September is fast approaching but I'm excited to share that the 2025-2026 French Digital Calendar is now live on Teachers Pay Teachers. There is a Google Slides version as well as a PowerPoint version. For those who are hesitant about allowing TPT access to your Google Drive, consider the PowerPoint version and, after downloading it to your computer, you can upload it to Google Drive and it will automatically convert to a Google Slides document. Here is what both versions include:

• a weather board with images and word cards with additional weather descriptions Il y a du brouillard and C'est partiellement nuageux as per user feedback.
• a pre-populated monthly calendar with weeks beginning on Sunday from September 2025 through to August 2026
• a pre-populated monthly calendar with weeks beginning on Monday from September 2025 through to August 2026
• a Comment ça va? board featuring Ananas with interchangeable eyes, mouths, and word cards
• a "Quelle est la date aujourd'hui?" board with all the word and number cards needed to formulate a complete response.
• NEW! The tally chart slide can be used to count the days by simply moving the vertical and diagonal lines to create les marques de pointage. (There are enough to count to 200.) It now features number tiles and a place value chart!

Everyone who knows me can attest to how much I love being a Core French teacher. I knew as young as 10 years old that I would become a French teacher and I still recall the thank you card I wrote to one of my elementary French teachers who inspired me to pursue my passion. A few years ago, I took a break from the classroom and joined the SIS Project to become a teacher-trainer. Once the term of my position ended, I ended up taking a position where I taught Core French for half of the day and French Specialty (French Immersion) for the other half, since there weren't any full-time Core French positions available in my area. Visual Arts was one of the French Immersion subjects I taught to grade 5, 6 and 8 students. 

As much as I love art, I struggled to find ideas that worked within my schedule given the time constraints, especially seeing as I had to travel from class to class. Luckily, I knew of a number of digital art activities that I had come across over the years. One such activity was the use of Google Drawings to recreate portraits, which I had learned about at a 2016 Google Summit workshop with media specialist George Barcenas (check out slide 4 for an animated gif demo). He demonstrated how you can insert a photo onto one side of the Drawing canvas and trace over parts of the head and face using the curve line. The trick is clicking multiple times as you draw the line until you reach the starting point to close the shape. You can then right-click on the shape to edit any of the points (or double-click on it), format the colour of the line and shape fill/gradient, and even add a drop shadow. 

Then move it to the other side of your canvas. Thinking in terms of layers, it is recommended that you begin with the head and hair since they will be the lowermost layers, and then draw the facial features, since every time you add a shape, it becomes the topmost layer. Or, you can simply right-click on the shape and click on Order to change the layer.

As you can see in the photo above, there are many different layers to the eyes and mouth but a tip I shared with my students was to choose a face that was somewhat symmetrical since, once they make one eye, they can duplicate it, right-click on it and select Rotate to flip it horizontally. This avoids having to start from scratch and they can always edit the points if need be. It's the same technique I used for the teeth. I created one tooth, duplicated it and adjusted the points. I used this activity in my grade 8 class and was truly impressed by their work!

Additional Tips:

• Use the eye dropper tool to create custom colours that match the original photo.
• Use a basic circle shape for the iris and pupil, layering them underneath the eyelids.
• Click on a shape to activate the Format Options menu (or right click on a shape) to add a drop shadow, which helps create a sense of depth, rotate a shape using precise degrees or to lock aspect ratio. 

• a weather board with images and word cards with additional weather descriptions Il y a du brouillard and C'est partiellement nuageux as per user feedback.
• a pre-populated monthly calendar with weeks beginning on Sunday from September 2024 through to August 2025
• a pre-populated monthly calendar with weeks beginning on Monday from September 2024 through to August 2025
• a Comment ça va? board featuring Ananas with interchangeable eyes, mouths, and word cards
• a "Quelle est la date aujourd'hui?" board with all the word and number cards needed to formulate a complete response.
• NEW! A tally board to keep track of the number of school days. There are enough tally marks to count to 200.

UPDATE: Click here if you are looking for the 2024-2025 French calendar.

Another summer is almost over, which means many of my teacher friends are preparing for a new school year. I, on the other hand, have been busy working all summer on the SIS training team for my school board, a temporary role which will end in June. Last week, I finally managed to find some time to update my French Digital Calendar for the upcoming 2022-2023 school and added a few extra touches. Here is what it includes:

• weather board (with images and word cards)
• calendar with weeks beginning on Sunday (now from September through to August!)
• calendar with weeks beginning on Monday
• manipulative cards for l'année, c'est...
• NEW! A Comment ça va? board featuring my latest drawing of the beloved Ananas (with interchangeable eyes and mouths, and word cards)

TIP: Clicking on the kebob menu also gives you the option to favourite ("star") an image or add it a folder for ease reference later on. 

TIP: If students are using a computer and find it hard to make their drawings precise, they can try zooming in. On a Macbook, for example, you can double tap on the trackpad to zoom in, and double tap to zoom out. (Or pinch your finger and thumb together, place them on the trackpad, and drag them away to zoom in gradually. Then pinch them together to zoom out.)

Don't forget to check out these popular blog posts for French teachers:

• NEW! Interactive French Calendar and Weather Board 2021-2022
• French Word Search: Find the Opposites - Google Jamboard
• Give Your Virtual Classroom an Instant Makeover
• My Virtual French Classroom in Google Slides
• Interactive French Activities for Distance Learning

Click on the image above to access additional resources, tips and tutorials.

The other day, I received a message on Facebook from someone who had a set of digital letters but needed help adding letters with French accents. It got me thinking about how I would use magnetic letters in class and would just have students manually add any required accents using a dry erase marker. But really, why aren't there magnetic letter sets out there that contain French accents? (If you do know of a place that sells them, please let me know!) Of course, the Google educator in me was determined to create my own digital magnetic letters, complete with accents, to be used in an interactive Google Slides activity. After creating and publishing several Google Drawings, I know have a full set of lowercase letters.

Don't forget to check out these popular blog posts for French teachers:

Interactive French Calendar in Google Slides

French Word Search: Find the Opposites - Google Jamboard

Give Your Virtual Classroom an Instant Makeover

My Virtual French Classroom in Google Slides

Interactive French Activities for Distance Learning

Click on the image above to access additional resources, tips and tutorials.