Planning a Francophonie unit can be both exciting and overwhelming.If you are anything like me, you mostly learnt about the Francophone world independently. However, you are not alone, fellow French teacher! I am going to share with you a bunch of the activities and resources I use as part of my Francophonie unit.

Please note that this is the unit I use to introduce my French language learners to the history of the Francophone world.

That being said, Francophone cultures are infused into every single French classroom routine and lesson. Sometimes Francophone cultures are infused minimally in the lesson and other times they are a significant part of our class that day.

Why teach a Francophonie unit in French class?

Learning a language isn’t just grammar and vocabulary lists.

Language is people. Language is culture.

My first language is Punjabi. I cannot separate Punjabi from the food, the music, the history, the recipes, customs and practices, and so much more.

Language is a vehicle for culture. We absolutely cannot separate these two!

So yes, it is not only very important to teach about why French is spoken throughout the world and to learn about the people who speak it, but it also makes French classes so much more engaging.

STOP! Before you scroll – download these Francophonie maps activities for free.

Who are these activities ideal for?

These activities are ideal for high novice to intermediate French students.

Francophonie unit overview

In this Francophonie unit, students will :

• learn basic information about the French Empire, colonization, and the current French-speaking world
• explore current statistics about Francophones and Francophone places
• research and describe a Francophone country or region for their flag project

Activity 1 : start your Francophonie unit talking about WHY French is spoken around the world

This two-page reading comprehension article is designed to teach your students about the history of the Francophone world.

This part of the unit is crucial. We absolutely do not want to glorify the French-speaking world.

We have to remember that colonization is the reason why countries in Africa, Asia, and North & South Americas speak French.

It is crucial that we understand that former colonies have complex relationships with the French language and it is okay for them to define their relationship.

This article does just that. No romanticizing. No glorifying.

Discover some fast facts about the French-speaking world with your class

Start a discussion with your class with this graphic organizer.

It is the perfect way to begin a Francophonie unit!

How many French speakers are there throughout the world? How many countries are part of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie?

Who were the founders of the OIF? Where is the OIF located?

What are most populated Francophone cities in the world?

Tip : before you read this page with your students, have them guess these questions as a class!

Francophone city capitals, new vocabulary, and flags of Francophone countries

I’ve come up with tons of activities that complement your Francophonie unit objectives.

A creative summative project – individual Francophone country research project

End your unit with this creative summative project.

Students will research a Francophone country or region of their choice.

They will then decorate this flag with information they have found.

50 different templates have been provided for you!

Play this game : où est le pays francophone ?

This is a really fun game to play at the start of the unit.

Divide your class into two teams. Have 1 representative from each team come up to the board.

Reveal the Francophone country of the round. Both participants must correctly circle the country on the map.

This game reveals how much students know or do not know about the geography of Francophone countries.

French reading comprehension activity idea : quel pays francophone suis-je ?

This a reading comprehension activity where students read a description of a Francophone country.

The objective is to correctly guess which Francophone country is being described!

After reading a few of these together, I have my students write their own descriptions for an assignment. This is a great little mini assignment for a Francophonie unit.

What other supplementary resources to support this unit?

• Teach about France’s current empire with this YouTube video
• Play a Francophone trivia game
• Read about diverse Francophone dishes
• Try a Map Talk (learn about map talks from Afro Franco)

The post Teaching about the Francophone world: Francophonie Unit Ideas appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.

When thinking of French class, the first images that may come to mind are those of an Eiffel Tower, cheese, poutine, and cute classroom decor. The very last thing that may come to mind is the harm that you are perpetuating with your teaching practices. Even so, you may not be considering how your content and French curriculum uphold colonial hierarchies, thus perpetuating violence against racial & religious minorities.

The time to disrupt these harmful practices is today. I hope that you take the content in this blog post as an opportunity for reflection and action. Just reading and listening is not enough. We must commit ourselves to meaningful action immediately.

Please note that this blog post is the result of my own experiences as a Core French student, French undergrad student, a full-time French teacher in BC, and a participant in French teacher social media.

Simply adding diverse resources to our Core French or French Immersion curriculum isn’t enough

Ever since the murder of George Floyd, I have seen so many French teachers commit to diversifying their French curriculum.

However, simply adding diverse resources to your existing units is not enough. This is especially the case if your teaching practices, on the whole continue, to reinforce colonial hierarchies.

It’s like putting a bandaid on a broken leg.

We must examine why some of our teaching practices are problematic and how they continue to uphold colonial hierarchies.

Your content and resources are still eurocentric

Eurocentric French curriculum and content are deeply problematic as they play a major role in perpetuating racism and white supremacy. Continuing to teach French using eurocentric resources legitimizes the history and heritage of your white students, whilst rendering invisible the existence of your BIPOC students.

