A typical day in French class includes the four main components of learning a foreign language: speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
Students speak and get a participation grade. In French 7 and French 1, a student must say at least ten sentences every week in French to receive a successful grade.
Students also have to become proficient in listening to French. I speak French as much as possible in the classroom. In these levels, I will say a sentence in French, then in English, and then French so that students become more familiar with the language. In French 1 after the Christmas holidays, I will conduct a majority of the class in French.
Students are also responsible for reading assignments. This is to help build vocabulary and sentence structure. In French 7 and French 1, students are reading for information and basic understanding. Such reading tasks could be short passages, advertisements, and other forms of francophone realia.
Students will be assessed upon their writing skills as well. In French 7 and French 1, students will typically get one 30-50 word essay a month or be required to translate phrases using the vocabulary taught in class.