With the holiday season officially here, it's time to bring some festive cheer and cultural learning into our French classrooms! To celebrate, I’ve created a special French Advent Calendar designed to introduce students to holiday traditions from Francophone countries. Each day from December 1st, students can enjoy a new card featuring fun facts about how Christmas is celebrated across the Francophone world. Here are five creative ideas to use this Advent Calendar to make December a month of discovery and joy!
1. A Daily "Cultural Window" to Start Class
Idea: Start each class by revealing the daily card, introducing the day's featured Francophone country and its unique Christmas tradition.
Why it works: It’s a simple yet engaging way to infuse cultural awareness and excitement into your classroom routine. Students get to “travel” to a new location every day, sparking curiosity about global celebrations.
Pro Tip: Display a world map where students can place a pin or sticker on each country featured in the calendar. By the end of the month, they’ll have a visual reminder of all the places they've “visited.”
2. Research & Presentations: Bringing Traditions to Life
Idea: Assign students a country they’ll “visit” on a specific date and have them prepare a short presentation on that country’s Christmas traditions.
Why it works: This gives students ownership of their learning and encourages them to go beyond the facts on the card. They can include visuals, foods, or even try greeting the class in the local language!
Pro Tip: Make this an option for extra credit or a graded assignment, depending on student interest and classroom dynamics.
3. Postcard Writing from Around the World
Idea: Have students imagine they’re spending the holidays in the day’s featured country and write a postcard home describing their “experience.”
Why it works: This writing exercise combines creativity and cultural learning while practicing French vocabulary and sentence structure. They can describe the traditions they’ve learned about as if they were participating in them!
Pro Tip: Create a display with students’ postcards, showcasing the many countries and holiday customs they've explored through their writing.
4. Advent Calendar “Quiz Bowl” for Review and Fun
Idea: At the end of each week, hold a quiz bowl where students answer questions based on the countries covered so far in the Advent Calendar.
Why it works: A quiz bowl is a fun way to reinforce what students have learned and can bring out a bit of healthy competition. Use it as a review activity or as a way to award small holiday-themed prizes.
Pro Tip: Split the class into teams and let them pick fun team names. Consider awarding a “holiday spirit” prize to the winning team each week.
5. Holiday Collage and Craft Activity
Idea: Throughout December, students can add to a classroom collage by creating small drawings, cutouts, or printed images related to each day’s country and traditions.
Why it works: This hands-on, creative activity allows students to engage with the holiday themes in a visual way. They can add drawings of famous landmarks, holiday symbols, or traditional foods from each country.
Pro Tip: At the end of the month, the collage serves as a festive decoration and visual representation of the diverse Francophone cultures students have explored.
This December, let the French Advent Calendar make your classroom a hub of cultural celebration and holiday spirit. These activities aren’t just fun; they help students connect with the Francophone world, one day at a time. Happy holidays, and bonne exploration culturelle!