Summer is here (or close to it!) and that can mean the dreaded summer slide for our students. For our French students, it’s really important that they find ways to practice in the summer, but that can be a little more challenging! They might not have anyone to speak French with at home, and access to French books isn’t always possible (and they might not even be ready to read books!)
Here are a few ways to prevent the summer slide in your French classroom.
1. Give students a packet of worksheets to keep them practicing over the summer.
This can be something you put together to reinforce the concepts you taught that year. For my French 1 students, I typically would put a few pages of verbs (ER, IR, RE, + the most common irregulars), some adjective practice, and a few vocabulary review pages from some of our units.
Find ready-to-go French worksheets here at my TpT store.
When I taught FSL, I taught the same students year after year, so it was easy to offer an incentive such as a free homework pass for completing a certain number of pages. It was a win-win situation, because they could opt out of some review activities if they wanted, and I got them practicing at home, helping fight the summer slide!
To avoid making a bunch of packets they won’t do, make this optional, and ask kids in advance if they’d be interested. I usually made a few extras just in case.
If you don’t teach the same students year to year, try teaming up with the other French teachers to see if they’d be interested in participating. They might say no, but it never hurts to ask!
Find these French ER verb worksheets here at my TpT store.
2. Have them listen to music.
A fun and easy way to fight the summer slide is with music! This one is super-easy and you don’t have to offer an incentive, and I’ve never had a class that didn’t love French music. Just make a playlist on your favorite streaming service or share one that’s already made. The Manie Musicale playlist is a great place to start!
Looking for more French songs? Check out this list of French songs that I love for secondary French classes!
The Francolab Junior site is amazing! It has a variety of different series for beginning French students, and they’ll be able to review common vocabulary themes with videos made just for their level to help them stop the summer slide and retain all that vocabulary they worked so hard all year to learn! La Francomobile has great French vocabulary themes for a French 1 class to review!
4. Practice reading skills with differentiated French reading comprehension.
You don’t have to just send verb and grammar practice home to prevent the summer slide! Ready-to-go reading activities made just for French students is also a really good way to keep them practicing. These differentiated French reading activities will allow you to choose the difficulty, but you can also copy a few activities back to back and let the students choose!
Find all my French reading comprehension activities here at my TpT store.
5. Have them email you to practice French writing skills.
Ask them to send you a short email over the summer telling you a little about their summer plans, vacation, or their summer job. It’s a quick way to get them writing, and it helps them build important skills they’ll need in the future, too! Not only are you fighting the summer slide, but you’ll be helping them practice writing professional and respectful emails. They will use this skill for the rest of their lives!
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