Resources to learn, practice or present something in French

This week I thought it was important to put together a post for those who need more than what I can offer in class. There are many resources available for home use as well as many that are available on the computers at school. All of the resources I include here are compatible with French and unless otherwise stated, you are able to put in French accents. I teach mostly intermediate with some junior, so most links are geared towards this age group.

I have divided  them into five categories; learning, practice, presentations, work checking and collaborating.
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LEARNING - All sites in this category are for learning French (conversational, grammar, verbs etc.)  Sometimes there may be something you are still unclear on after class and these sites can help you to learn the concepts in a different way.

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline/french/french.htm  -  This site will be helpful for students who are looking to learn a specific lesson and practice using worksheets and animated activities.  The great thing about this website is that the instructions are in English, so parents and students can know how to complete each lesson and activity at home.  I might even use this in class to support the learning of students on IEPS or students who are very visual learners.  The drawback to this site would be that the printable worksheets don't always have clear instructions as to how to complete them. I would probably use some of the worksheets as handouts for students to review terminology because they have good images.

https://www.youtube.com/user/sduckworth100/videos - Although some of her videos are geared towards primary/junior grades, they are great for review as needed.  She has  hundreds of videos on her channel and they are very well organized into categories.  The only drawback is that at times on certain videos the audio is poor quality and it can make it difficult to understand the words being said. The really neat thing about her videos is that she makes them using a large variety of websites and apps (Tellegami, Puppet Pals, Powerpoint, Powtoon etc,)

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PRACTICE - These sites are to practice what you've already learned.  They might have quizzes or practice conversations, or French videos or text to work on comprehension

www.quia.com/shared/french - this site is a fun site where teachers and other have created fun review games (battleship, tic tac toe, jeopardy etc) to review a variety of French concepts.  The user will have to search for the concept they wish to review and then check out the links below. Many games are wonderful but some not so much.

http://www.hello-world.com/languages.php/?language=French/ - This site has a page to learn main concepts and then practice them, but it also has 700 games and activities and songs in French to practice comprehension.  I like that all of the links are easy to use and don't freeze up, but some of the culture presentations are quite dry and I wouldn't recommend them.  There are great images and animations for many of the concepts.

http://www.tfo.org/fr/jeux - These games often don't require use of the French language, but the instructions are in French, and so this is good incentive to work on listening comprehension.  I would use this as a reward in class for students who are finished early.

https://quizlet.com/subject/french/ - Much like Quia, this site allows teachers to upload their own activities and review quizzes, and therefore the quality of each varies significantly, but there are many great review activities which are searchable by subject at the top of the page.  What I like about this is that you can preview each activity to the right of the page to see if it's right for you.  What I don't like is that the page itself is a bit boring and it might be difficult to hold the attention of younger students.

https://getkahoot.com/how-it-works / https://kahoot.it/#/  - Kahoot is game based review which is entertaining and fun for young students.  The first link is for a teacher to learn about and create a Kahoot and then the second link is where students would go to play and enter the pin number of the game the teacher created.  I have used this in the classroom with students on a weekly basis and they LOVED it. They actually ask if they can play Kahoot.  I recommend any teacher to use it, but it especially helps to engage the students in French.
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PRESENTATIONS - Many times in French you will be asked to share your work with your peers and the sites listed here will help you do this in a fun and creative way.

                                              

www.prezi.com - Prezi is a free website where students make a presentation map for the system to follow.  It's more dynamic than Powerpoint, but has the same idea, where the presentation moves from one 'slide' to another.  This is a great presentation option for French because it accepts the ALT codes to create French accents.

www.powtoon.com - Powtoon is a free, user friendly cartoon maker with the option to animate.  Students will love the presentations you make using it and they will be excited to try it out for themselves. This site also accepts ALT codes.  I have used this to create introduction videos to a new unit.  I have also had students use it to create conversational cartoons.  The students can record their voices into the presentation.

Microsoft Powerpoint - This is the old standard for presentations.  It's easy to use, but perhaps a bit dated now and boring when you know what else is available, but it's widely available and good for people who don't have time to learn a new presentation program in time for a due date.  It's not available at my school computers though as they don't have Microsoft office on them.

Google Presentations (part of Google Drive) - This is a great presentation alternative to Microsoft Powerpoint because it saves automatically as you work and has many tools and templates to customize your presentation.  Your presentation will be accessible from anywhere because it is based in your Google drive.

Keynote (on school iPads) - This presentation software is available on a handful of  iPads at my school (the board doesn't have any special license for it, so it came at a cost to the school).  It's an alternative to a traditional Powerpoint presentation for Apple users. It's a great presentation too that is easily projected from the iPad (or even an iPhone).  The French characters can be inserted using the option button plus other keys in combination, or by inserting each from a dropdown menu. 

Corkulous (on school iPads) - This is available on all school iPads.  It's a free download, so students who have a personal Apple product can download it for home use.  This is a neat way to create and present an idea board.  You can really organize your ideas well. I haven't used it yet, but I would use it when students are starting a French project, they can organize their ideas then present to a peer for feedback. The one drawback I have heard from some teachers is that some students have had the app crash and have lost their work.

Pic Collage (on school iPads) This free app is on all school iPads and it's a great tool for presenting something brief.  It's an app where you can collage pictures together and add embellishments and text.  I have used it to have students collage pictures of them in different weather conditions and then describe what they are wearing. They are allowed to write keywords on the collage to help them with their presentation.  I love this because it's SO easy to use.

Tellegami (on school iPads)

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WORK CHECKING - It's really important in French to double check your written work and fix the mistakes that you can on your own before handing work in.

www.wordreference.com - This is a GREAT online dictionary because unlike GOOGLE TRANSLATE it can tell you what the correct word is in context to what you're saying.  It will give you many word options for what you are trying to say.

www.bonpatron.com - This free site checks your work for you and finds all the grammar and verb errors for you.  It won't correct them for you, but it will tell you why it's wrong and that way you know how to go about fixing it. You just copy and paste your text in the window and click the 'Vérifier le texte' button.

http://www.alt-codes.net/french_alt_codes/ - This is the place to go to learn how to make the letters with accents on them. You do it by pressing and holding down ALT and then typing the numbers listed.  This is essential for typed French work of any kind.

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COLLABORATING - Group work can be difficult when the work isn't completed in class.  These sites make it easier for groups to work together from home or even from different computers in the school.

Google docs - This free online tool is ideal for students to work together on the same document.  I have found that at times when too many people are working on the same document in different sections at the same time, the page sometimes jumps around, but for the most part, it's the perfect tool for collaborating on work inside or outside class.

www.chatzy.com - Chatzy is a site where you can open up a private chat room and chat with people via invite only. The great thing about this site is that the rooms aren't searchable, so random people won't join the chat. The chat is also printable and can be saved. As a teacher, I would use this to have students have a chat dialogue in French and them have them save it and send it to me (or print it ... but let's save trees). You are able to use ALT codes to type accents. This is also a great accountability tool because if you expect students to discuss their project, their chat history can be sent to you to ensure that they did the collaboration work.

www.todaysmeet.com - This is a 'backchannel' chat website, so the teacher (or a student) would create a chatroom and the students join it  (there are a few ways to do so, but the coolest is a QR code that you scan with your phone to join).  The chat window has the option to be projected while the lesson is happening and students can chat and ask questions as they come up or the room can be opened right after a lesson for students to talk about concepts and help each other.  The rooms can also be created and used by students.  This site also allows you to print the transcript.

I hope some of these resources can be of use to you in your French endeavors!