Reading Activities

When it comes to reading, nothing is more valuable than consistency. As a new teacher, I would assign and discuss the ONE cultural passage at the end of each chapter, then expect students to read a longer article for the final exam and answer comprehension question. Who was wrong there? Certainly me. How can you prepare your students with sparse readings? All the skills – especially reading – should be practiced every day.

• I require my students to read minimum 10 minutes a day for homework. I started with a reflective Google form then switched to students telling me what they read about on Flipgrid. Here are some of the links I recommend for online reading, also a fallback for when they have finished their work early in class.
  • The French Experiment – Children’s stories in French
  • Il était une histoire
  • Radio France Internationale (RFI)
  • France24
  • 1 jour 1 actu
  • I used to restrict my students to only French or Francophone literary works…and had no engagement. Once I encouraged my students to order their favorite book from Amazon in a French translation, there was actual excitement about reading in a foreign language. Twilight? Harry Potter? Sure. Students already know the storyline and this is one less hurdle in their reading journey.
• Reading jumbles: Students have a weekly reading schedule. I found that it’s the same people who understood and explained the chapters so I needed a more engaging activity. Students work in pairs to determine the correct order of events in the chapters, displaying their knowledge by properly laying out strips of paper with chapter events. An example can be found here: Le Monstre dans le Métro reading jumble (chs. 4-5)
  • LET’S EDTECH THIS!
    • Have a Smart Board? Students could work together to rearrange events and work through the chapter together.
    • Create a Google Slides presentation with various events out of order. Once students have reordered the slides…
      • Ask them to add their own slides of where they think the story will continue in the next chapter.
      • Write a discussion prompt question, allowing time for students to compose their answer with a Google Image as their only talking point. They must explain why they chose that image.
      • Encourage more than just text. Give students time to insert images, videos, etc.
• Jigsaw reading: This is most ideal for cultural passages and not story readings. Assign individuals or groups with two readings, one of them always overlapping with another person or group. Students discuss for understanding and present out to the class, verbally and/or on a chart.
  • LET’S EDTECH THIS! Take the cultural discussion from content understanding to in-depth discussion, using Padlet or Peardeck.
• Encourage a continual love for reading: When a few of us Denver area French teachers decided to observe each other, I noticed that all teachers at Colorado Academy posted a picture of the book they were currently reading and why they chose it. It is valuable for students to see life-long learning skills, even if the book of choice is an easy beach read. Reading is reading!