French Resources for Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom

I spent years teaching primary French Immersion and, although every day was a messy, lovely, fulfilling and unpredictable adventure, there were some things that always remained certain:

• At least once a day, to my chagrin, I would here: "Is this in French?", "Je suis fini", "J'ai a", or "Est-ce que je peux avoir un water drink?"
• Whenever admin asked us to introduce something new into our programs, my brain would pull a Kermit-level menty b. 

All teachers know the incredible complexities of teaching- showing up daily and energetically for a melting pot of interests, strengths, needs and energies. French Immersion teachers? That- oh and we also have to low-key squeeze another language in there.

Needless to say, if at the beginning of my teaching career someone told me I needed to add social emotional learning into my program, on top of everything else? I would have shut down. Knowing what I know now about SEL, however, I realize that the fundamental importance of catering my program to character education, emotional intelligence and social skills really isn't extra at all, but the foundation of any successful program.

Learning to be proactive vs. reactive in our classroom management by consistently giving students a platform to speak about their big feelings, big conflicts and how to navigate both will without a doubt, strengthen your relationship with your students and their relationship with themselves- which is ultimately our number one goal across any language. 

Here are some tools that can help you do just that: 

French Collaborative Posters

To foster teamwork, problem-solving and mindfulness, use collaborative posters as an engaging STEM challenge! Each set includes 35 square coloring pages that students will color, cut out and assemble like a puzzle to display a beautiful 3x3ft or 3.5x3.5ft mural.

✓ What others like you are saying:

• "My students LOVE these posters. Such a fun way to work together to create art work for our classroom." -La classe de Mlle Tremblay

French Motivational Message Colouring Pages

One bundle to help you feel confident enough to tackle early finishers, meaningful emergency supply activities, test stress and anxieties or to just top up the tools in your coin calme/ calm corner. Each page is adorned with aesthetic or themed images, along with a motivational message to support growth mindset and resilience. 

✓ What others like you are saying:

• "I love this bundle! The positive messages reinforce what we work on in social emotional learning and my students love to colour. I put on some calm music and we take some time to do some mindful colouring. I can also use them as early finisher activities." -Anna H. 

French SEL Crafts 

I can often empathize with our French reluctant students- they are in a space where something is hard but doesn't feel valuable, the resources provided to us are usually archaic and as bland as dry toast, and because of this, our programs tend to be extremely one-dimensional and lack creativity and spark. These French crafts are a wildly fun vessel through which we can recap thematic vocabulary and themes, with the added bonus of knowing that each one of them is supporting our children socially and emotionally.  

✓ What others like you are saying:

• "French SEL activities! Yay!! Love that this is a growing bundle - my students adore these activities and so do I!" -Biljana B.