My colleague loves to use “Would You Rather” questions in her classroom and her Gr 5 students just adore them. After seeing her use them and seeing how engaged her students were, I decided to give them a shot in my own classroom with my older students and let me tell you, they were a hit! By Grade 8 it can be a struggle to get your students to speak in French so when I discovered that they liked these questions I was sold!
“Would You Rather” style questions can be great conversation starters, writing prompts, or reflection questions because they really get your students thinking. You can have really light-hearted questions, random life questions, themed vocabulary questions, or content specific questions related to concepts you are discussing in class.
I’d like to share with you 3 ways that I use “Would You Rather” style questions in my classroom to get me students engaged, participating, and reflecting on different topics.
Activity 1: Fun Discussion Topics
This is the easiest and most natural way to use these types of questions in your class. I suggest starting your day on Mondays or maybe Fridays by asking a few “Would You Rather” questions to your students. These are typically something light-hearted and fun just to get your kiddos speaking in French.
Before starting this routine, and depending on the French level of your students, I recommend going over how to respond. Review/teach specific sentence structures that you would like them to use when they are responding and when they are giving their reasons. With my Gr 8 students, I have them use sentences such as “Je préfère… car…” or “Je préférerais… car…”.
When I do this in my classroom, I pose the question, and give them 1min to turn to a friend and discuss what they would rather and why. I circulate and make sure that the students are speaking in French and I support any students who need help structuring their sentences.
After the 1min of sharing, I ask students to share with the class. This is where I get a speaking assessment. I’ll have 5-8 students share each week which typically gets me 1 speaking assessment per student each month without having to take the time to do class presentations.
I keep track of students who have shared and I make sure that everyone shares at least once a month. Even kiddos who may be anxious about sharing feel more able to share because of the pair discussion, the response structures that I provide, and that they practice each time.
You can find some fun questions to use here:
Lien #1
Lien #2
Lien #3
Activity 2: Themed Vocabulary Practice
Another great way to utilize “Would You Rather” questions is to practice specific vocabulary. I talked about teaching themed vocabulary in a previous post but this is just another way to diversify your teaching strategies.
Even in Gr 8 Continuing French Immersion (have been in Immersion since Gr 1) my students need to practice specific themed vocabulary. As young learners, our students learn the vocabulary used in a variety of life situations such as dining, asking directions, the weather, etc. But as older students, the focus becomes much more academic and they start to lose that “everyday” vocabulary.
I like to use these questions to review/practice specific vocabulary such as back to school, fall, Halloween, etc.
Here are a few examples of resources I use for this:
I will typically use these mixed in with my weekly questions or as a specific lesson/activity. If I have pre-made cards, then I’ll distribute the cards and have the students circulate and discuss the questions/answers in pairs. If I don’t have pre-made cards, then I will either have the students come up with questions themselves or I will choose questions on the spot, but always making sure to be using the vocabulary I want the students to be practicing.
Activity 3: Showing Concept Understanding
This is a great activity if you are teaching something other than vocabulary, something more complex. I use this activity in my Social Studies class to get my students to compare concepts and show their understanding of different ideas.
For example, in Grade 9 Social Studies I teach the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I may ask a question like “Que préféreriez-vous, la liberté d’expression ou le droit d’égalité et pourquoi?”
You could use these types of questions to get students to reflect upon different concepts, different events and perspectives, etc. These questions can be used in almost all core subjects. I typically start the year by doing these questions verbally and having the students discuss in groups and then as they get more comfortable with them then I have them do written responses that are submitted. In Alberta I assess “Citizenship and Identity” and “Understanding Different Perspectives” so these types of questions are perfect for these assessments.
“Would You Rather” style questions are a nice, low to no-prep activity that you can use in a variety of ways in your classroom. They are engaging for your students and offer great opportunities for participation and engagement.
Let me know in the comments if you have more ideas so that we can all share!
Have fun with these!