Nicola Work, OFLA Editor for Electronic Media
University of Dayton, Associate Professor of French

Do you want your students to start thinking in the target language when they come to your room? Do you want to start your class in the target language? Do you have a few minutes to spare at the beginning of class? Would you like to get everyone on the same page at the beginning of class? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, I might have an activity for you. 

For starters, I like to use an agenda / welcome slide I have projected before class starts. You might ask: “What is an agenda / welcome slide?” It is a slide with varied target language content to set up the upcoming class. It can contain the date, an outline of or agenda for the class, the current weather, a quote, fun facts and “did you know?”, a cultural blurb, an image, a joke or meme, a music video (song of the week), a news blurb, a social media post, a checklist of what to do before class starts or what to have ready, and a small activity like “Would you rather?”, “Question of the day”, or “This or that?”. 

This slide can show important information to get everybody organized and ready for class; it can engage students in the target language in a fun way; it can provide short, authentic input; it can keep students busy who are ready to start the class; it can provide target language input; it can serve as a springboard for the upcoming class. The good news is that it does not require a lot of preparation. There are many welcome slide templates out there that you can use or adapt. I like to use the ones from Slidesmania.

The possibilities for activities to include at the beginning of class are almost endless. I like to start with a song (often with a music video) that I have embedded on the welcome slide. If not a song, it could be a short video snippet as well. Then, we will use the current date as a springboard for a quick calendar talk about the day of the week, the date and month, the season, and the weather – all in the target language. On a Monday, I will include a weekend chat on this slide where students share what they did this past weekend. On days when we don’t have a weekend chat, I will include an activity like “this or that”, “would you rather?”, or a “question of the day” to get everybody speaking right away. It might be as simple as “bananas or strawberries?” or “Would you rather watch basketball or football?” or “What is your favorite color?” – all of it of course, in the target language and printed on that slide. I also like to include something visual: this could be a meme in the language, a cultural artifact like a painting, a building, a musician, a tourist site, a famous person, an athlete, or a country… with captions or a brief description in the target language. Or, it could be an image we use for a quick collaborative picture description or picture talk. You could also include a “Word of the day” to teach new, relevant, and/or interesting vocabulary. In the past, I have sometimes included a “Wordle” game for the students to solve at the beginning of class. 

None of these activities have to be connected to the lesson or chapter topic; they simply get students thinking and speaking in the target language. You don’t even have to use a special agenda / welcome slide at the beginning of class – you can do some of these activities as such to get class started. 

There are so many quick and easy possibilities. I hope you find some ideas and inspiration. Give it a try – it does not take a lot of time to prepare but can be a fun way to start class right!!!