Need a fun way to help your French students retain information and review their concepts? Have you tried task cards? You can use them at learning centers in your French classroom, give them to fast finishers, or play a game of Scoot!
Scoot is a really fun game that has been a long-time favorite in my class, because it helps my students really get the concepts and they get to move around a lot. Movement is really helpful for helping students retain information, and providing movement is a great way to get those wiggly students to focus and work more quickly. Trust me on this one … my little one has ADHD and I’ve tried everything to get him to finish his homework in a more timely manner. Moving around is the number one thing I can to do to help him stay focused. You’re sure to have kids in each class like this, but the others will also benefit!
Read: 7 Ways to incorporate movement into your classroom
So, what is Scoot? If you already use task cards, you’re already using part of the Scoot game without knowing it! Just get a set of French task cards you love, tape one card on the corner of each desk, and give each student an individual answer sheet. Students will move from desk to desk at certain intervals answering the questions on their answer sheets. I’ve always given them 30 seconds, but you might give them 1 minute if you have littler ones. When it’s time to move, you can signal this by saying “Scoot!” or if you prefer French, my teammate and I decided to use the term “Filez!” Either way, just let them know the word to listen for.
Click here to see these avoir/être cards for beginners.
To make it easier, I number the cards and then tape them on desks in numerical order so that students can easily move from one desk to another. Regardless, it’s a good idea to walk them through the order before you start moving?
Students start with the question at their desk, so if a student is at question 15, he/she would do question 15, then when it’s time to move, that student would move to question 16. If you have 20 students and use 20 cards, then the student at desk 20 would move to desk 1 for his/her next turn.
Each set of French task cards includes a lined answer sheet or this box style sheet.
When you have finished, you can check the answers together, making this a perfect review for a quiz or test. I give a prize to the students who get a perfect score (and I include a prize in all Scoot games), but your students will love it with or without prizes!
[…] Read more about these task cards here. […]