French Film and TV list for Australian French Teachers February 2023

Nowadays, our students have access to endless amounts of French media... which is sometimes the problem. How do we sort through all of the options?

Here is my annual list of French film and TV series list for Australian French teachers.

Access the list here.

On this list, you will find the most popular streaming platforms:

• Clickview
• SBS On Demand
• Netflix
• Stan

For 2023, here are some new additions to note:

• Plenty of G and PG rated films for your younger students on Clickview. 
• You can create interactive videos on Clickview. Add questions to the video for students to answer while watching the film. See an example in the link for Dilili à Paris. 
• Un Sac de Billes (A Bag of Marbles) was recently added to Clickview. Thank you for the contribution, Paula H!
• SBS On Demand have added an array of biographies and documentaries, such as De Gaulle, Dalida and Jane B. for Agnès V. 
• Students can watch Netflix films with French subtitles. This option is not available on other platforms.
• If your students have access to Netflix at home, refer them to the TV series with global success, such as Lupin (M) and The Parisian Agency (M). 

You can't learn language just through doing verb drills

Don't just teach and use verb drills... How to teach deductive grammar successfully! 

To what extent can a learner use a grammatical rule in speaking and writing after practising with just verb drills? The answer is... very little! So often, teachers TEACH a grammatical concept to a class and provide grammar drills for practice and then expect learners to be able to use it. 

Sik (2015) found that teachers "feel better" when they teach grammar deductively and we're not wrong, the same study showed slightly higher academic success through deductive grammar teaching. However, in the same study, it is suggested that teachers need to be more aware of the needs of their students. How can we ensure that they can USE these new concepts? If we want students to build towards using these elements to communicate, what is the best approach?

Get the verbs off the page!

There are so many issues with only relying on grammar drills prior to productive use. 

Here are some scenarios:

- the grammatical rule may be too high order thinking at that time. For example, asking a student who hasn't yet accurately used present tense indicative to use the subjunctive. 

- students haven't identified this grammatical concept as something they need for their own production

- the student feels overwhelmed by the amount they feel they have to learn because the teacher is telling them they should know it

But, using grammar drills through deductive grammar teaching is not an incorrect practice! So how do we get the balance right for our students?

What is deductive grammar teaching? 

It's when learners are given a grammar rule, which is then applied to specific language examples and narrow exercises. 

When is it a good idea to use deductive grammar teaching?

• To increase awareness of grammatical concepts
• To show linguistic diversity between languages
• When students identify a gap in their own grammatical knowledge
• When students want to further their use of a particular grammatical concept
• When students wish to increase in linguistic sophistication
• To understand a grammatical form that they read or hear

Ideally, verb drills are only a small drop in the ocean and their purpose is for students to gain an understanding of the rule. 

Here are the steps you can take in teaching with deductive grammar -  a focus on form with a communicative goal:

Understanding phase

1. Understanding the concept - provide students with the grammar rule

2. Study Grammar Drills - give students varied ways to practice and understand the grammar rule. Provide them with plenty of listening input, as I do through my verb drill worksheets

Students create their own flash cards for understanding, accountability, assessment and use. 

3. Build Cue Cards - ask your students to create some cue cards to identify the 'chunks' that they want to learn. E.g., if they are learning the passé composé, they can create a few cards with high-frequency verbs and common scenarios: J'ai mangé, tu as vu, il a pris, je suis allé(e), tu es rentré(e), il est parti...

Ask them to only make enough cue cards for their learning. For example, 10 to begin should be enough.

Memorisation phase

4. Memorisation - students use the cue cards to memorise the spelling and speaking of the verb chunks. 

Assessment phase

5. Self-Assessment - the student tests their memory through spelling and speaking and only move on when they have 100% passed stage 5.

6. Peer-Assessment - the student hands their cards to a partner and they spell and say the verb chunks aloud.

Production phase

7. Oral Production - the student now has a goal to use the chunks in any upcoming speaking task, either informally in class or in speech or in an upcoming oral assessment.

8. Written Production - Also, the student must aim to use these chunks in writing, in either formative or summative assessment.

Remember, not all of your students need to learning the same grammatical concept at the same time. Why not let your students identify their own gaps through a productive task (speaking and writing) and ask them what they want to develop next? Just make sure that you see that they have arrived at the productive stage! You could provide your students with a tick list to stick in to their books. Which grammatical construct are they currently focused on? Which phase are they are up to? What should the teacher be looking out for when the student speaks and writes?

