Raise your hand if you are a Core French teacher trying to plan a French music unit that targets proficiency and the beauty of French music? I’m about to share ALL of my tips and tricks to planning the most fun, engaging and relevant Core French music unit.
But, first – let’s chat about my context
I am a high school French teacher in British Columbia, Canada. In my department, we’ve decided that we are going to teach our French music unit to our Grade 10s.
Students begin high school in Grade 8 in our district. Therefore, by the time they get to grade 10, they’ve had two full years of Core French class.
These students are therefore intermediates.
Why a French music unit? What’s the purpose?
Well, why not a French music unit?
First of all, the way to a French student’s heart surely has to be music right?
Okay but jokes aside, Francophone musicians and French songs are a really important part of my pedagogy. We RARELY (read:never) ever do fill-in-the-lyric type of activities.
That said, we do make music videos, talk about our opinions, compare and contrast French music artists and French songs, AND more!
Humans have very personal relationships with music. We associate certain songs with happy or sad times of our lives. Sometimes we hear a song a decade or two later, we don’t remember the song name or artist but somehow the lyrics start pouring out of us.
What am I trying to say?
I’m saying that I do my very best to cultivate a love and passion for French music and French songs among my Core French students. I won’t lie – I think I am great at it!
If you are looking for a teen-approved playlist of songs for French class? Do be sure to read my blog post on super catchy French songs for beginners.
Before we begin, check out these Francophone singer posters!
This past summer, I made posters on many of my personal favourite French musicians! I have these up in my classroom and my students LOVE to look at them! Classroom decor + culture + music all in one poster!
Who is this particular Core French Music unit ideal for?
This particular unit is perfect for Intermediate French students in the high school setting.
It’s totally up to you to see if it would work for your students!
Unit objectives
I introduce these objectives to my Core French students at the very start of my French music unti :
- Je peux décrire mes propres préférences musicales
- Je peux parler des origines des genres musicaux au sein de la communauté noire aux États-Unis
- Je peux exprimer mon opinion en français
- Je peux décrire les chansons, les musiciens francophones et les clips. Mes descriptions ne seront pas parfaites et c’est tout à fait d’accord
Structure & format for the perfect French music unit
French music related Question du jour
I begin every lesson with a “question du jour” in all of my classes. During our French music unit, I switch to music-related questions!
The goal is quite simple – I am trying to get my students to chat about their music preferences in French!
Many times, I will have that question guide my lesson. This means that I end up answering the question as well and then I do a little lesson en français about my answer.
Qui est le chanteur préfére de votre prof?
This is the perfect example of what I just described above. The very first French-music themed question du jour is a super simple one.
After most of these question du jours, I lead a mini-lesson sharing my own answer with images and targetted language.
Essential French music terms
The very next thing I do, is introduce my students to really important French music terms and French verb structures they need in order to communicate in French.
Qui est Stromae?
I love introducing my students to Stromae at the very start of the French music unit. Students have most definitely come across his songs and many even have Papaoutai memorized!
In our slides, I introduce students to Stromae’s story, his most iconic songs and we watch some of his interview videos.
Here is one we watch together!
Les origines des genres musicaux
One of my absolute favourite activities is this reading comprehension activity where we learn about the origins of music genres.
What we learn is that Black communities in the United States are responsible for creating some of the most-loved musical genres AND many other music genres come from these genres.
This reading comprehension activity comes with pre-reading and post-reading activities. If you are new to really structured French reading comprehension articles, do be sure to read my blog post where I break down my strategies.
Quel est le genre musical?
Next I introduce my students to a variety of French songs of different genres. The purpose of this activity is to guess what the musical genre of the song is!
I try to pick reggae, country, some Céline Dion from the 1990s and other unique genres that I know my students have not been exposed to.
Un clin d’oeil sur Lous and the Yakuza
We absolutely CANNOT do a French music unit without learning all about Lous and the Yakuza. She has an incredible story and we spent a lesson or two reading about her and then watching one of her interviews on her YouTube channel.
This interview below is one of my all-time favourites because it is in this video that I realized what a true gem Lous is. In this video, Lous and the interviewer (Dolores Bakéla) weaves talk about la négritude, important figures like Paulette Nardal, feminism, colourism, la fierité noire / Black pride, and so much more!
La chanson française – Édith Piaf et Charles Aznavour
One of the very last activities we do lasts about three to four periods. Here’s how it works :
- I divide my class into three groups
- Each group studies either La bohème, Que c’est triste Venise or La vie en rose. La bohème is harder and La vie en rose easiest. So I am paying attention to my students’ strengths and who needs a challenge vs. who might need a confidence booster with the easier lyrics
- Students spend 2 classes analyzing their song
- Students present their song to the class!
Please note that this activity is entirely formative and there is no mark attached to any of it.
Assignments & projects
I have students talk about their music preferences on a CD! In this assignment, they use all of the vocab and structures that we have been using in class in speaking, listening, reading and writing activities.
The final project is actually a music video where students break down a French song of their choice. In the beginning, they talk about who the artist is and what the song is about. They then act out two minutes of the song! Finally, they end off with telling us what their opinion of the song is. They also create a brochure
Resources
If you’re looking for pre-made resources, I’ve got you!
This bundle has all of the slides and documents mentioned in this blog post!
