Yes, French Valentine Bingo can last at least 5 or more days. No, not an entire 45-minutes per day. Take 8-12 minutes per day for 4+ days to end each class and then 30 minutes of French Valentine Bingo on the final day: le 14 février. Stretch it out more or less as your schedule fits. Winter drags on and on by early February so why not use French Valentine Bingo to give French 1 students some easy speaking opportunities over several days?
When my French 1 students come back from winter break or a long weekend, they are a tad off with their motivation and/or my classroom routines. Right, it’s not always easy to engage French 1 students in speaking activities so I use a seasonal / holiday bingo game to create quick bursts of student engaged partner practice to get them back in the routine of speaking French.
With French Valentine Bingo, I trick them into learning a few new holiday words the week before le Jour de la Saint-Valentin and this blog offers a few tips for the 4-7 school days before le 14 février in my French 1 classes.
Disclaimer: I have an entire French Valentine Bingo resource in my TPT store to use with these tips but maybe you have your own resource already and are just looking to switch up some French vocabulary activities. Either way, take the tips that work for your instructional style, your students, and their personalities. And have fun!
French Valentine Bingo – Tip 1
French Valentine Bingo and its vocabulary pep them up a bit because I start a full week before le 14 février. I secretly use the days before Valentine Bingo to reset expectations for how to work with partners during a speaking activity. There’s also a mild grammar review involved that they don’t even notice but that I hold them to use when working with partners.
The carrot I dangle is fun French Valentine Bingo words. But consistency with my expectations for partner speaking activities is what I’m really after. I aim to reinforce or remind students:
- Each day of class might possibly bring you a different speaking partner (randomly chosen by me or a new seating chart).
- Each person is a 50-50 participant in a speaking activity.
- When you or your partner don’t know the words, I expect collaboration and help to move forward in any capacity.
- I always provide language supports and guidance for what I’d like you to practice.
- Partner speaking activities are not memorized or translation activities. They ebb and flow. Try to change it up.
- Encourage each other to progress in any way possible during your partner speaking activity.
By the way, I am very intentional and I actually say those above bullet points in English before we get started on the first day. It’s not the first time they’ve heard this. It’s a reminder.
The mild French 1 grammar review associated with French Valentine Bingo is singulier vs pluriel:
- C’est un ___. C’est une ___. (It is ___.)
- Ce sont des ___. (They are ___.)
- (maybe) Ce n’est pas ___. Ce ne sont pas ___. (It isn’t ___. They aren’t ___.)
French Valentine Bingo – Tip 2
I never test students on the French Valentine Bingo vocabulary (or any bingo vocab). Also, students never copy the vocabulary into their notes. I provide written language support in the form of flashcard sets with and without the French vocabulary word as well as larger versions of the vocabulary words that I can hold up in front of class or post on the walls around the room.
Each set of partners has a full set of French Valentine Bingo flashcards that I’ve taken the time to cut and paste onto cardstock. Yes, with 36 or more French 1 students in class, that takes time the first year, but then I have them for 5-7 more years.
Copying words into notes is an inefficient use of their time because my end goal is how to work with a partner to practice a French speaking activity.
French Valentine Bingo – Tip 3
With 24 potential words to learn in 4-7 days, my French students will not memorize every French Valentine Bingo word. I ask them to learn about 50% of them.
That’s the trick: the words are singulier et pluriel so there’s really only 12 to learn. Vocab includes:
- une carte / des cartes
- une fleur / des fleurs
- un bonbon / des bonbons
- Etc…
On day 1, they learn the first 4 sets of words with the grammar review of c’est un ___, c’est une ___, ce sont des ___. I use larger flashcards or a PowerPoint to introduce the word and the picture with a question: “Qu’est-ce que c’est?” (What is it?) . Students repeat 4 vocabulary words after me many times and then I put them in pairs to do the exact same thing. They have their set of flashcards, they pull out the 4 words we’ve studied, and try to memorize the answer while pronouncing it correctly.
They take turns back and forth. I show them options such as:
- One person says the word and the other points to the flashcard.
- One person points to or holds up the flashcard and the other says the word.