I have used this technique with my students and it works! Think more guided practice for your juniors and more independant study for your seniors.

Do you teach grammar for communication? What do you find are the elements that work and don't work in your French classroom?

5 quick, no planning games for the languages classroom

Teaching requires you to think on the spot, be flexible and sometimes fill in spare time! 

Here are 5 easy, quick and planning-free games to help review and extend your student’s learning WITH FUN!

1. Lotto! (Bingo!)

Quick review of numbers, vocabulary or word chunks.

Students draw up a grid of 9 squares.

They write any number between a range (e.g. 0-20) or a set of words/chunks that you set. No repeats.

Once all students have their grid full, starts calling out the items in French. 

Option - you can write what you say on the board

Once a student has crossed out all 9 squares, they win by yelling out, “LOTTO!”

2. Ping, Pong

Practice grammar, question/answer, translations, finish the sentence… 

Can be played between students, teacher and students, or as a whole class!

Take, for example, you want to revise switching tenses between the present and past simple.

One student starts by saying, “PING!”, and gives a sentence in the present.

Another student replies by saying, “PONG!”, and provides the same sentence using the past simple.

“PING! Je vais!” > “PONG! Je suis allé!”

3. One word each

Practice forming sentences with a focus on sentence structure and creating form.

Great game for intermediate/advanced students or immersion French classrooms.

Get your students to sit in a circle. Go around the circle and each student says one word adding to the sentence. The goal is to create a very short story.

Usually students get a bit silly and the story gains some repetition. Gives everyone a good laugh!

4. Inside-Outside circle 

A game to increase fluency or to review concepts with different partners.

Equal number of students create an inside circle facing out and an outside circle facing in. Each student is therefore looking at a partner.

Ask them to focus on one concept. For example, explaining a grammar concept, answering a question in French, reciting a poem…

To help increase fluency, you can add in the ‘3, 2, 1’ rule. You do this by getting your students to respond to one question first taking 3 minutes, then replying to the same question but in 2 minutes, then once more in 1 minute.

You can also ask them to change partner by getting the outside circle to move across by one spot or more. 

5. Story drawing 

Review new vocabulary or sentence builders in context and improve listening skills.

Read aloud a description of a picture. Your students draw what they hear. 

You can make the task fun by getting them to draw silly sentences. E.g. if studying prepositions - ‘Le chat qui est sur la chaise a une moustache.’

French Teacher Resource: My experience with Gianfranco Conti tools

Is your teaching mantra also, 'I want my students to be able to speak French?'. Then, Gianfranco Conti's teaching and tools will certainly resonate with. 

I first travelled to France at 16, and on return to the Australian classroom, I asked myself why there wasn't a greater emphasis on listening and speaking. The "traditional" method at the time, and even now, seems to heavily focus on reading, writing and explicit grammar instruction. Don't get me wrong, I do love learning and teaching these areas of a new language (as they are, of course, important!), but in the classroom, did they enable me to speak the language? No. The ultimate goal is confidence in fluency in the target language (Fluency in the use of a particular set of vocabulary and grammatical structures regardless of level).

Conti's work focuses on just this - enabling students to automise structures to be able to use them spontaneously. This is how we reach fluency. Let me highlight a few "Conti" concepts that I incorporate in to all my teaching:

1. Comprehensible input

No doubt, that at uni, you learned Krashen's Input Hypothesis. Essentially, a learner improves in a 'natural' progression if they are exposed to language that is comprehensible - just one step above their current stage of linguistic competency (i + 1). As teachers, in an artificial classroom environment, we are in charge of the language input and can therefore ensure that our students understand the input language and slowly increase in difficulty to allow maximum learning potential. This, in turn, lowers the effective filter, aiding students to feel more motivated and uninhibited. Also, if you take comprehensible input in to account, your students can increase in sophistication much quicker as they will feel more capable to "push the envelope" and try new sentences (not just focusing on memorising massive word lists that are hard to use communicatively!).

2. Chunking

Fluency is 'chunked' speech. This means that we don't use isolated words in speech but we use them as small parts. For example, you don't just use 'allé' by itself, but you would use it as a chunk, 'je suis allé'. When we speak, we then use 'chaining' to connect these chunks (producing full sentences) which are linked by connectives. Cool, huh? 

Of course, some words are learned independently (such as nouns or adverbs...), but they need to be practised with chunks. Conti uses 'sentence builders' to provide context to new and old language (see resource below). The takeaway message? Teach language in chunks!

