How to Teach French Procedural Writing
Are you (and your students) tired of your French writing program? Maybe you’ve been doing the same units for years and are looking for a little refresh? You NEED to start a French procedural writing unit immediately!
Ok, I know I sound dramatic but seriously, procedural writing is by far my favourite French writing unit to teach. There are just SO many ways to make the unit hands-on and more authentic to students.
During distance learning last year, I was dreading every time I had to teach French writing because of the challenges of not being able to circulate and be there beside the students. However, I will say that even procedural writing online was TONS of fun!
What is procedural writing?
Alright, so let’s get into it. Procedural writing is essentially about teaching procedures or step-by-step writing. It is simply an instruction-based writing format that allows students to clearly sequence and list out any “how-to” procedure.
You’ve probably seen units or resources involving procedural writing before. Some popular units in primary are how to build a snowman, how to make hot chocolate, etc.
I think what makes procedural writing so fun is how TIMELY and SEASONAL you get to be with it! Teaching this unit in the spring? Why not learn how to plant a seed! The possibilities are truly endless.
Introducing French Procedural Writing
Have a strong hook in order to get your students excited about procedural writing in French!
I mention this a lot over on my Instagram, how I truly believe having a great HOOK to any unit or lesson will help set the stage for how the rest of the lesson will go. If you can manage to captivate your students with whatever it is you’re learning, then chances are, they’ll be more engaged, will pay better attention and thus produce better results!
My favourite way to start a procedural writing unit is by first asking students what they know how to do, Seriously, stay very general with this. I’ll write out a list on a large chart paper of all the things they know how to do. Some of the popular answers are usually: ride a bike, tie shoes, brush teeth, etc.
I’ll take one of the examples from the chart paper and ask students to give me the steps. Let’s go with brushing our teeth for example. I’ll ask students: “what do I need to do first?”. I will allow a couple of different answers from different students to see if we all come up with the same general answers.
Here is where you get to have fun, and sometimes even shock your students. If it’s something that can be done in class, say like tying a shoelace, go ahead and actually go over the steps they gave you. That’s right, take volunteers to list out the process and do EXACTLY what they say. Chances are they’ll miss a step and you’ll get to be dramatic and look very confused. This is a great segway into WHY it’s important to learn about procedural writing, which will help tie the entire unit together.
Another great way to hook your students to the idea of procedural writing is by showing them the classic PB&J video. For those who are unfamiliar with this video, watch it below and you’ll understand why it’s such a hit! While the video is in English, you can go ahead and ask your students questions following the video. Ask them what happened? Did the dad succeed? What problems arose? Etc. This type of questioning will get them to understand why it is so important to give FULL DETAILS during procedural writing.
Your students will LOVE this video (trust me) and it’s a great introduction to your French procedural writing unit!
Planning your French Procedural Writing Unit
Now that your students are hooked, half the battle is already won. You’ll want to decide what exactly you want your students to write directions for. For older grades, I think open-ended tasks may be better, allowing them to choose a topic from a general theme. For example if you want all students to follow a recipe, they can write about how to bake or cook anything they choose. This way, they’re already writing about something they like and will stay engaged throughout the process.
For primary grades, I suggest going more specific and giving them only 1-3 options, especially if it’s their first exposure to procedural writing. You’ll need to scaffold a lot and provide sentence prompts in French, which is why it gets complicated if the options are too open-ended.
Here are some great primary-friendly topics to write about for procedural writing in French:
Comment faire des biscuits
Comment sculpter une citrouille
Comment se brosser les dents
Comment se laver les mains
Comment nettoyer ta chambre
Comment faire du maïs soufflé
Comment faire du vélo
Comment faire un sundae à la crème glacée
Comment jouer au basket
If you’re looking for a full unit on French procedural writing that is already made and done for you, I can help with that! I’ve carefully crafted 4 different French procedural writing units to coincide with all four seasons of the year. That way you can revisit procedural writing quarterly or simply choose the unit depending on what time of year you plan on teaching procedural writing in french!
Each unit comes with everything you need, from the sentence prompts, vocabulary lists, hands-on activities, task cards, worksheets, graphic organizers and of course a final writing template to display around the classroom or on a bulletin board!
CLICK HERE - get 1 unit for free when purchasing the bundle
Depending on when you’re reading this, it may be around the holidays! If you’re interested in teaching your students procedural writing during the month of December, you can grab this freebie all about how to decorate a Christmas tree in French!
While not all students celebrate Christmas, this unit focuses on the elements of decorating a tree rather than the principles of Santa Claus or Christmas specifically. You can check it out and see if it would be a good fit for your classroom, after all, it’s completely FREE!
Click image to download this free unit!
Hope this post helped give you some ideas on how to implement French procedural writing with your class! It truly is such a fun time to practice authentic writing skills with your students while crossing off some curricular expectations at the same time.
Happy writing!
