Each year, we organize a Festival du Voyageur for students learning French in our school. Over the years, we’ve learned some tips to make the planning easier because there’s already enough to do in February. Come check out these activities and see which ones the French learners in your school might enjoy.
What is le Festival du Voyageur?
The Festival du Voyageur is an annual winter festival traditionally held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is also celebrated in schools and French-speaking communities throughout Canada. It celebrates the rich history and culture of the voyageurs. Voyageurs were French-Canadian fur traders during the 18th and 19th centuries who traded and mapped the area known today as Canada.
The ceinture fléchée (arrow sash) is a brightly coloured woven belt traditionally worn by voyageurs. It’s now a symbol of the festival and Francophone pride.
We traditionally hold our celebrations in late January through February, depending on the weather and school schedule.
Why Do We Learn About le Festival du Voyageur?
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.
Learning about the voyageurs is part of learning about Canada’s fur trade and their role in mapping the land known as Canada today. It honours the culture and traditions of Francophone, Métis, and First Nations communities. The event teaches the importance of resilience, community, and connection with the outdoors.
While this is a winter festival similar to the Carnaval de Québec, the Festival du Voyageur celebrates Indigenous culture. Learn more about the festival at their official website. If you’re looking to celebrate the Carnaval de Quebéc in your school, try this post, How to Host a Carnaval de Québec in Your School.
Setting up the Day for le Festival du Voyageur
How many students?
Everything depends on the number of students who will be participating. We have found that groups of 8-10 students work best. Larger groups often mean there will not be enough resources. If you have volunteers helping, they may not 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 group 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 activity. 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. 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 supervise. Ask for volunteers at least a month before your event. Remind your volunteers in the days before the event.
What happens to recess breaks?
Since many of the activities are physical, we usually run the stations over recess. Students are given lots of time to move, socialize, and even eat as they rotate through the stations.
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.
Since this is a winter festival, we recommend having as many stations outdoors as possible. Make sure your adult volunteers are dressed for the weather, too.
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 le Festival du Voyageur
Activities and Attractions
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 where they can 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 be learning about the Métis sash, and the next station could be learning to tie the sash.
Listen to jig music or watch Métis dancing.
Métis Fiddling Video from Parks Canada https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhgEch-TMVA
The Métis Fiddle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRDGJgkjeaw
Rick Mercer Visited le Festival du Voyageur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54BoRMnPEcU
Listen to paddling songs. These are songs that the voyageurs sang while paddling to stay in time together.
J’entends le moulin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZhQAKQOkcQ We will continue to look for a video with a more traditional version, but this is an adult choir.
En roulant ma boule https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeV4S8-7HJc
Tasting or Eating
We use the tasting and eating stations as a chance to use the washrooms and wash 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).
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.
Tourtière
Tourtière is a French-Canadian meat pie that dates back to as early as the 1700s. It is named for the type of dish it was traditionally baked in, known as the tourtière. This can be made with many different varieties of meat, including pork, beef, bison, turkey, chicken, and wild game. We’ve never actually made this for school, but if you have some master chefs, this might be a treat.
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.
Bannock
Bannock is a simple flour and water bread traditionally cooked over a fire. We have some special families that treat us to bannock. There are many recipes online, but it is so much better when made traditionally by people who can explain why bannock is a traditional food of many Indigenous groups.
Reading, Listening, Learning
Teach French and Learn About Le Festival du Voyageur
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 Le Festival du Voyageur 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 early Canada or any traditional stories or Indigenous teachings.
These are books we’ve found and used over the years:
- The Illustrated Voyageur by Howard Sivertson
- The Littlest Voyageur by Margi Preus
- The Red Sash by Jean E. Pendziwol
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 le Festival du Voyageur. 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 Le Festival du Voyageur Collaborative Poster in our TpT Store ($USD) or our BN Shop ($CAN).
Bingo
Find a bingo game and play a few rounds. This is a good chance to have students learn the numbers in French.
Paddling Practice
It’s unlikely you have paddles, but students can hold metre sticks to learn the different paddling strokes.
If you have scooter boards, you can use an upside-down floor hockey stick with a sock on the end for a very entertaining attempt at paddling.
Portaging
The voyageurs had a large amount of equipment that needed to be removed from the canoes and carried when the river conditions were too rough. Have students portage gym equipment from one area to another. Talk about how this would have been challenging for people with a canoe and all the supplies without roads or paths and during bad weather.
Leg Wrestling
This needs a space large enough for two people to lie down on the floor. To learn to leg wrestle, check out https://www.canadago4sport.com/Combative/leg-wrestle. This is also a fun event at a boring staff meeting.
The Voyageurs Outfit
Students can learn about the different clothing worn by the voyageurs. A quick image search online will bring up photos of people wearing different traditional outfits. Discuss the common items. Most voyageurs wore a toque (tuque) on their head, a drop-sleeve shirt, drop-front pants, and a waist sash. During warm months, they wore mocassins, while they wore leather boots in the winter. As the voyageurs spent more time in Canada, they adopted more of the clothing worn by Indigenous People.
Furs
If you have someone who can bring in different animal furs or taxidermied animals common during the fur trade, invite a guest. Students love to touch the different furs and learn how they were collected.
Guests can explain how the furs or animal skins were used during the fur trade. They can also talk about different ways Indigenous people have used these materials traditionally and which ones are still used today.
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.
Canoeing
Since you’re not going to have real canoes in the dead of winter, try making cardboard canoes and see if they move on the snow. You can also use scooter boards in the gym.
Broom Ball
This game is a lot like hockey but is played with brooms and a ball instead of skates and pucks. This could be played outside or in the gymnasium. Here are instructions for how to play.
Dog-Sledding
One student sits on the sled while a group of friends pulls the sled with a long rope. Be careful no one trips. Teams can race each other.
Scavenger Hunt
Make a list of objects around your school and let students find them. This can also be a project in the days leading up to the event because students can make suggestions about what should be on the list.
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.
We have this set of French class bell ringers that you can use to kick off each of your FSL classes. We’ll send them to you for free when you sign up for our email list. If you’re already on the list, you can find them in our Resource Library.
What else?
What else have you added to your celebration? We’d love to hear about it so we can add it to the list. Leave us a comment below.
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