Example of a sentence builder

3. Reusing and recycling language

Automated language lives in our long-term memory. So how do you get it there? You need to reuse and recycle language! Language text books are certainly improving, but the traditional approach was the teach a content item and then say to students, "You should be able to use it as it was taught to you back in March!" Language should always be repetitively used. Use it so you don't lose it! As teachers, we can plan our curriculum to ensure that past content is weaved in and out of our lessons.  Working in an immersive language teaching setting, we would use Leanne Hinton's 20/20 rule. To commit a chunk to memory, you will need to use said chunk 20 times in 20 different settings. This sounds like a lot, but it isn't once you apply the reuse and recycle language rule!

Applying Conti tools to your curriculum

So, I'm sure you have all come to this blog for some resources! Let me oblige. In order to achieve fluency in a unit, Conti outlines the progressive phases through the acronym, MARS EARS. From modelling a new construction (M) to spontaneously using the construction in communication (S). For each phase, I have included my own resources and ideas designed for a Year 8 term 3 unit on 'hobbies' is based on Conti's famous activities for each progressive phase. You can download the resources and use then as they are or use them as a template for your own work.

Note that these activities were used in conjunction with the AIM play, 'Veux-tu danser?', which provided the context for the unit on hobbies.  

Also, these are resources designed for my students. They are not perfect. Resources are always designed to be improved. You may feel they have too much language, too little language. Not cover enough content, cover too much content. Modify at your will.

First step:

Design the curriculum to reuse and recycle language. You will notice that the new content is spaced out over the term and old content is interweaved. Ensuring adequate priming and routinisation is an absolute must before students can demonstrate fluency.

Year 8 Term 3 curriculum planning document

Second step:

Create your sentence builders to set the teachable language chunks for your students to use.

Hobbies sentence builder (students had already automatised approx. 1/2 of this language)

Comparison and superlative sentence builder 

Past perfect sentence builder (main focus on 'avoir' as auxiliary and no explicit grammar instruction at this stage as automation with chunks is easier for learners to use!!!)

Third step:

Design resources, worksheets and activities for the classroom based on the MARS EARS progression. Each resource does not necessarily fit under each specific category, it depends on how you use them and why. Think of the resources as aiding to progress through 3 phases: priming > routinisation, to finally reach spontaneity.

Modelling: 

Mind reader game - one student chooses a sentence secretly and the other students in the class or group have to guess which sentence they picked by reading aloud a sentence. 

Disappearing text - get students to set a goal - how many sentences will they try to memorise? You can do this as an oral or writing game (great with mini whiteboards).

Awareness-raising:

Gap-fill exercise

Spot the missing word - listening task

Receptive processing:

Tangled translation with traditional translation (lower to higher cognitive demand)

Structured production:

Oral ping-pong - partner task

Staircase translation

Boardgame

Narrow reading (each passage is very similar)

Find someone who - give each student in the group at least one card. They read their card to the group and the group or the individual fills in the worksheet.

Explanation: 

When you explain learned concepts, ensure that your students have internalised the structures well prior.

Autonomy, Routinisation and Spontaneity:

You can use many activities that you already employ in your classroom, such as speed dating, spot the difference (between pictures), student jigsaw tasks, listen and recall (reciting memorised sentence orders), running dictation, 4, 3, 2 technique (repeat the same information but reduce the time)...

Conti has so many activity ideas that, firstly, it is hard to implement them all (although all so fun!). Secondly, most of the activities you will likely already be using. You just need to be aware of the purpose and implement them at the correct stage to aid your students to fluency. Note that it is wise to reuse the same activities across the year as you want your students to learn the language, not always a new game.

For more information and ideas, you can read Conti's blog. He also had ready-made resources through his sentence builder website and the interactive website for students, The Language Gym. He also has purchasable books: Breaking the Sound Barrier, The Language Teacher Toolkit and French Sentence Builders. Also, join the group 'Global Innovative Language Teachers' on Facebook.

How to integrate French music in the classroom

When I was learning French in high school, I would print off song lyrics and hang them next to my bed where I would try to sing through and memorise lyrics before sleeping. Yep - I've always been a linguaphile! Not only was listening to music fun, but it also helped with my listening skills, in creating full sentences and increased my confidence to speak with natives. Not many students would have this same practice today, so here are a few ways to encourage the use of French music in the classroom to aid the linguistic development of your students. Even the cultural appreciation of music is enriching! 

How do you use music to learn or teach French? Comment below!

