If you teach novice French classes, you know the struggle of finding relevant and engaging French reading comprehension texts. There is no in-between. You either find engaging texts that are waaay too difficult or boring texts that are at the right level. I am here to tell you that we can have both, fellow French teachers! Here are novice French reading comprehension articles on engaging and relevant cultural topics.

Who are these articles for?

These French reading comprehension articles are ideal for beginner French students. I have written these for my own novice Core French students in Grade 8.

But what are effective French reading comprehension strategies for beginner French students?

“but….Madame, I don’t speak French. I can’t read this!” was something I used to hear often the first few years of my career!

That and my students looking down at my reading comprehension text and not understanding a SINGLE word. Does this happen to you, fellow French teacher?

Chances are that you are making some crucial mistakes when structuring your reading comprehension activities with your students!

With my beginner French students, I teach a very specific set of French reading comprehension strategies. I have written a blog post where I break down each strategy.

All five of the articles mentioned below follow the structure and strategies mentioned in that blog post.

Looking for posters with helpful reading comprehension strategies?

I have created a set of posters that I have up on my whiteboard at the front of the classroom. They are so handy! They also go hand-in-hand with all of the novice French reading comprehension articles mentioned in this blog post.

When students forget their strategies, I simply remind them to look at the board.

Click here for this helpful visual tool

Why are these French reading comprehension worksheets ideal for novice French students?

For all 5 of the articles, I have chosen high-frequency structures and vocabulary that beginner French students learn in class. I have also purposefully chosen tons of cognates to further facilitate comprehension.

French reading comprehension topic #1 – Kylian Mbappé

So many of my novice French students not only love soccer, but they also love Kylian Mbappé. I felt that it only made sense to learn about Mbappé’s background.

High-frequency vocabulary & structures highlighted: French sports vocabulary, French nationality/ethnicity adjectives, French ER verbs, family vocabulary

French reading comprehension topic #2 – Le Louvre

The next novice French reading comprehension article is on the famous Parisian museum – le Louvre.

In this article, students are exposed to some past tense structures such as “était”.

We learn a little about the history of the Louvre and we also read about some interesting facts about the museum.

High-frequency vocabulary & structures highlighted: French adjectives, French art vocabulary

French reading comprehension topic #3 – Marseille

The third French reading comprehension article is all about the French city of Marseille!

In this article, French students will learn basic information about the city and people of Marseille.

High-frequency vocabulary & structures highlighted: French travel vocabulary, weather, French adjectives, il y a, être

French reading comprehension topic #4 – les Antilles

I strongly believe that you shouldn’t have to wait until your French students are at an intermediate level to expose them to la Francophonie.

This one in particular is filled with cognates. You can expose your Core French students to les Antilles françaises at a high novice level with the help of this article!

High-frequency vocabulary & structures highlighted: travel vocabulary, French adjectives, il y a, French irregular verbs

Reading comprehension topic #5 – le petit-déjeuner

Last but not least we’ve got one of my favourites! Le petit-déjeuner autour du monde.

In this article, students will learn about what kinds of breakfast dishes are eaten around the world.

High-frequency vocabulary & structures highlighted: French food vocabulary, country names in French, ER verbs

Grab these engaging beginner French reading comprehension texts

Each of these articles comes with structured pre-reading activities and strategies and reading comprehension questions in English and in French!

Grab your copy of these cultural reading comprehension articles

The post 5 novice French Reading Comprehension Articles for Beginner French appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Are you a Core French and/or French Immersion teacher looking for ideas and activities for a rich, meaningful, and engaging French food unit? Let’s dive into some engaging activities I do with my own students!

Who is this French food unit for?

These French activities and resources are ideal for novice to intermediate French students. I teach high school French classes so these activities are most ideal for this age group.

STOP! and download this freebie first

The qualities of an engaging French food unit

First, you must establish what your goals are for your French food unit. Here are my own personal goals :

• to have students communicate their personal preferences
• to increase student proficiency in the French language
• to teach about diverse francophone and non-francophone foods, dishes, and food-practices

Teach about Francophone cheese!

One of my favourite activities for a novice-level French food unit is to read about Francophone cheese.

I keep the French reading comprehension article super simple.

I’ve never done this, but I’d love to have students bring in cheese and do a class cheese-tasting workshop! How much fun would that be?

With each different cheese, students taste, they have to describe (from a set of vocab) the taste, texture, and flavour.

French food high-frequency word wall labels

As I teach high-frequency sentence structures, I like to put them word wall labels on my main bulletin board for students to see and use.

Begin with input, then slowly shift to output

When planning a French food unit, I ensure that the first 60% of my unit is filled with rich, meaningful input.

This means that I am planning meaningful French reading and French listening opportunities for my students.

I slowly make the shift to output somewhere around the 60% mark.

Explore Francophone dishes

If you know anything about me, you know that I love to teach about Francophone cultures. Near the end of my French food unit, I have students research and describe a Francophone dish as part of their final summative task.

Have your students describe their own personal preferences

Here’s another fun activity where students talk about their personal preferences when it comes to food.

Try this engaging French food unit with your students

Play French food bingo

I’m not sure what it is about bingo, but my students are wild about it!

Food bingo is such a great way to practice food vocabulary during a French food unit.

Try Food bingo with your students

Try question du jour prompts

Question du jour is a great way to build in scaffolded and structured output. It’s also a fantastic way to get students to talk about their personal preferences.

Try these Question du jour prompts with your students

Combine French games with French reading comprehension and try trivia

I love to turn French reading comprehension into a game. Playing French food-themed trivia is a great way to combine listening, speaking, games, AND culture. A win-win!

