t say enough how much I appreciate your resources. Hope to see a huge French 2 bundle in the not too distant future!”

“This is an excellent bundle of projects… I particularly like how easily I can adapt my own scores to the included rubrics and project descriptions.”

“Love ALL your verb resources! Great no prep lessons for immersion and core. Merci beaucoup!!”

“What a great bundle!!! I am ALWAYS looking for ways to incorporate reading starting in 6th grade. I love how there are three different versions because I can differentiate for kids who are struggling. Please continue to make more of these!!”

“Another great grammar acquisition resource. I love the variety of activities and how they support language acquisition. It is a great way to incorporate grammar instruction in an immersion setting.”

Find the French 1 bundle here.

In this French1 resource bundle, you’ll find :

Grammar and vocabulary packets
Speaking activities and assessments
Reading comprehension activities
Guided paragraphs
Writing rubrics
Board games
Bingo games
Scoot games
Task cards
Digital task cards from Boom Learning℠
Projects
Presentations
Word Walls
Quizzes
Exit tickets
Posters