1. Choose a day to enjoy popular music together

Whether you sing along to the latest pop songs or try to keep in rhythm with Jacques Brel, why not choose one day per week or fortnight to engage your students in music - a musique mardi. With my more advanced students, I give them the lyrics to translate certain chunks of text or to research the artist, for example. With the lower levels, you can get them to memorise the chorus or to simply listen or dance to the music. You can get your students more involved through students choice. Give them a few options on the day by voting on a song.

Most importantly, get your students to sing! Most of my classes may be timid or embarrassed to sing when we begin the year, but after a few lessons, it becomes the norm. Why is singing music in front of others important? It's another way to reduce anxiety and fear in speaking a second language. It also helps you all bond as a class.

Need some music inspiration?

- My YouTube channel has many music playlists to choose from and are updated regularly. 

- If you are connected to Facebook, join the group 'Musique Mercredi' to explore new and old music with a forum of people.

- Listen to the French radio (or other Francophone stations). NRJ is a great station to hear the latest pop hits.

- Join an international music competition! Manie Musicale is an annual tournament where students vote on their favourite songs.

2. Test out your listening and writing skills

Ever played Lyrics Training online? If not, you're missing out! We play this as a whole class, at times, or you can put students in small groups. They listen to a song and fill in the lyrics as they go in real time. This game can be particularly engaging when students already know some French songs.

3. Choose songs that connect to an area of grammar or a current theme

We all know that songs can help strengthen our memory, so when you learn a song that uses a particular grammatical feature or specific vocabulary, it can make it easier to reuse in your own speech. Remember though, the song lyric has to be deeply ingrained to be reused and recycled! Here are a few song suggestions based on grammar and theme:

La grammaire

Le passé-composé: Jo Dassin - Les Champs-Elysées

L'imparfait: Louane - On était beau

Le futur simple: France Gall - Laisse tomber les filles

Le conditionnel passé: Babylon Circus - J'aurais bien voulu

Les pronoms: Mika - Elle me dit

Changing between word class: Christophe Mae - Les gens

Les thèmes

La Francophonie: Kids United - Mama Africa

L'immigration: Corneille - Parce qu'on vient de loin

La France: Charles Trenet - Douce France

La téchnologie: Stromae - Carmen

L'environnement: Yannick Noah - Aux arbres citoyens

Pour les plus petits

Alain le Lait playlist

5 a day workout 

Je suis une pizza

Just Dance - Papaoutai

4. Supplement LOTE skills with music worksheets

Working with French music can tackle all LOTE skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking. Here are some teachers who have already done the hard work for you.

- Kristen Phillips has created a plethora of materials based on Maître GIMS' music, 'Maîtrisez le français avec GIMS'. 

- Perfecting Pedagogy has reading materials on Francophone music. All see her Instagram page for inspiration.

- Lauren Monique from Parfaitement Bilingue (@parfaitementbilingue) posts clips on her instagram account to get you listening to the latest Francophone music, all awesomely choreographed!

French Film and TV for Students and Teachers - film list and top 5 favourite films!

Has it ever happened to you when you've asked a foreigner about how they learned their exceptional English, and they replied, "By watching lots of TV!" Watching shows in French, not only extends us linguistically, but also exposes us to other cultural habits and insights. 

I first started learning French in high school in the early millennium - the Golden Age of the DVD! I could sometimes find French films to rent at my local Blockbuster and at times, French films were screened at Palace Cinemas. I could also wake up early on a Saturday morning to watch the French news. Nowadays, we have a plethora of sources and mediums to watch French shows, and can now tell people that our excellent French is thanks to the hours dedicated to watching Omar Sy!

For your easy viewing pleasure, I have created a list of French shows available on many streaming platforms: ClickView (for schools), SBS On Demand (free login), Netflix and Stan (paid subscriptions). It is a six page document but not exhaustive! 

For teachers, create your own copy of the French Film List and adapt it to suit your student audience. For example, give your young students a copy of the G and PG rated films only. When parents ask how they can help their kids learn French, give them a full copy of the list so that they can watch French TV as a family unit.

Shows are added and adapted by each platform constantly, so you will see this list being modified often (at least twice a year). 

Here are my top 5 favourite French films from the list:

1. Pour les jeunes : Belle and Sebastian (PG)

It's hard to go past Belle et Sébastien. The story of the friendship between a young adopted boy and his wild, stray dog. Set in the picturesque village of Saint-Martin bordered by the French Alps, the year is 1943, and occupied by Nazi troops. Sébastien's "brother-in-law" secretly aids Jewish exiles flee to Switzerland. 