Try this game with your students

The post Delectable Ideas & activities for a French food unit appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

How do I get my French students to speak French in French class? Whether you are a Core French teacher or French Immersion teacher, this is probably something you struggle with or have struggled with in the past. In this blog post, I am sharing some strategies that have worked really well in my classroom so that you can get your students to finally speak more French in class.

The environment matters : students must feel comfortable and safe if you want them to speak French in class

Before we get to routines and assessment, we need to discuss the classroom culture. When I meet my absolute beginners (Grade 8s), I spend 1-2 weeks setting up the environment. Kindness and empathy are two factors that I stress. In this time when students are exploring boundaries (and trying to see what they can get away with), I also enforce my policies very strictly.

For example, when they giggle when they hear another student speak French, that needs to be nipped in the bud right away!

Additionally, how do YOU make your students feel? Can your students trust you?

Learning a language and feeling comfortable speaking in a new language is REALLY scary. World language classes are probably one of the scariest when it comes to students having to take risks on a regular basis.

Therefore, we must acknowledge the fear and uncertainty our students may feel.

In my first year of university, I had a professor who had a clipboard with all of our names on it. Each time we spoke, she would tick off our name. I guess she was trying to encourage us all to participate in class?

However, what really happened was that I became extremely anxious to the point where I had a panic attack before class.

You have to consider the impacts (inadvertent or intentional) of your policies and procedures on your students and that they may actually be having the opposite effect.

Practices/strategies I do not employ in my classroom to get my students to speak French

• Collect participation marks – we are actually not allowed to collect these in my province
• Take note of who speaks when
• Pick on my (anxious, nervous) students
• do oral quizzes or tests

Consequently, doing any or all of the things above will not actually guarantee that your students will a) be comfortable taking risks or b) speak French in French class.

What are your priorities?

What I have learned in the past few years is that I cannot prioritize reading, writing, listening, and speaking French equally. Not yet anyway!

When I was prioritizing writing French, my students’ French oral communication skills were lacking.

Now that I am prioritizing listening and speaking French, I am noticing that my students’ writing is not perfect.

However, that is totally okay!

Prioritizing speaking French has meant that I have actually exposed my students’ to using a number of sentence structures really well.

I prioritized my Grade 9 students asking and responding to questions in French for an entire semester via Question du jour and other strategies. While doing this, they implicitly picked up SO much vocabulary and sentence structures without a single worksheet.

However, there is still A LOT that they do not know. I am okay with that!

It just means that I am not assessing their work from a deficit perspective. Instead, I am marking what they DO know and what they CAN do really well.

So when I look at their journals, instead of seeing ALL of the mistakes, I view the following as successes :

• my students no longer struggle with “I don’t how to start because I don’t know French”. Their comfort in speaking has resulted in their comfort in knowing that they can express themselves in French in a number of different ways, writing being one of them
• I don’t focus on the mistakes. Instead I am excited about how much vocabulary they are able to employ without my help

Rome was not built in a day. Build routines. Be consistent.

My most successful strategy is being very strategic with choosing your French routines. Every single class, we practiced the same skills over and over again.

It felt like we went from “um my students know nothing?” to “OMG HOW DO THEY KNOW THAT??”.

I have a whole blog post dedicated to French classroom routines so do be sure to go read it for ideas and inspiration.

Okay – but, why routines in a French classroom? How do routines help students speak French and feel comfortable communicating in French?

Because Core French students need that consistent repetition! Learning a concept and practicing it a few times is not enough in a French-language classroom.

Instead, if you build routines that target very specific skills and repeat these routines, your French students get tons of repetition.

For example, by doing French question du jour every single day for a month, my students’ pronunciation improved drastically. Their understanding of sentence structures also increased. Additionally, their understanding of French interrogatives was AMAZING. All this with one simple French classroom routine!

Do you speak French in class?

I know this may sound silly, but are you speaking enough French in class? Most of your class and lesson should be conducted in the target language.

“But then how will my students understand what I am teaching then?”

The problem with the question above is that I assume you are teaching grammar and vocabulary. Therefore you “need” to teach in French in order for your students to understand.

I actually don’t teach much French grammar explicitly. Instead, my classroom is a lot like a French Immersion classroom in that I am teaching concepts in French. For example, the other day I introduced my French 9 students to la francophonie by doing a map talk all in French.

Speaking in French to your students is so important because your students will pick up so much without you actually teaching them explicitly. In my opinion, this kind of learning is truly magical and meaningful!

Greet them at the door with “bonjour” and “comment ça va?”

If you teach French 8 or French 1 (beginners), do you greet your students at the door with a “bonjour” and “comment ça va?”.

If you do not, I highly recommend it! I know it takes away from doing some prep or responding to emails. As a full-time teacher with no prep time I get the importance of that.

Greeting your students at the door means that your students :

• are immersed in the language as soon as they walk through the door
• get to practice asking / responding to the same questions every day

Break the ice by beginning every class with Question du jour

One of my students’ favourite French classroom routines is Question du jour. As I take attendance, a beginner-friendly prompt is displayed on the board and students answer it one at a time.

This strategy was so successful with my students!

It became “our thing” and the few times it wasn’t on our daily slide, students told me we couldn’t skip question du jour!

Here’s what happened after we did question du jour every single class for a whole semester :

• I didn’t have to teach French interrogative words “qui, quoi, est-ce que, quel, etc”. They learned these by seeing them every single class
• They implicitly picked up a lot of sentence structures
• Listening to their peers say the same answer was really helpful in improving their pronunciation without explicitly teaching them sounds
• By the end of the semester, my French 9 students were extremely comfortable asking and responding to questions in French
• They remembered so much of the vocabulary they had only seen a few times (win!)

These French-speaking prompts were so successful I made a bunch of different ones for different French levels!

