25 Ideas for MFL activity days
The following ideas are intended as a "pick and mix" selection which can be used in a
variety of ways.

Some are suitable for activity days at the end of the summer term or could
be used for a specifically designated MFL immersion day.

Others are designed as longer projects which can be integrated with work in other
areas of the curriculum

Many of the ideas can be adapted for use in either context.

Some of the activities are specifically linked to French, but the large majority are
non-language specific and can be used for any language
1. Display of home town (map with pictures of main buildings/shops with labels).
Pupils take photos of their town with digital camera for display or for Powerpoint
presentation.
2. Prepare a tourist brochure to attract visitors to the area (possible use of ICT –
word-processing, clipart, Publisher, digital camera, Powerpoint.)
3. Write and act out playlets/role plays (possibility of recording on video)
4. Learn and sing songs from the country or write own words to well-known tunes
and record or perform in assembly.
5. Dress up and re-enact a historical event. Perform to another class or in assembly.
and/or make a video.
6. Fashion show with commentary (use video camera)
7. Create and display menus for typical meals from the country (ICT work).
8. Food-tasting e.g. cheese, sirops, baguette, café et croissants, pain au chocolat,
sandwich aux tomates, tarte aux pommes, tortilla, cakes, etc. Get pupils to give a
score to each thing they taste with opinions.
9. Cook a typical national meal or prepare a particular dish e.g. croque monsieur,
salade niçoise
10. Arrange with school canteen to have French/German/Spanish school lunch.
Pupils to suggest dishes, find out recipes and design menus for the canteen
11. Treasure Hunt around the school (inside and/or outside) with directions in the
foreign language
12. Town trail where pupils follow directions in the language and fill in the places
they come to at a particular marked spot e.g. Sortez du collège; tournez à droite,
continuez tout droit jusqu'aux feux. Il y a un grand bâtiment jaune à droite.
Qu'est-ce que c'est? (A) .................
13. Produce a creative writing booklet of poems, jokes, songs, stories, acrostics,
puzzles, quizzes etc.
14. Cartoon competition with captions
15. French games (boules, Loto etc.)
16. Pupils collect as many images of the country or countries where the foreign
language is spoken as possible from magazines, newspapers, travel brochures,
food and drink wrappers and containers etc. and mount a display
17. Pupils collect names and prices of French/German/Spanish food and drink on sale
in supermarket. Compare with prices of similar English/British items. Make a
display to show which foreign items can be bought in the local shops. Identify
where they come from and mark on map for display
18. Make signs in the foreign language for around the school
19. Create a "Rogues' Gallery" of teaching staff with photos/cartoons and descriptions
20. Group surveys e.g. most popular food/drink/sport/leisure activity/school subject or
amount of pocket money/pets etc. Produce graphs to show results (using ICT)
21. Timeline (decorated) of festivals in the country for display. Alternatively,
timeline of the school year - could include all pupils' birthdays
22. Write to tourist office of twin town or of a chosen area. Pupils compare the area
with their own. Could be simple lists of what there is in each area with pictures.
23. Produce a labelled map of where the language is spoken around the world
(Geography department may be able to help with providing materials on
Francophone countries e.g. Mali, Sénégal, Québec etc.) Use the Mali photopack
on SLAMnet
24. Contact the local Upper/High School to “borrow” their FLA and/or VIth formers
25. Pupils prepare what they think is typically representative of life in Britain (e.g.
fish and chips, MacDonalds, country cottages with roses, rain, a post box,
telephone box, police station etc.). This could be linked to the town trail (no.12)
where they take photos of things, people and places which they feel represent life
in their home town. Get them to justify why they want to choose these things.