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:

Bellringers

You need an easy way to start your class every day. You need to take attendance, help absent students, regroup. Having an established bellwork activity can make life so much easier when it comes to classroom management. I’ve created a set of bell-ringers with 200 activities to last the entire year! With activities for verb conjugation, adjective agreement, beginner vocabulary, and writing prompts, there is so much to choose from.

2. Handy printables

While printing out packets isn’t the best or only way to get students familiar with the new vocabulary, it it extremely helpful to have handy printables for them to use as writing practice and reference for all those grammar rules. Many of my grammar and vocabulary packets have speaking activities as well, and it’s not uncommon to find exit tickets or quizzes, too. 

 

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. Puzzles

Puzzles are such a fun way to practice vocabulary. You can use them at centers, have students practice on their own, or even partner kids up using puzzles pieces. These weather puzzles are included in my weather speaking and writing packet.

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 regular -er 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.

Board games

We all love to play games, right? Students love practicing their vocabulary with their classmates with board games like this food board game. You can make it as challenging as you need to by asking students to use certain verbs, complete sentences, or even challenge them further by asking for long sentences of 10 words or more. If you want basic practice, students can just give the French word for the image shown.

9. Boom Cards

These are so fun! Boom Cards™ are a great way for students to practice on their own with their internet-capable devices. These are absolutely perfect for distance learning! I’ve got decks for verb conjugation, vocabulary practice, and even decks with audio for listening practice! These French clothing vocabulary cards have audio, so students can hear the spoken French words and choose the correct images.

 

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! Although the activities for the units are complete, I’m adding teaching ideas, assessments, and even more fun activities that I come up with. Right now, there are over 5000 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 currently has the year-long scope and sequence and the pacing guides for units 1-6.  It’s a great stand-alone resource or as a really useful supplement to an existing curriculum.

As it is a work in progress, I am always adding new resources. If you are looking for a complete French 1 resource that has engaging materials that actually work, this is it!

So, what do teachers have to say about this French 1 resource 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 French 1 resource bundle, you’ll find :

Grammar and vocabulary packets

Speaking activities and assessments

Reading comprehension activities

Digital task cards from Boom Learning℠

Boom Cards™ with audio for listening practice

Guided paragraphs

Writing rubrics

Board games

Bingo games

Scoot games

Task cards

Projects

PowerPoint Presentations

Word Walls

Quizzes

Exit tickets

Posters