CEFR Activity Centres: The Details

I blogged before about the CEFR learning Centres that I use in my classes for students to get some extra Oral Communication practice. And that post was okay, but It didn't get to the details about how I went about taking a free resource available online, and turned it into independent activities for my students.

So, now I'm going to fix that situation; I'm going to show you how I made the centres I use in my classes; where I got the resource from; and how I got my students to use them independently.

Step 1: Download the resource- The CEFR in the Context of Ontario's Schools

This PDF is the bulk of the work for my centres.  A super-talented groups of teachers compiled the research and the activities for this toolkit.  And its free!  This is where I got the activities and images from.  It is mostly all set up here.  You have to print the entire kit which is about 85 pages (and I did it in colour) to get all the pieces for the centres.  The front material is also really helpful in explaining how to use this resource effectively, as well as some of the theory and philosophy of the CEFR.  If you don't have this, you SHOULD!  I have it in a binder AND printed out into centres.  I use it a lot.  Download it, you won't be sorry.

Step 2: Laminate and collect the activity centre components

Making the centres so that they will survive a busy French class is a bit labour intensive.  I laminate some of the pages so that I don't have to make the centres over and over.  I haven't had to remake it in 3 years, so this little bit of prevention will save your resource.  Here is a list of the pages that I printed in color and laminated.  (I bought a mini laminator at Wal-Mart for about $20 and just did it myself.  It has saved me tons of money on lamination over the years.)

Activity pages to print in colour and laminate: 17-20; 22-23; 25-29; 31-39; 41 (just laminate); 43; 44-51 (laminate only, its in B&W); 53; 55; 57; 61 (laminate only); 64-67; 68 (laminate only); 70-72; 74; 76; 78-79; 80; 83-84.

Some of the pages are in black and white, so they don't need to be printed in colour, just laminated.  Once they are laminated, then I cut the activities into cards and pieces according to the activity.  There are 17 activities (I think) so there are enough for students to pair up and complete the activities in a class.  I like to laminate the activities so that a) I don't kill a small forest in photocopies for each student that wants to do the activity and b) so that students can reuse all the centres year after year.

Step 3: Compile the activities

I was storing the activities in plastic page protectors, but they were too flimsy.  So I bought some plastic file folders at the dollar store and now I use those.

Some activities will need extra tools.  I added thin dry erase markers for any of the writing activities so students can write on the laminated sheet, and erase it for the next person.

Also included in the centres are the instruction/ conference pages (for example page 24) for the students to consult.  I have my students role play as the interviewer/ interviewee.  Each students has to take turns as each role.  They follow the script on the sheet, and peer assess each others' progress, as well as an "I can" card (for example page 14 of the resource) so students knew what their learning goal was for each centre.  There are blank "I can" cards in the kit, I made French versions for my upper year grades to refer to.

Once all the cards, tools (markers etc.); instructions and "I can" cards are in the centre, its ready to use.  You could make cover pages for the centre like I did, but its not necessary.

(For the cover pages, I found a corresponding picture online, added the title, and stuck the instructions to the back.  I can't share them because I don't have rights to the pictures, but they are quick to make up if you want.)

Step 4: Using the Centres

In class, a few times a month we have learning centre time.  I stored them in 2 bins, and students choose a partner and a centre and get to work.  There is a sign-out book for the centres, and I have students let me know who has which kit.  This helps me keep track of the pieces too.

For student use, I made a simple checklist based on page 13 of the resource for each of the students' books for them to chart their progress through the centres.  It is also a way for me to note their assessments of each other.

While students are completing the centres, I walk around and assess their abilities and work with my strugglers.  It runs pretty smoothly.  Student know that when we have our conferences (3 a term) that I can pull out one of the centres as a warm up for our conference.  So they know they will have to do 3 centres for me.  They never know which one I will choose, so they have to get through all of them!  Usually I choose the centre they have practiced the most-- je ne suis pas un monstre.

