Top 5 French Pop Songs for the Classroom 2019

When I was a teen, I learned so much language through music and loved trying to connect with new French music (through CD's back then - a bit harder!). Listening to the latest music trends in France is nevertheless a common request from our students these days. Nowadays, we can easily find music through YouTube, Spotify, social media... and our students are also great a finding music themselves. You can find my Youtube playlist for 2019 through this link.

Here are the top 5 songs loved by my advanced French classes (Year 10 +) this year:

Anglèle feat. Roméo Elvis - Tout Oublier (2018)

Hitting the charts with so many tunes, Angèle has become the ultra-pop French idol with her feminist views pushing the boundaries. My students loved the film clip with this song and bopped their shoulders along with the artists.

Clara Luciani - La Grenade (2018)

A song that continued to climb the charts in to 2019 with the incredible voice that is Clara Luciani. After seeing her at the 2019 So Frenchy So Chic in Melbourne, it's a talent that's hard not to share.

Louane - No (2018)

None other than the top teen French idol, my students love Louane! Once they're hooked to her songs, it's always a good idea to suggest Louane's beautiful starring role in the film 'The Belier Family' available on Netflix.

Christophe Maé - Les Gens (2019)

Released only a month ago, this song is packed with simple vocabulary and diverse adjectives - a must use! Did you know that Maé used to be pâtissier?

Joyce Jonathon - On (2018)

She's become a classic, Joyce Jonathon, having been around for over a decade (like the two artists above!). Another very simple song that's easy to sing along to.

What are your students listening to in the modern French pop scene? Please share!

5 best French food-related idiomatic expressions

Learning idiomatic expressions in a second language highlights many cultural insights! No surprises that in French there are many expressions with reference to food (miam!). Here are my 5 delicious favourites that I share with my students...

1. Arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe
- quelqu'un ou quelquechose arrive au mauvais moment

This idiomatic image seems to be a favourite among students as it truly expresses the feeling of finding a hair in your soup! When you 'arrive as a hair in the soup', you have come at the worst possible time. You really don't feel wanted!

Quand je suis arrivé à la fête, tout le monde m'a regardé. J'avais l'impression d'avoir arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe!


2. Les carottes sont cuites
- une situation sont espoir. Tout est perdu.

'The carrots are cooked' suggests a misfortune or a situation without hope. Being unable to turn back the clock.
FUN FACT: 'Les carottes sont cuites' was code during WWII on the London Radio to trigger operations in German-occupied territories.

Ami 1: J'ai reçu de mauvaises notes...
Amis 2: Fin, les carottes sont cuites!


3. En faire tout un fromage
- faire toute une affaire de quelquechose qui n'est pas très important.

'To make a whole cheese out of something' is to turn a nothing situation in to a big deal. I looooove cheese, so I always tell my students you can certainly have too much of a good thing!

Elève: Madame, elle a pris mon stylo!
Prof: N'en fait pas tout un fromage!


4. Rester planté comme un poireau
- l'action d'attendre longuement (immobile et sans bouger)

I always share this expression with my students as I find that many of my students don't know what a leek is! To 'stay put as a leek' is to wait a long time. If you are waiting days for something to happen or tapping your foot to meet someone, you might start smelling like an onion!

Personne 1: L'autobus va bientôt arriver?
Personne 2: J'espere que oui! Je reste planter comme un poireau ici, il y a 20 minutes!


5. Raconter des salades
- Dire des mensonges. Dire des choses qui ne sont pas vraies.

Who doesn't love to tell a few salads or 'tall tales'? (Especially as a teacher to my students...!) This is an expression particularly useful for the end-of-school (Year 12) certificate oral exam when a student is launching in to a good story. As in, '"Je ne vous raconte pas de salades quand je vous explique cette histoire si bizarre...", I'm not telling you fibs when I explain this strange story to you!


As I have only 'scratched the surface' on French idioms with food, write your favourites in the comment section below! 

French Teacher Resource: Immersion signs (alphabet and commands)

As a language teacher, I try hard to ensure that French is constantly used in a meaningful way for students to feel successful in their learning. This year, I am finally introducing language immersion in to my upper levels and have created some resources to aid in facilitation.

