Simplifying World Language Sub Plans: A Guide to Streamlining for Emergencies and Illnesses
The fall and winter months inevitably bring about sickness and illness, and working with students day in and day out means we are susceptible to just about every cold and bug out there. Coupled with the high demands of our teaching load and the stress of the job, our immune systems sometimes can’t keep up, and so we get sick… at times, unexpectedly, and at times during the most inopportune points in the semester.
With substitute teacher shortages abounding and with the reality that we’ll have to create sub plans and leave activities for our students to work on during our absence, it can be so tempting to power through and show up for work when we are feeling under the weather. I, personally, have taught through migraines, allergy attacks, head colds, and a whole host of other maladies, so I know exactly how real the struggle is… but at the end of the day, we should always prioritize our own physical and mental well-being. The reality is that we are not effective teachers when we are sick, and when we show up to work under the weather, we are potentially spreading our illness and preventing our bodies from resting and healing. With that in mind, powering through an illness is almost never a good idea!
In this post, I’m going to share some concrete strategies for streamlining your French Sub Plans, Spanish Sub Plans, and Italian Sub Plans so that you can…
have an organized and reliable system for creating and sharing sub plans on the morning of your absence.
feel confident that your students will be productive and have valuable, meaningful work to complete, even with a sub who does not speak the target language.
stop having to debate whether or not you could or should use your sick days. Sick days are part of your teaching contract for a reason: use them!
Psst… I don’t know if you need to hear this, but I’m going to say it for whoever does need to hear it: your students will be just fine without you. Take care of yourself and prioritize your needs. You matter, and so does your health. Rest up, and return to work when you’re feeling better.
French, Spanish, Italian Sub Plans For Emergencies: Create an Emergency Sub Plans Bin in your Classroom
Buy an inexpensive filing bin from Target, Walmart, or Amazon. Create a label that says “Emergency Sub Plans” and adhere it to your bin. Place your bin in a pretty visible and obvious space in your classroom. (Mine lives on the bookshelf next to my teaching desk.) Grab some hanging file folders, and label them according to the classes you teach. In each file folder, include sub work that would realistically occupy your students for an entire class period. I teach 80-minute blocks, so my emergency sub plans usually include multi-page packets that I photocopy, paperclip, and then file away in the appropriate hanging folders.
What types of activities can you include in your emergency sub plan bin? These can be cultural activities, reading activities, writing tasks, conjugation activities…it really all depends on the level of your students. I usually have two or three days worth of activities in my sub bin at any given time. And what’s great is that I have only really had to make use of it once or twice in my career (knock on wood), so it’s very low-maintenance and provides the assurance that I need to know that my students will have work to complete even in the event that a true emergency arises.
Ensure a trusted colleague, team teacher, or substitute coordinator knows that your emergency sub plan bin exists. Try to avoid the temptation of pulling out these activities in non-emergencies (for example, your lesson finished early, and you need something to occupy your students’ time). This sub bin should be reserved for true emergencies where you do not have the time or ability to plan and prep sub activities for your students.
For Illnesses: Plan Ahead & Transition to Digital Sub Plans & Activities
Creating Digital Sub Plans ahead of time is super important. I don’t know about your particular teaching context, but in mine, there is a massive substitute teacher shortage. I never know if my students will be in my classroom with a sub, in another teacher’s room, or if they will be combined with several other classes in the auditorium. This means that if I print out photocopies ahead of time and leave them in my room for the sub to distribute, students may never get them! Therefore, I make sure that every sub plan and activity is digital so I can easily share it with students via Google Classroom.
Note: This, of course, depends on your teaching context. If your district is not 1:1 or if your students do not have access to technology, then you’ll have to pivot a bit. However, I think the idea of having go-to sub plans and activities that you use year after year—regardless of the content you are currently teaching during the semester—is super valuable, and I think it will save you a lot of time and stress in the long run! Make your sub activities evergreen, meaning you can use them all year round!