To put it simply, eurocentric resources reinforce racial, ethnic and religious stratification in society.

Many French teachers still rely heavily on the use of outdated textbooks. These textbooks teach the French language from a white, French perspective. Most of the content revolves around Paris, France, “French culture” (stereotypes) and the lives of white Parisians.

Additionally, these textbooks often entirely neglect the lives, cultures, and experiences of racial and religious minorities living in France. Given the policies of universalism and colorblindness in France, this history of marginalization and oppression is not at all surprising.

French-speaking African countries, the French Antilles and French Overseas Territories are entirely neglected in FRIMM and Core French curriculum.

Remember that French textbooks aren’t the only resource that can be eurocentric. Your choice of literature, picture books, music, and content must be thoroughly analyzed.

Marginalized voices continue to be left out of the conversation

Think of the classics taught by French language arts teachers in high schools. Or the French novels studied by elementary and middle school French immersion classes. How many of those French classics are written by francophones from diverse racial and religious backgrounds?

Did francophones from diverse racial and religious backgrounds just not exist during this period? Or was it that they didn’t experience success due to their race and religion?

I understand that white FLA teachers may feel that these French classics are a part of their heritage or the “French Patrimoine”. However, this French Patrimoine neglects the very people the French Empire colonized and subjugated for centuries. Why are their works not considered to be worth reading and studying in the French classrooms?

There is also the fact that French classics, filled with white characters, do not represent all our diverse students. How can book after book about medieval white characters be relevant to the lives of our BIPOC students?

The French literature chosen in FLA classes must be reflective of the students in that classroom. In fact, French literature must :

• inform white students about the lives and experiences of BIPOC
• empower BIPOC students

Questions to consider when selecting French literature for the classroom :

• What problems do your racialized students encounter in life?
• How does your reading list ensure that your students are heard and seen, and that their peers learn about their lives?
• What trials and tribulations have the families of your students endured? Also, what stories need to be shared in the classroom?
• How does your reading list contribute to a society that is more empathetic, informed, critical and trauma-informed?

Therefore, the answer is pretty simple. French Language Arts teachers must diversify their reading list.

You are promoting colonial hierarchies in your French curriculum

Here are some examples of colonial hierarchies you may be upholding as part of your French Immersion or Core French curriculum :

• linguistic superiority – promoting French, or even standard French, as a superior language
• avoiding teaching about racism, genocide, police brutality, colonialism because your students ‘don’t have the language to do it in French’
• only teaching about standard, hexagonal French
• centering Christianity

Do you leave space in your French curriculum to teach about Creole, Michif, Chiac or Verlan?

Also, do you teach about how the Arabic spoken in Algeria and Tunisia differs from the Arabic spoken on the Arabian Peninsula? Do you listen to stories and read articles about how empowering these languages and dialects are to the minorities who speak them?

Or do you only teach the standard, Hexagonal French?

Do you center Christianity in your pedagogy? I know you may say that Christianity is a part of the French patrimoine. However, Francophones and francophiles can also be Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, Buddhist. Are they not part of French patrimoine? And if they aren’t, why not?

Remember that Christianity was a violent means through which racialized people were conquered. Christianity meant rape, genocide, murder in the colonies. By continuing to only promote Christianity, and to avoid all talk of other religions, you are partaking in this violent colonial legacy.

And if you are reading this and you are Christian, I want you to ask yourself what biases and colonial hierarchies you are bringing into your classroom. Are these biases and colonial hierarchies preventing you from celebrating and teaching about your students’ religions? About the religions of people who live in the same society as you?

Remember that every opportunity you take to inform your students about diverse religions may mean that an innocent family is spared from violence.

Your content and resources do not address colonialism and the violence that preceded “la francophonie”.

When looking to bring culture into the classroom, many French teachers immediately think to do a single “francophonie unit”. This single unit cannot begin to cover the complex history of the French Empire.

Before we even begin to teach about all of the countries and places that speak French, we must address why they speak French. We must create a space where our students can listen to the stories of those who were subjugated for centuries.

While it may seem as though colonization occurred long ago, remember that people and countries all around the world continue to deal with the legacies of colonialism. These legacies are political, social, economic, and environmental.

Human rights violations and justice in French curriculum

There must be space within Core French & French immersion curriculum and content to address human rights violations and the search for justice.

To only present francophone people and places in a positive light is to teach your students 50% of the topic. To understand la francophonie, our French as a second language students must also learn about the adversity, resilience and the ongoing fights for justice occurring in many francophone communities.

The post How your French curriculum reinforces & upholds colonial hierarchies appeared first on FLE Avec MmeD.