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How to use Phonics to Teach French Writing: 3 Easy Strategies

Writing is probably one of the most challenging subjects to teach, and the same applies to teaching French writing! Luckily, there are some resources and tools you can use to help your beginner French students begin writing in French.

Orthographic Mapping

Orthographic mapping involves creating relationships between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (written symbols – can be a single letter or multiple letters). When you begin to make this connection for students, they can form a relationship between what they say and what they write.

Here’s an example of the difference and relationship between phonemes and graphemes.

Escargot contains 7 phonemes ( /e/ /s/ /c/ /a/ /r/ /g/ /o/ ) and 7 graphemes (e-s-c-a-r-g-ot). Bateau contains 4 phonemes ( /b/ /a/ /t/ /eau/ ) and 4 graphemes (b-a-t-eau).

So, here’s how it makes a difference. When students learn that the sound /o/ can be written by the graphemes o, au, and eau, they won’t use the grapheme im to represent /o/. Instead, they will pick the grapheme that makes the most sense. Doesn’t mean it will always be spelled correctly, but it will certainly get closer!

You can practice graphemes and phonemes easily by doing some French orthographic mapping activities. All you need is a grid, a writing utensil and some words to work with! Students will write the graphemes in the grid. Each phoneme goes in a different box. This will help students differentiate between the different sounds and understand how they’re spelt

Have students say the word, orally break it down into phonemes, write the phonemes down in the box, and then read it back. This challenges both students’ French writing and reading skills.

French orthographic mapping activities are a great way to teach your students how to spell in French. Utilizing this in your classroom helps make French writing a breeze!

Use a French Sound Wall

This is like an anchor chart wall or bulletin board, but with French word sounds. This gives students a reference point when writing in French. Students can refer to the wall to help them with spelling as well as decoding

I also refer to the wall during guided reading and guided writing. If a student forgets, I have them look at the posters. This teaches them to use the wall, but also see themselves as capable! Great news – you don’t have to create your own posters. I have 84 free phonics posters you can download now.

These free French sound posters are great to help your students write in French.

The photo on the poster, as well as the sound highlighted in the word, helps students remember. You can print these as a poster size or scale them down to fit into journals or use as little cards.

Teach Them to Edit Their French Writing

In my opinion, editing is one of the hardest French writing skills. It can be a challenge for students to catch their own errors, especially when they are new to writing in French.

But, it’s an imperative skill and you can start small. Have students edit their own work and give them a specific thing to look for. If a student is really struggling, pull them into a small group or work 1:1 with them to correct their mistakes. Again, start small. Have students look for one or two things to fix. 

When editing, I typically have my students highlight or underline the error with a specific colour. Also, as students edit, encourage them to utilize the sound wall, their journal, or the mini card-sized sound posters when working. This will help them focus on the mistake they are looking for and give them a reference sheet to us.

I love using La grammaire du jour in primary to teach French grammar in tiny little bits. These activities help students think critically and learn to use editing skills. I have one for grades 1-3. You can find the Grade 1 one here. You can find the Grade 2 one here. You can find the Grade 3 one here.

These Free French grammar activities are a perfect way to practice editing skills in a French immersion classroom. Teaching grammar can be hard in primary, but these activities make it super effortless!

Want to read more blogs about French phonics? Check out my phonics blog posts here!

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