Guest blogger: Chloe Wilson

One of the biggest challenges for FSL teachers is helping students understand why they’re learning French – and why it matters. If you teach French, you’ve probably heard “Why are we doing this?” more than once. Students are far more motivated to participate when they feel like what they’re learning serves a purpose (beyond the classroom). The key to that motivation is using authentic tasks.

When students use French to accomplish something meaningful, their confidence and appreciation for the language grows. Authentic tasks are engaging, motivating, and easy to build into any level of FSL classroom, with any age. If you’re looking for simple ways to bring more authenticity into your projects, these ideas are a great place to start.

  1. Plan a weekend.
    Have students plan a day of activities in their town or city, and pitch their perfect day to a partner or small group.
    Extension: Have students plan a day of activities in a French-speaking city, including research on restaurants, cafés, excursions, and local attractions.
  2. Give directions around your school (or a city).
    Pairs take turns guiding each other from a starting point to a specific location using only French; this gives them real experience in navigating familiar spaces.
    Extension: Use maps of French-speaking cities and have students navigate from random starting points to pre-set or chosen destinations.
  3. Design a café menu.
    Students create simple French menus and take turns ordering and taking orders, using food vocabulary and meaningful questions.
    Extension: Have students design a 5-star restaurant menu and work in small groups to simulate a full dining experience with roles such as customers, servers, managers, and chefs.
  4. Plan a class event.
    In small groups, students propose an event for the class (movie day, fundraiser, theme day, etc.) and present their idea. They can create posters, tickets, or any other creative component to “sell” their event. Follow through by letting the class vote and plan the winning idea together.
    Modification: For younger or lower-level learners, provide a list of event options and/or sentence starters to support their presentations.
  5. Make a travel brochure.
    Students choose a French-speaking country and highlight interesting facts and activities – this task is always a hit with creative students.
    Extension: Give students a budget and have them plan a full trip including flights, accommodations, transportation, and excursions.
  6. Solve a real-life problem.
    Pairs or small groups brainstorm solutions to a school-based issue (ex. “Our school wants to reduce waste”) and present their ideas to the class.
    Extension: Tackle larger community or provincial issues and have students design concrete plans to support their solutions.
  7. Prepare for a part-time job interview.
    Students work in pairs to create interview questions and take turns interviewing each other to simulate a real job interview.
    Extension: Have students dress the part and conduct interviews in small groups or in front of the class. Keep questions secret from the interviewee to encourage spontaneous and authentic responses.

All of these activities have built-in modifications and extensions, and can be easily adapted to fit in with different age groups and all levels of French. Authentic tasks don’t have to be complicated, but can always be fun. Even small, purposeful activities and projects can help students see French as a living language that they can use in meaningful ways.

Supporting Resources:

Aiello, T. (2014, December 16). What’s “authentic” about tasks in French class? Teaching FSL. https://www.teachingfsl.com/2014/12/whats-authentic-about-tasks-in-french.html

Jennifer. (2019, October 23). Using the action-oriented approach in the FSL classroom. The French Nook. https://www.thefrenchnook.ca/2019/10/using-action-oriented-approach-in-fsl.html