Within the beauty of the scenery and the boy/dog friendship lies the harsh reality of war, poverty and loneliness. It is a great film to show Australian children, as not all kids watch films with such dark and troubled moments - themes that are more common to French cinema. The film also highlights a child's view of World War II - a topic that is not introduced to Australian children, usually, until high school. It willfully exposes them to European geography and bilingualism.

2. Les enjeux sociaux : The African Doctor/Bienvenue à Marly-Gomont (M)

Based on a true story, this comedy-drama is co-written by musician Kamini based on his experiences when his doctor father moved his family from Zaire to a small, French, country village called Marly-Gomont in 1975.

The film shows the struggles of living in the Francophone world: racial stereotyping, the hope of a better future. As well as the problems of an aging and rural population. Two key areas to expose to students of French: the French Africa and rural France. The hilarious scenes are when the relatives arrive from Brussels, causing havoc and noise around the town.

3. La gastronomie : The Chef/Comme Un Chef (M)

Constantly approved and requested by my students, as it is tasteful in both humour and French food. Starring Jean Reno as a Michelin-starred restaurant owner, and food amateur, Michael Youn, the pair emit fun and laughter through the screen. 

A great film to screen for any food study unit, as it not only showcases the gastronomical culture of France but also demonstrates the importance and hierarchy of the food industry. 

4. Les stéréotypes : Welcome to the Sticks/Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis (M)

A heartwarming story of a man's cultural expectations warped by new experiences showing that you can change your views at any age! Phillipe is from the chic and warm South of France and is transferred for his work at La Poste to the grey and seemingly 'uncultured' Bergues in the North. 

There have been both Italian and Dutch remakes of this film, highlighting the cultural stereotypes that exist within European cultures. Most Australian children will liken this phenomenon to the difference between the city and country, and strikes an interesting conversation about the entrenched French regional identity. 

Interesting fact: Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis was the highest grossing French film of all time before the release of The Intouchables.

5. La téléréalité : The Parisian Agency (M)

Watching reality TV is not the most engrossing and stimulating topic, but these shows are an excellent way to pick up on common French language and slang. The language is also quite repetitive in this show, making it ideal for intermediate level learners (B2-B1).

The Kretz family own a real-estate business, concerning luxury properties, in which their four sons also work. The show takes you to many beautiful homes and their difficult clients, as well as focusing on the conversations within the family home. 

Don't forget to include the following films for your own viewing pleasure! 

The Intouchables (M), Roxane (PG), The Teacher (MA), Call My Agent (MA).

Which are your 'go-to' French films? 

French VCE Resource: Exam skills - Reading and Responding

Teaching VCE French over the last few years has been, in equal parts, exhausting and exhilarating. Us, teachers, have needed to interpret information released by VCAA in order to produce new or updated resources for our students. Tiring, as most of us feel the pressure to create up-to-date materials. Engaging, as we need to put our "thinking caps on" and get creative! 

I am lucky to have excellent colleagues with whom I can share my ideas and discuss our current VCAA understandings. Hence, why I have this blog!

Head to my website to download this Reading and Responding VCE French task, as a downloadable PDF file, following the style of Section 2 Part B in the VCAA LOTE exam (update November 2022). The new exam format requires students to transfer and manipulate information from the stimulus text in order to suit a new style of writing and text-type. Ideally, it requires higher order skills than the previous study design. The text-type will be different to the choices presented in Section 3. 

Front page of downloadable VCE French Reading and Responding resource

I have created this VCE Reading and Responding task for both Year 11 and 12 students - differentiate at your will! Included in the task is a student self-assessment, where although the SAC and exam would be marked holistically, the assessment tool gives students an idea of areas to improve. I ensure that my students are constantly setting short and long term personal goals for each LOTE skill area.

More VCE resources available for purchase on my website and Teachers Pay Teachers account. I hope they come in handy!

I would love to hear of your experiences with this area of the exam over the last few years. Write in the comment section below.

French Teacher Resource: Introducing a new unit with Google Sites

Remote learning entices the digital spirit, but just how do we modify our current pedagogy to suit this new context without 'reinventing the wheel'?

One of my favourite types of activity is setting up explorative rotating tables. Often to launch a new unit, I will place activities on different tables and students rotate between the activities to explore different elements of the unit. It's always a big hit! However, how can this be adapted to an online context?

