French sub plans – short stories for reading comprehension
It can be very difficult to make French sub plans – the substitute almost never speaks French, and they may or may not be able to use technology, so leaving something online may or may not work.
With first year French, sub plans can often be based on basic cultural information. That way students are still learning something new, even if the sub doesn’t speak French. But with second year French, it can be disappointing to give up a day of French language input. If you assign something in French and the sub doesn’t speak French, it can cause issues when the students get stuck.
I wrote these short stories with this in mind – French sub plans that can be fun and interesting for students, but with enough structure and guidance so they can do the work, even if the sub doesn’t speak French.
Each short story has a glossary of words for students, so they don’t have to get distracted looking them up. The stories have comprehension questions, as well as a retell and rewrite activity – so students can practice their production as well as reading. Many of the stories have cultural references built in, and non-fiction passages or infographics to accompany them. There is enough to keep students busy for 1-2 days, depending on the length of your class periods.
Of course, these don’t have to be used as sub plans. You can also add them to your class library for free voluntary reading or use them to read together as a class. They are fun stories, and I’ve found that students enjoy them.
What teachers have said about the French sub plans:
These are excellent additions to my “classroom library” for my heritage speakers and kids who are ready to do more. I haven’t read every one yet but what I have read are fun ideas and the supporting activities are creative, colorful, and useful for confirming / demonstrating comprehension.
This resource has been perfect as our textbook often doesn’t have level-appropriate reading passages for my kids.
I would highly recommend it for some extra fun and engagement. My students loved it. Merci!
As usual a great resource. I used one of the activities for an unplanned sub day in French 2. Students enjoyed the story and it was definitely comprehensible. Thank you !
I have used several of these both as lessons when we had a sub and on a few days when I “just couldn’t”. I have sets of these in a crate for emergency use!
Thank you for these! I use them when I need a sub and they are a great activity for my students to comeplete when I am out.
These are very unique stories that keep students attention. This is a great resource to add to a lesson or as a lesson themselves.
I use these as my emergency sub plans and I love how they’re set up in a way that students can understand and be successful with the exercises as well. Excellent resource! Merci!
These stories were great in my classes. My students loved them and enjoyed reading out loud to each other. Thank you for a great resource!
It’s always hard to find French resources, but these short stories were great for my students to read and interact with.
I used one of these stories during distance learning with my level 2 students. I’m glad to have the set so that I can spread the stories out this year. It’s nice to not have to come up with a story yourself sometimes. The story I used was engaging.
French reading lessons
La Guerre du Pumpkin Spice Latte French short story for intermediate/advanced French learners
French reading lessons
La Belle Soeur French short story for beginning/intermediate French learners
French reading lessons
Joe and the Talking Sandwich silly French short story – great for sub plans!
Want all 9 stories?
If you’re looking for a full set of sub plans, you can buy the bundle of all 9 short stories at a discount! Just click the text below or the product image to the left.
French Short Story Bundle – French sub plans & reading comprehension activities
Prefer to buy on TPT? Here’s the link for that: French reading comprehension activities Short Story Bundle – French sub plan