French Walking Dictation Lesson - sports/opinions/reasons/present tense

Walking dictation tasks are amazing for practising the full range of skills in MFL within a physically active and engaging context. How does it work? The idea is that when you finish a topic you bring together all the elements of the language in a summative activity. Texts are stuck on the wall outside the classroom, spaced out appropriately to avoid congestion, and the students have to read and memorise the sentences and take them back into the classroom. They say the phrase to their partner / team who then listens and writes them down. I always position myself at the door to ensure students are safe as they go in and out of the classroom and keep an eye on the teams working at the tables. Make sure you have enough texts on paper to make the activity at the end (possibly after swapping papers and probably using a different coloured pen). Roles can be assigned and rotated as the task progresses and extension tasks will ensure the full range of abilities are challenged. A positive marking approach means the students should be motivated by the task. Finally, by awarding a grade for attitude, the students have a degree of accountability to each other and should work better as a team. As a follow up activity, the text can then be used as a homework task whereby students adapt a model answer to write their own. Feedback on how these activities go are always welcome.