Example of how 'explorative table rotations' might be setup

The other night, I decided to whip up a Google Site to begin my Year 12 unit on 'La vie culturelle'. To tantalise their learning, I created four topics which they explored and discussed in small groups. If you are also a fan of group work and topic exploration, then you may be interested in the following resource.  I am not selling this resource as the language is stolen from Wikepedia and other websites! 

Google Sites enables you to build websites quickly and with ease. You can embed YouTube clips, images and easy build in your resources from other Google platforms. It also looks beautiful!

Send me an email if you wish to have a copy to adapt for your own needs.

COVID, 'confinement' and community

There's nothing quite like a viral pandemic to put actions in to perspective. 

I first started this blog with the ambition to not only share my love of teaching French but to partake in a broad community of teachers. When I first started teaching, I felt that it was quite an isolating occupation. Although you get to meet and work with inspiring teachers in your school community, the sharing of resources and ideas can be particularly restrictive in a small LOTE department. Hence, I Love French Australia blog was born in order to feel connected to other intrepid French teachers out there. Why shouldn't we be working together as a connected community?

When our schools started closing for online delivery due to COVID infections in Melbourne (AUS), I was once again reassured by the tenacity of the online teaching community. Through Facebook, Instagram and other platforms, so many teachers were reaching out to each other, whether to graciously offer resources or just to share in a mutual unease and offer support. 

Like most 'essential' workers, I have been working seven-day weeks since the start of term 1 this year. I took on two VCE classes (which I love), which adds to the workload, but also, it must be recognised that teaching is more than just academic instruction. We get into teaching because we care immensely about the wellbeing and future of our students. I think that most of us teachers are always working to ensure that we do the very best for each individual - of course, this can be an exhausting endeavor even without the COVID context! My blogging hiatus as a consequence of this, so far, unprecedented year.

Exhaustion aside, the pandemic has put my purpose of blogging in to perspective. I started this blog to belong and support my community of dynamic French and language teachers who have supported me through COVID and always. We must stay connected and continue to embrace this fine community!

All my best to my colleagues out there! If you ever need to contact me in regards to resources or just some good banter, send me an email at ilovefrenchaustralia@gmail.com

French Teacher Resource: Create your own French Advent Wreath

The start of December entices me to share the Christmas spirit with all. Today in class, there has been carol singing, talk of French Christmas traditions, and crafting!

The final weeks of school can be a bit hectic, and depending on your class, I know that many Year 7 and 8 students love a bit of crafting. As they all said to me today, it reminds them of being back in Primary School. Even the disruptive boys pitched in.

Naturally, I would never leave an opportunity to send the kids home with a French tradition to practice with their families. So this year, I have helped them create their own couronnes de l'avent,  French Advent wreaths. For those new to the tradition, you place 4 candles on a horizontal Christmas wreath, and light each candle each Sunday leading up to Christmas.

Here are some of their creations:

The activity takes approximately 2 x 50 minute periods for students to complete. I pre-printed coloured sheets with holly leaves, stars, and snowflakes for them to easily cut out. I also provided the paper plates, glue, scissors, fluffy baubles etc. as most students don't have these items in high school. They can be bought cheaply at the Reject Shop.

Download the activity sheet here. As I work at a Catholic school, I have highlighted the significance of the four candles for Advent.

This activity was a huge hit, with little preparation time. And most importantly, so relaxing and enjoyable for myself as a teacher.

Let me know if you give it a try! Amusez-vous bien!

Language Podcasts that I'm loving

I find podcasts to be great resources - for use in the classroom, or just for interesting listening on the way to work or while I do the dishes...

Here is a list of podcasts that I'm currently using for classroom resources and also for my own entertainment. What are you listening to?

French language fix

• Podcast Français Authentique - Johan Tekfak

One of the best structured podcasts that I've come across. Johan conducts the entire podcast all in French for second language learners, usually concentrating on discourse and colloquialisms. I particularly enjoy listening to the idiomatic expressions, one of the most difficult aspects to learn for non-natives! 

• RFI - Journal en français facile

Great way to keep up-to-date with French current affairs, and easy to share with senior year students. The episodes are also nice and snappy. 

• SBS en français

I just like to support the SBS, but also, there are episodes on Australian current affairs in French, film reviews, and French events that are happening across the country.

