First Day of School Lesson Plan Activities for World Language Teachers
Back to School World Language French, Spanish, Italian Ideas
Need some novel ideas to freshen up your first day of school lesson plans in your French, Spanish, or Italian classes? In this post, I’m going to walk you through what the first day of my French class looks like. I have two guiding principles when I write lesson plans for the first day:
Overplan, but realistically expect to not get to everything. I plan for 7-8 activities with the expectation that I will most likely only get to half of them! It’s important to be over-prepared on the first day for a few different reasons. First, you most likely don’t know your students and class composition, so you have no way of knowing how long any given activity might take and whether students will be enthusiastic or reluctant to participate. Second, you want to avoid finishing early on the first day. You do not want to send the message that it is normal for class to end early and for students to be able to “hang out” for the last part of the period. Anticipate having students be engaged from bell to bell, and avoid the potential of running out of activities and having students awkwardly sitting around for 5-10 minutes or more.
We don’t talk about the syllabus. On the first day of school, students are not in the proper headspace to be listening to you drone on about your course expectations. Flip the syllabus: give it to them at the end of class before they leave, and have them read it over (and share with their parents) as the first homework assignment of the school year. Then, you can talk about it the following class (or a few classes later, if appropriate!).
Personally, I break my syllabus down into three sections and talk about one section per class for the following few classes. This allows students to digest it better over a period of time, and also it reduces the likelihood that they’ll have heard half of their teachers giving lectures about classroom procedures the whole day.
Activity #1: Name Tags, Mini Questionnaire, and Interests Survey
On the first day, I greet students at the door and direct them to find their seats and begin working on the do-now projected on the board. (Before class, I print their names on tiny index cards, which I place alphabetically on the desks to create my initial seating chart.) Students are to create a name tag using a piece of construction paper and marker. This really helps me learn their preferred names during the first few weeks of school. At the end of the period, I collect their name tags and store them in my room. At the start of the next period, I have a volunteer distribute them.
Next, students begin jotting down some brief answers to the prompts provided on the Mini Questionnaire on their desk. These prompts help break the ice during the first few minutes of class. You can either do a whole-group share out or have students work in pairs or small groups and share some of their answers.
Afterwards, students complete their Student Interests Survey, which I collect and peruse over the next few weeks so that I get to learn a bit more about them. The interests survey helps me to tailor lessons to the interests of my students.
Interested in either the Mini-Questionnaire or the Student Interests Survey? Check them out here: French Class Icebreakers Spanish Class Icebreakers Italian Class Icebreakers
Activity #2: Cultural Scavenger Hunt
I often do a quick 10-15 minute comprehensible input-oriented activity so that students get the sense that they will be listening to and understanding written and spoken messages in the target language as a primary feature of instruction in my course, but I do also like to have students take part in an exciting and collaborative cultural scavenger hunt. Each student is given a random cultural fact, and they must walk around the room and exchange facts with their classmates. This activity is super effective on the first day of school because it hits a few major objectives: communication, culture, and connections. Many students can be a bit shy or reluctant on the first day, and others are bursting with energy—this activity ensures that there is community-building in your room while students get an opportunity to explore interesting facts about the target culture(s) they will be studying.
Interested in checking out these Cultural Scavenger Hunt Activities? Take a look by clicking on the links below:
Activity #3: Post-It Poster Activity
One of my primary goals during the first few days of class is to get students to start thinking reflectively about their goals and objectives for learning the target language. If students do not intentionally set goals for their language learning endeavors at the beginning of the school year, they are much more likely to sort of coast through the year on autopilot, perhaps not truly understanding why they’re learning the language skills that they’re learning, or perhaps not truly appreciating how course content fits into the broader scope of their language learning journey.
In this Post-It Poster Activity, I hang up Post-It Poster Pad Paper around my classroom with various prompts, such as:
My goals for learning French this year are…
Why is it important to learn another language?
What will I need to do to be successful in Spanish class this year?
Working with partners, students rotate from poster to poster, read the prompt, discuss briefly, and jot down a couple ideas on a colored post-it note that they then stick to the poster pad paper. At the end, we sort of come back together as a whole class and debrief, making sure to bring to the surface some of the most salient points from their discussions.
Interested in either the Post-It Poster Activity? Check it out here: French Class Icebreakers Spanish Class Icebreakers Italian Class Icebreakers
Activity #4: A funny, yet relevant video
I always end class with this hilarious video of Joey from Friends trying to learn French (and struggling quite significantly!). The students always get a kick out of this video—as it’s super entertaining—but it’s also a great jumping off point for some serious discussion about the challenges and triumphs of language learning. Take a few minutes to watch the video below, and then I’m going to share with you the reflection and discussion questions that I use with my students after we’ve watched the video together.
Joey Tries to Learn French - Discussion Questions
In what ways did Joey seem to be struggling with French? Have you ever experienced similar struggles when learning a new skill?
Did you notice any positive aspects to Joey’s attempts at learning French? What did he do well?
What could Joey have done to be a more conscientious language learner?
If you were Joey, how would you approach learning French differently?
What could Phoebe have done to be a more effective teacher?
In what ways could Joey use his French knowledge to serve him in other areas of his life?
I’m sure a similar sort of video is available in Spanish and Italian — but I’d say that if you are a Spanish or Italian teacher, you could also show this video and sort of emphasize to students that yes, in the video Joey is learning French, but he could have also been learning Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Hindi…any language, really, and experience similar struggles!
I hope you’ve found these ideas to be helpful, and I hope that there’s something you’ll be able to take with you as you begin planning for your first day back to school. Remember, the first day of school is super important for students because it sets the tone for the rest of the year. Therefore, your activities need to be super engaging while still checking off important boxes in effective World Language pedagogy. As always, if there’s anything in particular that I could help you with, feel free to contact me or leave a comment below!
Wishing you the best start to the school year,
~ Michael
