5 activities to assess listening skills in the FSL classroom

5 activities to assess listening skills in the FSL classroom

Listening is one of the strands of assessment in Canadian FSL classrooms. However, When I first began teaching French as a second language, I struggled to think of varied ways to teach and assess this skill with my students.If you’d like to read more about how to specifically assess listening skills, you can read about it on my blog post Assessing listening skills in the French classroom.

 Below are 5 activities that I have incorporated into the classroom to assess students’ listening skills.

1. Role-playing activities: Encourage students to engage in role-play activities where they listen and respond to each other in French. This will help you assess their listening skills, as well as their speaking abilities.
2. Audio exercises: Provide students with audio exercises that challenge their listening comprehension. For example, you could play a recording of native French speakers having a conversation and ask students to write down what they hear.
3. Listening quizzes: Create quizzes that test students' listening comprehension. For example, you could play a short audio clip and ask multiple-choice questions about what was said.
4. Oral presentations: Have students give oral presentations in French and pay close attention to their listening skills as they respond to questions from their peers.
5. Peer feedback: Encourage students to provide each other with feedback on their listening skills during group activities or pair work.

Remember, It is important to provide students with regular opportunities to practice their listening skills and to provide them with constructive feedback on their performance. This will help them to improve and to feel confident in their abilities.

If you are looking for some listening activities for your FSL students, here are a few you may enjoy:

Les animaux task card activity

Are you looking for another way to help your FSL students gain confidence while speaking French? Check out this fun and engaging speaking and listening activity with a cute animal theme. Your students will work in pairs to describe and try to guess which animal is being described.

Les monstres task card activity

Are you looking for another way to help your FSL students gain confidence while speaking French? 

les monstres task card listening/speaking activity

Check out this fun and engaging speaking and listening activity with a cute monster theme. Your students will work in pairs to describe and try to guess which monster is being described. 

Dot to Dot listening

These 8 French oral communication activities are presented in dot-to-dot format. They are a great way to practice listening and speaking skills. 

dot to dot listening activity

The letters and numbers are NOT in traditional numerical dot-to-dot format. Students mustwork with a partner to complete the activity. One partner reads the order while the other partner follows the oral instructions to reveal a mystery picture. 

This activity works well for older students who are practicing listening skills, or for younger students learning their letters and numbers in French. 8 different dot-to-dot activities are included in this resource, each containing a unique set of instructions to create a different animal. An answer key for each puzzle is included.