Try out “speed-dating” once a week

The purpose of this French-speaking activity is to get your students to communicate with one another in French!

This is an awesome activity for the following reasons :

1. Students practice asking and responding to at least 10-15 questions
2. Students speak in French to numerous different peers so it’s a great get to know you activity

With my second-year French students (French 9), we do speed dating once a week! Here’s how to structure this activity with your class :

• after question du jour, ask students to take out their “speed dating” page
• Get your students to write down one question they want to ask their peers (I give them a couple of minutes to do this)
• Number everyone off as A or B
• Take everyone out into an open space on my floor. If you don’t have this, you can also take your students outside
• Have them form two lines (A and B). They face a partner and ask/respond to one another’s questions. I remind them to begin their conversations with “bonjour, comment ça va?”.
• After about a minute, I ring my bell and the person at the front of line A goes to the back and everyone scoots over one person and begins to chat with their new partner

Sometimes we don’t necessarily have time to do this activity so I change it up sometimes :

• ask Mme 30 questions (I do this 1-2 times every semester) or even ask a student 30 questions
• 15 classmates come up to the front of the classroom and the other 15 peers ask them a question (I switch to this format halfway into the semester when they have built significance confidence and comfort).

Repetition is key to getting your French students to speak French in class and this activity definitely ensures that repetition!

Repeat simple structures regularly

If you are teaching beginner French students or intermediate French students, pick phrases to repeat every single class. For example :

• qu’est-ce que ça veut dire, les élèves?
• D’accord?
• levez la main
• Est-ce que vous comprenez?
• Est-ce que je peux effacer?
• comment dit-on…
• discutez en partenaires

Sometimes we get comfortable and we give instructions to our students in English for a variety of reasons. I actually encourage you to give specific instructions in French and to repeat them over and over. Your students will actually pick up on them so quickly!

Have visual cues on your walls and boards

Lastly, utilize French posters or French classroom decor as visual cues for your students. Here are examples of posters that I like having up in my own classroom :

• French interrogative words
• French pronunciation posters
• French subject pronouns

The post How to get your French students to speak French in class appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

My love for project-based classes stems from an incredible Elementary school teacher. When I became a teacher, I knew that I really want to teach with projects. However, how was I going to make my French projects fun, creative, engaging and meaningful opportunities for learning?

What qualities do fun French projects have?

From the very beginning of my career, I have strived to make French class engaging and meaningful for my FSL students. It has been a lot of trial and errors, but here is what has been successful in my French language classes.

Fun French projects are creative & engaging

We’ve all done projects that are mind-numbingly boring and I have certainly assigned those projects. Now, I ask myself the following question :

Will I want to mark the project?

If the answer is “yes”, then I know that it’ll be a fun project.

Additionally, I want to ensure that my students will enjoy the process as well as the end result. The end result is always something creative that students can be proud of!

Student voice and choice

This one is quite simple – when marking projects, I do not want to mark 90 of the same, exact project. Wherever possible, I like to give out 2-3 options for major projects. If that is not possible, I make that there is a wide range of possible topics for that project.

In French class, I allow my students to pick their topic. Whether that is a singer, country, famous person or song – the choice is there own!

Fun French projects are not overwhelming for students – they are structured

No matter how creative and fun your project is, if it is not structured well, students will NOT find it fun. This is especially true in a French language class where students are expected to work in a whole different language.

How do I structure my fun French projects?

• Thoroughly practice the standards for that unit before beginning the project
• explain criteria to students and break down the project into small sections, each one having a different due date (accountability checkpoint)
• have them work on the draft
• check their draft in class with them and circle mistakes that they are capable of correcting

Flags on francophone countries

As part of our unit on Francophone regions, one of the first activities we do is this research project. Students research and write about :

• the capital
• official and spoken languages
• where the region is located (country/continent)
• what the region is known for
• famous dishes

If you’re looking for more ideas and inspiration on teaching la francophonie, check out these blog posts!

Check out this resource on TPT

Music videos and reaction videos (and just any videos tbh)

Everyone does music units in French class. One of my favourite ways to end of this unit is to have my students create a music video where they have to act out the lyrics.

This is not only one of my students’ favourite projects, but it is also my favourite project to mark! If music videos are too easy, I’ve also had my students do ‘reaction’ videos to a music video!

French One-pagers on any topic

One-pagers were a project I tried for the first time this year and I LOVED the end result! The one you see in this photo is one I created myself as a sample and it isn’t even close to showing how amazing my students’ one-pagers were.

I actually have a whole blog post dedicated one-pagers on the topic of racism in France. A free download of the template is also included as well as an explanation of what was required in each section.

French Me Voici Projects

Another fun project we do in French 8 is this Me voici project. Students write about their :

• city of birth
• birthdate
• hobbies
• favourite foods
• things they do not like to do

Imparfait conjugations practice flipbook

This next project is a French flipbook that I have my intermediate French students do to practice imparfait!

Exploring real life issues such as climate change

Teaching about Earth Day and the environment isn’t just something that should occur in Science class. French class is most fun when the learning is relevant to real-world issues.

The following project is one I created myself! I am very passionate about informing my students about the harmful effects of our habits. For example, the fast fashion industry is one of the most harmful industries in the world. However, most students do not know how or why that is.

This resource includes 5 infographics on the following topics :

1. Fast fashion
2. Overconsumption of meat
3. Banana and avocado farming
4. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
5. The harmful effects of consumption during Christmas

Finally, for their final assignment, students will conduct research on one or many harmful consumption habits. They will then create a booklet presenting their research.

The post Fun French projects for French class appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

“How am I supposed to teach beginner French students?” was a question I frequently thought of in my first few years of teaching. I have learned so much from trial and error in my first four years of teaching Core French. Here is a list of some dos and don’ts that are an integral part of my French pedagogy.

