Mastering French: AIM’s Entry and Leaving Routines When Teaching French
AIM’s Entry and Leaving Routines help bring structure and predictability to your language learning classroom. As French language teachers, our primary goal is to help students develop strong language proficiency.
These routines are essential because they:
-
Establish the seulement en français expectation
-
Set learning goals and success criteria early
-
Develop language patterns through repetition
-
Bring predictability, structure, security, comprehension, and familiarity
-
Repeat sociolinguistic conventions so that they are effectively acquired
-
Provide ongoing, daily repetition of high-frequency words and important structures necessary for effective language learning
To begin using these routines in your classroom, start with one routine for a few days until students know it well. Then, introduce a new entry or leaving routine once the vocabulary has been taught in a whole-class targeted gesture teaching activity. Once the routine is introduced and familiar to the students, you can rotate through different routines each day.
Developing sociolinguistic awareness in language learning
AIM’s Entry and Leaving Routines are based on repetition to ensure language learning, acquisition of language patterns, and help ensure that students have many opportunities to practise the language. The entry and leaving routines suggested in the AIM Teacher’s Guides are templates, so feel free to personalize them. For example, if you are doing the entry routine for the weather and it is pouring rain on that day, you might embellish the routine by gesturing for the students to say:
Then, continue the routine, encouraging the students to respond, as always!
You can also personalize your routines based on the vocabulary your students are learning. Using the gestures with these vocabulary words when used in entry or exit routines helps contextualize them for your students.
The first few times that you do a routine, repeat and emphasize with lots of expression and exaggeration. Soon, you and the class will complete this routine within a few minutes.
Use the French-only model in Entry and Leaving Routines.
AIM helps students master French faster through repetition. Model the expectation that only French is used in the classroom by:
-
Only speaking French with the students (except through the sandwiching technique or comprehension checks;
-
Stopping the class when you hear English;
-
Using gesturing techniques to enable the whole class to help the student who used English to express herself/himself in French;
-
Using the routines to increase student involvement through repetition daily.
Are you ready for sample entry and leaving routines? Let’s get started.
Sample Entry Routine - with Ouvre la tête/Comment ça va ?
Gesture for the whole class to say together:
-
Bonjour, tout le monde ! Maintenant, la classe de français commence. Comment ça va aujourd’hui ? (Class responds as a group, with individual responses) ... et toi ? Then you respond, e.g. Ça va bien, merci ! Tout le monde doit parler seulement en français. Alors, on ouvre la tête.
Using your hands, move them as if you are opening up the top of your head. Alternatively, make a little cardboard head that opens and closes.
-
On prend l’anglais.
Take the card that says anglais/English and act as if you are taking it out of your/the head and show the students the card.
-
On met l’anglais dans la poche.
Put the card in your pocket.
-
On prend le français.
Take the card that says français/French and show it to the students.
-
On met le français dans la tête.
Act as if you are putting the card into your head.
-
On ferme la tête. Maintenant, tout le monde parle seulement en français. PAS en anglais. L’anglais va dans la poche. Quand tout le monde traverse la ligne magique, tout le monde doit parler seulement en français. Pas en anglais. L’anglais va dans la poche. La classe commence maintenant.
-
La ligne magique…
As each student enters, point to the line.
Use this sample entry routine a few times so the students get familiar with it before adding a different routine.
Leaving Routines for Students
Leaving routines are also based on repetition. These end-of-class or end-of-day routines are meant to:
-
bring structure to the day;
-
bring closure to the day in a predictable, familiar manner;
-
repeat important vocabulary;
-
encourage students to monitor their exclusive use of French.
Leaving Routine #1 Simple, with Au revoir et Merci
At the end of class, or before partner/group activities begin, gesture for students to say:
-
Maintenant, la classe est finie ! (Your name) dit : « Au revoir, tout le monde et merci. » Tout le monde dit : « Au revoir, (your name) et merci. »
Repeat Au revoir as you look at each student individually and say his/her name. This acknowledgement is very important to help solidify your connection with students.
Leaving Routine #2 with the Au revoir et Merci and the card system
Clap a rhythm to get attention and/or start gesturing:
Before taking a card from you that says: « J’ai parlé seulement en français. » each student says:
Students should be encouraged to say it together over and over again, in small or large groups, repeating those words several times as they are waiting to receive their card from you. They quickly write their names on the back of the card, then place the card in the designated box for their class. As students put the card in the box, they should say:
You say:
Make sure all students say:
Where to learn more about entry and leaving routines
Entry and Leaving Routines provide important opportunities in language learning classrooms. They allow language teachers to set expectations and provide ongoing reinforcement and support for language learners as they move closer to their goal of language proficiency.
Your AIM kits will include these and other Entry and Leaving Routines. Try as many as you’d like and switch them up daily to further enhance your students' learning and proficiency in the languages.
Browse our selection of AIM language learning kits on our website.
