Activity Inspiration
Every year CPF BC & Yukon Chapters invite French-language entertainers and educators to their communities to inspire and engage local students, hosting events like movie nights and Carnaval, inviting theatre troupes like Théâtre la Seizième and musicians like Will Stroet and Charlotte Diamond, Chapters find many engaging ways to enrich students’ French learning at school.
On this page you can find out what our Chapters have been doing to energize their local students with French-language entertainment.
In 2019 we asked asked our Chapters about their most innovative or successful fundraising activities and events, and for tips on how to pull off a great socio-cultural event. Here’s what some of them had to say:
Fundraising
“We put on a Bingo night with 3 of us executives volunteering. We do this event two to three times a year. We added selling pizza that night so we run it 5:30-7. We ask for donation items for our prizes. This is our main fundraiser.” (From CPF Cranbrook)
“We have sold CPF t-shirts and CPF toques with the logo.” (CPF Cranbrook)
Marketing
“We have put a CPF float in our winter parade. We hand out flyers and again, highlight Bonhomme. French Immersion students are on the float as well.” (CPF Cranbrook)
“We also advertise in school newsletters, through emails, social media and through teachers to encourage volunteers to come out and get involved. Since we do not have volunteers, we only run events that only need a handful of us.” (CPF Cranbrook)
Keys to Successful Event Planning
From CPF Nelson:
“Our events have been successful as we have some extremely dedicated volunteers who are totally committed to making things work for our youth.
“We try to make sure that we have a coordinator for Carnival, and a “champion” for any of the other events that we take on. This way we don’t have just one person who is trying to do everything.
- “Our new coordinator met several times with the former coordinator to receive briefings, and took initiative to make some changes as well.
- With changes in technology, we no longer need to hire a DJ—which was the case 11 years ago! Now, we have some high-school student volunteers with a playlist, and a speaker. Voilà. Instant DJ. And an impact on our bottom line.
- New coordinator drew in another food vendor; added variety to our sales.
- We also welcomed in a youth fundraising group selling Tourtières.”
CPF Saanich:
- Set up a volunteer team.
- Encourage them to brainstorm away from monthly meetings.
- Include a social aspect to make events fun and thus interesting for your volunteers.
- Get 2 or 3 quotes for any item you may want to purchase to support an event.
- Consider sponsorship/donations – you’d be amazed what organizations are able to offer (example, Starbucks for free coffee!).
- Make your requests as early as possible.
- Consider asking your PAC to make donations/secure help.
- Must haves:
- Objectives/goals
- Budget
- Volunteer time
- School buy-in/support
CPF Sooke:
“There is always risk in doing something different, but we feel it is worth it as the only way to find rich new experiences for the students.”
Budgeting
CPF Nelson:
“Budgeting always tricky for a small chapter. We really try to encourage memberships, as this is a great way to bring in some money. We also look for partnerships in the community and in-king donations. And, we don’t spend much! We rely on social media, community announcements, word of mouth, and the schools to help promote events and to reduce advertising costs. We do run a print ad for our winter carnival.”
Volunteer Engagement
CPF Nelson:
“Fun & FOOD. We also have food at our AGM, at Carnival, Volunteer Appreciation. And, to give people the opportunity to PARTICIPATE in the evening. We like to have student volunteers to: prepare/serve food, wear the mascot costume, select and play the music; to feel that they are contributing. The high school students who come to wear the Mascot costume recall when they were first in French Immersion; it creates links in the program.” (CPF Nelson)
Questions to keep in mind?
CPF Saanich:
- Does the event/investment help improve French Learning opportunities?
- How much volunteer time is required?
- Does the event attract new members?
Partnerships
CPF Sooke:
“Building a partnerships with the French Advisory Committee helped us to source and pay for quality events in our district.”
Visit this link for ideas for French language performers and workshops.
Alternative Events + Contests:
National Verbathon® Tournament
Verbathon® uses sports-style games where students are timed on how fast they can conjugate verbs as well as use those conjugation skills in context to form sentences in additional activities. The strategies in Verbathon® are adaptable to a wide range of levels. These learning activities are included in the detailed teacher’s guide with easy-to follow instructions. The Verbathon® kit contains the guide, a customized wall chart, hundreds of colour-coded cards consisting of pronouns, verbs in different tenses, adjectives, negations, and more.
It is free to participate in the tournament, but the participating teachers need to have a VERBATHON® kit to take part.
Website: https://www.verbathon.com/
Rendez-vous de la Francophonie’s Écris-moi sans fautes!
RVF’s “Write it Right” is a spelling competition with cash prizes. The spelling challenge is prepared annually by the Language Portal of Canada team. (The Language Portal is an initiative of the Translation Bureau at Public Services and Procurement Canada.) Click on the correct bolded word or group of words out of the eleven suggested pairs, and you could win $1,000!
Website: https://rvf.ca/fr/concours/ecris-moi-sans-fautes
Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie
Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie is a charitable organization that encourages Canadian students to fall in love with poetry through reading, recitation, and writing. They provide an online anthology of classic and contemporary poems and comprehensive teaching materials on our website, all free of cost. They also run student recitation competitions, where they award over $75,000 in travel and prizes annually.
Their anthology includes work by English and French poets from across Canada and around the world, their teaching resources are available in both languages, and students can compete in our recitation contests in English, in French, or bilingually.
Saanich – Drumming
“An engaging performance where one drummer introduces a variety of drums from around the world and then plays each drum. This will be organized around the current COVID restrictions and regulations. We have hosted this event in the previous year and it was so well received and the children enjoyed it.”
Langley – Voyageur Adventure
“Grade 10 French immersion students will take part in a voyageur adventure to bring the story and experience of the fur trade voyageurs and their canoes to life. Held in the French language and weaving in first nations and Metis perspectives, the events will include songs, culture and history. It will use canoes and portaging, story telling and team building.”
South Cariboo – Conversation Club
“This project would be similar to the free program being offered via CPF BC & Yukon, but localized utilizing French speakers in our community or from our community. For example: FI secondary and post-secondary students. It would be a virtual Conversation Club for more French speaking practice for a group of elementary students (up to 5) within two grade levels. This is desperately needed in our community and would benefit both the younger students and the older students who are in a role to “teach” and explain what they know to someone younger. This would also help with attrition and provide purpose for our older students.”