French-focused, low prep, routine-based writing program for building independent writers
The key to any successful writing program, is making it low stress, accessible to any level of learner, and consistent. Especially for French Immersion students, writing and expressing themselves in a second language is hard and teacher dependent. Ever since my first-year teaching, I’ve been using this routine-based program and have seen such a difference in my students and in our overall class culture!
Students are less anxious when it comes to write, overall less anxious to speak and express themselves in French, and more excited to come to school where it is okay to be silly, have fun, and make mistakes! All because they have the tools they need to write their thoughts in French, have clear expectations and a known routine when it comes to writing, and creative freedom to write as silly as they want to.
Get started in 10 easy steps
- Start as soon as possible. The earlier in the year the better. Both students and teachers thrive in routine – so don’t play the waiting game.
- Follow a year plan to stay on track of the curriculum and to change up the themes/focuses to keep students…and yourself…engaged! Grab a FREE copy of the one I use!
- Setup a word wall. Keep it in the same place all year but change up the words often. Every month we remove all the words we added to it throughout the month and start fresh. Some words will make it back on the wall, but some won’t. The more they practice and repeat sight words, the faster and more naturally they will recall them. *For intermediate elementary that teach both French and English, we use the same word wall but color code English and French words. Looking where to start? Grab and use my Narrative Text/Fairytale Word Wall Tiles & Word Mat.
- Setup a parking lot for infrequently used words. For specific, infrequently used words students need help spelling, dedicate a separate “parking lot” space on your white board for these words. Keep the space the same every writing block as students will get in the habit to look there, and this will help with eye tracking. Don’t put these words on your Word Wall as they will only clutter it.
- Where you are in the room matters. As students are working, either choose one place in the class where students can come to see you or circulate. Either or, keep a handful of individual white boards or (plastic writing pockets) for words students ask you to spell – especially for students easily distracted or having difficulty tracking.
- ALWAYS spell out the word. This is controversial, but even if students can sound out the word independently, I write it down for them. My main goal for students is to write. The more we ask our students to sound it our during creative writing blocks, the more that we disrupt their creativity and interrupt their writing flow and ideas. In my class, we dedicate time to phonetics and spelling separately – which ultimately helps out with our writing in the end!
- French Week, English Week. If you are intermediate and are teaching English in addition to French, I alternate one week French, one week English.
- Set up an Author’s Wall. While there never is enough bulletin board space, make it a priority to have a space where student daily writing is on display. This is not only a great way to celebrate student work, but also a great teach hack to visually keep track of student writing capacities and set goals for upcoming weeks/check-ins.
- Set up daily tasks. I recommend breaking up the week into set task routines so students get in the habit of knowing which part of the writing task they are working on on that particular day of the week. Grab a copy of my weekly task breakdown.
- Choose a magic number. 20 mins is our magic number. We set a timer, put on calming music, and work until the time is up. In term 3 and 4, we up our time to 40 mins.
Bonus 11. Make your writing program bffs with your dictee program. Now having followed this structure and routine in each class for four years, I have begun to link my dictée program (an old-school task totally revamped to fit with my teaching style and made fun) to our writing focus. So much less prep, and so much more immediate practice of our grammar focuses. Let me know if you want me to share my dictee program year outline and all of my resources!