Each year, we host a simple event to celebrate the Carnaval de Québec with the students who are learning French in our school. It doesn’t have to be complicated or elaborate to celebrate, but over the years, we’ve learned some tips to make the day go smoother. Come check out some of the events you can do to make your day special.
What is le Carnaval de Québec?
The Carnaval de Québec is a winter festival held in Québec City, Québec, Canada. It is also known as the Québec Winter Carnival. It’s the largest winter festival in the Western Hemisphere and one of the world’s largest winter carnivals.
Why Do We Learn About le Carnaval de Québec?
As part of learning French, learning about French culture is important, too. Since we teach in Canada, we focus on cultural events in French-speaking regions of Canada.
Setting up the Day for Carnaval de Québec
How many students?
Everything depends on the number of students who will be participating. We have found that groups with 8-12 students work best. Larger groups often mean there aren’t enough resources. If you have volunteers helping, they don’t have the same level of classroom management to keep things under control.
Depending on the grade levels for your school, you can do family groupings (mixed grades and classes) or by grade level. Family groupings have the benefit of older students caring for younger students. They can also have a few older students work as leaders to keep track of group members. Grade-level groupings mean you can adjust the station slightly for the different groups.
How long will the stations be?
Each station works well for about ten to fifteen minutes. Longer stations end up causing behaviour issues and if the activity is too short, unengaged students cause problems.
The sweet spot is ten minutes of engaged work. We put five minutes between stations to allow students to get to their next station and settle in. This means students rotate every fifteen minutes.
We have tried different ways to notify groups to change stations. If the whole school is involved, bells or announcements work. But, if only half your school is celebrating Carnaval, it’s important not to disturb the rest of the classes. It can be challenging if one of the stations runs chronically long, so we try to keep one person available to notify groups to stay on time. We sent out text messages from a timekeeper in the office.
You can also assign a member of each group to keep track of time. They can be given a copy of the schedule.
Gather Volunteers
Ask for volunteers from your parent community. Teachers and support staff should be used to teach and direct students, but volunteers can help set up, run stations and help supervise. Ask for volunteers at least a month before your event. Remind your volunteers in the days before the event.
Do you need a sign-up list? We’ll send this editable list when you sign up for our email list. You can also find it in the resource library.
What happens to recess breaks?
If your school has recess breaks, then you will need to decide when recess will happen. We modify the schedule for the day and use the recess about halfway between the stations. Everyone goes outside at the same time and returns to their last station before the rotation begins again.
What if the weather is too cold?
Many of the station ideas are meant to be inside while others are meant to be outside. But what happens if the weather doesn’t cooperate? Some outdoor stations could be moved inside as is or with modifications.
How to Plan
Divide the number of students by the number of students you want in each group. That is the number of stations you’ll need. You will need at least one adult per station.
Select a variety of stations both indoors and out. Try to organize the outdoor stations so that students can dress and undress before and after all the outdoor stations. Make the first outdoor station and last outdoor station shorter activities to give students time to change.
If possible, gather all the materials for all the stations in a central location. This is where the volunteers will pick up their materials along with a map showing each station’s number. Make sure they know the station their groups will come from and the stations they will be moving to. Give them a bit of time to set up the station. During this time, put all the students in a central location where they can be divided into their teams. Have each team select a captain. That person receives the map and needs to know the first station they’ll be starting on.
The clock starts when students leave for their first station.
Stations for the Carnaval de Québec
We have gathered up a selection of all the different types of stations we’ve tried over the years. It is not possible to do them all in the same year. The number you choose will need to be based on the number of adult volunteers and number of students. You should also consider the materials needed and how much you need.
Under each heading is a selection of activities. Each can be its own station. The amount you do depends on the length of your stations.
Indoor Stations
Music, Dance, or Videos of Events
This will require speakers, a computer, and internet access. Students will need a place to sit to view the screen. If you’re going to try dancing, you’ll need a large open area. Each video could be its own station, but we recommend mixing videos with other stations so students are not just sitting and watching. For example, one station could learn about the Métis sash, and the next station could learn how to tie the sash.
Listen to jig music and Carnaval songs. Students can listen and name the different instruments or talk about how the music makes them feel. They can even try to dance!