Before you scroll – grab your beginner French freebie!

The problem with how we have been teaching Core French to beginner French students

So here’s the deal. New French teachers come out of their Education program and tend to teach the way they had been taught French. To be fair, this is my personal experience and what I have observed from my friends and colleagues.

During my Education program, we didn’t go over the different approaches to teaching and learning FSL. We never really discussed how a language should be taught to maximize language acquisition and proficiency.

As a result, I personally had no choice but to repeat how I had been taught in High School and in my undergrad. I know that many of my colleagues have undergone a similar journey.

Now, there are actually so many things that were wrong with this and I am about to break them all down for you!

Decolonize your approach – French isn’t superior to any other language

As French teachers, we must remember that we are teaching a colonial language. Most of us (Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Americans) also live on stolen land. Therefore, it is doubly important that we are not perpetuating harmful colonial ideologies.

Some questions to consider :

• How often do you stress to students that French is a superior language?
• Do children from disadvantaged backgrounds struggle significantly in your classes?
• Are your teaching materials eurocentric?
• Do you teach with a heavy (and extremely positive) emphasis on France? E.g. are you all about the Eiffel tower and baguette situation?
• How often do you teach about certain places because they are “francophone”? (eg. you are ONLY celebrating French, and not celebrating indigenous cultures, languages, religions and ways of living).
• Are BIPOC actively represented from the very beginning to the very end of your course? Not just traumas, but are you representing the joy and success of BIPOC?
• Do you put as much of an emphasis celebrating and studying Islamic, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh celebrations and traditions as you do Christian?

I cannot provide answers and alternatives to all of the questions above in this blog post alone, but I will for sure be creating another blog post entirely on this topic in the future.

In the meantime, reflect on this question — “how could you be perpetuating harm through your French pedagogy?”.

Cultivate a culture love for the language

This has been a sentence I have been repeating to my cousin who teaches middle school French. Despite having no background in French, the poor girl is stuck teaching beginner French to her students. I know that many elementary and middle school teachers in BC are in a similar sticky spot.

Make French class a place where your beginner French students WANT to come back year after year. There is no better way of securing the success and longevity of the French program at your school!

I make my French classes really interesting, unique & fun. I am basically that French teacher that teaches Social Studies but in French! We learn about diverse cultures, we listen to tons of music and we play all sorts of games.

You will know you have succeeded at creating a culture of love for French when your students do not want to leave after the bell rings!

Focus on culture

This next point is important for not just beginner French, but all levels. Culture should NOT be a side dish in French class. It should be the main meal!

Culture is actually what makes French class enjoyable, engaging and meaningful. In other words, culture makes French class fun!

Make the learning relevant to the world your students live in

Who else remembers those projects boring French projects like creating a camping trip itinerary or creating a travel company?

While these sorts of projects seem like an interesting learning opportunity, the truth is that your students may find them unengaging because they cannot simply imagine a time when they will be camping in French (lol!).

Instead, teach your students about meaningful topics and themes such as :

• racism in France and/or Quebec
• gender inequality
• human rights issues and inequities
• mental health

Stop explicitly teaching so much French grammar to beginner French students

Seriously though! When we learn our first (and second for many of us) language as babies, it is not by memorizing grammar concepts. This method is also not effective in the Core French classroom.

What tends to occur is that French students are only able to recognize and reproduce those French grammar concepts in the limited contexts in which they learned and practiced the concepts initially.

Instead, I have discovered that teaching grammar implicitly and sometimes even accidentally through French reading and listening comprehension is far more effective.

Drop the French vocabulary lists

Who remembers receiving the longest lists of vocabulary in High School Core French? Even my University professors would do this!

Here’s the problem with French vocabulary lists – students memorize the vocabulary for quizzes and tests and then they forget it. Instead, introduce your students to smaller lists (like 5 terms) in context of an activity (reading comprehension, skit, game, etc).

They will consequently retain that information much better!

How much French are you speaking in class?

One of the biggest mistakes I made with beginner students was not speaking enough French! I was so worried that I would overwhelm my beginner French students that I barely spoke French.

I forgot one of the biggest lessons I learned during my Quebec exchanges — one learns language best when they are IMMERSED in the language. This means that the teacher must speak French to her students!

Now, don’t get me wrong – the French that is spoken to the students must be comprehensible. It must also make use of repetition, gestures, and cognates — especially for beginners.

The moment I started to speak tons of French with my beginner students, their comprehension levels increased dramatically. I was so surprised at how much vocabulary they had picked up with implicit instruction and how much they understood!

How much are your beginner French students talking in class?

This next one actually goes hand in hand with the one we just discussed. How much are your students actually speaking in French? A good chunk of the period, especially in those early classes, needs to be devoted to your students speaking as much French as possible!

Consequently – Core French should be an immersive experience

Over the years, I have come to the realization that Core French classes must be immersive experiences for our students. This IS the best practice for language acquisition and proficiency.

I know this from learning Punjabi and French in immersive environments (the home and exchange programs), and I was silly to think that it would be any different for my beginner French classes.

I’d love to hear from you now – what mistakes have you made teaching French to your beginner Core French students? What valuable lessons have you learned?

The post How to teach beginner French to teenagers appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Are you looking for creative and fun French activities to teach French adjectives? If so, you are definitely in the right place! Teaching this particular French grammar concept can be a little tricky given the fact that there are thousands of French adjective rules. That said, if you structure your lessons with intent, understanding French adjectives can be made a lot easier for our students.

Colour by code – understand French adjectives rules by exploring

When teaching adjective rules, the biggest mistake I made was TELLING my students all of the rules! This is a rule that pretty much applies to all French grammar lessons!

I know. That sounds wild, doesn’t it?