Listening task resources

• Learn French with daily podcasts - Louis from Daily French Pod
• Learn French by Podcast - Hugh Nagle

I have used these podcasts for years to create listening comprehension tasks. Louis' podcast is conducted all in French, and is usually a monologue where he provides great description and uses heaps of synonyms - particularly important vocab skills for the senior years.

Hugh Nagle's podcast is bilingual and always starts with a dialogue. Excellent practice for the VCAA listening comprehension task, and there are 100's of episodes focusing on the VCAA topics.

Teacher 'gas-bagging' time

• Teachers Talking Teachers - CatFish Education (Pete and John)

These NSW teachers create such good banter around current topics in pedagogy and teaching. Each episode is based on two scholarly articles and there is plenty of opinion mixed with discussion based on the papers you should be keeping up to date with. 

French cultural curiosities

• The New Paris Podcast - Lindsey Tramuta and Alice Cavanagh

What I enjoy most about this podcast is that the interviewees are generally expats living in Paris, which I think is most relevant in today's international Paris scene. So far this podcast is at its humble beginnings, but their topics on identity and gastronomy (two of my favourite topics!) have been well discussed.

• Pardon My French - Garance Doré

I feel sassy listening to this podcast (so branchée), but Garance is just personable and lovely. She discusses the everyday issues, or vie quotidienne, of French culture - from dating, to fashion, to the environment. The podcast feels authentic from a Frenchy perspective, and also highly engaging with interviews conducted in an open and relaxed style. Episodes released every Thursday - definitely needs your attention!

• The Earful Tower - Oliver Gee

This podcast is usually quite 'tongue in cheek', as is self evident from its entitled pun. I've mainly followed its Facebook posts over the years, but I've now just realised how good the podcast is! The episodes are about anything French - everything is allowed. 

Linguistic loving

• Lingthusiasm - Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne

Lauren, originally from Melbourne, and Gretchen have excitingly geeky conversations about language. Coming from someone (myself) who loves to discuss the complexities of language - from crazy syntax to discourse variants - this podcast keeps me so engaged. As a French teacher, I find it a necessity to stay engaged with linguistics, as you need to keep perspective on the languages you teach. How does French fit into the linguistic world? What are its variants? How diverse is the speech community? etc. etc. I love the study of linguistics for all these reasons and more. 

French Teacher Resource: Les Maisons Merveilleuses

I have constructed some super fun resources and activities for the topic on 'houses', focusing on culture, text-types and communication. I have tried these activities with four different classes now, in both year 7 and year 8.
With 3 x 50 minute classes per week, the following activities can take 2-3 weeks to complete in total. The whole unit is delivered over approximately 7 weeks.

Once students have learned basic vocabulary on the house and where you live ('la maison' et 'où on habite'), it's time for some fun inquiry-based and project-based work.

Here are the order of events, connected to Victorian Curriculum points:

1) Introduce students to the tasks, and show them the final product (with success criteria). Access task instructions here.

2) Students are presented with different and interesting French cultural homes (PPT). Depending on the class, I'll either get them to discuss what they like/don't like between slides or at the end of the PPT. Sometimes I'll get students to read out the information from the PPT too.

Communicating (Socialising)Interact with peers and teacher to exchange information and opinions, talk about self, family, friends and interests, and express feelings, likes and dislikes (VCFRC091)

3) Students choose a French cultural home to base their own home off. They start to produce a digital floorplan. (Individually or pairs is optimal, if they are in 3's someone always seems to do much less work). You can walk around the room and ask them to decision-make in French together, e.g. je veux un jardin, une grande chambre...

Communicating (Informing)Present information and ideas relating to social worlds and natural environments in spoken, written and digital forms (VCFRC095)Participate in collaborative activities such as performances and presentations that involve planning, making arrangements, transacting and negotiating (VCFRC092)

4) Students produce a labelled advertisement for their home, with pictures from the internet.
- If you haven't covered the bilingual component yet, you can ask them to produce a bilingual advertisement.

"They create their own texts, mainly using the present tense of regular and common irregular verbs, enriched by the use of adjectives and adverbs."

5) Students blu-tac their advertisement on the wall/board. Once all students are done, give them a survey sheet (le sondage) to survey every one's hard work. Collect the results and create charts for future use (Excel spreadsheet).

Communicating (Informing)Locate factual information from a range of texts and resources and use the information in new ways (VCFRC094)

6) Students participate in the housing auction (see 'Les règles aux enchères'). (Students don't actually win and take-home each other's work. It's just a fun idea!)
Some students try to 'play-off' each other, which is just amazing, because they are yelling French numbers at each other without even realising the effort!
You really have to calm down the room between each sale though, it can get quite loud in the auction room. I usually preface the auction by saying that auction rooms are 'quiet' rooms.
Access the paddles here. I glue them onto large paddlepop sticks.