Salut Bonhomme! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t45YVI81XCk
Learn a jig with On gigue. The instructions are in French, but they are acted out, so your students can give it a try. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYbuiIzBZqs&list=PLVVZPWHAW5mVV2waATaf5rD72Rn_N9MY2
Métis Jig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlEt_ImSV8
Métis Sash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7TeEt5qa0Q
This is a video that shows lots of the different events that take place during the festival. How many can your students name? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQeMGXSVIT4
Tasting or Eating
We use the tasting and eating stations as a chance to use the washrooms and wash our hands. You’ll need a garbage can to take care of the cups, but also keep a bucket or sink for students to pour out leftovers.
We have listed some of the different foods that we’ve served over the years, but they are not all served in a single station. We also want to remind you that you need to be aware of student allergies or food preferences (for example, students who don’t eat pork cannot have marshmallows because they are made with gelatin).
Hot Chocolate
Make hot chocolate and serve it in heatproof cups. You can also serve it with marshmallows. It helps to have chairs and tables for students Have students help fill up the cups for the next group. This station may need more than one volunteer if any cutting or cooking is involved.
Sugar Pie (tarte au sucre)
We had families make sugar pies from this recipe and send them to school on the day of the event. Ask pie bakers to include a list of the ingredients they’ve used. If they need their pie plate back, ask them to label the bottom with the name and room number of the student who will be taking it home.
A volunteer cut the pies into tasting pieces (small squares). Each piece was set on a paper towel (napkin). Students came to the station and took a piece to try. We found that we could get 20-24 pieces per pie quite easily.
At the end of the day, we handed out pieces in the parking area to parents and guardians picking up children.
Sugar Pie Recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/213595/miraculous-canadian-sugar-pie/
There are lots of different sugar pie recipes, but we’ve chosen the one with the simplest ingredients.
Tire d’erable
We had a special guest bring us maple taffy. Search your local area for businesses that can bring a “sugaring off” party to your school. We had a food truck and it was wonderful.
Poutine
If a food truck can bring you poutine for lunch, it’s amazing. Older students were able to place orders in advance and the food truck delivered them for us. Students had to ask for their order in French.
Reading, Listening, Learning
Teach French and Learn About Carnaval
We created a set of French lessons that practice French reading and writing skills using cognates. If you are teaching French, you can break up the activities to make them into stations. You can find the Carnaval de Québec in our TpT Store ($USD) or our BN Shop ($CAN).
Read a Story
Chances are, your stations are going to be too short to read an entire book. Instead, we recommend reading a passage or excerpt and discussing it. You can also read non-fiction to learn about Carnaval or the history of the event.
These are books we’ve found and used over the years:
- Le Carnaval de Québec by Jean Provencher
- Malaika’s Winter Carnival by Nadia L. Hohn
- Québec Winter Carnival and Ice Hotel by Guy Davis and Norma Hensler-Davis
Learn to Tie a Sash
If you have sashes for students to try on, they can practice tying them properly. Here are the instructions (scroll down to the instructions) in four simple steps.
Make a Collaborative Poster
Students can colour a piece of a poster about Carnaval. The pieces can be assembled after the event. Our collaborative posters are designed to make it easy. Each poster comes with 18, 24, or 36 pieces, so you can get the right number of pieces needed for your whole group of participants. Find the Carnaval de Québec Collaborative Poster in our TpT Store ($USD) or our BN Shop ($CAN).
Learn to Play Spoons
Ask a local music teacher for sets of wooden spoons. Here is a video to show the basics of how to play the spoons. Make sure you talk to students about being gentle with the spoons and taking care of them so they can be returned. Here is another video that shows how complex the spoons can be (they’re such a unique instrument).
Word Games
Encourage a little quiet time with puzzles and games related to winter. Add some colouring gear or writing utensils. Make sure students put their name and room number on any pages. This way, they can be delivered at the end of the day instead of students carrying and losing them along the way.
Find Winter Word Games and Puzzles in our TpT Store ($USD) or our BN Shop ($CAN).
