First-Day of Class Idea: Levels 2 and Above
One thing I do with my 3rd year class is bring a big bag of candy -
usually Skittles, since M&M’s might cause problems if I have a
student w/allergies. I pass the bag around and let everyone take as
much as they want (within reason, I won’t let anyone keep the whole
bag!). Everyone has to take at least one. They can’t eat them
until after I give the instructions. Then when everybody has candy,
I tell them they can eat it only AFTER they share one thing about
themselves with the rest of the class - in French, of course! It
can be really simple (brother’s and sister’s names, favorite color,
favorite food, what class they have next), but you should see the
poor kids who took 20+ candies struggle! It’s not that they can’t
say anything, but they can’t think of that many things to say. This
year I will have some 4th year students who will remember this, I’ll
have to remind them not to spill the beans. And I always take a few
candies myself. You do have to watch out for kids who will try to
sneak candies onto their neighbor’s desk or into their mouth, but
usually they do a good job of policing one another.
