Writing is an important skill for students to learn, as it helps them hone their language skills and express themselves. Writing in a foreign language can be daunting for many students, but there are ways to make it fun and engaging. Here are five tips for writing French in the classroom that will help your students practice their writing skills with enthusiasm.
- Utilize Creative Prompts – Creative prompts allow students to flex their creative muscles while still practicing French writing skills. Encourage your students by providing open-ended prompts that they can explore creatively, such as “Imagine you’re a superhero who saves the world in French,” or “Describe what you would do if you had one week in Paris.” These types of creative prompts let your students use their imagination while still practicing their writing skills in French.
- Encourage Visual Aids - As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words! Utilizing visual aids will help engage all types of learners and give them something concrete to work off of when crafting their stories. This can range from photographs to paintings or even videos; whatever visuals you choose to use should be relevant and engaging enough to get your students excited about what they’re writing about.
- Incorporate Role Playing - Role playing is a great way for students to practice all sorts of language skills, including writing! Give your students characters with backstories and ask them to write a scene where these characters interact with each other or solve a problem using only French dialogue—the possibilities are endless! This is also a great way for more advanced learners to practice expressing themselves using more complex vocabulary or sentence structures.
- Incentivize Creative Thinking – Rewarding creativity will encourage your students to go above and beyond when it comes to french writing assignments and push them further than they thought possible! Whether it’s extra credit points or verbal praise, incentivizing creative thinking will go far towards inspiring your class to create stories that demonstrate not just an understanding of the material but also imaginative story telling ability in French!
- Make Time For Discussion – Finally, don’t forget that there should always be time set aside after any written assignment for discussion! Ask questions about each student’s story and give feedback on what was done well and what could have been done differently—this allows everyone involved with the assignment to gain deeper insights into both the material covered as well as the process behind creating stories in French.
Writing can be difficult for some students when learning a new language—but it doesn't have to be boring or intimidating! With these five tips for fun french writing assignments in the classroom, you'll have your entire class excited about putting pen (or pencil!) to paper (or computer!) and expressing themselves creatively through words en français!