How to Plan for When Half Your Students are Absent

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Sometimes you have those days where a large portion of the class is absent. Maybe it’s the end of the year, and there are rehearsals, games, concerts, assemblies, and photos. Maybe the sophomores are taking the PSATs, or the freshmen have an assembly. No matter what the reason, you only have half the class in your room. You don’t want to move forward with regularly scheduled content, but you also don’t want to waste instructional time. What do you do? Here are some ideas that we use in our classroom on those days!

Play Quizlet games with a vocabulary list you’re currently working on, or an old one that everyone knows! We love to play Quizlet Match Relay, which encourages students to collaborate as a team. Students share one device in teams of four, and saying that students love this game is an understatement!  

Have students choose an article in the target language on a current news topic that interests them. We like using our News Articles Freebie, because it sends students to Euronews, and they have articles for no matter what language you teach. After students read their article, they can summarize and share what they’ve learned, or create a Google Drawing with images that represent what the article was about. It’s an easy activity that can work for a wide range of levels and age groups.

Have students watch their favorite show! In our TV Shows Freebie, students watch episodes of Peppa Pig in the target language. They watch one to two episodes alone or with a partner, and then write down words they recognize, words that are new, and a short plot summary. This is also great for emergency sub plans!

There are tons of more ideas and freebies in our Free Resource Library. Check it out!

Did we miss any great ideas? How do you plan with all the end-of-year interruptions?

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