Bingo
Find a bingo game and play a few rounds. We have created a bingo game that uses words and phrases common to the Carnaval de Québec. It includes three sets, so you can play with English words, French words or mix and match the phrases and translations. It includes 30 unique cards per set, so it works well with larger classes. Find Carnaval de Québec Bingo in our TpT Store ($USD) or our BN Shop ($CAN).
Make a Paper Trumpet
We used this video for the instructions but did not play the video for students. Do not add the handle to the trumpet. We would like to politely tell you that these trumpets will be super annoying, so be sure to send them home with students.
Outdoor Stations
Outdoor stations require students to be dressed for the weather. We ensure the first outdoor station includes getting dressed and the last station includes getting undressed.
Tug-of-War
Get a giant rope and have groups compete against each other.
Snowshoeing
If you have real snowshoes, students can snowshoe around your school’s field. If you don’t have snowshoes, this can become an indoor design challenge where students make a pair of snowshoes out of cardboard.
Hockey Shootout
Set up nets and let students try to shoot the puck using floor hockey sticks. You can also use a ball. This can easily be set up indoors if the weather is bad. Try to set up more than one goal so more students have the chance to shoot. If you’re really well-planned, you can hang paper plates with numbers from the top of the net and students can try to score points by hitting them.
Sledding
If you have a hill and some crazy carpets, kids can have some fun. If you’re in the prairies and have no hills in sight, have students pull each other around on the toboggans. They can race as small teams.
2×4 Ski Race
Using a pair of 2×4 wood boards, attach rope loops for students’ boots. Each pair should have spots for at least four students (but this will depend on the length of the boards. This video has simple instructions for how to make the skis. Have two groups race against each other. This is also a fun one for the staff do to.
Frozen Tag
Choose a designated area. Choose one to three students to be “it.” Students will start at one side and run to the other trying not to get caught. If they get caught, they freeze in place and can reach to tag other students. The game ends when there are one to three students left who then become it for the next round. This works better in a gym where there are walls to limit how far students run.
Accuracy Throw
Hang hoops off the soccer goalposts at different heights. It’s even better if you have a few different sizes. Students will stand at a designated line and throw a ball, trying to get it through specific hoops.
Obstacle Course
Design an obstacle course inside or out where students have to race through. You can time teams and then post the scores to see which teams are the fastest throughout the day.
Free Time in the Playground
Never underestimate a little downtime. Students love to hang out on playground equipment, especially if it’s not where they are usually allowed to play.
Frisbee Toss
This can be a simple throw-and-catch game or you can set up pylons in the field and students can aim for those. You can even set up a course where students have to try to hit each of the pylons with the frisbee to earn points.
Curling Style Game
It’s unlikely you’re going to have an ice sheet and rocks, but bocce ball sets work in the snow. Your students can do a bit of lawn bowling in the snow-just make sure the jack is not white (we never found that one).
Steal Bonhomme’s Toque
This is Capture the Flag, but instead of flags, steal a red hat from each team. You’ll need a large area like a field or if you are inside, a gymnasium. Use two red toques as the flags.
Snow Sculptures
If the snow is just right, you can have groups create snow sculptures or make one giant sculpture that the whole school works on.
Building Blocks
Build your own ice castle. If the weather is right, you can make blocks of ice in the weeks leading up to the event. Everyone can fill an ice cream pail with water and leave it outside to freeze. On the day of the event, the ice blocks can be made into something. Just make sure that it won’t hurt anyone if the blocks fall down.
Extra Resources You Might Find Helpful
Carnaval de Québec website: https://carnaval.qc.ca/en/
Contact a local Francophone organization or association. They may be able to help secure guest speakers or help you find other resources to make your event special. The ACFA is found in Alberta.
Do You Teach French as a Second Language in Your School?
You might find some of these other posts useful:
- How to Teach French as a Second Language This is designed for teachers who are just starting to teach French.
- How to Assess French as a Second Language This is designed for all French teachers.
- How to Learn French With French Canadian Celebrations This is designed for French teachers who want to teach about culture as part of their French lessons.
Use these French class bell ringers to start your FSL class. We’ll send them to you for free when you sign up for our email list. If you’re already on the list, find them in our Resource Library.
What else?
What else have you added to your Carnaval celebration? We’d love to hear about it so we can add it to the list. Leave us a comment below.