Additional centres

I have added a couple of centres that are not included in the toolkit, but that are components of the CEFR.  Once was a card/ note writing activity.  I bought a few French greeting cards and laminated them.  Students used an erasable marker to write a quick message on the card and their partner would time and check for errors.  I did a similar centre, only using a postcard from a french speaking country, with the same idea.  You can come up with centres depending on the focus of your lessons.  I have a few I'm thinking of adding this summer.  When I make them, I will share.

So I hope this helps clarify how I made and use my learning centres in my Core FSL classes.  It seems like a bit of prep work, but it was worth it in the end.  My students were engaged in their activities, and they were speaking French with each other.  It is a great resource!  

I wrote a resource! La Francophonie: Haïti

It has been a while since I posted anything of substance on this blog.  Désolée! I have been really busy.  I know, I know... Everyone is busy... but I have been too.  One project that I was working on, and have since finished and now I can share, is that I wrote a resource, La Francophonie: Haiti (ISBN: 9781554099504)

The lovely people at Tralco-Lingo Fun asked me if I would create a resource about Haïti because information for FSL teachers and students was lacking.  Since my new focus/ obsession is Interculturalism in Core FSL, I jumped at the chance.

I have had a love of the country of Haiti for a while.  I find its history fascinating, and its people amazing and resilient.  So, naturally, this resource definitely comes from that perspective.  The resource is full of activities that I have done with my grade 7 and 8 classes, and touches on the theory of interculturalism; the history of Haiti and the culture, with numerous activities to get your students thinking and speaking!

Here's the description from the Tralco website:

"A chance to learn about something new: a history and culture that most students have not been exposed to in their classes! Haiti. The author has used these activities in her classes. 

Students will glimpse into Haitian culture and make connections to their own culture. Teachers are provided with the necessary background knowledge while student activities provide opportunities to explore this culturally rich former French colony. The activities touch on all four strands of French language learning (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing).  

The complex history of Haiti unfolds and includes Haiti from being a slave colony of France to a free state, all in a student-friendly way. Using Google Earth, students will also explore Haiti's geography. They will then delve into into the particulars of the Haitian language, fun folklore, lively music and food with optional hands-on activities. 
A reading activity to exercise critical-thinking will get students thinking: Why is Haiti a poor country? To answer this question, students will have to draw on the knowledge they gained learning about Haiti’s history. There are also lists of resources (websites and online videos) for teacher info to enhance lessons as well as providing opportunities for social justice learning."

If you want to check it out, you can visit the Tralco-Lingo website at www.tralco.com and look at some sample pages.  I could add a sample here.  Would that be helpful? I would love to know what you think!  

Oral Communication Activity: Les montres

Its tricky finding ways to get early Core FSL students (Grades 4 and 5 in this case) to speak to each other in French.  That's why sometimes I get students to make props to facilitate those conversations.

One of the lessons we were working on was telling time in French.  We did a few lessons learning about the clock and how to tell time from both analog and digital faces.  Then to practice, we did this activity I call for students to have authentic conversations in French.


For the first part of the activity, I had students make a faux-lex watch (a joke they found very hilarious. Every old can be new again...) Each student got half of this page; they coloured and decorated it, and wrote a time on the face.  Then they cut it out and voilà!... a fake watch to use.

Then students walked around the room asking each other the time.  A conversation went like this: "Bonjour (nom)!  Quelle heure est-il?"  "Il est six heures"  [The student writes down the time on their tracking sheet] "Merci beaucoup! Au revoir!"  And the student found another person to talk to until their page was complete.

And that's the activity!  Students really enjoyed making their watches, and talking to each other.  They were really proud that they could have a conversation in French.


Here is what the worksheet looked like:

Want to try it in your class?

If you are interested in downloading a PDF to use in your class, you can find the worksheet here

...and the watch reproducible here.

How do you get students to practice telling time in your class?  What activities have worked for your students?