Just giving our students French adjectives lists or lists of French adjectives rules does not mean your students will have a good grasp of the concept or know how to use them!

Instead of telling your students the rules, have them explore and analyze the rules by themselves! This first activity does just that!

It took me SIX hours to create this colour by code activity and I have ZERO regrets!

I have my students explore French adjectives rules by analyzing what the adjective ends in and whether that ending is masculine, feminine, neutral, masculine plural or feminine plural.

How I set up this colour by code worksheet with my students:

1. Project the worksheet on your board.
2. Pick 1 adjective from the colour by code sheet
3. Go to www.wordreference.com and type the adjective into the search bar (see image below)
4. I zoom into the orange rectangle and show them which form of the adjective is masculine or feminine.

Me voici – get your French students to describe their identities with French adjectives

In my classroom, we spent a lot of time celebrating our identities as well as the diversity of the francophone world. One of the activities we do in French 8 (or French 1 if you’re from the US) is practice describing our identities.

This resource is a free download in my TPT store!

Acrostic poem

This next activity is simple, but effective! I have my beginner French students write an acrostic poem. Each letter of their first name will be a placeholder for an adjective that describes them.

Crayola

Finally, we have an activity which I LOVE so, SO much!

Basically, I asked my students to create a list of 20 adjectives that describe their identities. PS, I let me students know that the choice of adjectives is THEIR choice.

If they want to choose words that describe their religion, ethnicity, race, gender or sexual orientation – they absolutely can! However, if they don’t want to, that is okay too <3.

Also, if you choose to do this activity, I ask that you have diverse shades of crayons/markers/pencil crayons for your students with melanin!

The post Creative French activities to teach French adjectives appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

You’ve probably heard the expression “the way to a human’s heart is through food”. Well, the way to a beginner French learner’s heart is through French music! Here are 10 super catchy French songs for beginners approved by my very own students!

And no, Papaoutai is NOT one of them.

Don’t forget to grab your music freebie!

What kinds of French songs do beginners like, especially teens?

First off, I can’t speak for all students, but I know that my teenage students LOVE upbeat, catchy French songs that make them want to dance.

Secondly, the French music you bring into your classroom should not only be current, but so should the French musicians. Students do NOT want to watch grainy music videos from 2002. It definitely should not feel like their teacher has not updated their French music playlist in a few decades.

Also, your music playlist should be diverse. I have been in French teacher Facebook groups for years and I have noticed that French music playlists tend to feature mainly white singers from the early 2000s! This is SUCH a shame and a missed opportunity.

Include singers of different races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, and religions! Remember that representation matters!

Here’s a set of posters I made of francophone singers. French music and francophone singers are so, so important to me. Representation in this particular area was essential, so I decided to take matters into my own hands!

Click here to grab a set of these posters for your own French classroom.

How and when to play catchy French music for beginners

I always play French music during the first-ever French class as students walk in. I believe strongly in first impressions and set the tone for my course. It’s also funny how many of my students remember exactly which song I had playing the first day of class!

Moreover, I play French music at the start of class sometimes and when students are working. As a matter of fact, French music is actually a crucial part of my classroom management strategy. It is how I keep my students calm and simultaneously create a culture of love for French and for French music.

Additionally, with my beginners French students, I do manie musicale which they LOVE!

We also make music videos in Grade 9 and do a music unit in grade 10.

What is the value of French songs for beginner learners?

First of all, there is a reason why music is so popular in the first place – we love it! French music is also a great way to introduce your beginner students to a variety of francophone cultures and perspectives. This can be a meaningful introduction to topics like racism, injustices, and other social issues.

1. Dernier métro by Kendji Girac and Maître Gims

First up is the song I had on repeat the entire school year of 2020-2021. Seriously, that is how much my students loved this French song. Not only did they love this song, but they were completely obsessed and even entranced by the music video.

In fact, we watched it over and over to figure out how the ending (not going to spoil) could have happened!

Themes connected to French class : passé composé & imparfait, moving on

2. Parle à ta tête by Indila

I am sure you have heard of Indila and her very popular French songs! This one is her latest release to date. It’s a super catchy French song and the music video is very entertaining.

Themes connected to French class : present tense, ER verbs, common French irregular verbs in present tense (aller, vouloir)

3. La pluie by Orelsan and Stromae

This next one is an absolute masterpiece by Orelsan and Stromae. It also happens to be a perfect French song for beginner students as the theme is weather! The chorus repeats “chez moi il fait beau” and there are many other weather expressions and vocabulary mentioned in the lyrics.

I also just love Stromae’s dance moves and my students loved the saxophone.

Themes connected to French class : weather, present tense

4. Ça va ça vient by Vitaa and Slimane

This is one of the most popular songs from the duo Vitaa and Slimane!

Themes connected to French class : moving on/forward, the verbs venir & dire in present tense

5. T’épauler by Barack Adama and Gims

Here is another really catchy French song for beginners that your students will LOVE! This one begins with a flight to Senegal and takes place at a party for the most part. The main storyline shows the ups and downs of the main characters’ relationship. My students found the storyline to be really fascinating and it spurred a lot of discussions.

Themes connected to French class : Senegal, relationships, breakups/heartbreak

6. Magic in the air by MAGIC SYSTEM ft. Chawki

If you are about to teach your students the verb ‘aller’ or even ‘impératif’, you have to got to play this song for them! This was one was recommended to me by my sister and many of my students said it was their absolute favourite of the school year!

Themes connected to French class : soccer, Africa, aller in present tense, impératif

7. Coton ouaté by bleu jeans bleu

This next French song and music video is the PERFECT embodiment of Quebec. The dance moves and plot are so entertaining (and bizarre) that my students LOVED it.