French themed alphabet wall in my French classroom

In my LOTE classroom, it is becoming more apparent to me that both deductive and inductive methods are necessary. That is, sometimes you need to use English as a medium to piece together grammar rules or to teach text-type features, and at other times, students can be forced to learn through the second language in full context. In particular, during worksheets activities, I have been setting a timer for 20-30 minutes and enforcing a 'French-only' rule. If a student 'slips up' and speaks in English to a friend, I tell their peers to instruct, "pas d'anglais...!" Students have found it to be a positive challenge, as a whole.

Classroom commands in easy view next to the whiteboard

Most importantly, I want my students to understand that communication is necessary in learning a language. Asking my students to speak French together highlights the need for meaningful conversation to learn French at school. It is not an easy task but I am persevering to ensure that this expectation is normalised in my classroom.

Therefore, to aid in my endeavour of ongoing language immersion, I have created the following printable Google Slide wall resources:
1. French alphabet - French/Parisian themed (great for secondary girls' school)
2. French alphabet - children's (basic) theme
3. Classroom commands and questions

Print them on card to stick on the wall or print them as small slides on A4 to give to students if you rotate between different rooms.

Do you use language immersion in your LOTE classroom? How do you facilitate immersion in a non-immersion school?

French Teacher Resource: Whodunnit?, 'Qui l'a fait?', adjectives game

Resources are most effective when students have the opportunity to create, use and share their own work. This is the kind of resource that covers all that, and my students have loved it over and over!

To enrich the learning of adjectives and adjective agreements, students engage in a good game of 'Whodunnit' or 'Qui l'a fait?'!

The Whodunnit game is organised in 3 parts:
1. Students complete a suspect profile
2. The class plays a Whodunnit game
3. Individual feedback collected by students

The whole activity covers 2 lessons, as you will need to collect the criminal profiles to create the Whodunnit game for the following class.

Students listing details from each 'recherché' profile hung around the classroom.

1. The suspect profiles

To practise physical and personality descriptions, get the students to draw a criminal and give a description. Depending on the level of the class, you can organise the profiles in different levels based on what you wish to test for. 

For my Year 8's, I would provide space for dot-points against different categories, e.g. hair, eyes, personality. For Year 10's, I would ask students to write a paragraph describing their criminal. 

You can access some examples here:

Year 8 level profile worksheets

Year 10 level profile worksheet

Collect the profiles from students at the end of class. Provide written feedback to students on the profiles, and decide on the "criminals" for the game. For a class of 25-30 students, choose about 5-6 student profiles as the criminals. Make sure the descriptions are varied and creative or targeted to vocab you want students to focus on. You will use these descriptions to create the 'dossier de police', the police suspect file, which you will give students to complete the game and work out the criminals during game play.

     2. 'Qui l'a fait?' game setup and play

Hang each profile on the walls. Begin the lesson by playing the 'Pink Panther' tune as students are walking in to the class - creates the investigator tone!

Go through the game instructions with students, either in French or English depending on how immersive your lessons are. The instructions for students are:

- You are a private detective (individual work) / Tu es detective privé (travail individu)

- Write down the details found on each profile (be precise) / Écrire les détails de chaque profil (sois précis)

- Once the details sheet is filled, collect the police witness file from your teacher / Quand la feuille de détails est remplie, prendre le dossier de police de ton prof

- Use the clues/statements to find out the criminals / Utiliser les indices pour trouver les criminels

- When you have the criminal names, go see your teacher! / Quand tu as les noms des criminels, aller voir ton prof!

Here is an example of the details sheet and police witness file. Change the detail boxes and descriptions based on the level of your students.

      3. Student feedback

At the end of the game, ensure that students collect their original profiles to ensure they receive individual feedback. You will also need to create an extension task for those students who complete the game quickly! Some students love these types of game a lot, and they are not always your top performing students. There is also lots of laughs and chatter as students ask each other questions about the profiles.

Have you tried this Whodunnit game? Let me know how it goes in the comment section!