We can never have too many French classroom icebreaker ideas, can we?
So check out this list of activities you can try out when back-to-school rolls around.
Classroom Icebreakers
But, before we get to the actual list, let’s talk about what an icebreaker is and why we should use them in the classroom.
Here’s how Merriam-Webster defines an icebreaker:
Icebreaker: n. something that is done or said to get through the first difficulties in starting a conversation or discussion
You’ve got new students. Most of the times, you don’t know them. They don’t know you. They don’t know one another.
AND they’ll be using a language that is not their first.
That’s not ice, that’s an iceberg you have to break!
A successful classroom icebreaker should accomplish three main things:
- it should help students (and you!) feel less anxious and more relaxed about the school year that is just beginning. That’s particularly true if your students are going to start learning French this year.
- it should set the tone for the year. Is you classroom upbeat and supportive? Can students have fun learning new things? Is this a classroom where they can feel comfortable enough to make mistakes?
- it should help students set the foundation for them to form new relationships. During an icebreaker activity, students will naturally share a little about themselves. They might find they have interests in common, they will laugh together, and even if they feel awkward, that’s a feeling they’ll be sharing.
So keep these goals in mind when you choose an icebreaker activity and, most importantly, when you do the activity in your classroom.
French Classroom Icebreaker Ideas
I’m listing icebreakers that are easy-prep and don’t ask too much from students.
I know that, when I was a student myself, it was sometimes hard to come up with answers for icebreaker questions.
The French classroom icebreakers below should work even if you’ve got students who are shy, who don’t feel confident speaking French, who don’t like sharing much about themselves, etc.
Name Crossword
Write your name on the board. Then, have one student come up and write her/his name on the board as well, but she/he needs to use one of the letters from you name. Next, a second students comes up to the boards and does the same. Slowly they’ll be building a name crossword.
The challenge is to fit everyone’s names in the same crossword.
You can do the activity more than once by having students come up to the boards in a different order and/or by assigning a time limit for them to complete the crossword.
Name Game
I’m pretty sure you’re read about this game before and you might even have used this activity in your classroom, but it’s such a simple and fun game that it bears repeating. Oh, and I’ll also share some variations to it.
Original version: have students sit in a circle. One student says her/his name, then the student sitting to the right repeats the first student’s name and adds her/his own, and so on. It goes something like:
S1: Marie
S2: (pointing to S1) Marie, (pointing to himself) Bernard
S3: (point to S1) Marie, (pointing to S2) Bernard, (pointing to herself) Samira
…
Variation: have students say their names and a word that starts with the same letter as their name. You may or may not have them repeat other students’ names as in the original version described above.
S1: Je m’appelle Pamela. Un mot qui commence par P, c’est un pot.
S2: Je m’appelle Mathieu. Un mot qui commence par M, c’est une maison.
S3: Je m’appelle Juan. Un mot qui commence par J, c’est du jus.
…
Some teachers play this game and have students say something they like that starts with the first letter of their name. However, I feel that it’s sometimes too much pressure on students to come up with something they actually like that starts with that letter. By asking them to say a word, any word, they can actually relax and enjoy the game!
Read: French Vocabulary Time-fillers
Read: French Back-to-school Reading Comprehension
Line Up and Group Up
This is a fun way to break the ice and to get your kids moving around as well.
The idea is for your students to, well, line up or group up according to some easy categories.
The purpose if for them to learn more about one another and to realize what they have in common with different people.
You can ask them to line up:
- by their first names (or their last names) in alphabetical order
- by the order of their birthdays
- by their height
- by the order of their house numbers
- by the number of letters in their full names, from least to greatest
You can also have your students group up:
- with other students who like the same kind of music/books/movies/etc as they do (or don’t like anything at all)
- with people who have the same color backpack/t-shirt/shoes/etc as they do
- with classmates who play the same sport/who have the same hobbies/who collect the same thing
You could have them either line up or group up once a day during the first week of school according to different categories every day.
Card Match
Give each student a card with an image (I’m sharing a file with image cards you can print at the end of this post!)
Tell kids they need to find a classmate that has the same image as they do.
They can’t just ask who has that image.
They need to go around the room talking in pairs.
Student A and B talk. They ask each other’s names and how old they are. Then, they show each other the cards they have. If the cards match, they can sit down. If the cards don’t match, they need to pair up with other students until they find a match.
To play it again, you can switch up the questions. They can ask each other if they have pets, what their favorite color/superhero/movie/etc is, and the like.
To get your copy of the cards in the picture, subscribe to my newsletter by filling out the form at the bottom of this post!
Or access the FFI Friends Free Resource Library if you’re already a member.
Hope you try out some of these French classroom icebreaker ideas with your new students!
Let me know how it goes 🙂
Thank you for stopping by!
Merci!
Lucy
Read: French Back-to-school EMOJI Lapbook
Read: French Back-to-school Freebies and Videos