Themes connected to French class : Québec, clothing, joual

8. Hola señorita (Maria) by Gims & Maluma

Next up, this French and Spanish song was such a hit with my students. My FSL students loved the scenery, the dancing, the fire-eating lady, and of course, they really enjoyed the beat. I even had one student say to me “Madame, I would totally listen to this song on my own time” — WIN!

Themes connected to French class : present tense, irregular verbs, regular verbs

9. Jusqu’au bout by Amel Bent x Imen Es

Up next, this is a recent release from Amal Bent and Imen Es. This beautiful French song is all about positivity, hope and perseverance. The lyrics are all about listening to oneself and going after ones’ dreams. The lyrics are mainly in passé composé and they are rich in French vocabulary.

This French song is perfect for intermediate French students to analyze and explore. It is also filled with idiomatic expressions.

Extension activities :

• create a poster showing the meaning of one of the idiomatic expressions used

Themes connected to French class : passé composé, French idiomatic expressions

10. Lionne by Dadju

Finally, this last French song for beginners is all about female empowerment! What I absolutely love about this song is all of the diversity that is present!

This song is also filled with tons of really rich French vocabulary. The lyrics consist of French verbs in the present tense and tons of nouns. It would be a really great song for students to analyze and dig into the meaning of all of the French vocabulary.

Extenstion activity ideas

• have students draw a ‘lionne’ in their life
• get students to draw a figure based off of the song lyrics

Themes connected to French class : female empowerment, diversity, present tense

Looking for a French music unit to to complement your lessons on French music?

Click here to check out my French music unit on TPT

Do you have a French song for beginners you’d like to recommend?

Share with us a French song your French students are loving!

The post Catchy & popular French songs for beginners appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Picture this – you’re looking for interesting, engaging texts for your students to read in French class and you spend hours looking for the perfect text. Then, you find what you think is a good text, hand it out to your class and that ONE student looks at it and says “um I don’t speak French??”. Here are my tried and tested French reading comprehension strategies to prevent this from occurring!

Drop the 🙋🏽‍♀️ emoji below if the above situation has happened to you!

This was totally me in my first two years of teaching! I was finding either texts that were made for FSL students that made ME fall asleep OR extremely difficult authentic texts.

What problems do teachers frequently encounter when teaching reading comprehension in French?

• The text is extremely boring for our students
• It is too difficult for students’ level of French
• The article is too simple and bébé lala
• There is a lack of representation and diversity in reading comprehension texts
• Strategies are not taught to students beforehand to break down the text so it feels incredibly overwhelming

Today I am going to be sharing with you how I structure reading comprehension in my classroom. These reading comprehension strategies have been incredibly successful in my beginner French classes.

What kinds of reading comprehension articles should we pick?

I know that many teachers reach for reading comprehension articles when they think of what kind of text to read in class. However, please note that picture books also make fantastic texts. Parfois je suis un renard by Danielle Daniel is one that I love to read with my own beginner French students!

Most importantly, reading comprehension texts must represent the diversity in our classrooms and within the francophonie. It is no longer acceptable to only have texts with white characters. Your texts should represent a wide range of ethnicities, cultures, religions, and lived experiences.

Not only is this morally and ethically important, but this is also very engaging for ALL of our students.

Additionally, reading comprehension texts are an excellent way to teach all about francophone cultures, celebrations and traditions.

French Reading Comprehension Strategy #1 – Pré-lecture

The pré-lecture is perhaps the most important strategy when structuring reading comprehension in French.

1. Analyze the title & images

Have your students read the title and make predictions about what the text is going to be about. Have your students describe the images in the reading comprehension article or text with simple vocabulary they know.

2. Look up key vocabulary & highlight it in the text

Before introducing the text to students, I choose 10-12 vocabulary words that I know my students will not know.

Next, I have them look up what they mean in English. Then, I have my students highlight those words in the text itself with a specific colour.

I have these French posters available with all of these French reading comprehension strategies handy.

3. Highlight mots amis and mots familiers

Then, I get my students to highlight mots amis and mots familiers in the text in different shades.

The purpose of mots amis/mots familiers is to build your students’ confidence and make the text more manageable.

French Reading Comprehension Strategy #2 – la lecture

1. Read Aloud #1 – out loud

The first time your students fully read the text, have them read it loud in partners or groups of 3. The purpose of this initial read aloud is practicing pronunciation and just getting a general sense of what is being said.

2. Read Aloud #2 – breaking down the meaning in the reading comprehension article

During the second read aloud, have your students pause at the end of every small paragraph (3 sentences or so) and ask them to orally summarize the significance. This activity should be done based off of what they understand.

Reassure your students that this part is meant to be difficult. Remind them that they do NOT need to know every single world in order to understand the meaning.

Do we understand every single word in English medieval literature? Nope! I also tell students that this used to happen to me with articles I read in university in the English language — articles written recently!

Additionally, instruct them to look up any words that are important for them to understand the meaning. Questions I ask my students to guide this particular piece of the process :

How will you know which words you need to look up?

• Look up words that repeat several times – this indicates that they are important

3. Read Aloud #3 – read with the class

Finally, we read the text out loud together as a class. In my class, I have a student read one-two sentences and then they are responsible for explaining what it means to the class.

In fact, this part holds them responsible during the first two parts and ensures that they actually do the work!

French Reading Comprehension Strategy #3 – la post-lecture

Consequently, I like to end off the activity by having my students do a creative task or activity linked to their comprehension.

You can do these reading comprehension strategies with your own favourite texts. However, if you are looking for inspiration, check the texts I have written on la francophonie!

Have your French students learn about Francophone places

Explore the Francophone world with this bundle of French reading comprehension articles for low intermediate to advanced Core French or French Immersion students.