I do a quick accountability check after 3-4 minutes of practice each day. In particular, I might call on one of my struggling students to hold up the flashcard of the word that I say. Any type of success counts for our struggling students. I certainly do not set the bar low for that student but I know what that student can do and I gently give them opportunities to feel successful in front of the entire class.
Add on 4 more words each day. Change partners each day. As I add on words and students have more French Valentine Bingo vocabulary to review, the speaking activity can last 5-8 minutes with a partner.
OR
I switch it up and every 4 minutes they move two students to the left and practice the vocabulary for 4 more minutes.
French Valentine Bingo – Tip 4
We are tricky when we use fun seasonal vocabulary to get students speaking and reviewing our partner expectations. For the grammar piece, if I haven’t introduced le négatif / ce n’est pas ___ / ce ne sont pas ___, I do NOT use French Valentine Bingo to do that. That’s a real buzzkill. Introduce le négatif in a regular unit and add the tip below into the next French holiday bingo game.
If le négatif was introduced in a previous unit, then yes, let’s review it. Tip #4 is GREAT if an administrator is coming to observe you. If you are not scheduled for an observation, then invite your administrator in to watch your students play “speaking” charades with French Valentine Bingo words.
How? After 4-5 days of reviewing the Valentine words each day (as in tips #1-#3), I do a quick full review of all the words. I show them a flower. I ask them “Qu’est-ce que c’est?” They answer chorally, “C’est une fleur.” I ask, “C’est une carte?”. They answer, “Non, ce n’est pas une carte.” Etc…. That’s the quick review for the administrator to see.
Now, each student receives 5-8 scrap pieces of blank paper. Students place one piece of scrap paper on a book or notebook or other firm object. Then they place it on their heads. I write “des fleurs” (flowers) on the board with a quick drawing of 2-3 flowers. They have to draw flowers on the paper that is on top of the book on top of their head without looking. When finished, they flip their drawing over, label it as “des fleurs”, and I go on to the next word.
After 5-8 (ridiculous) drawings of French Valentine Bingo words, each student has their own set of funny-looking French Valentine Bingo words they have been studying all week long. I put them with a partner and they ask each other:
- Student 1: “Qu’est-ce que c’est?”
- Student 2: “Uhhhhhhh, c’est un bonbon?” (because it’s a crazy picture)
- Student 1: “Non, ce n’est pas un bonbon.”
- And student 2 has to keep guessing until they are right.
It completely impresses an administrator. Yes, it’s very loud in class and the students are also telling each other in English how dumb the drawing is BUT I am insisting that they also say the French words/grammar structure that we’ve been reviewing. And they play along with me on that. Game, set, match.
French Valentine Bingo – Final Thoughts
Use your bingo games as partner practice speaking activities. Reset, or introduce, your (new) (old) classroom participation expectations with bingo. Do not test the bingo vocabulary. Do not have students copy all the words into their notebooks.
Keep it fun. Keep it lively. Keep it fast. Change it up each day. And stay consistent with your expectations.
I have an entire French Valentine Bingo resource in my TPT store to use with these tips. The resource includes:
- 1 set of task cards (flashcards) with vocabulary and pictures
- 1 set of task cards (flashcards) with pictures only
- 1 set of call words
- 1 set of pictures (to cut and paste on Bingo board OR to use as call words)
- 1 blank Valentine-themed Bingo board (students draw or write the words)
- 1 set of heart winter markers
- 1 blank task card template for you to add other French Valentine vocabulary words being studied
- Large pictures with vocabulary words
- Large pictures without vocabulary words
- 1 homework assignment or review sheet
Reset some participation expectations and have fun with the French Valentine Bingo words at the same time. And let’s keep it easy on ourselves. Once this routine is set, your next bingo game will be easier. Consider another resource in my TPT Store: French Winter Bingo which has similar items in the resource or a brief blog post about French Winter Bingo. Same idea, different resource.
For other video versions of my blogs, check out my YouTube Channel: L’Essentiel French Resources. My name is Lisa and I love being your new French colleague. How can I help you tomorrow?
