Allofrançais’s Parcours: The Essential Tool for Elevating Your Students’ Writing Skills!

Parcours are digital tools intended to develop French writing skills by covering all the concepts taught in class. They are designed with the principles of explicit instruction in mind. Whether you want to work on spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, or coherence, you’ll find the Parcours that meets your needs and those of your students.

So, what is a Parcours?

• A Parcours targets a specific concept. 
• A Parcours is a sequence of missions that includes explanatory videos and learning activities. 
• A Parcours culminates with a challenge that allows students to consolidate their learning and put it into practice.
• A Parcours takes about 20 to 25 minutes to complete.
• The difficulty of the missions is adapted to the student’s grade level.

Using Parcours enables you to effectively support your students in developing their writing skills, while setting them up for success.

Here are just a few of the many benefits of Parcours.

• Improve mastery of the most useful writing concepts.
• Work on revising, correcting, and improving texts.
• Improve students’ writing results in the 5 MEQ assessment criteria.
• Boost student motivation in an interactive context where they can progress at their own pace.
• Allow for differentiated instruction by focusing on student autonomy.
• Independently build on knowledge learned in class.

Parcours go far beyond traditional exercises: They place the student at the heart of a rich educational experience.

Based on the principles of explicit instruction, Parcours are a structured learning solution. Each one is designed to guide the student through step-by-step. Students learn to develop effective strategies, apply them to their writing, avoid errors, and progress in confidence, all in a dynamic and progressive learning environment.

Here’s what makes Parcours stand out:

• They structure the student's reasoning according to the steps involved in a writing situation.
• They cover concepts from all the criteria for the writing competency.
• They offer step-by-step videos (based on explicit instruction).
• They offer a structured experience presented in a logical order.

Here’s how to use Parcours:

1. Go to the Alloprof website and click on Parcours.
2. Make sure you select the correct grade level.
3. Select the area you want to work on.
4. Choose the Parcours related to the concept you want to review. For example, in the Classes de mots tab, you can choose the Orthographier les verbes « a/as » et la préposition « à ».  
5. Complete a mission.
   1. Watch the explanatory video to discover strategies for successfully completing the mission.
   2. Answer the activity questions.
6. Unlock and complete the Parcours challenge. 
7. Start a new Parcours! 

Students can click the interrogation mark if they feel stuck. Information will pop up to he;p navigate the site. They can also click the light bulb to get hints on how to answer the questions.

Note: In the classroom, it is recommended that students use headphones when working on the Parcours, to limit distractions and promote concentration.

Allofrançais’s Parcours are the result of the work of a multidisciplinary team committed to promoting French language learning and the academic success of all students. Here are a few highlights from the Parcours development process.

• The Parcours were designed by a team of elementary and high school teachers, supported by a digital pedagogy expert who established the overall vision for the tool.
• This team collaborated with university researchers in French didactics to establish the foundations of explicit instruction, and also consulted resource teachers.  
• Allofrançais representatives met with MEQ program directors to align the content with the new French program.
• The Parcours were continuously tested by 30 classes and 700 students throughout their development process, and received high satisfaction ratings. We are continuing these tests to create the ultimate tool for writing.
• Every concept is broken down into grammatical reasoning steps so students can learn and use concepts in a real writing context.
• Parcours cover the most important content in the MEQ progression of learning.