This bundle contains articles on the French overseas territories of Guadeloupe, Réunion, Martinique, Guyane française, and the country of Mauritius.

Your students will learn about where each Francophone region is located, basic facts about the region (capital, area, official language), the geography, climate, the people, and agriculture and economy.\

Click here to use this resource with your students.

Seasonal French Reading Comprehension – Noël, Mardi Gras, Jour du souvenir

Explore the Francophone world and topics on la Francophonie while improving your Core French and/or French Immersion students’ French reading comprehension skills with this bundle of French reading comprehension articles.

This bundle features FIVE seasonal French articles for intermediate to advanced French students.

Topics include les origines de l’Halloween, the contributions of les dissidents antillais to WWII, and the Christmas traditions of the bûche de Noël and the fanal from Haïti as well as an article on Mardi Gras.

Click here to use this resource with your students.

French Reading Comprehension Bundle on Francophone Cultures

Topics include Haitian Vodou, la tourtière québécoise, the origins of the Eiffel Tower, impressionism, and Parisian macarons.

Click here to use this resource with your students.

Les fêtes culturelles – French Reading Comprehension Articles

The theme of this specific bundle is the cultural and religious celebrations of many Canadians. Les fêtes culturelles that your students will learn about are Vaisakhi, Diwali, Lunar New Year, Ramadan, and Caribana.

Click here to use this resource with your students.

Les fêtes Francophones – French Reading Comprehension Articles

Topics include on Francophone celebrations. This includes Carnaval d’hiver, Festima, Festival du voyageur, Festival du bois & Tintmarre.

Click here to use this resource with your students.

Francophone Monuments Reading Comprehension 

Citadelle La Ferrière and Palais Sans Souci in Haiti, la Grande Mosquée de Djenné in Mali, la Citadelle de Québec, Les Catacombes de Paris, and le Panthéon de Paris. Learning about historic monuments is a fun way to learn about la Francophonie.

Click here to use this resource with your students.

Francophone Colonial Injustices French Reading Comprehension

This is a French reading comprehension BUNDLE on colonial injustices that occurred during the French Empire. These articles aim to educate Core French and/or French Immersion students on a series of injustices that occurred in the 20th Century that continue to impact the lives of francophones around the world.

The five topics your students will learn about are : la crise de chlordécone, les enfants de la Creuse, le massacre des Algériens à Paris, Vietnamese rubber plantations, and nuclear testing in French Polynesia.

Click here to use this resource with your students.

The post How to teach French reading comprehension appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

Hey there fellow beginner French teacher. Are you feeling lost and confused about how to teach your beginner French class? Do you spend hours looking for beginner French lessons and beginner French worksheets? You are definitely in the right

Don’t forget to grab your beginner French freebie!

1. French Greetings and saluations

One of the first lessons I begin my beginner French class with is salutations and important questions! This beginner French worksheet is a great tool to practice those important questions students will be asking in French.

Bonus tip : I play musical chairs (without the chairs) and have students dance around the classroom. When the music stops, they have to find their closest peer and have a quick French conversation with them!

2. French vocabulary

This beginner French resource is a package of the most essential vocabulary beginner French students will learn in the first year of French.

It includes notes, worksheets and other tools on the following topics :

Pronunciation patterns, numbers, writing the date, colours, seasons, salutations, essential questions, pronouns, prepositions, interrogatory words, and basic vocabulary.

3. French school supply vocabulary

School supply vocabulary is one of the first things we cover in a beginner French class.

In my class, the first term of French class is intense speaking activities, much like a late immersion class. However, sometimes I need a break from the chaos and performance of this teaching style. For that reason, this resource comes in handy. Students can work independently or in partners on a series of vocab-based worksheets and activities on school supplies and my voice gets a break!

4. French indefinite and definite articles

In my classroom, I teach basic grammar and instead try to teach French in a more “natural” way. However, when I do need to teach grammar, I like my worksheets to be simple, aesthetically pleasing and efficient.

I use these notes and worksheets to teach my students indefinite and definite articles, as they pretty much are the foundations of the language!

5. Quelle heure est-il?

I am going to be honest — I do NOT love to teach time in French. I think this is probably because telling time is SO complicated in the French language.

That being said, I find that teaching students the 24-hour clock is actually really important due to its widespread use in universities and during overseas travel. I am also Canadian and Québec uses the 24-hour clock. For that reason, I teach how to read the clock AND telling time in French.

Finally, what I love about this resource is the game my students play to show their understanding of what they have learnt in this mini-unit.

All notes and worksheets included too!

6. Teaching French weather expressions

What is a MORE fun way of FSL students learning French weather vocabulary than becoming little meteorologists? This beginner French resource contains notes, worksheets, a peer survey, instructions and a rubric for weather presentations.

7. Me voici storybook

One of the very first units I begin with in FSL is an All About Me unit.

We learn adjectives, agreement, expressing our interests and preferences, etc.

At the end of the unit, students write picture books describing themselves and their preferences.

8. Food bingo freebie

Stop what you’re doing and go download this freebie pronto! My students absolutely LOVE playing food bingo. I laminate my bingo sheets and students circle their choices using whiteboard markers.

It also includes food bingo vocab worksheets.

9. Introduction aux verbes être et avoir

Everything you need to introduce your students to these important verbs is in this resource.

The resource includes step by step notes, practice, speaking and writing activities and task cards.

10. Le verbe aller et les endroits en ville

Aller et les endroits en ville is another unit my beginner FSL students complete.

They learn the verb aller, its’ conjugations, important prepositions, and location vocabulary.

One of my favourite activities in this resource is a Google Maps virtual tour activity. Students must find two locations in Québec on Google Maps and write a sentence describing what method of transport they should take between the two locations.