For each of my classes, I have created at least 10 different digital assignments that I store in my Google Drive. When I wake up feeling under the weather, all I have to do is log on to my computer, submit my absence through our attendance portal, open up a digital assignment that I’ve already created, and share it with my students on Google Classroom. (I have created 10, because I’m an over-preparer, but start small: two or three of these digital sub plans/activities is a good place to start.) I don’t have to stress about what I will leave for my students because I know that the work has already been done.
For these types of digital sub plans, I like to leave cultural activities or proficiency-oriented assignments (e.g. readings with comprehension questions, and short, comprehensible videos with a few tasks for students to complete after watching the video). Here’s an example of what one such assignment might look like:
For this assignment, students access the story that I want them to read by clicking on the link in their individually assigned Google Doc. (When creating an assignment in Google Classroom, select Make a Copy for Each Student.) After reading the story, they then complete the three comprehension-based activities in their Google Doc. This type of activity usually takes my students about 45 minutes to an hour to complete, so I’ll often combine this task with a cultural activity or perhaps give them time to work on something related to the curriculum.
French Sub Plans, Spanish Sub Plans, Italian Sub Plans, oh my!
There is absolutely no shame in using World Language Sub Plans created by other teachers. I have created French Sub Plans, Spanish Sub Plans, and Italian Sub Plans to help save you time and avoid stress when you need to be out. Each resource includes a total of EIGHT activities: four editable digital activities and four printable activities. These sub activities will cover multiple absences, and they’ll help ensure that your students are productive and still learning despite your absence, even with a non-target language-speaking sub!
Best Practices for Sub Plans & Activities
Leave a Substitute Teacher Folder somewhere on your teacher desk. In it, include student rosters, your teacher schedule, building procedures (including fire drill, lockdown, etc.), and any other resources that your sub might need.
Leave a Substitute Report so that your sub can take notes on how your students behaved and how productive they were in class. (My experience is that subs don’t always do this, so I leave the Substitute Report in the sub folder so they know I’d like them to keep a report.)
I’ve included both a Substitute Teacher Folder Checklist and Substitute Report Template in my French Sub Plans, Spanish Sub Plans, and Italian Sub Plans resources on TpT!
In my experience, leaving a movie is never a good idea. Subs in my district do not have access to the classroom teacher’s main computer, and having a colleague come into my room at the start of the day to load the movie is a hassle for everyone involved. Coupled with potential tech issues and the likelihood of unwanted student behavior and/or disengagement, you’re better off avoiding the movie option if possible.
Convert classroom activities or assignments that you did not have a chance to get to into sub activities! We’ve all had those activities included in our lesson plans—photocopies made, and everything!—that we simply do not have time to get to for one reason or another. These are still valuable, and you can re-purpose them into sub activities. Simply put all unused photocopies in your Emergency Sub Bin!
Hold students accountable for the work that they were supposed to complete during your absence. You don’t need to collect and meticulously grade every single assignment you’ve left for students while you are out. Maybe you ask them to take out the work and show it to you as you circulate. (Maybe it’s for a quick completion grade, maybe not!). Maybe you ask them to peer correct, and while they are working with a partner, you circulate and check in with students and see how much work they completed. Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you hold students responsible for the work they were supposed to complete in class. Otherwise, they won’t do it, and they’ll cause havoc for your poor sub.
I hope that this post has helped you think about ways that you can streamline your sub planning process. Our job is not easy, and I can’t really think of many other professions out there that require folks to work even when they’re ill. Planning ahead, converting your plans to digital activities, and taking advantage of the French Sub Plans, Spanish Sub Plans, and Italian Sub Plans I’ve created are all fantastic ways to ensure that you’ll be ready next time you need to call out sick.
When you or a loved one falls ill or when an emergency pops up for you, it’s so important for you to be present for yourself and your family. I hope you will focus your time, attention, and energy on taking care of yourself and those who matter to you—your students will be fine. :)
By the way, what are some activities you leave for your students when you have to be out? I’d love it if you’d share them with me in the comment section below!
Happy language teaching,
~ Michael