Understanding (Systems of language)Recognise and use features of the French sound system, including pitch, rhythm, stress and intonation (VCFRU102)

7) I have also created a homework task to ensure students are reflecting on the tasks from a culture and identity perspective. Also great as a post-vocab task for consolidation and for re-inforcing numeracy skills.

Communicating (Reflecting)Notice own and others’ ways of expressing identity, and consider the relationship between language, culture and identity(VCFRC101)

Amusez-vous bien! Please write your comments below on any ideas or suggestions for improvements, or your experiences teaching this unit of work.
Feel free to adapt any of the attached resources, and feel free to send them back to me.

Access curriculum documents here

French Obsessions: Coffee-table books to start French conversations

As a neurotic librophile, I take great pride in showing off beautifully binded, exquisitly hard-covered books that I am passionate about - mainly on the topic of France (French language spruiking to the next level).

Placing some interesting French culture books on my coffee table can inspire some wonderful conversations with friends and family. I have sourced all the delicious hard-back copies of my books on rotation:

French Women Don’t Get Fat – Mireille Giuliano 

As Mireille Guiliano states, it's a book about helping women feel bien dans sa peau. In other words, a book about understanding the true pleasures of eating (that's my mantra!). It's almost a pre-successor of the mindfulness movement or 'slow eating'. I also find that talking about 'French diets' brings up the conversation on French wine - the famous French Paradox. 

The French Paradox concerns the fact that although the French seem to consume a high-fat diet, there is low incidence of heart disease... so maybe c'est grâce au vin rouge, n'est-ce pas? (And all French people crossed their fingers in hope.) Based on studies around this 'catch phrase', the minor study on the Mediterranean diet with "moderate consumption" of wine took hold as social truth for good heart health. To cut a long story short, look up scientist 'Serge Renaud' for a good food chat on this topic.

The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Just the teacher in me wants everyone to discuss the pure genius of Le Petit Prince. From simple childhood souvenirs to a discussion on how the Little Prince shows us how we have lost our childhood imaginations and our abilities to look beyond our adult restrictions. I no-one at the table has yet read the Little Prince, ask them to draw you a sheep!

It's also a great read for any friends who come over with children. A great chance to read them a passage and share a few beautiful quotes from Saint-Exupery:

"On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."
"All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it."
“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.” 

Toujours Tingo - Adam Jacot de Boinod

I came across this book in a second-hand bookstore years ago, and it has been the start of so many great conversations about idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms. 

Some of my favourite topics on French language expressions are the amount of vocabulary around 'cows' - ah la vache, vachement bien, parler comme une vache espagnol...  

How about the French vegetabl-isms. Tu es choux, faire le poireau, être en rang d'oignon...

And finish up by being stood up by un lapin.

The New Paris - Lindsey Tramuta

Most of us foreigners have a romantic notice of Paris as it has been through history - the gothic architecture, Haussmanian buildings, Hemingway's Paris,  the French Revolution... but what about the revolutionary movements of today?

Especially as a Melbournian, a topic that always come up is the quality of coffee in Paris. The New Paris has a wonderful podcast which interviews local Parisians about new and upcoming issues. Have a listen to the coffee conversation about the new movement in Paris for improving the daily 'grind'.

How to be Parisian (wherever you are) - Sophie Mas, Audrey Diwan, Caroline de Maigret, Anne Berest

Everyone loves to discuss stereotypical French dress. From the mariniere, to the beret with boots and a cigarette. It's a beautiful book which talks about the stereotypical modern day Parisian woman from a Parisian woman's perspective, scattered with gorgeous photos, articles and poems. 

However, a conversation on French stereotypes opens a larger conversation on which stereotypes really exist in France. You have the turtleneck and man bag kind of man, to the sports clothes and runners kind of man. The simple-dressed, plain coloured woman, to the high-heeled, fine labelled woman. 

Books from your own French travels

There is nothing quite like your own travel collection to spark a good conversation. On my coffee table at the moment, I have maps of Lyon where my partner and I lived for a year. We have so many fond memories of our time in Lyon, and we just love the city and its beautiful streets. 

Not only do I love the impressionist paintings in the Orsay, but the book comes with a hilarious personal travel story... 

What is on your coffee table?