I know how hard it is to get beginning French students to speak, and I’m always looking for meaningful, low-prep ways for students to practice. Over the years, I’ve learned that varying activities doesn’t mean creating brand-new speaking tasks every time. Just as each class is different, every year brings new students with new strengths and challenges. We’re busy, and our students are busy—so let’s not make more work for ourselves than we need to.

That’s why I rely on simple speaking frames and reusable charts to get students talking quickly and with confidence.

Why “Favorites” Works So Well in French Class

Talking about favorites is low-pressure and personal. Students already know how to answer questions about themselves, and the structure stays the same all year:
Quel est ton/ta _ préféré(e) ?
Mon/ma préféré(e) est __.

Because the frame doesn’t change, students can focus on pronunciation, gender agreement, and fluency instead of panicking about what to say.

How I Run This in Class (No Prep)

• Put students in pairs.
• Model one example out loud.
• Give them 5–8 minutes to rotate through prompts.
• Circulate and coach for complete sentences and agreement.

That’s it—students are speaking in French immediately.

Plug-and-Play Favorites (French)

Rotate a few of these anytime to keep things fresh:
ta couleur préférée
ta nourriture préférée
ton équipe préférée
ta saison préférée
ton film préféré
ta pizza préférée
ton endroit préféré
ton passe-temps préféré
ton sport préféré
ta chanson préférée
ton fruit préféré
ton livre préféré

For More Adventurous Groups

Turn it into a quick game:

• 1 point for a complete sentence
• 1 point for correct agreement (préféré / préférée)
• 1 point for clear pronunciation
  First to 5 points wins.

For Quieter Classes

Let students write 2–3 answers first. Then have them read their sentences to a partner. Switch partners once. This lowers anxiety and builds confidence.

Teacher Tip

Keep this as your emergency speaking activity for short periods, sub days, tech issues, or low-energy classes. The structure stays the same, so students feel confident—and you don’t add to your prep load.

Want This as a Ready-Made Classroom Game? (French & English Handouts)

If you like this one-sentence speaking frame, I’ve turned it into print-and-go partner speaking games for French and English.

These Talk About Favorites handouts take the exact structure from this post and turn it into a student-run speaking game:

• Built-in sentence frames (no modeling needed after day 1)
• Clear masculine/féminine examples (préféré / préférée, favorito / favorita)
• Student choice lists for “favorites”
• Speaking and writing accountability (students say it and write it)
• Point system to gamify partner speaking
• No tech, no prep — just print and go

They work perfectly for:

• warm-ups
• partner speaking practice
• stations
• sub days
• low-energy classes
• end-of-class speaking checks