Need French speaking activities? I’ve got you covered! Whether you are teaching beginning French, French immersion, or even if you’ve got advanced French classes, I’ve got French speaking activities that will get your students speaking French and save you so much prep time!
I began teaching French over 20 years ago, and the first thing I realized was that I had NO good teaching materials to get students speaking French in class. Good oral communication skills are so important in the world language classroom, but it’s not always easy to get students to talk.
Some of my students were shy, some didn’t want to mess up, and some just didn’t have the proficiency to perform at the level of course they were in. However, all of them wanted to be able to speak much more than they cared about conjugating verbs!
In the past 20 years, I’ve taught FSL and immersion. Over the years, I’ve taught grades 4-12, so I’ve made resources that were really fun for my 9 year-olds and others that were really effective and fun for my 18 year-olds.
Here are some of my favorite French speaking activities!
French Speaking Cards
These are so much fun, because you can grab a few each day for a quick Q and A or use one of the structured French speaking activities explained in the packs for a fun new way to get students speaking French.
This French speaking activity for clothing vocabulary is a really fun way to get students talking about all things related to clothing. Teachers love them because they’re a major time-saver! Just grab a few when you have a few extra minutes or use one of the structured French speaking activities included in the resource.
Here’s my favorite way to use these:
1. Print and cut out the questions, and give each student a question that they will ask to the class.
2. If space allows, have the students form two circles. The inside circle should face the outside circle and each student should have a partner. If you have an odd number of students, just rotate a student in after each round. If you don’t have space (I never do!) just have them make two lines facing each other.
3. Pick a side/circle to start asking the questions. All students should respond as thoroughly as they can, and always in complete sentences!
4. Switch sides.
5. Rotate one student to the left or right. Only one circle or line will move during this activity.
6. When finished, collect all questions, then ask the class to give sample answers.
Even the less talkative students will benefit from this, because they won’t be singled out to talk in front of the whole class. 🙂
Find all my French speaking cards here.
J’ai … qui a…
This game is a favorite in French class because it’s a quick and easy way to get students asking and answering basic questions in French, so they’re reviewing vocabulary and practicing listening skills at the same time! This camping-themed game is a fun addition to your J’ai… qui a … sets.
The object of the game is to go full circle with all of the cards. The player with “J’ai la première carte” starts and the game ends with “Qui a la première carte ?” You’ll get 30 cards so you can easily play this with big classes. If you have more than 30 students, simply pair a few students up, and if you have less than 30 students, give some students two cards.
Find all my French J’ai…qui a … games here.
French Find Someone Who
I love these survey-style activities for beginners, because they are great at getting students to answer using complete sentences. Because they are practicing with very specific structures, even intermediate students can benefit from these activities when reviewing structures like the imparfait or the futur simple.
This French Find Someone Who activity is my go-to when teaching French ER verbs, because it really helps students master the basics of yes/no questions. Because they need to answer in the negative form at times, it’s a great way to practice French negation, too!
Find all my French find someone who activities here.
French Board Games
These aren’t exactly speaking activities where students are conversing, but they are created to be done orally. I love these, because students have a lot of freedom when choosing their answers. It’s really easy to create differentiated French activities, because you can require students to provide a one or two word answer, respond in complete sentences, or even incorporate specific words from a French vocabulary list.
When my students are learning a new set of verbs or French verb tense, I love using board games like this passé composé game as a way for them to practice with the language in small groups. They have the freedom to create original sentences, and because they get to play with a group, it’s a fun way to get those new words down!
When we’re working on adjective agreement, I love playing board games like this French adjectives game. You can have students just give the correct adjective, but it’s really easy to make it more challenging by having them use complete sentences.