11. Introduction aux verbes réguliers

This was one of the first resources I ever made for my beginner French class. Don’t worry — it has been updated many times over the years!

It includes so many notes, worksheets, fun speaking and writing activities in order to help students master regular verbs in French.

12. Unité thématique : la nourriture

This is the final unit my beginner students complete and it is SO MUCH fun!

Students discover all about food and cooking vocabulary and complete a number of reading, speaking, writing AND reading and written comprehension activities.

13. Jeu de vocabulaire : la nourriture

I created this game to reinforce food vocabulary for my beginner students. I also play this in several different courses to refresh their memories when it comes to this essential vocabulary.

14. French verbs vouloir and pouvoir

Finally, I always end the year off by teaching the verbs vouloir and pouvoir. I keep it super simple and have my students complete listening comprehension activity and have them describes things they want vs. things they can do!

If you liked these beginner French resources, please share what you do in your class in the comments below!

The post 14 fantastic beginner French Resources appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

How often have you purchased French DVD films that “looked” appropriate or had a PG or G rating but were not appropriate? I will share four school-appropriate French films for a school setting in this article. The best part is that you will not have to worry about your principal walking by and seeing or hearing something inappropriate!

Are you looking for graphic organizers, worksheets and activities to supplement French films you watch in class?

French films vs. Hollywood films

To begin, French films could not differ more from their Hollywood counterparts.

For one, Québécois and French films tend to be culturally significant as they offer commentary on social issues affecting their appropriate societies.

As a matter of fact, many films in French not only offer commentary on society, but they also tend to criticize an aspect of society.

On the other hand, Hollywood films rarely offer commentary on social issues. They are often purely for the value of entertainment.

This is partly because Hollywood films are often big-budget blockbusters with much to lose.

In addition, we often think of special effects and many action scenes when we think of Hollywood films. In contrast, French films are usually small-budget projects and tend to focus more on the storyline and relationships between the characters.

Why are French films important for French class?

French films allow our students to leave the classroom and experience francophone cultures first-hand temporarily. Culture should never be the “side dish” of a French class, it should always be the “meat and bones”. This makes for engaging French classes!

Therefore, I choose at least 3 French movies per course. Each film must offer a unique perspective on the lives of francophone individuals and communities.

Diversity is also key. I show my students films with diverse characters and storylines. As a Punjabi French teacher, this is one of my biggest priorities as a French teacher. My students need to see themselves reflected in the films.

But why is it so tough to find APPROPRIATE French films?

This is an issue that prevents me from showing so many incredible French movies to my students.

Nudity and explicit scenes somehow always tend to make an appearance in 95% of films. Especially the best ones! I do not show my students films with nudity or explicit themes because I don’t feel comfortable.

I also teach 13-15-year-olds. They can barely handle a scene with a kiss on the cheek, much less anything more mature.

I also choose not to show students movies that are otherwise excellent but have scenes that I would have to forward.

Finally, I feel my students are not missing out on unique stories and perspectives because I am not showing them films with mature scenes. There are so many incredible French films that are rated PG.

Therefore, I am totally okay with skipping ones that have random nipple scenes or a random explicit sex scene. 

So here are the three films I show my 13 & 14-year-old students.

Les Pee Wee 3D

Les Pee-Wee is my students’ favourite film as it is the first one they watch in French 8.

If you are not Canadian (and even if you are!), there isn’t a more Canadian film to watch in French class than this one!

This Québécois film features teenagers who play on a minor Hockey team.

The characters are charming, funny, but vulnerable. Throughout the movie, we witness bullying, the trials and tribulations of being a teenager, family pressure and the life of a teenager after a parent’s death. 

Some other themes include friendship, sportsmanship and hockey (of course!!). There is no violence or nudity in this film. However, there are some Québecois and English swear words. This isn’t an issue in my school, but please evaluate yourself before showing students.

Whenever my students watch this movie, they cheer during the hockey games as though they are watching their favourite NHL team!

This is, by far and large, my favourite French film and my students’ favourite French film. Many of them continue to beg regularly to watch the more mature sequel!

Un sac de billes

This French movie is about a Jewish family during World War II. This heartbreaking story is about two brothers who attempt to escape Nazi-ridden Paris for the south of France. This is a beautiful French film that is ideal for Grades 6+ as it does not have any scenes of violence.

Belle et Sébastien

This charming film is set in the French Alps during World War II. This one, in particular, is a massive hit with my students given it features an adorable dog.

The film is set in a village in the French Alps. The protagonist is seven-year-old Sébastien who lives with his adoptive grandfather.

One day, Sébastien finds a livestock guardian dog. When the Nazis invade the village, the village attempts to help Jewish refugees to escape to Switzerland.

This film is particularly remarkable due to the beautiful shots of the Alps, the soundtrack and the heartfelt storyline. 

Although the subject matter is sensitive, especially for young adults who may have little knowledge of the matter or may even come from families who lost family members in the Holocaust, the film itself has no gruesome scenes and hints in subtle ways as to what is occurring. 

Overall, the film is uplifting and inspirational and one of my favourite French films in French class.

Les Choristes

This is the only film that I watched myself in High School that I continue to show to my students.

I genuinely believe that we need to show students modern literature and films that center on social issues happening around us so that our students can develop critical thinking issues.

However, this film was released in 2004, and it is the oldest film I show my students! The main character is a music teacher who begins a job at a boys’ boarding school.

He encounters young children, including some who have faced adversity and are hesitant to trust an adult. In short, this beautiful film is heartwarming and charming and demonstrates the impact a fantastic teacher can have on students. 

These are my favourite French films for French learners. If you have any films you’d like to recommend to me, please do not hesitate to reach out in the comments or through Instagram!

The post Awesome French films for French class appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.